CYCLING IN SINGAPORE - WELL NOT QUITE!

We were planning to rest today, after our busy few days in Hong Kong, but it didn't quite work out like that!

We decided after wandering round last night that we would come back to the hotel for a meal, which was very enjoyable and after a good night's sleep felt refreshed and ready to go again!  Bearing in mind that you only live once and we may not come back to Singapore again, we thought we would explore a little this morning.

We had a leisurely breakfast and then ventured out.  There are beautiful flowers here in profusion - no wonder it is called the Garden City.  The orchids in our hotel are fantastic, both inside and out, as well as the bougainvilleas.  As we walked we saw the flowers at the top left of the collage, and when I looked more closely, I saw the little cricket on what looks like Bird of Paradise flowers.  

At 11 am it was already very hot and humid, so we "ducked down" into one of the shopping malls where the air conditioning is so welcome, passing many food stalls on the way, our senses being assaulted by many different sights and smells and many of the places were very busy.

We needed help from an assistant to buy our ticket for the MRT - the London equivalent of the underground, but much cleaner - then we were off.  We wanted to see Raffles Hotel, even though we knew it was being completely renovated, but got off at the wrong stop.  We thought that Raffles Place was where it was at, but we were wrong!  However, we did see some great buildings and sculptures along the way, so all was not lost but we decided that it was too warm to worry about Raffles today.  Perhaps we will go there later in the week, now we know how to get to the MRT.

We are not quite sure why hotels can't make a decent cup of coffee, and most of our money, apart from buying meals, has been spent on coffee - I think it has something to do with the milk, and as we are not really fans of UHT milk, which hotels seem to use, it was great to find a little coffee stall in one of the malls, where we stopped for our morning shot, and the young lady in the collage did us proud.  When I told her boss that the coffee in our hotel was rubbish, his response was "Get them to buy their coffee from me then!"  

I took a few shots in the MRT station - and wondered what part of "Please DO NOT wait here" these people and others didn't understand!  It was also interesting to see that nearly everyone was on their phone - either texting or playing games, although one young man was reading;   if you need wifi, then all you need to do is go into a coffee shop and it's there.

There are so many shop units that sell make-up and perfume in the various malls, that I even made a special collage to send to our granddaughter, Charlotte - she would be in her element here!  You can see from the display at the bottom of the collage how colourful everything is - and it is hard not to get "drawn in" to these places.  However, I have resisted buying anything so far.

There is a bicycle sharing scheme in Singapore near many of the MRT stations and it is possible to rent one for $1 (or about 54p.) for 30 minutes and although I stood near one and Mr. HCB took a photograph of me, I decided that I wasn't quite brave enough to rent one.  Payment has to be made by credit card, and if I used mine for that, the fees for using the card would probably be three times the amount of the hire charge!

On our way back to the hotel, we stopped in one of the perfume shops and Ivana - in the top middle of the collage - came over to speak to us.  Apparently, "Juliette has a Gun" can be used by either men or women - it smelled quite good, but Mr. HCB wasn't keen - and nor was I when I saw the price - but it was interesting to speak to her and I loved her lipstick - which you will see if you zoom in - perhaps I need to be more adventurous with my make-up!

The middle photograph on the left shows the glass structure outside one of the malls - they are absolutely huge and I think rather ostentatious- but that seems to be the way life is lived in Singapore.  If you look closely, you will see the reflection of both of us waving, along with the reflections of the other buildings around.  

The huge dog outside the Dolce & Gabbana building was called John Dog, and although I took a photograph of Mr. HCB standing next to it, he asked me not to include it, so I decided to be kind to him today and do as he asked!  However, I have put a shot of the front of the building in as an extra, and you will see how large it is from the size of the people underneath.

I mentioned that there were many sculptures around and almost in the middle is a bronze one of Nutmeg and Mace.  It is a two tonne bronze sculpture by Malaysian-born Kumasi Nahappan, a versatile painter and sculptor, which stands 3.6 metres high, and is her interpretation of an opened nutmeg seed, which shows its crimson mace.  It is on Singapore's Orchard Road, named after the orchard and nutmeg plantations of the 1830s until the site was cleared for commercial development in the 20th century.  

The plaque beside it states : "Today, few are familiar with the evergreen nutmeg tree or the sight of its seed - so distinctively protected by its red lace-like membrane (the mace).  The nutmeg, native to the Indonesian Spice Islands, was once traded as highly prized spice and essential oil and its supply source was a tightly guarded secret.  A symbol of trade or prosperity, the nutmeg is celebrated as the only tropical fruit that bears two flavours - referring to how both spices of nutmeg and mace are extracted from a single seed."  I shall certainly think about this when I am grating nutmeg to go on my rice pudding in future!

When I was looking up information about this sculpture and the artist, I was interested to read that after her schooling, she studied interior design at Willesden College of Technology in London in the mid 1970s.  

Thank you, once again, for your kind comments, stars and hearts - I do read them all, and I will start commenting again once we are back home - but I am so pleased you have been enjoying our adventures with us.  M xx