Singapore 2

Well, here we are at the last stop for this tour.

Our journey home is usually a direct one, however this time we decided to breakup the flight with a couple of days in Singapore. We have had a few transit stops in Singapore previously however this is our actual first look at the city.

Mind you, half of it is closed ! The historical site at Changi prison museum is closed under extensive renovation, the famous Raffles Hotel closed and is under renovation and restoration, and the Singapore Formula 1 race is on this weekend restricting access around the place !

However, we have had a day and a half to have a look around other places as a start and we can look at doing the others another time. And the warm weather is quite a change to what we have had on the rest of the tour !

We left Helsinki around midnight on Thursday and arrived here late yesterday afternoon – around 4pm when the plane arrived and 5.30pm by the time we got through the airport and a taxi into town. So last night, we walked from the hotel – the Park Regis – the short distance to the Clarke Quay area along the river toward Downtown and Fullerton Road. It was blocked here for the F1 setup so we crossed the river and walked back along the otherside. It was just on sunset at this stage and the lights were starting to appear.

With our body clocks adjusting to the 5 hour time difference from Helsinki, we had a late dinner near the river before walking back to the hotel again. Probably being a Friday night and with the F1 crowds,there were plenty of people around.

Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles surveying a different looking Singapore from when he negotiated a treaty leading to the establishment of the British colony of Singapore in 1819

Today we first setoff for the Bay Area and the Gardens by the Bay. We caught the MRT to Bayfront, near Marina Bay Sands, and walked to the Gardens. We walked through the Supertree Grove – the large artifical “trees” you will have seen in pictures, I’m sure – then closer to the bay where we bought our tickets for the Cloud Forest and Flower Dome. These are quite spectacular and drop the temperature at least 10 degrees I would have thought.

Waterfall in the Cloud Forest

We spent quite a bit of time here then walked back to the MRT station via part of the Marina Bay Sands complex shopping centre which connects to the MRT station. The MRT stop near our hotel is right at Chinatown so we had a walk around here for a while also before a short stop off at our hotel again. We then decided to have a late lunch along the river front before going back to the pool for a swim. Our short stay in Singapore has been nice and I’m sure we will be back for another stopover again.

Marina Bay Sands from the Cloud Forest

About as close as we were getting to the F1 track

Heading into Chinatown

Tonight we are just having a final quiet night with a snack and a bottle of wine to reminisce over our wonderful past month away. When you look back, it has gone so quickly but we have had so many memorable moments and our blogs and photos will provide us many more hours of reliving those once we get home again.

As always, thanks to those who have been following our tour and sharing our experiences. We have had a wonderful time and can’t wait to start (or continue 😉) planning our next tour …….

Today’s Tour Trivia – As this is the last post for this tour, Singapore gets some bonus bits to see us off !

The lyrics to the National Anthem are printed on the $1,000 note (though you don’t see them very often !)

Singapore is one of only 3 city-states in the world (with Monaco & Vatican City)

And finally –  More Singaporeans are born in the month of October than any other month of the year

See you next tour !