Well the first leg of the trip has been damn awesome. A massive shout out to our absent hosts Malcolm and Amy Barnes. They were kind enough to let us use their apartment in Singapore, along with everything, including awesome directions, travel cards, and a booze cabinet to die for.

We stayed in Geylang district, very cool. Very local, there was no doubt you were with the locals. But that was awesome, everyone was so friendly and the food AMAZING. I may have to rethink my wedding outfit unless I can stop eating (ok, new wedding outfit it is).

We have done a lot of tourist things in a short period of time. Jason is holding up well and I am doing my best not to be neurotic. But REALLY, I have a plan, so people should just stick to my plan, otherwise its not a plan – its just a freaking estimate!!! Sign, deep breath, inner zen (and get the f%ck over it).

Day 1

Arrival in Singapore was so damn easy. It is now the benchmark that every other airport will be held to (Jason is in for a reality check when we get to Frankfurt). Taxi ride to the Barnes residence super fast, friendly and efficient.

We figured out the local transit system, mainly, it is really great and ridiculously cheap. Meant we could get around easily and see the things we wanted to see.

We went into town to see Battlebox. I highly recommend this to everyone. A real piece of history. I told Jason we were going to Battlebox and he said “is that a shoe shop”, where does he get these weird ideas.

Battlebox the popular name of the underground command centre constructed under Fort Canning, Singapore, as an emergency, bomb-proof command centre during the Malayan Campaign and the Battle of Singapore. See more here: http://www.battlebox.com.sg/

A quick lunch at the local food court, the hardest thing is trying to decide what to eat.

EVERYTHING!!!

The food court is in a massive mall, so we did the kid thing and travelled up and down the escalators. Seriously, being in that mall reminded me I am nothing but an amateur when it comes to shopping. Not a single shop door was crossed.

We went back to Hotel Barnes and Jason had a wee nap, I went exploring and, oh my god its so bad here, more food. In my defence it was for breakfast the next day, just the usual pad thai, murtabak, chicken wings…

Chinatown We had an evening tour of Chinatown booked. It was pretty good, the guide was nice BUT my god her delivery was not great. I wanted to prompt her so we could just move on. She came with the obligatory umbrella so we could find her (embarrassed much).

After the standard Chinese banquet we went on a tri-shaw ride, think rickshaw attached to a bicycle. Our driver/biker was about 102 years old. I thought he was going to expire, I nearly offered to do the peddling for him, but he didn’t seem the chatty sort – the most he said was “give me a tip”.

We were safely delivered to the next part of our tour, the bumboat ride. Yep, well, apparently the little bumboats were used to go to the backend of the big boats to get the cargo. So yeah, bumboats. There could, of course, be other explanations.

We finally got home about 10pm in time for a couple of cocktails, for me, whilst Jason had a beer and fell asleep on the couch.

Day 2

We had the afore mentioned breakfast. I am officially in heaven and at risk of diabetes.

Luckily this was not an early start, well not as early as thought. We made our way back to Chinatown to pick up our tickets for the Gardens by the Bay. Turns out the tour company is not easy to find but went into the information centre and they were just freaking AMAZING. Sorted out tickets, directions, hints and tips. THANKS

Gardens by the Bay This place is just amazing. The first port of call Flower Dome! It is a massive green house, no really, its freaking HUGE. Filled with trees, flowers, succulents, and sculptures (and far too many tourists). Just fabulous.

This was followed by the Cloud Walk, I was not inspired by this name, but inside this particular dome is a fabulous experience. Sky walks, waterfalls, sculptures, amazing and slightly creepy plants. We loved it. Who comes up with this stuff????

On to the Supertrees! These are massive structures that have been designed to grow plant life on and around them. So whilst the structure itself is metallic by the time the plant life has matured they will look like massive trees between 25 and 50 metres tall. Plus, one of them houses a restaurant, and they all have lights that are used to do light displays in the evening. The Supertree Grove is free and you can wander around the walkways and bridges to your hearts content. Well done Singapore.

Marina Bay Sands All that nature and stuff wears you out! Nothing else to do but go have a drink, or two…

Everyone told us we had to go to Marina Bay Sands, cocktails are nice and the view is spectacular. I can attest they are right on both counts.

The view is beautiful and you can see the real expanse of Singapore. Just amazing. The cocktails were very tasty, ridiculously expensive though, don’t expect to walk away with change from a $50 for one cocktail and one beer. Oh well, when on honeymoon and stuff.

Sentosa Clearly we had not done enough that day so we decided to tick another item off our list and head to Sentosa Island. Not a lot to say about this really. Expensive, lots of tourists, and locals, and rides, and expensive food, and blah, blah, bah humbug. The beaches looked amazing, and they had some cool stuff but we could not be bothered with the queues so stuck to the gondolas, which offered amazing views. We spent an hour or so going back and forth J quite expensive but a bit of fun all the same.

Singapore Flyer Next on our checklist was the much anticipated Singapore Flyer. It could be called the Singapore Eye, but then we could have gotten into all sorts of issues with stereotypes and eye shapes etc. Anyhoo, what a trip! We bought the Singapore Sling version, which meant no queues, excellent service, no crowds. It was great, I always thought I would get bored moving that slow but it was COOL! A must do, Jason just kept talking about the engineering, I was like “preeeeeetty”.

Light show The last thing we had on our wish list for the day was to watch the light show at the Gardens on the Bay. This is where they light up the Supertrees to music. At the moment the music is Star Wars movie themes! Fanfreakingtastic! Only 15 minutes long, free, two shows (745 and 845), a must see!

Finally made it home! A couple of cold drinks, listening to music, Jason falling asleep on the couch… just like home J

Best sleep in a long time.

Day 3

Our last day in Singapore, insert sad face here, we had done so much the day before we didn’t want to overdo it today.

Zoooooooooo. So we started our day with breakfast with the Orangutans at the zoo. Very cute! You get an amazing buffet breakfast with the deal and that was worth it. Some cute orang-utan photos, access to all the zoo exhibitions. We spent a good three hours there and it was really good. Quite small, but nicely done, and we got quite close to some of the animals, obviously not the hungry ones!

Shopping Despite my resolution, Mr Barnes pointed out there was mailing services for a reason. You can mail shopping home. So we went to the Arab quarter in search of the prefect pashmina. I caved, I bought, I love! Jason was very helpful “yes dear, that looks great”. And I walked out with a beautiful scarf (or two). I shall be rocking these over the next two months.

The Arab Quarter is amazing, so different to the other parts of the city we saw. A beautiful mosque is the centre of the quarter and it was prayer time when we were there so you could hear the chants right across the area. Beautiful. The surroundings are artistic, clean, and beautiful, go for the walk if nothing else.

Frustration Then I made the mistake of trying to send postcards. We shall leave it at that. I still have them, and people shall be receiving Singaporean postcards sent from Europe.

NEXT So, we went back, we packed, we chilled, another walk around the neighbourhood, and we are at the airport waiting for our flight.

I would definitely come back to Singapore, and stay longer! A beautiful place with friendly people and amazing activities! Highly recommended.

Onto Europe!

Some Photos – In No Particular Order