Singapore Stopover

The flight from the UK to Singapore was fine. The A380 is the smoothest plane we’ve been on – although there was a collective squeal from all the ladies on the plane as we were coming into land and the plane seemed to drop as we flew through low cloud! (And then there was a collective manly chuckle from the blokes!)

It was early morning when we landed and we got a cab to the hotel. Entering the hotel lobby is quite amazing – it’s called the 'Atrium', and when you look up each floor has a row of lights, and there are 6 glass lifts in a row with lights on going up and down. I’m not really explaining it very well, but it was quite cool (hopefully the pictures will show it better!).

We were determined not to go to sleep so that we could try and overcome the jet lag quickly. So we went to our room on the 15th floor to quickly freshen up, and then it was off out to the famous Orchard Road to see the sights! First stop Burger King!!! After re-fuelling we set off with good intentions, but after not too long the heat and humidity, combined with tiredness, got the better of us so we headed back to the hotel to lie down before we fell down!

We agreed that we’d only get some sleep for two hours max before getting up again, incase we couldn’t manage to sleep in the night.- 6 hours later I was still trying to wake Mr Booy! But eventually he could be stirred and we went out for a meal in a fab restaurant by the river – an Australian bar called Boomerang! When we got back to the hotel we went to the bar for a cocktail and watched the world filtering through the lobby. The more we watched, the more we got suspicious about the number of women who were potentially ‘ladies of the night’! Interesting viewing, however on reflection we realised that there was a nightclub just through the back door so we might have been being a little unfair and judgemental about the ladies of Singapore!!!

In the morning we got up and had breakfast in the hotel restautant overlooking the city, and then we caught the free shuttle bus back to Orchard Road to carry on where we had left off the day before! The shops in Singapore are amazing, so if you fancy a fab shopping trip it's the place to go – however it’s not quite the same when you can’t add any more weight to your case!!! But the shopping arcades are nice and cool which is a blessing as it was incredibly hot and humid! We still managed to do a lot of walking though and walked the length of Orchard Road, through Suntec City and down to the Singapore Flyer. This sounds easy, but it’s the time of the Grand Prix and a lot of roads are fenced off, so we did a lot more walking than we had planned in order to get around the circuit! And when we got to the Singapore Flyer we couldn’t go on it because it was closed due to the Grand Prix! We then walked again and found the Merlion. Again we had to detour round the Grand Prix circuit but it was worth it.

So what else could we do other than head to Raffles for a Singapore Sling! Raffles really is an impressive hotel and as we sat outside the billiards room and bar sipping the lovely pink stuff, looking out at the fountain in the courtyard, we remarked on how romantic it all must have been back in the day – and then we heard the roar of the grand prix!!!! Very much enjoyed it though and saw parts of the hotel we shouldn’t have been in (residents only – oops!), and got a piccie taken with the scary guards!!!

We then went as saw the biggest fountain in the world – which as the photo shows obviously wasn’t on full when we saw it!!!!

Dinner the second night was in a Chinese restaurant – chopsticks and all!

For our final day in Singapore we spent the morning in China Town. The hustle and bustle of the marketplace was a world away from the modern arcades of Orchard Road. We bought ourselves some chopsticks – a nice souvenir that won’t take our baggage over the limit! We then went to Raffles City and Suntec City to cool off with the air conditioning, and then back to the hotel for a swim in the rooftop pool – bliss!!!

All too quickly it’s early morning and we’re making our way to the airport again. Singapore airport is a great place to have to wait for a while, so we made the most of looking round the shops before boarding the plane and setting off again. This time it’s a smaller plane and it’s not such a nice flight, but it went really quickly.  In what seemed like a lot less than 6.5 hours we land in Melbourne - the place that will be our home for the next 4 years!!!!! Going through Customs they sent us to the quarantine bit, and we prepared ourselves for it being a long wait while we’re searched. The guard asked if we had any food or wood with us, to which we replied no and he said ‘No worries mate I’m happy with that’ and he sent us on our way! Phew!!

As we came through arrivals there was my brother, Mark, waiting to greet us! It’s so nice to have travelled to the other side of the world and have a familiar face there waiting for you. I still don’t know quite how Mark and Emma managed to do all this over a year ago with two small children and no one to help them settle in! So it was back to Mark and Emma’s, with a stop to pick up pizza on the way! After being fed and watered with a couple of glasses of wine it was time to retire for a very good first night’s sleep in Australia!!!