Day 6 - February 7th Singapore

Happy Chinese New Year everyone!  Today is the beginning of the year of the monkey and with a significant Chinese population the people of Singapore celebrate it with gusto.  We understand there are a lot of reunions etc tonight.

orchids

After quite a good night's sleep we breakfasted in the Tiffany Room (excellent) and discussed the plan of action for today.  It was raining as we breakfasted and the forecast was for more to come.  It had to be indoors.  Like all good tourists we asked at the information desk about indoor activities and a range were given.  Among them was the suggestion to go back to the Garden on the bay and see more of this.  We got our waterproofs/umbrella together and went by tube to the garden.  Just as we arrived it rained torrents and we decided to take the shuttle bus to the indoor biomes (similar to the Eden Project) which house a wide variety of plants and sculptures.  The first biome contaained flowers with a lot of orchids - magnificent specimens from this area of the world.  

the waterfall

There were flowers from all over the world but one point of interest was that the biome was kept cooler than the ambient outside temperature making it more comfortable for us.  The second biome was called "clouds" and had many trees with the main feature being a very high waterfall.  It is dramatically in front of you as you enter the building and we took a lift to the top and wandered inside and round the gangways gradually descending to  the floor again.  They piped steam into the biome to keep high humidity.  After a very good 3 hours at the garden we took the shuttle and tube back to the hotel (it had largely stopped raining).




part of the Indian decorations

After refreshing ourselves we took some of the other advice and visited the "Little India" area of the city.  It was very busy with hundreds of shops and people milling everywhere.  The most people we had seen here and the Indian population showed how cosmopolitan the city is.  We didn't stay too long but the experience was worthwhile.

Guess what we are drinking and where

We then took the tube back to Raffles and did what you are supposed to do when you stay here.  The rest of the evening we spent having a meal and relaxing.  Tomorrow evening we move on and fly to Aukland - another all night flight which loses us another 4 hours but then we shall OK timewise for 28 days.


 

Day 5 - February 6th Singapore

Not a bad holiday home!

The flight with Singapore Airlines was one of the best we have experienced.  The staff were efficient, pleasant and helpful with advice for our visit here.  We arrived on time after 13 hours at 0730 and so we had lost 8 hours during the flight. We were soon through customs and baggage reclaim and were met by our taxi.  (A man holding a A4 card with our name on it).  We had been warned that the noticeable thing about arriving in Singapore is the heat and it did not disappoint!  We had experienced similar on a Caribean cruise and me in my time working in Nigeria.  The buildings and car were air-conditioned which makes life easier.  We were soon whisked to Raffles which would be our home for the next 21/2 days.   By this time it was about 1000 and our accommodation would not be ready until 2pm.  We received some coffee and were able to go to the spa rooms for a freshen up.

We then decided to have a wander to the "Gardens by the Bay" which everyone recommended and it took a bit of a struggle to get there (perhaps jet lag taking its toll) but we did with the help of some locals and the efficient tube service.  We passed this structure which was 3 sky scrapers with a platform across them which was shaped like a boat and had gardens on it which the public could visit.  We may do that one!  The gardens were extensive with various exhibitions which we did not have the energy to visit.  There were fishponds, lakes with sculptured dragonflies as well as all sorts of plants.  We were wilting by now and stopped for an ice cold drink before seeing a bit more of the gardens and its structures.

Part of the garden with a biome

We certainly did not do it justice on this visit and may return.  We now wanted rest and so made our way to the tube to get back with some self-induced difficulty to the hotel.  Thankfully our suite was ready and we were able to go and recover for a couple of hours.  Later on we refreshed ourselves and went for a meal in one of the restaurants which were part of the complex and then retired early.  I am completing this at 4am because we have had some sleep but our bodies have not adjusted to the time difference yet.

Day 4 - February 5th Heathrow to Singapore

Not a lot to report for yesterday.  We were up early, breakfasted and taxied to Terminal 2 at Heathrow.  What soulless places airports are!  We checked in, went through customs and had the usual wait before boarding.  The airport was fairly quiet and we had no trouble finding seats etc.  The pictures show the boarding point and the plane to take us to Singapore where we will spend the next two nights.  The plane took off at 10:55 (the designated time) and for the rest of the day we were looked after by the crew and entertainment system of the Airbus 380.  Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to report on today and tomorrow but so far the journeying is going very well. 

Day 3 London to the Airport

 Today is much warmer and for the morning we decided to walk round St. James Park but that plan was thwarted by armed police and road closures!  It was the European Syrian Support conference in the Queen Elizabeth Conference centre and everywhere around Westminster was high security.  So we wandered along Whitehall where the Household Cavalry were getting ready for the ceremonials.  We then went to Trafalgar Square and saw the new Plinth 4.  We wandered a bit made our way across the river to meet Ros at her lunch time at the National Theatre.  We saw a river Fire boat go past as we waited to meet her.  We had an enjoyable lunch and catch-up with Ros and she showed us some of the workings of the theatre. 

 We then went back across the river and were just in time to catch the matinee theatre performance of Phantom of the Opera which for us was all rather loud and difficult to follow.

We then picked up our cases and made our way to Heathrow where we stayed at another Premier Inn.

Day 2 - London & Friends

After a reasonable night's sleep we had the usual satisfactory Premier Inn breakfast and that set us up for the coming day.  A grey, overcast and cold day with the promise of showers.  We had some shopping to complete and also a booking to visit London's Sky garden at the "walkie-talkie" building to take up our morning.  We walked over Westmister Bridge and along Victoria Street and managed to find a card shop with so suitable greeting cards to meet our requirements.









We then took the tube along to the Monument and made out way to the "Walkie-Talkie" building for the visit to the Sky Garden at 11:30.  The organisation at the entrance was superb and the impressive lift soon whisked us the 45 floors to the garden.  The views around were impressive, we could see Wembley Stadium, the Alexandra Palace and many more distant buildings as well as overlook the nearer sights.  The gardens we were not so impressed with and they were not so exciting as the ones at our home.  We had a hot chocolate and the made our way down.  Overall a very good, free London attraction.  We then found in Fenchurch Street the shopping outlets we required and so we were happy. 

 

 

 

 We then crossed London Bridge and made our way along the south embankment to Waterloo.  We sorted ourselves out a bit and had a snack for afternoon tea, and then went on the tube to Liverpool Street to meet our friends Ian & Ruth.  We had to wait a little time for Ruth to arrive from Brentwood and during that time we met Tim Grant on the station who is a regular St. Martin's visitor - a small world.  After Ruth arrived we had a meal together in Spitalfields Market and had a good time of catch-up of news.  It all passed too quickly and we soon had to make our way back to Waterloo and time for sleep.

Day 1 St. Martin’s to Waterloo – The Adventure Begins

We have been on tenterhooks hoping the weather would be OK for flying from Scilly today.  We woke when it was dark but as dawn arrived the sky looked clear and it was not horrendously windy.  Christine was first to venture to St. Mary’s at 0850 as she had a Council Meeting she was chairing at 0930.  I delivered her to the quay for the boat and did the last minute sorting out at home.  I was then given a lift to the quay and caught a 1000 jetboat with Skybus flights happily crossing the skies - things were looking good.  After  doing a couple of things I went and had a coffee with Heather and Alan before meeting Christine for lunch.  We then went to the airport and were pleased when the plane left a little before the 2pm time.  We were even more pleased at Lands End to find the case we had sent in advance.  We had some good views of the islands and the Longships lighthouse from the plane.  We joined the minibus to Penzance train station and things were going so well that we had time for a cup of tea before finding our seats on our train.

Our small islander plane

 


Our seats were behind the captaiin

Our view of St. Martin's as we flew over



Good view of the Longships lighthouse

The train journey was very relaxing especially as we had a really good meal in the Pullman dining car.  It arrived just ahead of time and we had a taxi to where we are staying at Waterloo.  Having got here by 10pm we have now settled in and looking forward to a good night's sleep and the next two days in London.

Day -1 Packing & Weather Watching

Tomorrow we are due to leave the Scilly Isles, flying to Lands End at 2pm.  Today we have watching the weather and tomorrow's forecast very closely because there was no flying to/from Lands End or the Newquay alternative all morning or early afternoon.  It was low cloud at Lands End and high crosswinds at Newquay.  Anyhow we carried on with packing and doing the last minute things that always take longer than a minute.  For me it included sorting out the freezer electrical problem which was successfully achieved.  I had thought of the likely problem area while laying in bed before going to sleep last night.  Well we hope we have done all the necessary things and spoken to the right people concerning what is happening here whilst we're away.

One good thing the murky weather cleared here later in the afternoon and eventually flights started from both Lands End and Newquay.  Our forecast studies also indicated that tomorrow should be lower humidity and clearer skies butstill quite breezy.  We shall see, at least we are not due to leave Heathrow until Friday.  The clearing weather meant I could take pictures of our house, garden  and the weak sunset.

 

We hope now to have a good night's sleep because tomorrow we travel by boat to St. Mary's, small plane to Land's end, coach to Penzance and then the train to London.  We are now quite optimistic that it will all happen as planned.  I will let you know tomorrow!