Day 2 - May 2nd Singapore

OK, I know, late again... We are well into the trip now, but at least I have decent email and internet access - for a couple of days anyway and hopefully time to catch up a bit with the blog.

 

We were up about 7:30 after a much needed sleep.  The hotel cafe served an excellent and enjoyable buffet breakfast included in our night rate.  Amongst the usual western fare, there were such delights as chicken curry and roti.  They even had Lurpak butter for the toast!  We sat with a sheep farmer and his wife, from Gore, (South Island of NZ for those who have no idea where that is), then we ambled out in a leisurely style having bought two Hop on Hop off bus passes for $27 each. The bus stop was across the road and although we had done the bus thing before, we decided this time to get off at Little India.   If you want to see the contrast between the modern sanitised glass and concrete Singapore and the old Singapore, then little India is as good a place as any.  Somewhat scruffy and with a definite whiff of India about it, we caught the bus again about an hour later, having first visited an indoor market and a temple.

 

Note for travellers: The Hop on bus map, seemed to have one or two stops incorrectly marked – and this was one of them...

 

We hopped off again at the top of Orchard Road and headed for our favourite bakery, situated just behind the McCafe, where we had an excellent coffee whilst enjoying the bakery’s offerings.  We then walked the whole length of Orchard Road and found that the bus stops weren’t always common for both the purple and yellow routes, so it took us about 45 minutes to get onto a bus and even then, we had to flag it down!  At least it was dry and Paula managed to keep upright.  We simply relaxed and enjoyed the bus as it did the whole circuit, with a break at the Singapore “Eye”, alongside the race track.  We managed to get off the bus almost opposite our hotel again, so from that point of view alone, the hotel location works well. There is also a 711 store and the drink’s machine dispenses Coca Cola at about $1.50 a can.

 

As last night’s hotel meal was so reasonably priced, we ate there again (clam linguine!) and chatted with another south island sheep farming couple, plus Peter, the north shore policeman who sits in a camera van. 

 

Coffee in the room and bed about 11pm, with a midday flight to Dubai tomorrow to look forward to.