Singapore

 Our Diary Begins - 3/4 Sept 2010
For most people it will be incredibly boring as it will probably take me all the school holidays to write it but for Chris and Me it is a Year we will never forget! For all those people who look at this site you will say, 'Hey, Helen was out to celebrate her 50th birthday for a whole year, and she did, with the help of Chris.

As written in earlier scripts, I started my year in Queenstown and exploring the Milford Sound - a cold New Year but loved it and not like the -11 degrees Sarah said she drove to work in London a few days ago!

March 5th saw me being swept away to Waiheki Island for a 'Glam Weekend' to celebrate my 50th birthday. A beautiful Island about 40 minutes by ferry from Auckland. I was very spoilt and we loved the 60's atmosphere, great food and wine.

The year then cruised along with the anticipation of our very exciting trip to the UK, Europe and Ireland in September. I had an amazing class this year and they enjoyed my excitement and planning of our trip.

I still remember the excitement of waking up about 4.30a.m on Friday 3 September, not really believing I would be seeing Sarah in 4 days time. The taxi arrived at 6.00a.m and we were at the airport far too early.

After a 2 hour wait in Auckland we were finally on our way to Singapore. 13 hours later we landed and walked straight through customs before being taken to our central Singapore Hotel, Penisula Excelisor. It was a lovely hotel and we were able to walk to most places. Umm... I do remember the 'sleezy bar ' at the hotel that ripped Chris off a huge amount for drinks and I am sure my wine was watered down!

Our sleep patterns were very out of the norm so Chris and I went down to the dinning room for a very comprehensive early breakfast, catering for every nationality. I don't usually eat breakfast so I could already see myself putting on heaps of weight over the next 5 weeks.                        

                                          Chris had been to Singapore before so he was looking forward to showing me the beautiful country. We walked around the main part of Singapore, leaving the hotel about 7.30a.m. and arriving on Orchard Road before the shops even opened.

We were really big spenders there with Chris buying a McDonald's chocolate milkshake and me purchasing some postcards. We were hounded by the less exclusive shop owners in the department stores, as we were obviously 'tourists'! It was like there were two classes of shops along Orchard Road. We crossed a street when seemed to go from the very expensive part to shops catering for the locals. The shops, way people were dressed and general atmosphere changed a lot. One thing which I found interesting was an outdoor escalator in a beautiful park near our hotel.

                                      

                 
It was getting hot so we went back to our resort to get changed then went to a nearby shopping centre. It had at least 5 levels of just electronic shops alone. Chris enjoyed looking through some of these while I managed to find a lovely jewelery shop and bought a silver Singapore 'Merlion' (Singapore's icon)to start my silver charm bracelet collection. I did a bit of bargaining with the young shop assistant and as it was her first sale of the day I got a good deal. She even kissed the s$50 note I gave her but I readily accepted my change.  Across the road was a beautifully preserved fire station.                       

One of Chris's Singaporean work colleagues and his wife met us for lunch and were lovely hosts. Mr and Mrs Choo Ai-hoe took us to the 'Turf Centre' for an Indian lunch then dropped us off for a 'bum boat cruise' along the Boat and Clark Quays. Showed the skyline well with lots of very, high rise buildings and a reconstructed cruise boat (now a restaurant) high above the city.

                                               

                                                

The Merlion is the mascot or symbolic feature of Singapore and stands on the river edge spouting water  from its mouth.  It has the head of a lion and the body of a fish. It is derived from Singapore's old fishing village called, Temasek which means 'sea' in Japanese.  'Mer' means sea and the lion's head represents the original name 'Singapura', which means "lion city'.

                       

There were many beautiful displays, cafes and attractions along both Boat and Clark Quays.  5 o'clock drinks were being offered at cheap prices in hopes tourists would stay on for a meal.  Very competitive, but and the main menus were very much seafood.  We even saw a display of New Zealand crabs.

 

We then returned to our hotel, got dressed up and went to The Raffles Hotel for a Singaporean Gin Sling, peanuts tossed all over the floor and Chris trying to bargain for a $20,000 bracelet for me. Yeah like I am wearing it!!! It was all fun and he did have the shop assistant convinced we would pick it up at 11.00a.m the next morning, with a $8000 reduction!                      

                                                     

                                   

       

                                                                                                                

We then got a rickshaw ride back through the busy streets of Singapore to our hotel. The drivers have right-of-way on some parts of the roads and ring their bell to ensure they can merge into traffic safely. The driver of our rickshaw quoted $20 but on arrival at our hotel he wanted another $20 as he said it was hard work. Yeah right! I threw $20 on his seat and then disappeared.

Singapore is a very clean, beautiful country but everywhere is busy and lots of tourists.

A great way to start our big adventure.