Day 48 Singapore, day1/2

In fact, my three night stay here spans four days. Two are complete days In which to cram in as much as possible, given that Singapore is somewhat more than “a commute” from the U.K.

I am beginning to appreciate the principle of the hop-on, hop-off Big Bus facilities available in most cities world wide.

This morning, the hotel concierge pointed me in the direction of the Big Bus service whose hub for all routes is right opposite the hotel. I started at around 11am and so far, the “red” route has given me a brief look at the older part of the city including the Indian and Chinese quarters. I am now on the “yellow” route which takes you to The Singapore Flyer, Gardens by the Bay, Botanical Gardens and many other places to explore. The Botanical Gardens enticed me to “bail out” from the “yellow” bus for the time being. I have just finished the first “sensible and healthy” lunch for two or three weeks, tomato soup, which tasted as if made from local ingredients, and a tomato salad. I shall walk around and excersise my photographic imagination as I am treated to some wonderful sights and sounds. I am finding that this trip is “complimentary” to last year’s World Voyage, and however critical one might be of “shore excursions’, most are in fact very well thought out and I remain convinced that they do offer the best opportunity to maximise one’s short amount of time at any port of call. Nevertheless, the Big Bus does give that degree of independence, time permitting, and not being committed to a ship’s sailing time. I think I prefer the mix of different modes of transport. As I emphasised in yesterday’s blog, this journey has panned out very much better than I thought it would. So I shall now explore, at my own pace, Singapore’s Botanical Gardens. It is overcast; however, the sun has roasted my head, reminding me of being thin on top! Another hat was the order of the day! Too big to pack, this will be worn all the way back to Buxton!

More later today.

Pictures taken tonight.

At long last, I got to see the light show at Gardens By The Bay. Another amazing highlight. I shall write more tomorrow when my plans are to go on the Singapore Flyer, revisit and spend more time in the Sky Park, catch afternoon tea at The Fullerton and see if I can handle some public transport. That’s the plan.

The evening pictures are taken at Garden By the Bay, Chinatown, and my hotel. I hope to add to today’s writings; I am quite tired now.

Many thanks for reading,

David.

Inside the Botanical Gardens Orchard Garden.

The above photographs are really not in the right order. In the evening I enjoyed a night tour which included the magnificent daily light show among those “funny trees” in Gardens by the Bay. Although but 13 minutes in duration, this was a phenomenal “son et lumiere” display synchronised with well known “snatches” of appropriate classical movement. The curtain was brought down on this fantastic show by the last bars of The Great Gate of Kiev, that triumphant finale from Ravel’s orchestration of Moussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition” Wow!!!!

Added 08.49 21/3/19.