Day 14 - Singapore!

Out for our morning tour of Singapore. Not entirely successful, as we didn’t go and see the famous Singapore landmarks that I assumed we’d be visiting. (We had chosen the trips with ‘moderate’ walking…)

Our tour guide, Nigel Fernandez (!) was Indian, and gave us lots of information about living in Singapore, which he loved. He also told a funny story how he was named Nigel. His parents were Royalsts, and the first son was called ‘William’… he would have been called Harry, but his mum intervened.

But the first thing we did on a morning tour was… stop for a coffee! It was mentioned in the description, but we assumed it was a suggestion on our ramblings. It took ages for very very strong coffee to eventually arrive, pre-sugared! I won’t mention the ‘toasties’ filled with a slice of - not cheese - but butter!!

Next stop, Nigel set off at pace round to the river, crossing roads (luckily on lights this time) without a care for his slower tourists. And I wasn’t the slowest, there was a young woman who walks with great difficulty (she’s actually recovering).

Fantastic architecture, of course, old and new. A drive round the ‘Arab quarter’ then the ‘Indian quarter’ then a walk round Chinatown, before a very slow drive up the glitzy shops of Orchard Road. But we did pass Raffles, where Mr Singh, who has been there for donkeys years, gave us a wave as we passed. Many people chose the correct tour, and had a wonderful morning. But the afternoon tours didn’t fare so well - torrential rain.

Dinner tonight at the French restaurant. The meals (in each restaurant) vary so much - in one, the main course was three scallops, and so you order sides. Then next place you order too much. We both had very nice fish dishes, and the waiter was having a bit of fun - usually it’s formal, very polite, service.

From there we went to the theatre, for it was a musical tribute to 60s British music. It was fantastic. We were right down the front this time. It started with newsreel clips of the Beatles taking America by storm on the Ed Sullivan Show. Wonderful music and dancing and costumes.

But NO drinkies afterwards - last night we were last to leave the juke box bar with our Yorkshire friends with the Shetland connection.

Also, we keep gaining and losing an hour. Very confusing for me, and my phone! One evening we went for pre/dinner drinkies, only to find that the bar was still SHUT! It was only 5.30, not 6.30.