Day 3 and 4

Day 3 was our last day in Singapore and we were flying out that night to Paris.

A long, long day, especially as neither of us got any sleep on the plane.

Our last day in Singapore was spent  sightseeing on a hop-on-hop-off bus tour which was competing ferocioualy with a rival company that had the Hopper.  We were on the Hippo that meant we could change between the City tour (so I could check out Orchard Road) and  the Historic Tour which was far more interesting.

Here's the only photo I took. We'd  arrived during the Moon Festival  so the streets of Chinatown were featooned with lanterns.

 We saw enough to know that we wanted to spend more time in Singapore, even with the two full days we have on the trip back home. We were all sight seed out so we went to Changi Airport to hang around there until our flight was called. Changi is a hub, so offered gratefully received services like free Wi-Fi and more importantly, after a long hot sightseeing tour, showers.

Finally our flight was called and we wearily made our way to the plane. Neither of us could sleep properly on the plane so the entire trip was spent in a tortuous  half doze.


We eventually made it to Paris. Took the train in, which was very easy to do except for the ticket machines not accepting Euro notes. Waited In a nearby cafe until our landlady showed up.

 Found the apartment. Found the lift wasn't working so dragged our luggage up six flights of narrow Parisian stairs. After a small, deserved rest we went for a walk and the lift was working on our return. Tomorrow Will be our first full day in Paris - after some much needed sleep.

Day 2

Our first full  day in Singapore and I'm just too tired for a full post. So let's see if I can tell it mainly through pictures :

 First port of call was the largest Ferris Wheel in the world - the Singapore Flyer

 As an aside - whilst the Flyer is literally right next door to the Marina Sands, distances in Singapore are misleading because you've sweated out at least twice the journey's worth by the time you get there.

 Anyway - this is what it looks like from the top of the Flyer

 Impressive, no?

Then on to The Esplanade Theatre complex as sometime ago Brett's and my play Relics was performed there

The curious thing about the Esplanade was that everyone else there were also tourists. And everyone was asking everyone else for directions.

 We were trying to find our way to the Raffles Centre for lunch and,  more importantly, air conditioning. But we instead went in the wrong direction and found ourselves here :

which is where Llyn wanted to go anyway. The Merlion of Singapore..This is the small version as the real one was being scrubbed up for his 40th anniversary. Which we will miss as well as the Grand Prix- preparations for which were making it difficult for us to cross Singapore anyway. We made it to the Raffles Centre, then onto the Funan Digitalife Mall. We're  going back tomorrow so I can get a proper keyboard for this tablet.

 Finally here's Llyn in front of the Marina Sands - from over the other side of the bay

and here she is on top of the  hotel in the infinity pool, relaxing after a long day

 and here's what the pool looks like

 Tomorrow, our last day in Singapore then we fly to Paris!

Day 1!

We've made it to Singapore!

To tell the truth the trip was frightfully uneventful, though the concentration of electronics in my bag did slow our progress through security. Important tip - tablets do qualify as laptops under such conditions.

But enough about airport security,  there are other second rate comedians who more than adequately cover the subject. To cut a long flight short we made it to Changi airport in time to wait for our shuttle to the fabulous Marina Bay Sands Hotel

which is so big it has its own coach terminal

We are, of course , in the cheapest tower - Tower 3 - but the staff will still talk to us. We worked out the complex process of entering our room and switching the lights on, dumped our luggage and went off in search of sustenance.

As we were reluctant to spend all our money on a single meal we had to go further afield to a food court that happened to be just next to an ice skating rink. Just like the Macquarie Centre. Food  courts in Singapore are not for the timid. We retreated to the relative safety of a nearby burger joint.

And to reward you for making it this far - here's the view from our window