Bills version of Singapore: a riot of cultures and sensations.

Singapore was a riot of cultures and sensations.
We had been here in 1980 and really don't have many memories of the place.
As you realise we truly are infrequent travellers out side of godzone, and even though we like to think of ourselves as worldly wise, it was still an assault on all our senses.

Night time on the Singapore River

The first thing is the enormity of it all, I mean the world, it is big, really really big, even flying over Brisbane earlier in the week was a spectacle. Development everywhere spreading in all directions. At 10km high and 850 km an hr it is still a sprawling mass that went on for some time.As did the following desert..
The flight was long and very smooth but S would beg to differ. I'm sad to say she was pretty spooked most of the trip and can't have been much fun for her.
The in house entertainment was pretty swishy and the Singapore Girls very helpful, but  we were ready to get on the ground and get our bodies moving again after ten & half hours of incarceration.
The first real assault was the hot humidity. Its like a body hit, an energy sapping breath taking drain on your body. Thankfully the fact that all public building  space is air conditioned makes the place a little more tolerable especially for all the toffs dressed as you would expect at any business meeting in London or Wellington.
 The energy bill must be huge.

Lovely wide cycleways

It is Singapore's 50 year of Independence and plans are well afoot to celebrate. It is evident everywhere with lots of buildings being cleaned and tidied up, everywhere we ventured. Singapore's greatest resources would have to be unlimited cheap labour and very deep pockets. This is not to mention huge new development in buildings & infrastructure, city wide, teaming with ant like workers late into the night, though can't be sure, working 24 hrs.
The local paper makes mention of the care that is given to keeping noise nuisance to a minimum where this is happening in built up areas. Certainly as you travel at night there was much evidence of road works setting up to be undertaken into the small wee hours.

The other assault or juxtaposition of sense was olfactory. We were often salivating & excited by the food smells emanating from the food stalls as we drove by or pounded the pavements, but then as quick as, could be overcome (Sheryl almost gagging) by what I assume was sewerage smells venting into the street. Whether this was due to all the reconstruction and re routing of services, I can't say but would guess, may be to blame. Needless to say this put a quick stop to the salivating
Anyway our 3 days was full of us gawking, slack jawed, camera snapping, in awe, covering a lot of ground, not really even scratching the surface, there is a lot to do here and 3 days didn't cut the mustard.

Where some of the luckier residents live

We loved Chinatown and made some purchases there. It was like hundreds of $2 dollar shops plus much much more. Sheryl found it so overwhelming that she didn't make any purchases.I know! Unheard of !!!!!. I on the hand had a jolly old time:))

Amazing architecture

The other thing we did which I suppose in many way sums up our "a typical holiday" was the hiring of  bikes and doing about a 20km odd loop around the bay which followed pleasant waterside pathways through parks reserves and then through the river side cafes and bars, which in many places were very upmarket, and others still quaint  in the older developed ways, tho as alluded to, a lot of reconstruction impeding the way.

More of the cycleways

Nonetheless a highlight, and made the discovery of our hotel pool most welcome after 5 hours in the saddle and no air conditioning.The beer was also very welcome.
So after three days of exploration, energy sapping heat and mind bending architecture, we are now on the 13 hr leg to London on a plane less than half full and did I mention the entertainment system??? This leg has the latest model plane and it is very good with touch screens and a huge collection of music and movies and games. We also needed to enter thru the business section, (much to their discomfit) & wow. Keep buying the lotto is my mantra.

Bill went up in the Flyer alone!

View out to the harbour - Bill up in the Flyer