A quiet day

Our second full day in Singapore started with breakfast at a 'bakery'. This is a stall serving a constantly changing range of pastries which are cooked in full view of the customers. We sat outside, John writing the previous entry on the blog and Pat writing postcards. Other tourists joined us at the tables and, not for the first time, we were asked about the iPad and how we get on with it. It's a shame that we are not on commission!

After a walk to Little India and its very varied market, we met Gaik, a former colleague of John in Cambridge. We spent several hours together, catching up over lunch. It was then time for a rest before the excitement of the 'Night Safari' at the zoo (www.nightsafari.com.sg/). Once in the park and as soon as it was dark enough, we were on the open 'trams' being driven around to see hyenas, elephants, lions, rhinos, giraffes, flamingos, otters and many other animals of the night in their natural surroundings and with nothing other than water or ditches between us and them. The lighting is very subdued and flash is banned, so we really needed James and his big camera to get any pictures, but John's best effort follows.





We returned at about 10 and, as we got off the bus, I had a very unusual experience - my glasses steamed up as I stepped into the open air. It normally only happens when I go from the open air into a warm building.

We finished the day with a beer, and then headed off to Little India again to see the lights of Deepavali, a festival of lights.





So, this is our last day a in Singapore and comes to you from the tables at the bakery. We had rain overnight, and more is forecast. We leave here at 10pm tonight, heading for Darwin.


Pat and John on tour

Heights of Singapore

Day 1 in Singapore was seeing the heights. The breakfasts in Ibis hotels are always good but it would be an American buffet. Instead we had a Singapore Breakfast in the basement of the Sim Lim Square. The basement, partly outdoors, is a Hawker Centre. The Hawker Centres are a great way of organising good food. Chefs specialising in a type of food have little stalls and the seating area is communal and serviced by others. But at 9am the chefs were preparing their food for the day and only a central drinks stall was going and serving breakfast. We had the breakfast meal - tea or coffee, two lightly boiled eggs and toast. We also tried some hot steamed buns that seemed to be very popular and about to run out. They had a white exterior of rice pastry and different types of savoury fillings.

After photographing our local temples,

we bought our three day travel pass and set off in search of the Anderson Bridge. This bridge is of sentimental value to Pat as her favourite cousin, Jack, did his military service here and sent back a photo of the bridge to his little cousin then seven. The photo still adorns the cover of the Deakin green photo album. Having not worked out exactly were the bridge was we came across the cable car instead and couldn't resist the photo opportunity this presented. The cable car goes from Mount Faber down to the top of a skyscraper and then across the harbour to the Island of Sentosa. We headed first to Sentosa, a tourist Island that is a bit like a disney resort and is in the process of becoming even more so. Not really our thing. We took some photos of its Merlion, a mythical beast half fish half lion, and left.

The views en route were spectacular. We had lunch in the Jewel Box restaurant looking out to sea from the top of Mount Faber. The top of this hill is a tropical rainforest park and we walked around and experienced the sounds and smells of the forest. Signs explained what to do if a monkey fancied your lunch. There were great views across the island in all directions. On the way we walked across the Henderson Waves an impressive footbridge between the tops of two hills. It was rare to come across other people on this walk.

After working out where the Anderson Bridge was exactly. We walked along the seafront by the Fullerton Hotel and Pat photographed the bridge from all sides to be sure to have the same picture as the Green album. It is a very nice area with the City Hall and other nineteenth century buildings but by now it was time to rest the feet.

In the evening we had our Singapore Slings in the Long Bar at Raffles and then took the Singapore Flyer - a ferrous wheel somewhat larger than the millennium wheel. This gave us magnificent views of Singapore at night. At ground level we also walked across the Helical Bridge and took even more photos. We ate in a Hawker Centre - last customers of the day it was Hobson's choice of stall and meal but it was great. Then last tube back to the hotel and a run through at the photos of the day.


Below: the Anderson Bridge.






Below: night view from the Singapore Flyer across Marina Bay.






Below: the Helical footbridge and the Sands SkyPark.









Below: Singapore Slings in Raffle's Long Bar.








Below: view from the cable car.









No rain yet!

Pat and John on tour

Airbus 380 takeoff at Heathrow

Our plane had a camera in its tail and so we had a birds eye view of the takeoff on our monitors.


And of the landing at Singapore.

Pat and John on tour

In Singapore

We arrived at Changi on schedule at 1730 local time yesterday.

First impressions are very good. The drive from the airport was as through a park, very green and with flowering bushes. The taxi driver was friendly and pointed out highlights as he drove.

After a much needed shower, we set forth and wandered around the area, which is close to China Town and to Bugis Street

We ate in a small restaurant where we were the only Europeans. Our neighbours helped us choose from the menu and were very friendly, as were the staff.

We just missed a trip on the Singapore Flyer (big wheel) but will try again this evening.

We have just finished a Singaporean breakfast, tea or coffee both with condensed milk, toast with condensed milk and eggs. It tastes better than it sounds. We are going to enjoy the eating challenge.

The weather is hot and humid and we expect a downpour, but it's not worrying us.

This is a pic from our wanderings last night




Pat and John on tour

At Heathrow

We spent the day pottering around at Helen's and then called in at a lovely little cafe in Crouch End where Helen used to have her studio. It is run by a french couple.

We are now waiting at Heathrow T3. It's more than 10 years since we were last here and it's as busy as ever with all nationalities.





Our plane leaves in 2 hours for Simgapore

Pat and John on tour

Early birthday celebration

We arrived on Thursday evening and are staying with Helen and Nick in London. We were in Cambridge on Friday, catching up with lots of friends and then went across to Hackney on Saturday to see James.

Today we had an early birthday celebration for John who will be 64 at the beginning of October.




Pat and John on tour

TGV

The French TGV is a great train. The video is our our train to Paris arriving at Béziers. The TGV is a double decker and if you are on the top deck you get a great view. Each train is an integrated set of carriages and so longer trains are made up of two units. The suspension bogies straddle the carriages with a set of wheels under each carriage so the carriages are not independent units to shuffle about. The top operating speed is 320 km/hr, we have seen 295 km/hr. In trials in 2007 a TGV set a new world record of 574.8 Km/hr. These speeds require new railway lines to be built with gentle curves. The high speed network is being expanded all the time but it will be 2020 before the high speed track is completed from Nimes to Spain. The proposed route has only just been submitted for approval. Stations on the new lines are typically in the countryside on the outskirts of cities.

The train is quiet and the ride smooth. One absurd feature is the size of the toilets which seem even smaller than on an airplane.

This was our first train trip from Béziers to Paris. Unfortunately our train was an hour late into Paris as it had to avoid a section of fast track where the electricity supply had failed. This meant that our planned leisurely transfer from Gare du Lyon to Gare du Nord was rather stressful. We sat down in our Eurostar seats
with two minutes to spare.


Pat and John on tour

We are on our way.

After nearly a year of planning, we are on our way. Our friends Marian and Tony dropped us off at the station and we are now speeding along in the direction of Paris en route to London.

The photo is of the bar on the TGV. The blue number above the bar shows the train speed in Km/hr.

Less than 48 hours to go

As you can imagine, we have spent today packing frantically.

True to form, one of John's teeth fell apart, but this time it happened before we left home. Having a dentist close to the beach, we simply had to say au revoir to the Med








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