Last full day

The time has gone so quickly and we have all taken a liking to life in the executive club lounge on the 31st floor of Conrad Centennial Hotel:

Christopher and Alison enjoying a leisurely breakfast. 

David and I decided to wander around the city on trains - not realising how much hot, humid walking was involved along endless platforms and tunnels. We popped our heads up in Chinatown and were collared by a nice chatty Chinese gentleman who took us to see his shop

which turned out to be a jewellery shop with silver-tongued assistants who could sell anything. They tried hard to sell us a pretty jade and agate dragonfly brooch for SD1600. As I resisted it became cheaper and cheaper, finally $360 - but still no sale. 

We had a look at Tintin's shop

next door to a Buddhist temple

but the only thing we bought was a cold drink - an espressoda made from 2 shots of espresso coffee, fizzy tonic water, orange slices and lots of ice - when we emerged at Orchard, the famous shopping street. 

Delicious! David's coffee receptors immediately began to zing. 

So time to head back to the hotel and have a swim in the pool. 

Alison and I had another long cool drink - a Mojito this time - on special for the extraordinary price of SD42 for 2!

Anniversary Dinner

19th May and we have been married 50 years! Included in our hotel package is a 5-course dinner at the Golden Peony so every put in their party clothes for a special occasion as we posed on the hotel staircase. 

back: Jon, David, Christopher then Helen, Alison, then ChrisB, Hannah, ChrisM, Daisy. 

Dinner was 5 exquisite courses, dainty and beautiful. It makes me laugh to see everyone whip out their mobile phones and photograph the food - so I refrained - but couldn't resist for the final act of little pastry swans filled with a strange orange- coloured mousse

Gardens By The Bay

Bigger and better than when we were here 3 years ago. Everything has grown, trees are taller and fatter and the range of flowers in the Flower Dome is amazing. Singaporeans are not afraid of colour. 

I was blown away by the beautiful fuchsias:

and the bright chooks. 

It was pleasantly cool inside the Flower Dome and in the cafe Pollen where we had ice coffee and orange juice but no cake - delicious as they look on that bar in the background. 

That's the orange juice in the light bulb. 

The Cloud Forest Dome was full of school children having a fun day out. The most popular exhibit with all ages seemed to be carnivorous flowers made from Lego. 

David and Jon high in the treetops on a board walk. 

Next stop Marina Bay Sands, a short stroll away in 30' heat - cool today!

Catherine tells us it has been an unusually hot week - no wonder we melted at the Botanic Gardens. Thank goodness for all these air conditioned buildings!

We met Richard and Ilga for lunch at Gordon Ramsey's Bread Street Kitchen  where we ate bread - and fish and chips with mushy peas. "Not very Singaporean" said Ilga, but delicious. 

Afternoon Tea at The Landing Point Fullerton Bay Hotel

David's brother Richard, who was groomsman at our wedding, and his wife Ilga, made it from Perth in time to meet all of us for afternoon tea - joined by Richard's son Michael plus his wife Catherine and their son Sam who live in Singapore. 

What a magnificent setting, looking across the water to Marina Bay Sands and what a magnificent spread!  Luckily I warned everyone not to eat lunch. 

Hannah and ChrisM. 

There was a server between two people and hot items behind our long table. Daisy and I decided the chocolate tartlets with salted caramel were the best:

Me and Ilga silhouetted against the light. 

Jon, Michael, Sam and Richard 

Jurong Bird Park

For SD65 flat rate you can get a 9-seater taxi to anywhere so we had one for the Bird Park. Taxis are wonderful in Singapore, cheap and abundant. 

Can never resist flamingos - flamboyant and silly!

First we went to a show "Birds of Prey" featuring eagles and vultures. They fly into the arena from the trainers' hands -  do their act and fly back freely. 

We sat behind a class of school children, well-behaved and appreciative. An American bald eagle took David's fancy but for the first time ever I really liked the vultures. So good to see them flying and not in cages.  That's a fake buffalo they're feasting on.

Another hot and humid day had us looking for drinks while we waited for the "High Flyers" show. I had chrysanthemum tea (good) and ChrisB had Kickapoo - you named it what?!

Beautiful rainbow and blue macaws flew over the audience at a speed too fast for me to capture, an Amazon parrot sang Happy Birthday and a pair of toucans caught seeds in midair. So well-trained and seemingly happy though a humble chook who was supposed to show off her flying was reluctant. 

A macaw landed nearby. 

At the end of the show some pelicans and Lesser Flamingos wandered across the stage - not exactly high flyers and harder to train.

There's always one who will muck around - whether flamingo or human. 

More cute birds. 

Pelican Coast - cool!

Botanic Gardens and Wings

David, Jon and I took the underground train to the Botanic Gardens - wonderfully clean, fast trains almost empty at non-rush hour:

and nearly everyone on a mobile phone. The station is very close to the gardens but it was still a hot walk to get to some shade. David and I struggled with the heat today but wouldn't have missed the orchids - what an amazing display! - each one more stunning:

My favourite. 

David's favourite (rather macabre I think.)

Jon's favourite. 

Alison and Christopher texted to say how cool it was in the National Gallery and Museum and as we were in danger of melting we joined them by taxi,  passing a monitor lizard digging under a ginger plant as we left the gardens. 

The youngsters spent all day on Sentosa Island where adventure parks abound: swimming with sharks and manta rays, zip lining, aquariums and getting slightly sunburnt. They were back at the hotel for Happy Hour (how quickly we've formed this pleasant habit!) and returned to Sentosa  by cable car for the evening sound and light show "Wings of Time".

The cable car is fantastic! Here is the view back over Singapore with a cruise ship in the foreground. 

Sentosa Island was teeming with people, mostly Indians with lots of little kids. Don't they have to go to school tomorrow? The show was excellent:

history and food in Katong

I had booked online previously for a walking tour with Singabites in the suburb of Katong so seven of us in 2 taxis met our guide Kathy at an Indian restaurant on Joo Chiat Road. (Hannah and ChrisM were off having their feet and legs nibbled by little fish - more of that later). While our bread was being made nearby Kathy gave us a potted history of the neighbourhood - hers, as she lived there as a child right by the sea. We saw Marine Parade and Sea Avenue but as Singapore had made more and more land the sea is now 10 miles away. 

The flat breads and dipping sauces were delicious with Jon particularly liking the fish curry. I liked the ginger tea in spite of - or perhaps because - it was liberally sweetened with condensed milk. 

A walk along the road took us past a beautiful Art Deco building built by the English as a community centre and still in use 

then to a row of old buildings from Peranakan times - shops below and living quarters above. 

Raining again but we're getting used to that. We went inside one of the shops selling exquisite embroidered tops (with prices to match) and upstairs to see how they used to live. Kathy waxed nostalgic about how after hours they'd let down a basket on a string and haul up beer from a street vendor. She had dumplings for us and delicate little sweetmeats that just went pop in the mouth. 

Around the corner we went to a Hindu temple, very beautiful - large and airy - tended by monks, one on his mobile phone which seemed incongruous. We had to remove our shoes which I didn't want to do as the floor was wet and all I could think was "plantar warts" but maybe the 5 hours of ritual cleaning the monks perform daily takes care of that. 

Offerings of fresh milk. 

Beautiful ceiling. 

A further walk took us to the best laksa in the city -?the best one I've ever had out of a tiny sample. We finished off with curry puffs, one of them durian custard which was strange but not unpleasant. We got the bus back to Suntec City where our hotel is and a sign in the bus said "no durian allowed" - fresh presumably. 

We have quickly taken to having Happy Hour in the lounge every day - amazing view from the 31st floor