Singapore and the trip to Heathrow and Newcastle
Singapore - so hot, so humid, so tired.
Arrived at about midnight on 30/09. Caught a taxi as I was so tired that I could hardly speak.
Woke up with woofy sinuses, a headache and red eyes. My eyesight was really blurry. Ate my gf weetbix.
Went out and walked up the street, map clutched in my hand. Went to the Suntec City Mall in the hope that I would find some food. There wasn't any, just a bakery. Had a cup of coffee - pretty awful compared to T's coffee.
Had walked past a tour bus group - Hippo Duck or Hip Ducko as I started to call it. They had several bus routes and you could hop on and off as many times as you liked. The busses were double decker with the top open and the lower section A/C. I got off at the Orchid Gardens in the Singapore Botanic Gardens. - exquisite - still very hot and humid. There was an orchid there dedicated to Quentin Bryce. So much to see. I spent about an hour there and still didn't see it all. Cost $1.00. An older fellow (very cheeky) told me that if I was over 60 it would cost $1.00 otherwise it would cost $5. I said I should pay $5. He said, Ok if you think they'll think you are 35yo because you pay $5, go ahead! Funny man. Ran into him again at the Ducko base at the Suntec Mall. He suggested that I visit the Asian Civilisations museum. I did and it was terrific. Beautiful ceramics, very nicely displayed. Big old building. Worth another visit.
Also ran into an American woman - 50ish who was in Singapore for work. She is based in Washington DC and grew up in upstate New York. She had an acclimatisation day and was using the Hiipo Duck bus to see Singapore. We started chatting because an Indian man asked to take our photographs with his wife. I said I didn't know why and the U.S. Lady said it was because we were fair. Anyway, we chatted. Turns out that she can also be a member of the D.A.R. She chatted in that sort of reserved way that gave me the impression that she thought I was a spy or an agent. Sort of cooly friendly.
The Singapore people are very friendly and polite. They don't seem to have that sort of passive/aggressive anger Towards foreigners that I've found in some Asian countries. The place is very clean, smells slightly like Asia but in a nice way. There appear to be no homeless people or beggars. 85% of the pop. lives in public housing. Some own their own places, some rent.
Everyone speaks English and there are lots of Australians around. I ate an omelette and a smoked salmon salad.
There are masses of apartments. The posh ones have swimming pools. Some bungalows near the botanic gardens are worth over $5million US. They are older ones.
Palm trees and bougainvillaea everywhere. Orchids and beautiful plants in the airport terminal.
Taxi driver reckoned that the Ibis hotel was pretty good - not too expensive and very central. He was a very switched on chap. Raffles Hotel is about $600+ per night.
Amazing modern buildings- all sorts of amazing shapes. One looks like a ship on top of three tall buildings - covered with Palm trees.
Very lush vegetation - not sure when it rains.
Heaps of shops - Armani, Hugo boss, Dior - everybody who is anyone.
Interesting concrete supports holding up a group of high level roads. The concrete supports were covered with vines, green and growing vines - looked like ivy. Not sure how good that is for the concrete.
Got Back on and rode The Hippo Duck bus to the end of the line.
Walked around and around the Changi Airport. Up and down, round and round for about 3 hours. The plane left at about 1am our time, 11 am Singapore time.
As usual I was selected for swabbing for explosives and unusually I was patted down and had my ankles inspected by a female. How strange. Why would you hide anything on your ankles?
There was an 11 month old Tasmanian and his mom and his grandmother sitting beside me at the front bit of a section - plenty of leg room. Cute young fellow - keen to make eye contact and engage with people, little arms and hangs swinging and grabbing.
The gf dinner was OK, but there was no breakfast for me. I almost wept. I was so hungry. They gave me two rice disks and some butter and an omelette that tasted like it was full of msg.
A lady sitting across the aisle from me had a seizure. Everyone was asleep. She had her eyes wide open, Had her teeth clenched, was drooling and her chest was going up and down really fast. She did not respond when people talked to her or touched her. A doctor came by. They looked through her bags and found diuretics and the Dr. thought that she had gotten confused and taken too many diuretics. She gradually came around and they encouraged her to keep sipping fluids. In a couple of hours you'd never know it was the same person. Paramedics met her at Heathrow to check her out. The first paramedic arrived on a bicycle!!!! I suppose it is a fast way to get around a big airport.
Getting through immigration was a trial. I got moved from this queue to another queue to another queue. There seemed to be a lot of officious Indian people. I like Indian people but it was very noticeable. I told one Indian lady, who had just moved me from one queue to the back of another queue that my plane was leaving in 20 minutes and I was too old to run for a plane. It didn't help that I was hungry and tired. I did make the plane to Newcastle.
