Days 36,37 & 38. 20-22 Sep. Singapore And Homeward bound

Day 36 

Up at 7:30 am and out for our pick up for the gardens by the bay tour today. The first pick up took us to another central hotel where all the tours are going from and we waited for a big bus to take us there. Pretty crappy seats all a bit broken! But got us there. It was 30° and quite still today, so after doing one of the two domes that were included in our ticket, we decided to go up on the skywalk as there are only 80 people allowed at a time up there and it was still early and quiet. 

It is really amazing what they have done with these gardens and man-made towers. You get a birds eye view of everything below and there are waterfalls as well.  After that we decided to do the outside gardens before the day got too much hotter & humid, they have gardens from all different countries – Australia’s had what looked like a didgeridoo standing up in the middle of a garden!

After that we went into the second dome– they have the cloud and the flower domes and they are beautifully cooled, so they are great places to go and cool yourself down before going outside again.

Spent a good few hours there then walked about 15 mins to the MRT which is the subway system – it was really sticky and hot by then so we walked very slowly as it was all out in the open sun. Worked out how to use the system and even though the ticket machines showed you could use Visa to buy your tickets, it turned out they only accept cash. Luckily Danni had given Graeme a $5 note she had and the tickets were $4.20 for two – so that was perfect as we didn’t have any cash!

The subway lines are all colour coded and we needed to get two different lines to get back to our hotel,  but we worked it out fine. 

Walking back to the Swissohotel, we came across a big shopping mall down underneath the tower block! It was tucked around the back so you wouldn’t see it unless you knew it was there. Spent quite a bit of time looking around and then went down and got some lunch in the food hall below. Tried out the authentic Asian place and some dumplings – very nice. There are so many people everywhere - think it’s mostly because of the F1 this weekend.

Went back upstairs to our room and had a rest for a while, they went out for a wander round and to the pub style restaurant downstairs in the foyer for a pint and a quick meal before sitting out on our balcony on the 56 floor and watched the qualifying race – we are in such a good spot with a massive view of quite a lot of track right below us. 

Then we sat listening to Gwen Stefani play at the band area down below us, then the Muse concert. Danni would love to have been here as she is a fan of theirs – (wish she was here too! :-)

We have realised you need to stay up till the bands finish each night at midnight otherwise you are thumping in bed, in time to the music no matter how good your earplugs are, so we are just going with it!

 
 

Day 37

We lay in bed a bit later today after the last few late nights – although we feel fine despite losing 7 hours between Copenhagen and Singapore flights! We just feel a bit dizzy and spaced out sometimes. 

We decided to go to Chinatown today after breakfast – looking at the map it was about half an hour so we decided to walk it. It was 33° and high humidity already by mid morning, so we were both a bit drenched by the time we got down there. Despite the really bad haze from the Indonesian fires, the sun was out and shining.

Wandered around the markets in Chinatown – found the Tintin shop that Danni has told us about. Graeme bought a two book hardcover comic, they were a favourite from his childhood.

Wandered around a bit more– pretty hot and smelly in a lot of this area, so we stopped and shared a big bottle of Tiger beer – pulled out of a chilly bin with tons of ice! Pretty good value, $8 for a longneck bottle. Bought gifts for the our little girls in NZ, then walked back home – very hot and sticky by now, so back to our room to cool down.

We went to the little supermarket we found yesterday and bought nice cold drinks – they sell beer in the supermarket here too which is good.

The F1 race tonight starts at 8 pm but we left before 6pm to go and wander around the track, there is a real buzz with the crowd everywhere. There are 268,000 people attending – the second biggest attendance for all of the F1 races. 

They said it was 33° but had a high point of 39°C and very high humidity – no wonder it felt so sticky! but it is 60°C in the cockpit for the drivers! There are 5.6 km of Race track and 23 turns. Our seats were in the bay grandstand. You have to buy a grandstand ticket as it isn’t like the Melbourne F1 where you can buy general admission. The seats are the same is if you wanted to just walk around anyway - $210 pp. Our seats were smack in front of 2 big TV screens- couldn’t have done it better :-)! There was a bit of a breeze which was nice too and over here it seems to cool down after about 6 pm. 

The way they manage these events, everything runs like clockwork and there are so many staff guiding people everywhere, there is a lot better flow than at the Melbourne F1.

We got some beers- pretty expensive at $14 for a cup, but cheaper than it is at American baseball games!

Where we were sitting was at a bit of a straight and then a sharp turn where the drivers went down underneath our grandstand so that was pretty cool – because they were going slower you’re able to actually see the cars better. 

Sebastian Vettel continued in the lead and won tonight. Had lots of English people sitting around us tonight – we all got to know each other as the small plastic seats, were a bit cosy!

It was funny – all the young officials that have been hired to ask people to sit down if they stood up to film or take photos, it is very well organised and people seem to toe the line very well here. 

Wandered out with the crowds afterwards and went and got something to eat and a cold drink and sat up on the balcony and listened to the Red Hot Chili Peppers playing below us - was so good. Stayed up till they finished at 12:15 am then set the alarm for 5:30 am – early start, as we are flying back to Melbourne - our pick up is coming early because there have been road closures over the weekend.

 

 



                                    

Day 38

Dragged ourselves out of bed this morning - but a great view off the balcony in the early morning light! Got ready and down for a quick breakfast before our pick up to the airport. There was no traffic at all, so we were there really early as it’s only about 20 minutes when there’s no traffic.

Through check-in and border control, then sat in the lounge for 2 1/2 hours. It’s funny when you go down to your boarding gate in Singapore and Copenhagen airport, they have the x-ray screening right before the gates so you have to leave time to get there as there is always a queue. Seems a funny place to have it is it could mean people missing boarding as they think they have done all the screening they need to do already. Luckily we were okay though – you even get fingerprinted and Changi airport!

Flight home was really quick this time, only 6 1/2 hours also and we were in Melbourne. Lost another two hours, so it was 9:30 pm. We had decided to stay at the park royal hotel at the airport as another couple hours driving when we were tired and its late would have been a pain – well along with the fact that we had no car to drive ha ha!

Had showers and jumped into bed. Really looking forward to Danni picking us up tomorrow :-) . She is going to come to have breakfast with us at the hotel and then we will head home to our place and mum and dad and the dogs.

It’s been an awesome trip but it’s always nice to come home too :-) :-) .