Singapore

Saturday 14 July

This morning we had a 3 hour bus trip to the Singapore border, again in a reasonably comfortable public bus. Once again we passed by many palm plantations. At the Malaysia/Singapore border we got off the bus with just our hand luggage and were stamped out of Malaysia. We got back on the bus again and after a few minutes drive we were at Singapore immigration, a huge processing centre where we took all our luggage and queued to be processed through baggage x-ray and passport stamping. After a bit more bus travel we were at a down town Singapore bus depot then we took a short taxi ride to our hotel at Mt Emily.

Marina Bay Sands in the background

After some lunch we walked down to the water to Merlion Park where we viewed and took photos of the Marina Bay Sands resort, an impressive building that includes a casino, shops, hotel, restaurants, theatres etc. We returned to our hotel to freshen up before going out for dinner.

This was the last evening of our Intrepid trip and as we had all got along so well we were sorry to be saying goodbye to our new friends. After dinner at a Thai restaurant we said goodbye to Kitty our Intrepid guide and the rest of us went to Raffles to celebrate my birthday (today) and Tenna's birthday (tomorrow). As expected the drinks were pricey but the occasion and surroundings made it worthwhile. After one drink at Raffles we went across the road to Chijmes where the drinks were half the price and we stayed there until was Tenna's birthday.

Celebrating birthdays

Raffles Hotel

Sunday 15 July

After having breakfast at our hotel we made our way to Marina Bay Sands. A new park (Gardens by the Bay) has been created there and we spent some time looking around before going into the shopping area to cool down. Inside we discovered a canal with canal boats - things are not done by halves here.

In the park looking towards downtown

Some of the"Super Trees" at the gardens

Shopping area, canal and boat.

Marina Bay Sands main building.
The top area has bars and a swimming pool.

Dragonfly

We took a train to Chinatown and had lunch at a outdoor cafe while watching the people walk by. There seemed to be more tourists than locals passing by. After wandering around here we caught a train to Little India then waked back to the hotel for a couple of hours rest before going out for dinner. Our hotel was a short walk from Little India and we used the MRT station to cross under a main road. When we came out on the other side there were crowds of Indian men, some walking around, some standing talking and others sitting small groups on the grass in the park. It looked like there was a convention on but apparently it was just the usual Sunday night get together. After a nice Indian meal we caught a train to Marina Bay Sands to see a free lightand laser show.

Singapore train

Laser show

Frogs in the pond at our hotel. They only came out at night.

Monday 16 July

The last day of our holiday but we had several hours to go exploring before we had to go to the airport. We went to Little India and looked at shops and buildings before making our way back towards the hotel. We did a little bit of shopping on the way. Although we had checked out of the hotel we were given passes to the recreation room where we could relax, use the computers and have a shower before heading for the airport.