After a really hectic week following the Grand Prix in Melbourne I decided I needed a break. Work is going to go crazy and I was not planning on doing anything over Easter. I decided to formulate my crazy plan the week before Easter. Abi my sister was in Singapore for a fashion show / work, so what the hell why not go and visit? After all Singapore is one of those places most people have passed through on the way to somewhere. Passing through Changi is a pleasure as always so the plan was formed.
I managed to find flights with Emirates for $600 return… half that of Singapore Airlines. I booked a flight out of Brisbane 2:45am on Good Friday, returning back 1am on the Tuesday. Three and a half days in one city should suffice. I then stumbled upon a fantastic hotel – The New Majestic. It is part of a hotel chain called designer hotels and is in fact a fantastic find. Close to the MRT (tube) and quirky, small and funky.
After finishing work on Thursday and a couple of drinks after, I went home, packed and chilled out for a while. headed to the Airport with just hand luggage. I got frisked and checked for explosives (The Australian Customs process is the worst in the world as far as I am concerned, but that is another story). Sat around for two hours with only one small cafe open, twiddling my thumbs. After jumping on the plane we arrived at 8am in Singapore. Walked through customs without even queuing, found the MRT and headed into the centre.
Friday
The MRT does not take long getting used to and in fact is so simple it’s fantastic. No need for a car or taxi! push a button to where you are heading. Push your money into the slot and get your plastic card. Swipe the card in the turnstile and away you go. Swipe it at the other end and you are free. You will of course cry that this is like any other tube in the world. You are probably right except that you are not going to get mugged, the places are spotlessly clean and the tubes are air conditioned and spacious.
Jumping off at the right stop I quickly found the hotel, which was within a two minute walk. I managed to check in at 10am and grabbed a shower. After a quick beer I headed to the MRT and met lil’ sis.
We headed out around Chinatown walking along the route suggested by the Lonely Planet. Diving into the odd temple we finally found ourselves in the real Chinatown. Food being sold from stalls on the street and tailors everywhere. The heavens opened (and by god it knows how to rain here), so we headed into a vegetarian restaurant and had dinner. A simple soup but suprisingly tasty. We then dodged the rain and headed over to Orchard Road.
Now the one thing that astounds me about Singapore is the quantity of shops. In fact Orchard Road is a mecca for the fashionistas and there are plenty of shops here to tempt the girls. Mall after Mall full of clothes followed by Mall after Mall of the same shops!!!
After an exhausting walk around we found a hotel bar for a drink. Several Singapore Slings and a few beers later we headed off to the MRT and back to the hotel, where we grabbed a fantastic meal before having an early night.
Saturday
We had agreed to meet at 12pm on Saturday at Harbour Town – yet another Mall. It was the gateway to Sentosa Island which is just off Singapore mainland. It’s the place where all the Singaporeans head for the beach.
Abi finally arrived and we headed to the cable car, grabbed a ticket and then proceeded a hundred odd metres up in the air for the ride across the water. The view is pretty impressive from the cars and is a relatively short trip. We stopped for a beer or two before heading up the Tiger Beer viewing platform thingy, for a 360deg view of the island.
Coming back to earth we headed to the Bikini bar ready to see some eye candy. It was pretty pathetic so we kept going, finally stumbling on Cafe del Mar which is on the beach. Grabbing a couple of beers we sat, chatted and chilled out. We were almost ready to leave until the rain appeared with vengeance. We sat there for another couple of hours till it passed and then headed for some food before hitting the road.
Sunday
We met up at the hotel again and then headed to Little India… a strange place full of Indians and a 24hr Mall / Shop that sold just about any type of crap you could possibly ever want. After a couple of hours exploring we left and headed to Raffles Hotel near Circular Quay. We eventually found it after being passed by a group of twenty or so boy racers in the Lamborghinis!! as they do!
Walking around admiring the splendour of the place we headed to the long room for the ultimate Singapore Sling – it should be at that price too! Admired the painting of the naked woman and tiger behind the bar. After munching hundreds of peanuts, dicarding the husks on the floor, we left. Heading of to the flyer (tallest viewing wheel in the world at 175m high), via a myriad of interconnected malls, grabbing an indian meal along the way.
The Flyer was suprisingly quiet and we did not need to queue. Spending the next 30mins or so admiring the lights of Singapore. We headed back to the hotel before the rain decended upon us, said goodbye to sis and called it a night.
Monday
I headed out at 10am, bag packed and ready to waste several hours before the flight. I decided to try Raffles Place and was pleasantly surprised as this was the ‘money centre’ of Singapore. After walking around and looking at both old and new buildings I found Fort Canning. Fort Canning is a luscious green park and was empty apart from a couple of gardeners. After working up a sweat in the early morning heat I headed to an ‘English pub’ called the Penny Black. I was overjoyed to see Old Speckled Hen on tap. Not having had a decent English beer for a couple of years I sat there in the lovely cool air conditioned bar and had a couple of pints.
At 12pm I headed off to the MRT, and headed to the airport. Checked in without queuing and hit the duty free. The boarding ‘call’ (they don’t call the flights here so you have to make sure you know when you are flying) came and I jumped onto an almost empty plane. Everyone had at least three seats to themselves so I guess everyone, myself included, had a good sleep.
Arriving in Brisbane just after 12am, the pilot almost killed us by dipping the port side wing within a metre of the ground… We quickly disembarked and I headed home – after all I was getting up for work in five hours.
