Blog ≫ 2024 ≫ Singapore day six - Parkrun, duck tour, Marina Bay Sands
This day has started well. I'm headed to Parkrun. Got the route all worked out. It's about a 40-minute walk from the hotel so up early, headed out... to find that the path on the bridge is entirely closed. I've got a river to cross and no idea how to do it. So back to the hotel, called a taxi. Hope that will get me there in time. Of course, Clare said I should have booked a taxi anyway. She said this yesterday. After this - if I can ever get back, if I brought enough cash to get their return taxi too, which I didn't - we're doing a duck tour and then after that we're going to markets. Oh, it's raining heavily as well.
So I got up early, set the alarm, headed out. Thought I could walk there, started following the map, it took me to the bridge right next to the hotel. The roads are hard enough to cross here at the best of times, it's not pedestrian friendly. I couldn't find a way across the bridge and didn't want to risk going wrong and missing it. So I went back to the hotel and they called me a cab. I've more or less repeated what I dicted above there without adding anything new. Something new I can add is that my watch battery ran out right before the run started, so I was horrified to realise that this wasn't going to count! I was able to record the run directly on the Strava app, and later put it back into Garmin. It's not appearing on this page for the day for some reason, but at least it is on Strava, and of course it counted for parkrun too.
Taxi did get me there in time! Everything was good. Taxi was reasonable too. I could see a few people setting up for a parkrun. Starts near one of the hotels and the Shears bridge under the bridge.
It was near a hotel, but not my hotel.
It was going to be hot and I thought I would have to go a bit slowly so I ran carefully. Course was an up-and-back-twice. I actually went faster than I have done recently at home, and it was hot but not too difficult to run in. That was good. Was absolutely sweating by the end. I walked back. Found a different route over a different bridge and was back in time to shower and have breakfast with the others.
Parkrun results! This looks similar but different to my normal one from Folkestone Parkrun.
Bay East Garden parkrun results for event #12. Your time was 00:24:42.
Congratulations on completing your 163rd parkrun and your 1st at Bay East Garden parkrun today. You finished in 23rd place out of a field of 59 parkrunners. You were the 15th male and came 5th in your age category VM50-54. Take a look at this week's full set of results on our website. Well done on your first result at Bay East Garden parkrun. We have set this as your PB.
Back to the dictation:
Breakfast was okay. I hope they will be a bit of variety each day like there was in the previous one. There was the similar fix of Indian food and Malaysian food and Western and breakfast. So I mostly had the Western things today which was hash, browns, beans, tomatoes. And strangely cauliflower.
After this we walked to the duck tour. So we got a nice trip round Singapore on land and water. I took my new waterproof and put it on as they said "when we got the water you're going to get wet!". No one else brought one. We did not get wet.
It was fun though, it lasted about an hour and we saw all the sites of Singapore. We had to start and finish the tour at yet another mall, at the base of some towers. We had a look round the shops, they have some GREAT chair shops there. They're big into massage chairs that look like this:
And I thought there wasn't room for the IKEA recliner I did buy...
They do have more normal electric reclining type chairs, I guess we have both these styles of chairs here. They both give me more ideas for my own recliner chair. I'm still looking for a solution for a charging point, speakers, drinks holder, and side table. I mostly have the ideas actually, I need a bit less dreaming and a bit more doing.
Now back to the hotel and we've sat around the pool an hour and a half or so and had a good swim. Did 12 lengths but it's a much smaller pool than last time. It's a straight rectangular pool divided up into play bits and swimming bits, but it can only be about 15m long. I'm sure the last one was 25 or 30. I'm still sat here. A bit longer than the others. We've gone back to get ready for going out for dinner. Didn't go to any markets today. We didn't have time, but actually after the duck tour we did quite a lot of walking around the mall. There's lots of malls here. There was an enormous food court. I think they are like cleaned up versions of the hawker markets, but still nothing like your food court at home. Seems genuinely authentic.
It turns out to be what the hawker markets are mostly like.
Tonight we're eating in Marina Bay Sands. Not in the poshest bit but still we're putting on shirts and nice clothes. Clare is keen for us to get the underground there. I hope it works because we need four different contactless cards to get us in and out of there and my MasterCard has been blocked most days. The bank blocked it because it looked suspicious. Fair enough it does. I can't unblock it without SMS. I did try doing it over that automated help and it has let me use it a few times today, so we should be good. Got Clare's our own card of course, and the boys are using my Monzo and my Revolut, so we have four different ones that have no charge for overseas transaction fees at a push. I could use my Lloyds but I'll be paying a transaction fee every time. It's our time for me to get up head back to the room. Get showered and go.
The underground worked really well, Singapore public transport is brilliant. Our restaurant was up the top of Marina Bay Sands, and we chose it because you'd have to pay £30 each to go on the viewing platform, and this way you're up at that level for free, as long as you pay £30 each for food. So the food is free isn't it? Also they had a vegan option. Has to be good doesn't it? We'll see in my review tomorrow.