Day 9 - Friday 22 January - Singapore Flyer and Chinatown

Another approx 6am wakeup. The bed here is a lot more comfortable. Pillows ok. Worst thing is temperature control. Too hot with the doona on, too cold with it off.

Got up and had breakfast at the executive lounge. Not quite as fancy as the Hong Kong hotel, but perfectly adequate.

Breakfast bar at the hotel
Breakfast bar at the hotel

So then we headed out. Into the hot wet blanket that is Singapore air.

First stop was the Raffles Hotel to get a photo of it in the morning sun. Except as soon as I took my camera out it instantly fogged up :( Next time I'll need to give my camera a good long hug to warm it up before heading out.

Raffles Hotel
Raffles Hotel

Raffles Hotel
Raffles Hotel

Then a long slow walk to the Singapore Flyer.

Memorial to the Civilian Victims of the Japanese Occupation and Raffles City
Memorial to the Civilian Victims of the Japanese Occupation and Raffles City

Park under Benjamin Sheares Flyover
Park under Benjamin Sheares Flyover

This place hates pedestrians. Apparently nobody walks here. At least not outside. Every other intersection you're redirected to the other side of the road or to an overpass or underpass. Now I'd be happy to walk through malls and passageways *if* once you got into them you could get out again. Malls are completely evil - once you get into them it's impossible to find your way out again. Super frustrating.

After much weeping and gnashing of teeth (ok maybe just an awful lot of sweating) we made it to the Flyer. $33 each. Which would be fine. Except. People. I hate people at the best of times, but when you're sweaty and exhausted from a whole hour of being in Singapore heat I was ready to murder people. Especially those super annoying ones with the selfie sticks who don't just take the odd selfie to show they've been somewhere, but dozens and dozens of them. Get over yourselves people!!!!  Hate.

We had ok weather for the ride. It had been a bit sunny earlier, but had clouded over by the time we got there. Not thick cloud so it wasn't too bad.

Singapore Flyer
Singapore Flyer

Singapore Flyer sign
Singapore Flyer sign

One of the capsules of the Singapore Flyer
One of the capsules of the Singapore Flyer

Marina Bay Street Circuit for Formula 1 racing
Marina Bay Street Circuit for Formula 1 racing

Marina Bay Street Circuit for Formula 1 racing
Marina Bay Street Circuit for Formula 1 racing

View south to Gardens by the Bay
View south to Gardens by the Bay

View south to Gardens by the Bay
View south to Gardens by the Bay

Marina Barrage
Marina Barrage

Marina Barrage
Marina Barrage

Moet and Chandon capsule at the top of the Singapore Flyer
Moet and Chandon capsule at the top of the Singapore Flyer

View northeast to National Stadium
View northeast to National Stadium

Singapore buildings looking northwest from the Singapore Flyer
Singapore buildings looking northwest from the Singapore Flyer

The Float @ Marina Bay Grandstand
The Float @ Marina Bay Grandstand

The Float @ Marina Bay Grandstand
The Float @ Marina Bay Grandstand

View south to Gardens by the Bay
View south to Gardens by the Bay

View south to Gardens by the Bay
View south to Gardens by the Bay

View southwest towards Marina Bay Sands and Singapore city
View southwest towards Marina Bay Sands and Singapore city

View southwest towards Singapore city
View southwest towards Singapore city

View west
View west

Marina Bay Sands
Marina Bay Sands

Sands Expo and Convention Centre and ArtScience Museum
Sands Expo and Convention Centre and ArtScience Museum

Top of Marina Bay Sands
Top of Marina Bay Sands

View west to the Durian and National Gallery
View west to the Durian and National Gallery

The Durian - Theatres on the Bay
The Durian - Theatres on the Bay

Fullerton Hotel
Fullerton Hotel

Looking into the Singapore Flyer structure
Looking into the Singapore Flyer structure

View southwest to Marina Bay Sands and Singapore city
View southwest to Marina Bay Sands and Singapore city

Looking into the Singapore Flyer structure
Looking into the Singapore Flyer structure

Gardens by the Bay
Gardens by the Bay

Gardens by the Bay
Gardens by the Bay

Looking into the Singapore Flyer structure
Looking into the Singapore Flyer structure

Looking into the Singapore Flyer structure
Looking into the Singapore Flyer structure

Afterwards stopped for another drink so we could decide what to do next. Decided to find the nearest MRT station and head to Chinatown where we were meeting Kit's friend (and our former neighbour) Audrey for lunch. We didn't have very clear instructions (the ticketmaster booth) so it took us probably fifteen minutes of wandering around, including through dreaded malls, to try and find it.

Trying to find the MRT station
Trying to find the MRT station

Once again this city hates pedestrians
Once again this city hates pedestrians

No durians!
No durians!

Once we found the meeting spot, we still had about fifteen minutes, so walked up through the street markets and even through a Tintin shop!

Looking down Pagoda Street
Looking down Pagoda Street

So Audrey found us and we went to have lunch in a big indoor food court place. Had some "chicken rice" which is rice with some chicken. I thought chicken rice might have had the chicken mixed through it somehow.

Chicken rice
Chicken rice

Stu, Audrey and Kaz
Stu, Audrey and Kaz
Photo by Stu

It was also good to chat to Audrey. I'm not sure if we'd met before or not. She lived behind us for a year or so about five years ago, so we probably saw her in passing. We chatted about Singapore and travel and of course Kit ;)

After lunch (it was probably nearly 3pm by this point and some rainstorms had passed through) we trained it back to the hotel with the idea that we'd go for a swim. Except the rain closed in and didn't go away again. So I spent a few hours in the hotel extremely frustrated. Bored in the room, but not able to go out without getting soaking wet (from either rain or sweat) and/or hit by lightning.

Pool in the roof of Bras Basah MRT station
Pool in the roof of Bras Basah MRT station

Pool of the Carlton Hotel
Pool of the Carlton Hotel

Carlton Hotel, Singapore (this was our building, our room was on the other side)
Carlton Hotel, Singapore (this was our building, our room was on the other side)

Had drinks and food at the hotel then spent more boredom time before giving up and going to bed.