So you may have noticed that we always try to go to a new country on our travels (it’s a big old world) but we decided to go back to Singapore to see how much it had changed since our last visit in 1999 🙈🙈🙈🧓👵
There were 2 reasons for this, seeing people’s Insta and thinking – that doesn’t look like how I remember Singapore!!! And we’ve both had some lovely students who live there who we were keen to catch-up with 🍻🍺
The last time we arrived in Singapore the most exciting thing to us was flushing toilets and toilet paper !! having not seen them for the previous 2 months travelling across Indonesia. You can tell we were younger, we had 2 months of squatty toilets then – 1 squatty is enough to see me heading to the physio now a day’s 🫣🤪
Anyway, we caught the bus from the airport straight to the front door of the YMCA hostel we’d booked. It was about 10pm and steamy hot & humid.
Next morning we walked 15mins to Little India (the only place we could afford a hotel last trip) for a breakfast of masala dosa 😋😋 This might have been reason 3 for the visit 🙃 Pete particularly loves these, to the point where last trip I struggled to get him to eat anything else im Singapore and Malaysia!!!!
We found a brilliant, cheap, authentic place and proceeded to have 2 each!!
Being careful to only eat with the right hand (think back to the earlier toilet story as to why using the left hand is a no, no).
It was so humid we broke that walk back by visiting a food market !! And ended up eating again 🫣😅😋 this time we had pakoras & an amazing mango lassi.
Then we made it back to the hotel and had a cooling dip in the rooftop pool. Loads of fighter jets going overhead (a common theme this holiday, China aggression being the reason).
Then we took a bus for an hour to meet up with Karen at some night markets she wanted us to sample. Karen was a snowboard student of Pete’s in our Club Med season and we’ve also seen her twice in Furano with Pete teaching her niece how to ski.
Karen and her fella, Ulyses, wandered off, ordered food we should try and beers. We just sat and ate and had some laughs with them. She wouldn’t take any money from us. Ended up trying some seafood dishes Pete wouldn’t normally go for, everything was tasty.
Next day we did the more tourist trail, walking through some beautiful gardens of Fort Canning to the old docks which have been redeveloped as Clarke Quay.
We had a traditional Singaporean breakfast of sweet tea (or kopi), a very softly boiled egg into which your dip your kaya (white toast with coconut jam).
Then we wandered through another food market called Hong Lim and through Chinatown.
We had a quick look in the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple but exited quickly when we realised we shouldn’t be in there wearing shorts and had somehow missed the cover up area.
Next we took the tube to The Marina which is all the new stuff we’d seen on Insta. The Gardens by The Bay are amazing and a great free place to escape the city madness.
Unfortunately, there was a huge thunderstorm forecast so all the elevated walkways and the skyway was closed. Also new is the huge Marina Bay Sands hotel which looks like a levitating cruise ship.
We just avoided a massive downpour and caught the tube back to our hotel but first took shelter in a 7-11 for a snack watching water bouncing outside.
Then we went out to meet Pierre and family for some dim sum. Pierre ordered everything he thought we needed to try, some weird and mostly wonderful. Again some laughs and tasty food and again he wouldn’t accept a penny…….. Pete must be one hell of a good Instructor 👀🙄😅
For our last day we took a bus an hour away to try and find a really good Rendang as Janet has really missed them. Karen had recommended a Malaysian food market to us called Geylang Serai market and we also explored the nearby Haig Road Market. We also looked at all the traditional and very colourful houses of the now trendy area of Joo Chiat Road.
Again it was super hot and humid we strolled round mostly seeking the shade from the biting sun.
A quick swim back at our hotel and then it was on the bus to the airport 😭
We were flying home with Qatar Airlines via Doha. Janet had heard the airport was amazing for a comfortable layover so we had an explore and nice little snooze.
Then we are back at Gatwick, drinking in the Horley Whetherspoons and having Spanish tapas for tea before flying back to the Isle of Man the next morning.
So we have been back on The Rock now for 7 weeks and just had the most disrupted TT fortnight we can remember. There were so many delays with weather and also public road crashes. I really feel for the riders and organisers but also all the Greenlight team including Pete, who have been out there some days for 13 hours and not seen a lot of bike action. Today is the last race, The Senior, delayed by 9 hours in the hope of a dry track this evening. Fingers crossed 🤞
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