.. a weekend in Singapore ..
Well, it was a bit of a whirlwind trip, but our weekend in Singapore was awesome fun. We arrived by Aeroline bus at about 1am and one of the efficient friendly and super clean Toyota Crown's that form the majority of Singapore's taxi fleet quickly whisked us away to Geyland, where our (small & cheap) hotel was.
The room was small, but functional, and we didn't really care as we were only spending an hour or so either side of sleep there anyway. The neighbours were friendly too, seemingly our street being entirely populated by Singapore's lovely (and not quite so lovely) ladies of the night.
Actually, 'ladies of the night' is not quite the correct term because Saturday morning, 10am there were a couple of enthusiastic proponents peppering the footpath, with umbrella's to protect against the sun, of course. I'm not sure who exactly is looking to secure the company of a call-girl after (or before!) a Saturday breakfast, but hey, when in rome, something something something.
As we were going to be leaving at 2:30pm the next day, we knew we didn't have too much time on our hands, so after a casual sleep in we hit the road, first stop: Sentosa island and the aquarium. We caught the cable car from the Harbour front across to the island, which was actually a lot quicker journey than I expected it to be.
Before I go on, one thing I noticed about Singapore was that it seemed a reasonable amount hotter and less humid than KL. I'm not sure if that's a regular thing or just happened to be this weekend, but I can say that I deeply regretted wearing jeans on that first day. I was driven so mad by the heat that I was forced to purchase a solar powered fan-hat. Worth every cent, even though it barely works.
Anyway, so where was I? Aah yes, Sentosa, ok, so we made our way to the Aquarium which was thankfully largely underground. Actually enjoyed the aquarium more than I thought I would, and I was expecting it to be pretty good. A really nice collection of exhibits with very little along the boring model of sea animals line.
Highlights: surprisingly, perhaps the jellyfish.
Ok, so cable car back to the 'mainland' of Singapore, can't remember what we did for lunch, but not long after this alleged meal, we headed north, via taxi, to the zoo.
Singapore zoo is often spoken about in hushed tones amongst the zoological fans, and with good reason. This is a great zoo. We unfortunately only had about 90 minutes to see what was recommended to take twice as long, but I think we made a good go of it. Amazing place, can't wait to go back and do it all again.
Highlights: the Orangutan's? The huge crocs? Oh don't make me choose.
Lowlights: perhaps we were a bit late and some of the attractions had gone for a lie down.
This is not one of them, this is a worker sleeping in the back of a moving truck on the highway:
Dinner was a great wanton noodle soup (Peilin, please help, what was it called again?) and then completely unnecessarily followed by satay sticks. In my rush to get out of work on Friday I forgot the print the details of where we were actually catching our return bus from the next day, so probably the next hour was spent hunting down an internet cafe so I could check. Thanks Chills Cafe, job well done in true Singaporean style... clean, quiet, minimum fuss.
Taxi back to the hotel (Peilin remarking that maybe one of the ladies was going swimming because she was wearing a bikini top). Aaah sleep, sleep, glorious sleep.
Sunday morning, another sleep in, then over to east coast park for a nice bike ride along the water then lunch at somewhere exotic..Burger King.
Just quickly, on the topic of taxis.. the whole scale of economics is a bit different here in KL, and taxi rides are often laughably cheap, even paying the gwei-lo rates. Singapore is much closer to Sydney in terms of exchange rate and prices, yet still the taxi's cost about $S15 for 20 minute trip. And we're talking a really nice taxi experience here too. Why are Australian taxi's so damn expensive per km?
Hmmm... Anyways... After lunch back into the Harbourside again, a nice amount of time wandering around 'Candy Empire' (we spent how much in there?) Then back on the bus to return to KL. Phew. I think that's got it all.
I will miss the long, rolling green avenues of you Singapore, and your clean, organised ways. .. ...But we shall meet again.
The room was small, but functional, and we didn't really care as we were only spending an hour or so either side of sleep there anyway. The neighbours were friendly too, seemingly our street being entirely populated by Singapore's lovely (and not quite so lovely) ladies of the night.
Actually, 'ladies of the night' is not quite the correct term because Saturday morning, 10am there were a couple of enthusiastic proponents peppering the footpath, with umbrella's to protect against the sun, of course. I'm not sure who exactly is looking to secure the company of a call-girl after (or before!) a Saturday breakfast, but hey, when in rome, something something something.
As we were going to be leaving at 2:30pm the next day, we knew we didn't have too much time on our hands, so after a casual sleep in we hit the road, first stop: Sentosa island and the aquarium. We caught the cable car from the Harbour front across to the island, which was actually a lot quicker journey than I expected it to be.
Before I go on, one thing I noticed about Singapore was that it seemed a reasonable amount hotter and less humid than KL. I'm not sure if that's a regular thing or just happened to be this weekend, but I can say that I deeply regretted wearing jeans on that first day. I was driven so mad by the heat that I was forced to purchase a solar powered fan-hat. Worth every cent, even though it barely works.
Anyway, so where was I? Aah yes, Sentosa, ok, so we made our way to the Aquarium which was thankfully largely underground. Actually enjoyed the aquarium more than I thought I would, and I was expecting it to be pretty good. A really nice collection of exhibits with very little along the boring model of sea animals line.
Highlights: surprisingly, perhaps the jellyfish.
Ok, so cable car back to the 'mainland' of Singapore, can't remember what we did for lunch, but not long after this alleged meal, we headed north, via taxi, to the zoo.
Singapore zoo is often spoken about in hushed tones amongst the zoological fans, and with good reason. This is a great zoo. We unfortunately only had about 90 minutes to see what was recommended to take twice as long, but I think we made a good go of it. Amazing place, can't wait to go back and do it all again.
Highlights: the Orangutan's? The huge crocs? Oh don't make me choose.
Lowlights: perhaps we were a bit late and some of the attractions had gone for a lie down.
This is not one of them, this is a worker sleeping in the back of a moving truck on the highway:
Dinner was a great wanton noodle soup (Peilin, please help, what was it called again?) and then completely unnecessarily followed by satay sticks. In my rush to get out of work on Friday I forgot the print the details of where we were actually catching our return bus from the next day, so probably the next hour was spent hunting down an internet cafe so I could check. Thanks Chills Cafe, job well done in true Singaporean style... clean, quiet, minimum fuss.
Taxi back to the hotel (Peilin remarking that maybe one of the ladies was going swimming because she was wearing a bikini top). Aaah sleep, sleep, glorious sleep.
Sunday morning, another sleep in, then over to east coast park for a nice bike ride along the water then lunch at somewhere exotic..Burger King.
Just quickly, on the topic of taxis.. the whole scale of economics is a bit different here in KL, and taxi rides are often laughably cheap, even paying the gwei-lo rates. Singapore is much closer to Sydney in terms of exchange rate and prices, yet still the taxi's cost about $S15 for 20 minute trip. And we're talking a really nice taxi experience here too. Why are Australian taxi's so damn expensive per km?
Hmmm... Anyways... After lunch back into the Harbourside again, a nice amount of time wandering around 'Candy Empire' (we spent how much in there?) Then back on the bus to return to KL. Phew. I think that's got it all.
I will miss the long, rolling green avenues of you Singapore, and your clean, organised ways. .. ...But we shall meet again.
4 comments:
Do you have short hair now ?
Also my fav travel story ever was my lunch with an orangutang at singapore zoo ...
And what may i ask is Candy Empire .. sounds like a Michael Jackson-esque kiddy trap.
Next time you go, you need to try out breakfast at the zoo - they bring along a couple of animals that you can take photos with during your buffet breakfast. Brilliant!
That noodles were called ''dumpling pan mee'' (if not mistaken) hehe... sorry, i can't help you.
Yay,Candy Empire..!! We had spent about S$45++ in the candy shop..i'm sorry honey..I've lost the receipt.. :P
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