Awesome hotel gets even better! This morning we have an included HoHo bus tour around Singapore. It comes with the room. Nice! We figure it is a great way to spend the morning, particularly since we can’t get on the ship until after 2pm today – Norovirus on the last cruise. They are in code Red and doing super-cleaning before we get onboard. Joy. Guess we were really prescient when we brought our Clorox wipes to clean the room this time!
We have breakfast, then head to the lobby to wait for pick up. The bus shows up without delay and whisks us (we’re the only pick up) off to the Singapore Flyer where all the Ho Ho bus tours start. It’s a 15 minute drive – again included at no cost – this is great!
We board the first bus at 9 – and off we go. Our strategy is to ride the whole route, then go back and get off places we want to see. Unfortunately, the route doesn’t take us to Little India, where I want to see the temple there – but that’s the only disappointment. And really, it’s free, so there are no disappointments!
The day is just cool enough that we can sit up on the top level of the bus without suffocating. It’s another private tour! Only Ed and I aboard as we make our way out of Marina Square and into the city proper, past the huge skyscrapers that dominate the city…
…on past Marina Bay, where the Merlion statue is located (it is the city symbol – created by the tourist board in 1964 – half fish/half lion to symbolize the joiing together of the “lion city” and the sea), with the Marina Bay Sands in the background (what an incrediblely designed building! Definitely a symbol of Singapore)…
..then onto to Chinatown where we actually drive right past one of the temples – the Sri Mariamman Temple. yay!
We drive through ChinaTown, then turn right and cross the Singapore River at the Clarke Quay where all the floating “godowns” are used for little sightseeing tours – some even as floating restaurants. We continue on past Fort Canning Park, where Raffles originally built his bungalow and subsequenlty renamed Fort Canning when the military base was built. This was the British headquarters in the Battle for Singapore. It’s a beautiful park area, and would be great to wander around if we had more time…maybe when we come back! Across the street are the US Embassy (looking very stark, blocky, grey and drab), the Australian consulate and the British consulate.
We go further afield and end up at the Botonical Gardens. Again, a great place to wander (and free too) if we had more time. But we’ll just sit here and watch the city go by for now. This is the furthest point out we go, so we turn back and head into the city, driving through the wealthy part of town, a leafy curving road with huge homes and manned security gate houses out front.
Next up, the shopping mecca of Singapore: Orchard Road. You name it, its here. I won’t even begin the list. Crazy busy too, even at 9:30 in the morning. Crazy! Of course, you all know how much we love to shop, so this part of town holds no allure to us whatsoever. But it is a great tour, and the buildings are still fantastic. Out of this world.
We’re nearing the end of the circle, heading past the Raffles hotel and on to the Marina Square complex. The next bus is leaving…NOW…so our driver tells us to get off and get right on the next bus, we do – and it takes off. Perfect timing! Our strategy is to get off at Chinatown, do a little wandering, then head back to the hotel to shower and get ready to board the ship.
We ask the driver to tell us when we get to Chinatown, and hop off at the appointed stop. There is a TON of road construction, with lots of sidewalks closed and roads chopped up, so it is sort of hard to figure out how to get around and get to the main Chinese temple. We end up satisfying ourselves with more photos of the Hindu temple..
…then decide to just walk to the next bus stop. It’s a nice enough day, and it isn’t too far a walk. We cross the main road and enjoy all the New Year decorations…year of the Monkey!!
A pit stop at one of the millions of malls – they are everywhere – where does the money come from? – then on to the bus stop. We don’t have to wait long for the next bus, and as its getting hotter, we go upstairs but stay in the air conditioned part of the upper level. right up front. Birdseye view of the whole city. Fun!
We hop off at the end of Orchard Road, at the Plaza Singapura across from the big Dhoby Ghaut MTR station. We saw a sign for Cold Storage, the grocery store, and we figure we can stock up on beer and wine for the cruise here. Successfully navigating the mall (hey, no small feat here!), we find the store, passing this delightfully named shop..
We find everything we need, but have a little tussle with the wine. I’ve picked out a Sauv Blanc with a price (on the little digital price sign) of 19 dollars. It rings up 32 dollars. No. Don’t want it, the price said 19. Off we go, the cashier and I go skittering (and I mean skittering – she’s half running, skipping, sliding her feet really fast – funniest thing in the world) back to the wine section (which of course is at the absolute back end of the store), check the price – yes it is 19, yes it is this brand name of wine. Back we go to the cash register. She tells her manager (I guess) she needs to reduce it. He argues, she argues. He finishes with his customer, and back we all 3 go running to the wine section. Heck, I’m getting my exercise! There is some furious conversation/argument/chattering about the price – the manager guy starts attacking the little digital sign trying to pull it off the shelf, he finally gets his pocket knife out and starts prying it off. I figure – whatever, I’ll get another cheaper bottle, but the girl looks at me and says ok. Ok. Back we run to the front of the store. Ed standing patiently at the register the whole time! The cashier dutifully gives me the correct price, and we are finally out the door and back on the street waiting for the bus. International incident averted!
Again, hardly any wait for the bus – great service, and we’re back at the Singapore flyer in the blink of an eye. Once there we hop a cab (easy and cheap – best thing about Singapore) to the hotel and retreat to our room to freshen up and head off to the Noro-cruise!
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