In Singapore — An Elegant Sufficiency

Having celebrated our anniversary with our friends in Signatures last evening, we decided to call it a day. We said our goodbyes, bid everyone Goodnight and headed to our suite.

Any thoughts of doing those final bits of packing before placing our luggage outside the door were forgotten, because Manu, Derlen and Made had been busy…

Champagne on ice, cards, flowers and balloons all over the place. How sweet! My goodness, this will certainly be an anniversary to remember!

We managed to push those suitcases out of the door in time and though we both woke up in a panic, wondering if we’d packed some vital piece of clothing and find ourselves without a stitch to wear today, we were actually rather well organised. A slow steamy breakfast in the already humid Singaporean morning air, followed by a controlled disembarkation and transfer to our hotel.

Bye Bye Voyager! Tonight she sails for Kuala Lumpur without us…

But we plan some fun here and of course the first task is always to equip ourselves with travelcards.

I had a couple of things on my list, the first one needing a trip to Arab Street, via Bugis MRT station. You know, it’s twenty or so years since we were first here and I can still remember making this exact same journey with Edward as a little boy. The road names are still familiar and some of the landmarks haven’t changed either.

It’s an old bit of Singapore amidst the new, high rise.

But some of the modern features are there to be seen amongst the old ones too.

It was the fabric stores which were on my list, needless to say.

Looking through batiks, Indian cottons and silks, my mission was soon accomplished.

I wish I had this kind of resource on my doorstep at home!

I must say, we were both feeling the heat rather by mid morning and it came as a relief to get back into the cool station and on another train, this time heading for Orchard, the main shopping street.

Though rain had been forecast, none was forthcoming so far, thank goodness. But a few dark clouds were gathering and we wouldn’t have been surprised had there not been a downpour.

My mission this time was to FabIndia, to buy a top or two, perhaps. Don’t you love those colours?!

Across the road in another shopping centre we came across a really incongruous sight – Swiss menu anyone?

Then right next door, a Garretts Popcorn shop, straight from Chicago! Did you need a reminder of how international a city Singapore is?

We made another MRT journey to a different mall, in the hope of a wider selection of FabIndia clothes, but it turned out to be fruitless. Never mind – we’d kept going until mid afternoon and by now, surely, our hotel room would be ready? Whilst on the train, I spotted this sticker on the window and noted how many “encouraging” notices there are about the city.

I wonder how long before we’d tire of being nagged to behave?

Thankfully, yes, our room was ready and we were glad to take the opportunity to put our feet up for a while.

But both of us were getting hungry by 5.30 – 6-ish and so we walked over to the Marina Bay Sands Mall in the hope of finding something to eat.

Now, at this point, I couldn’t help but remember the last time we were here. It was such a memorable evening that it would have been marvellous to recreate the whole affair once again. But things like that don’t happen over and again and needless to say, this evening we simply enjoyed a pizza and a mooch around the shops.

It’s a pretty soulless centre, really, with flashy shops and no-one buying anything.

Coming outside again to wait for the sun to set, we looked up. Ooooer! The “boat” on the top of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel loomed over us rather!

Walking back over the Helix bridge, we stood and stared. What a fine city this is!

Much of it isn’t to our taste – we don’t gamble, buy designer clothes or lead a flashy lifestyle. But we can stand and admire the whole chutzpah of the place, the can-do attitude and the sheer energy.