Singapore - September 2013

I flew into Singapore with a suitcase full of both cold and hot weather clothes, a carry on bag full of cameras and a stomach full of excitement.  I was not let down!  

Singapore was my stop over on the way to Iceland (blog to come!) We were there for 4 nights in total and we filled every single moment of those 4 days!!

I flew in and made my way to Marina Mandarin.  It was a nice hotel, situated in a great location to the MRT (trains) and a really good and cheap food court. By the time I had checked in and organised myself it was time to go back to the airport to pick up Jen who was going to travel with me on this adventure. We got there about 4 nights before the F1 was about to start so they were setting up the track. I was talking to the taxi driver about all the work that was going on and he mentioned that I was lucky that we were leaving after only 4 nights otherwise the accommodation prices would go up by 20%!

Our view from the Room

 The first day we headed to a Singapore City Tour.  This was great as we got to see the Botanical Gardens, in particular the Orchard Gardens as well as the Merloin, Chinatown and the Thian Hock Keng Temple, all the different Embassy in a drive by, and then Little India.  We ended up having lunch at little India which was great, cheap and tasty!!  They had fresh markets there that was selling spices and fresh seafood then it opened up to little food stalls, selling everything that you could want.  The only thing that we had to decide was what we wanted!  

Botanical Gardens

Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Speak No Evil

"Golden Showers" It is what the plant is called I promise!

Me and the Merloin

The morning turned afternoon going around the city was great but we had to get rest for the next day - UNIVERSAL STUDIOS!  It was great!  There was so many rides, Madagaster, Happy Ever After, Jurassic Park, the Mummy Rollercoaster and then best one was Transformers!  It was great!  I was like a kid in a candy store all day. We didn't even eat till late in the day at a diner, the whole day went so fast!   We did have to line up for the Transformers ride but it was definitely worth it.  It span and turned and dived and it felt so real!  I would have lined up again for it but the park was closing! By the time this little black duck was back at the hotel she was buggered!

Looking Far Far Away

Transformers!!

Our Third day in Singpoare and today was all about the animals.  We were up early again to head to the Zoo to have Breakfast with the Orangutans.  It was nice to see them up close and just chilled out while I was eating breaky.  You get to line up and have your photos taken with them which is quite close to the Orangutans.  You then get about 3 hours to explore the Zoo.  It is quite cool to see, some great statues and animals but they don't look all that happy.  It may be just me reading things into it but.. oh well it was a great Zoo to walk around and see.  We did it all in the 3 hours then we got to head back to the hotel to collect our luggage as we were off the the Raffles for the night!! So excited!!

Me and the Orangutans, (I'm the on in the front!)

Oh my Gosh it's a Giant Tiger!!

At the Raffles we didn't want to leave once we had checked in.  It was great so beautiful and stylish.  It is a Period Hotel with so much class and style.  I felt like royalty!  Was given a Singapore Sling when we were checking in (for freee!) and we were given a butler and - oh wow!  it was just great!

Raffles Hotel

The patio

Singapore Sling at the Raffles

Instead of having dinner at the hotel we went to complete our Animal day with the Night Safari.  That was pretty cool as the animals weren't in a cage and we were able to go through in a train through their sections. At the end we got to put our feet in the fish feeding thing.  It was pretty cool to have them come up and eat the dead skin off.  It tickled a bit too!! 

My feet being "cleansed" 

The last day at Singapore we just relaxed at the hotel and did nothing.  Swam in the pool - lay in the sun - swam in the pool - it was a hard morning! We thought that we should head out for a bit have see a bit more of Singapore (as we hadn't seen enough!) and went up to Marina bay Sands and had a look at the view from the top.  Buy the time we had walked around (the F1 track was being set up by this stage, I swear we walked the whole track!) it was time to get changed and ready for our three flights to the other side of the world!   

Where to next - TBA (well not really but it sounds good!!)