OUR TRIP TO THE FAR EAST

SINGAPORE

We left home in late September for a visit to Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia and China.  The menu on the right hand side will let you navigate through our travels.

We took the little Central Mountain Air flight to Vancouver where we connected with a United Airlines flight to San Francisco.  There we were catching a Singapore Airlines flight to Singapore with a station  stop in Hong Kong.  You are perhaps asking yourself why such a circuitous route.  We were using Aeroplan Frequent Flyer points and in researching the best route it turned out that if we had included an Air Canada flights the "free flight" would have cost over $800 more.  We thought we could put up with the slight inconvenience that it caused by Air Canada having a fuel surcharge which United and Singapore don't.

There was an added advantage in that Singapore Airlines is a Five Star airline wheres as Air Canada is a Three Star airline.  The difference does show as you will see later.  Singapore Airlines has very attractive young flight attendants who wear lovely long colourful outfits. They have very professional-looking make-up.  For the meals the airline provides a menu book, both Western and Asian choices are available.  The flight attendants are pleasant and always willing to help, if necessary.

At the station stop in Hong Kong we chose to get off for a stretch. It actually took most of that time to get off and back on again because of some slow lines we had to join, it wasn't really worth the effort.  We landed at Terminal Three in Singapore in the early afternoon, this is the newest terminal and very efficient.  It didn't take very long to get our bags and get through the usual formalities and Sam was waiting for us.  We took the Metro to the City and a cab to the hostel which were going to make our base while in Singapore.  We had stayed there before after an earlier visit when we travelled from Bangkok to Singapore.  Hangout @ Mount Emily is quite near the City Centre, on a hill, so there were steps to climb whichever way we approached it.  It had been a long travelling day so we didn't do much until the evening when we had dinner with David and Sam at their apartment.  This was within walking distance of the hostel and a little nearer to the Fairmont Singapore and the Swissotel Stamford, where David is based, than their earlier apartment.

We timed our visit to be there when the Formula 1 race was being held. The day we arrived was used for the first and second practice sessions, which we by-passed.  The track runs through the downtown core and lies behind a fenced area.  The race itself is run late into the evening for the convenience of European television, and the track has an amazing lighting system that make night into day.

Hangout is in Little India and we spent the morning walking around the area.  There are many small shops, markets and temples to see.

You can see a larger version of any photograph by simply clicking the mouse once on the image. Another click outside the image returns you to the text 

 A row of typical shop houses

 Outside the Sri Veeramakalimman Temple

The usual collection of shoes

Some detail from the Temple tower

That afternoon we visited the Haw Par Villa  with David and Sam. 
The park, originally called "Tiger Balm Gardens", was built in 1937 by brothers Aw Boon Haw and Aw Boon Par, the developers of Tiger Balm (Safe, Fast and Effective.  Pain relief without the  Pills), as a venue for teaching traditional Chinese values.  The park contains over 1,000 statues and 150 giant dioramas depicting scenes from Chinese folklore, legends, history and illustrations of various aspects of Confucianism.   It was all rather weird.
 

The entry to the Park

Must have escaped from Australia

One of the many dioramas

 The laughing Buddha

We went back to the City Centre where the second day of practice for the Formula 1 race was taking place.  We called into the Swissotel Stamford where we were able to go up to a room on the 20th floor which was going to be a hospitality suite for the race proper the next day.  It overlooked a corner near the Padang, a large open green space.  GP2 practice was on and we had a good view down to the track.

View down to the track at the Padang. You can see the lighting system

David and Robin were going to watch F1 practice and David had managed to get two tickets to a lounge above the pits.  The track is inside an enclosed area and while the ladies were going to visit the shops at Orchard Street, the men took off to the track.  This is a street track and it the race is run in the early evening so that TV viewers in Europe can see it during the afternoon.  The lighting system is amazing and when F1 qualifying took place, the track was as bright as day.

We walked alongside the track as practice session three for the big race was taking place.  This allowed us to see a large section of the track as the pits were on the opposite side from our entry gate.  One corner was causing quite a bit of grief and it did have an escape road, most corners don't, so woe betide you if you make a small error.

A Marussia that didn't make the corner

Our hospitality suite was on top of a grandstand opposite the pits. There was food and drink! and we could walk along the top of the stand to see the whole length of the pit area.  The lights were now on and the lighting standards were just in the way but our view but the track was in the clear.

Opposite the Mercedes Pit

The Ferrari Pit

One of the promotional balloons 

The Grand Prix is a big event in the life of Singapore and brings enormous crowds into the City.  After qualifying we made our way, very slowly, out of the track area.  There were few bottlenecks to pass through.

The race being in the evening gave us a whole day to explore more of Singapore.  We chose to visit the Gardens on the Bay.  The Gardens were only opened in June 2012 and are to be found on the waterfront at Marina Bay.  They are not yet fully complete but you can stroll in the outside gardens and also visit inside two very large greenhouses - the Flower Dome and the Cloud Forest.  On our way we walked by an enormous new hotel, the Singapore Casino Hotel, with 2500 rooms.  It is very striking.

The Singapore Casino Hotel

The impressive Supertrees. These 16-storey-tall vertical towers collect rainwater, generate solar power and act as venting ducts for the park’s conservatories. 

At the entry to the Gardens

Just one of many, many flowers

Someone has  been busy with the shears

Quite a root system

Making sure we aren't getting lost.  These gardens are large

We made our way to the first of the greenhouses - the Flower Dome.  It is divided up into many different sections covering the plants of the World.

Inside the Cactus Garden

A general across the Flower Dome

The palm trees

A stone carving, looking at you

The Baobabs

Some flowers were easily recognised

We moved across the the other greenhouse - the Cloud Forest.  Not quite as hot but very humid.  The central feature is a large "mountain" from the top of which run a series of waterfalls.  You take an elevator to the top and then walk down a suspended walkaway to the bottom.

 The Cloud Forest "mountain" and its waterfalls

Inside the Cloud Forest looking out

On the walkway

Exhibition area halfway down - stalactites and stalagmites

The misting system at work - beware

Crowds on the walkway

I can see you

The Gardens are really lovely, a great attraction.  We left the Gardens and walked to the entrance to Marina Bay were they are building a barrage to keep the sea out and turn the area behind the barrage into a fresh water sports playground.  Singapore is always developing something new. 

We had dinner with David and Sam back at their apartment and watched the race on television.  Yes, we went all that way to watch it on TV, but we had a first hand knowledge of the track by now and you see more that way anyway. Vettel won at the start of his run to four victories (at the time of writing just before the Brazilian Grand Prix).

We walked back to Hangout and packed our bags as we were leaving the next morning for a few days in Melaka in Malaysia.