We slept straight through from 9pm to 7am when the alarm pierced the dreams I'm sure we were both enjoying. After showering and dressing we made our way down to the breakfast area. Breakfast was included in our room arrangement, and the selection here was probably the best selection we've seen in all of the places we've spent time in around the world.
After breakfast we met Doug & Ursula in the lobby and soon our shuttle driver was there on time just before 8:30am. He was only expecting to pick up 2 people, but there were 6 of us. Fortunately he still took us on a short drive to a place where the tour bus was parked. Other small shuttle vans started arriving and soon Carol and John arrived.
Our bus was soon under day and we made our way to the Henderson Waves which was a high and architecturally pleasing bridge with spectacular vistas! We then made our way to Haw Par Villa which is a theme park which presents a representation of the Chinese folklore's view of the 10 stages of Hell. It was pretty graphic. Outside of that display the colors were extremely vibrant.
From HawPar Villa, we made our way to the Kranji War Memorial Cemetery. It's the final resting place for many soldiers, airmen, and sailors who lost their lives during the Second World War at the hands of the Japanese. It was very sobering.
On the north side of the island we enjoyed a sit down lunch at a Chinese restaurant (Beaulieu House) located on the seashore and facing Malaysia which could easily be seen. We also had a pretty nice view into the big Sembawang shipyard nearby.
The Brighten Temple was our next stop and it was pretty nice and well kept up. As the Chinese New Year was about to begin, many Chinese were present giving honor to their now deceased relatives.
Our final stop was at the Changi Prison Museum. It was once again a very sobering stop We couldn't take any pictures inside the museum. The horrors described in there I'm not going to repeat.
Our bus dropped us back at the Ibis and 10 or so of the group got off. My wife and I elected to walk downtown to the Suntec center (1 mile walk) where we caught a shuttle to the Marina Bay Sands Hotel/Casino complex. There we walked around most of the bay taking in the sights. As it was a Sunday, many people were out and about as well. A high point was to re-visit the Merliion (it has a head of a Lion and the body of the mermaid) which is the symbol of the country of Singapore.
We walked back to the Suntec center where we enjoyed some more noodle soup and watched the 8pm fountain laser show (not that impressive in my opinion. From there it was a mile walk back to our hotel. In total we logged over 18,000 steps or more than 8 miles. One has to walk off all that soup!
I should add that the temperatures are in the 80's (F) with lots of humidity. I've felt totally safe walking at night. There are lots of people on the streets.
Tomorrow is projected to be another fun day as we pay a re-visit to the National Orchid Garden and some other things. Stay tuned.
No comments:
Post a Comment