30/12/06
So...I'm feeling more human today which is good (after a mega lie in to make up for our crazy sleep deprivation caused by the flight and being spaced wandering around Singapore at some ungodly hour of yesterday morning!!), and I get to be in charge of activities; I like this job. So, to celebrate our safe arrival in Singapore, today we went shopping. So like the true jet setters that we are, we should make like a couple of locals and hit the shops; and there are plenty of those! In the downtown area alone I have counted 48 malls – like whoa! And each of those are enormous… on the trip Zain and I went on (the bus tour round the town) when we approached each stop, the ‘bus’ would announce the sites of interest near the stop, this didn’t include much if I am honest, but did include a hell of a lot of shopping malls!
So we hit Orchard Road (apparently the place to go, in 30C heat with boyfriend in tow – great combination, I know you are all jealous!). The thing is that it looks small and manageable on the map, but it’s not really. That, plus you have to battle the heat/humidity/boyfriend! Went into a few places, takes a while to get your barings, like figuring out if the mall you are in is any good (Note: because no one wants to be outside, inside is air conditioned = good) i.e. are you in the St. Enochs Centre = cheap local tat and rubbish, but could have some charm, or are you in Princes Square which looks pretty posh and is pretty expensive = you can’t afford it, but a nicer place to be shopping, or of course there are the in betweens= Buchanan Galleries, where you will proabably spend most of your money. Because don’t let them fool you, this place is not as cheap as they make out!! In fact, on that note I have been a bit disappointed. To start…yes there are lots of totally amazing shops – Gucci, Ralph Lauren, Vallentino, Armani, etc… but they are still damn expensive! And it looks even worse because you are paying dollars which are 3 to the pound, so that if something is £200 that makes it in the region of $600 – which can look pretty scary. Plus they don’t seem to be big on mid range stuff at decent prices, mostly it’s all high street equivalent (there is even a Topshop and a bloody Dorothy Perkins for crying out loud!). Even if you find something you like, just remember ladies (and gents) that we are in Asia – everything is small here, even if you find a large, it’s secretly a size 10! And I am not joking – pleasenly rounded ladies need not try to find outfits in this neck of the woods. The shoes too, also suffer from this fate. I am a big lass it seems (size 7) and no, they definately (as they say in Glasgow) do not have that size here. They do a 40 which as any shoe goddess knows is actually only a 6.5, so there! Managed to last about 2 and a half hours of shopping and then the stomachs took over.
Decided to go for Indian food, as Singapore does boast a huge diversity of ethnic backgrounds and therefore a lot of damn fine food. Checked out the Rough Guide to Singapore (very useful/good by the way, although make sure you get an up to date one, ours is from 2003 and a lot seems to have changed since then regarding prices) and sourced ourselves a wee Indian in the area of Little India (not kidding). Headed up there on the underground, passed the crazy shrines dedicated to cows (but of course!) and got ourselves to the Ghandi Restaurent. Interesting is the word…the food was phenomenal, but the setting was unique to our westernised Indian food standards. There was no sitar music, there was no flock wallpaper, there was no menu and no toilet (beware those of you who think that you can combine 2 needs in one in Singapore – toilets are not a given!). The place was more like a soup kitchen. You sit down, the waiter comes over and puts a banana leaf in front of you, how charming you think…not so, this is your plate. The waiter comes back – vegetable or meat?? Well, like the good little traveller that I am, I always opt for Veggie, my dislike for mushrooms, is far less than my dislike for tripe, innards of any kind, etc…So Veggie it is. Good option. Slop, slop, slop and I have my curry. I got 2 scoops of rice, one yellow thing, one orange thing and some pickle plus a small papadum. All good. The food was awesome. Oh yeah! Almost forget – no cutlery. Plus water out of metal cups, best not to look for the lipstick marks! Very filling, fun and full of locals, which has got to be a good thing.
Post Indian place, there was the customary toilet hunt – hit the shopping malls, this is my top tip, it’s not like you will have to spend long looking for one (a mall that is, mind you the toilets are not far behind)! Best thing about the toilet apart from the relief of course, was the magic handdryer. Not like your usual, it was like a bag or something that you put your hands down into and they got blasted with air jets from both sides. Did the trick and made this part of my 365 challenge.
Then we headed up to the Zoo to check out the night safari, which my Dad and his girlfriend Barbara had recommended to me. The person at the hotel hadn’t said it was up to much, but how wrong she was…We hit the metro to get to the connecting bus which would take us direct to the Zoo (which is pretty darned handy, the public transport system here is really good – how geeky of me!). The trip did take an age and I was getting ants in my pants cos the woman at the hotel had said that it got really busy and that we might not get tickets…hence me being like hurry up and Zain being none the wiser and chilling out. Enroute to the Zoo guess what happened!? It started to rain, properly rain, like pitter patter…pitter patter…pishing it down. Galsgow would be proud! I was like typical, but on the plus side, I did hope that it would clear the air. Then we arrived and the Zoo was in total chaos, people hiding from the rain, people waiting for the bus, people queuing, queuing, queuing everywhere! We found the place to get tickets and then realised that they shut at 6pm (time of arrival 6.15pm – where were all the really helpful locals then I wonder), not to be put off, I forced Zain to ask a passing Zoo worker if the ticket desk was really closed or just pretending and she said ‘No! don’t worry, everything be ok. You just need to go to the other end of the park to get your ticket (in the pishing rain)’. Oh well! At least we could get a ticket! So off we headed to join our first queue of the evening (Zain and I are getting good at queues; me more so than Zain, he moans more than me – amazing I know!). We purchased our tickets and we were good to go (after queueing up after a group of Japanese tourists in the wrong queue of course… you live you learn). So to celebrate our arrival, our tickets and our sanity, we hit Ben and Jerry’s, what an excellent decision. Got served up by a nice young chap (with face mask in tact - should we be worried?) with our double scoop cones and then headed off to pay. When we turned round to leave the shop we could see a massive queue – what could it be? Oh! Just the queue for the tram rides for the night safari! Oh joy. So we queued. And queued. And queued. After about 30 minutes or so we moved and we were on our way. Only Japanese people don’t know how to queue it seems. When Zain and I got to the front of the queue, we were bombarded with queue jumpers. Now you just know that we didn’t take that well, bad enough to make us both say something and then stand there cursing! Take it from me (it must be the Scottish accent or something!?) but they all buggered off that’s for sure! And…we were through…
The Night Safari was amazing. So good. We saw loads of nocturnal animals doing their thing and got the chance to get off the tram ride and go for a walk on one of the trails through the zoo, which was fun if a little creepy. You could hear the Lion roaring in the background and it was a bit Jurassic Parkish - a worry I know. We even went into a caged area with flying bats - not vampire bats though! So the zoo gets the thumbs up for sure.
After we finished up at the zoo we headed back to the downtown area and decided to stop of for a posh cocktail at the City Space bar which is at the top of the Swissotel near the Raffles hotel. It was a close shave getting in there I tell you. There were all sorts of smart people hanging about, and I don't just mean Zain and I!. We didn't think that we were going to be up to the challenge of getting in (there was a dress code) but because I'm not a shy one, I just asked if we could get in, and the guy said yes! So off to the top floor we went, 71 lift stops up. And it was worth it. What a gorgeous bar with an amazing view too. It was a bit of an Asian cliche, but in a good way. Lots of lovely ladies, in slinky dresses, asking you what you would like to drink and then responding "Whatever you like...". You get the picture. Just stayed for one cocktail because the cost was enough to keep a small family going for a while! Worth it though - lycee belini anyone?
A super day in Singapore. X
posted by Yogini @ 2:42 pm
2 comments
2 Comments:
fabulous! Keep with the writing! Did you get your suits?
Hello. No suits I'm afraid. There didn't seem to be time and when I got there there was a lot of Mandarin collars if you know what I mean...Keep in touch, Isla x
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