Thursday, 22 October 2009

Singapore River Cruise

After a good night's sleep after the long day of travel, we had a bit of a lay in & a decent breakfast.
Right outside the hotel was a river boat cruise operator and a cruise along the Singapore river sounded like a good way to fill in the morning.


They took us up stream to start with past all the hotels (above) & some big apartment blocks. Nothing especially interesting, but there was lots of greenery for such a heavily populated place. There was one interesting bridge along the way (below). Strange design & even stranger paint job.
We passed Clarke Quay on the way back down stream. At Clarke Quay, both sides of the river are lined with restaurants and bars. Some aren't even on land, but are converted fishing boats.
Just down stream of Clarke Quay is the Old Boat Quay. It was the original trade port of Singapore. Now the docks have been converted to restaurants and bars but have kept the original facades. Behind them are the modern sky scrapers of the city. Quite an odd contrast.
Down stream is more about the government & business part of Singapore. Just looks like any other city doesn't it? Well it pretty much is.


There's also a cultural side to Singapore. I can't recall exactly what some of the buildings are below, but there is a cluster of museums, art galleries, a riverside stadium & cultural centres at the mouth of the river. Some of the buildings are straight out odd. I'll let you be the judge.

What typical city in the world these days is complete with out a big Ferris wheel? This one (below) is called the Singapore Flyer. I have to apologise at this point for the quality of the photos. The problem is that Singapore is almost on the Equator & is shrouded in clouds much of the time.
The star attraction for the tourist is the Merlion. This is probably the most recognisable land mark in Singapore.

We fast ran out of ideas of things to do & the climate wasn't exactly helping motivation. In hind sight we should have gone to the multi theme park, Sentosa for the day. Singapore isn't really a tourist destination. We wandered through China town then had lunch at Clarke Quay.

We headed to the "Budget" airport early (mainly to hide in the air con.). We were booked on a Tiger flight to Phuket. Tiger & the other budget airlines leave from a different no frills terminal (which is more like a huge shed). There isn't much to do there but there which is stark contrast to the shopping malls in the main Changi terminal. Tiger may be no frills, but you do get what you pay for. With no expectations of entertainment & food, I was actually quite impressed. The planes are fitted out with new interiors & there was even plenty of leg room. No complaints from me.

I think it took us the best part of 2 hrs to get from the airport tarmac to the hotel including a 45 min taxi ride. I was very glad to be closing my eyes later that night.

Singapore Airlines

With a sense of trepidation (thanks to job security issues) I booked a trip to Singapore & Thailand for Kerri's xxth birthday. My plan was to let her know we were going somewhere, but for her not to know where. Nice idea, but just after I'd locked in all the flights & accommodation, she tricked me into giving up my secret. Never mind. It was doing her head in anyway.

I'd booked us on Singapore Airlines for the Perth Singapore part of the trip (being longish haul) & it turned out to be a good decision. I don't mind flying discount on short flights, but once it head up near the 5 hr mark, I like the entertainment, food & leg room you get on the better airline. Singapore are pretty much at the top of the tree & fairly competitive for cost. Their new A330s (pictured) are awesome! The screens in the back of the seats are massive & more movies on offer than you could imagine. Before we knew it we were descending into Singapore.

For such a big airport, Changi was incredibly quiet. We grabbed out bags off the carousel, slipped out of the airport without fuss (only to be smacked in the face by the humidity. The taxi took us to the Novatel in Clarke Quay (the restaurant district next to the downtown area). The foyer of the hotel was chockers full of Emirates hostesses in full work clobber.

That evening we wandered around the Quay area admiring the pretty lights & hating the sweltering heat & humidity. I couldn't even take photos because the camera lens fogged up.