I ❤️ SG

I love Singapore. Cheers (from Raffles Long Bar)! Even when it rains constantly for the whole time I am there! For which I am utterly inadequately prepared!

Two day stopover on the way to New Zealand. What will I need? Pair of shorts, sandals, and a t shirt! (No change there then). Waterproof? Umbrella? Nah, no need it will be hot.

Well, it is hot (although not so much for Singapore - a mere 27º - but it has hardly stopped pissing it down since we got here!

Luckily, the response to our first question at the hotel; “where can we buy umbrellas?”, was: “No need sir, how many would you like to borrow?”

So here we are tramping through the puddles and exploring as best we can a city I love to visit. And with a recently broken foot, that still has me limping and limiting my time on my feet. Which just gives me more time in coffee shops while Nareesa gets wet!

As we did last time we were here (clearly I've learnt nothing), the rain is simply treated as an invitation to visit the excellent National Museum of Singapore. Sorry to those who read my very first blog on our way to Australia, but I am yet again impressed by this superb museum and as much as anything its historical context for the creation of this island state, less than 60 years ago. (1965, since you asked)

An ex-crown colony (of course we Brits decided just to “own” it many years ago; we did that a lot, to the benefit of nobody other than the crown and the bloody aristocracy in England), Singapore briefly became part of Malaysia in the 60s, but then, on the grounds that Malaysia required primacy for Malays, Singapore separated and became independent. Its founding principles of multi-ethnicity, multi-faith and multi-cultural still guide it today. Of course I don’t know how that actually translates in practice, but I like the ideals. It has a reputation for having somewhat draconian laws, but one cannot deny that it is one of the easiest places to get around - safe, clean and welcoming. And its pace of development is staggering. I could bore you with the details but I will spare you. Well, just one ... 120,000 ships call into Singapore port annually, and about 1000 are in port at any one time! Wow! Just don’t drop your chewing gum on the pavement!

And on that note, having slagged off border officials all over the world, I should just give a shout out for the Singaporeans. I have never entered a country so quickly. I think from “deplaning” to being landslide took less than 20 minutes and that includes the 10 minute limp to passport control. I may have had to complete an electronic arrival card before leaving home but it literally took less than minute at passport control to enter the country. No queue, passport in slot, go! Singapore in 2015:

Our first night here, being the first Thursday in the month (and therefore Curry Club back home), required ... a curry! And where better to be than the very middle of Little India! We did of course maintain the Curry Club tradition of ordering far too much food! This was one dish out of four! The bathura (bread) is fantastic!

And another one

As we have wandered the streets, I did a quick count up, and I think this is my sixth or possibly seventh visit here. From my first backpacking through south east Asia in 1982, when I shared an illegal hostel with my new (then) friend Michelle (who we will be meeting up with in New Zealand next week), through several visits to deliver training in the days when I was working, to now … and staying quite a bit more upmarket, in the Hilton in Little India. But some things haven’t changed - I still insisted on getting from the airport by public transport, despite the rain and the dodgy foot! Yes, of course we were a bit bedraggled by the time we checked in but I haven’t quite got away from my roots yet! I'm still a backpacker at heart - us on the bus!

Old and new Singapore - from our 13th floor room (No, Michelle, I'm not staying in the Airmaster Travel illegal backpacker dump of 1982!)

Over the 36 hours here, we managed to pack in all our favourites: Gardens by the Bay, The Long Bar at Raffles and Lau Pa Sat market. I won't bore you with the details (for a change), just show you the pics - and bore you that way!

A very wet Gardens by the Bay

An out of focus picture of us at Raffles

A late night pint at Lau Pa Sat, a Singapore institution that has barely changed in decades

So before I sign off for our next overnight flight to Auckland, I'd just like to introduce you to our friends and house guests, Colleen and Craig. While we are living it large in their house just outside Auckland, they will hopefully doing much the same in ours in Hove. So if you bump into them or spot them in the pub, I hope you will make them welcome - and preferably without telling them what a prat I am! (Some hope)

A few final pictures to finish with...

Outside the local Hindu Temple

A pair of eejets at the National Museum

The Long Bar at Raffles... (37 bucks for a Singapore Sling!!!)

with obligatory monkey nut shells all over the floor

And for a quarter of the price of a Singapore Sling, our grub at Lau Pa Sat

Satay Central, Lau Pa Sat. I love the fact it is still there, surrounded by 60 story monsters!

Nobody on the supertree walkway - funny that!

Posted from Changi Airport for our 10 hour overnighter to Auckland. Next stop New Zealand...