Blog ≫ 2024 ≫ Singapore day seven - Gardens By The Bay
Started this dictation with "So today we have to tick off the rest of our Singapore targets" because at the time I wrote it I thought we were going to Indonesia on our only other spare day. But we decided against it in the end.
So today we have to tick off the rest of our Singapore targets including Gardens By The Bay where hopefully we're going to see some wild otters. They have a wild otter problem here. Looking forward to that and then there's the light show there too which is a "must do". Then in the morning we're heading to Malaysia on the train. It's not a big exotic international train journey. It's only about five minutes, but it still counts. Then we'll be back here again by the evening. Will be back early enough to try and do something else. We'll maybe see another one of the hawker markets that's a bit busier because it's not Sunday and the following day ferry over to Indonesia.
I'm stopped by the pool dictating this. We just had breakfast and I'm waiting for the others to get ready. I got showered before breakfast, they did not. I'm not intending to swim, it's just that it was dark and busy in the room and I wanted to read, but instead of reading I'm looking at my phone and talking into my phone.
I see it looks like there is an Oasis reunion to be announced tomorrow, so I guess we'll get tickets for that. I think T1 would like to go to that. As Clare says, he doesn't know he'd like to go to it, but when he gets there he'll be pleased, and I think looking back he'll be pleased. These boys not show much interest in music so far. Maybe we'll all go, but that's going to be another large expense, at the point where I'm trying to pay off this holiday.
Yeah another spoiler, we did not get Oasis tickets either. I think I've already covered this.
I haven't spent as much as I might have done, mostly because I'm worried about having spent too much. At least my credit card is working on the buses and on the tubes because that could have been a problem. I think I said before, we need four different cards to be able to tap in and tap out of the buses and tubes. So the two boys are using two others of mine and the MasterCard was the last one that had no fees for transactions.
It's very hot already this morning but it's bright and sunny. It's only 29°. So it could be hotter. I think it's due to stay at this level all day, and due to get hotter later in the week. No sign of rain yet. We have had heavy storms everyday. Nothing like the weather they've had in England which seems to have been ruining and canceling festivals.
In the morning we walked to the Indian part of Singapore and went to a lovely bright temple. The Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple is Singapore's first temple dedicated to Veeramakaliamman or the goddess Kali, a fierce incarnation of Shiva's wife and "Destroyer of Evil." Hindus also believe that she destroys ignorance and protects her devotees by maintaining world order.
Update from later in the day. We've been walking around Islands By The Bay most of the day. Quite a lot of walking. Very hot. Very nice! And we only went inside Cloud Forest but I think that was enough. They have trees indoors. It's all very artificial Singapore, but it's quite pleasant. Also an artificial waterfall and lots of trees and plants from all around the world planted inside these massive greenhouse domes.
Cloud Forest was quite good. Artificial again, like everything in Singapore, but good. Nice to be among a load of plants and a big old artificial waterfall.
I'm losing faith slightly in the idea to go to Indonesia. Even though it'd be really easy and would tick it off. We're not confident there's going to be anything to do when we get over there. Apart from wait for the ferry back again, most of the guides for what to do in Batam seem to say you should go somewhere else. Best thing to do in Batam is to leave Batam and go somewhere else now. It's quite big, but I don't think any of these places are going to be very near to where we land by ferry, so I'm thinking we might give it a miss. Have another day doing something else in Singapore.
And so we did. Shame, but we were worried about spending all our time getting there, missing stuff in Singapore to be hanging round a port.
Right now we're waiting for the islands by the Bay light show, which is a must do in Singapore. I'm sat on a bench waiting for Clare and the boys to come back. They went to get a McDonald's about 20 minutes ago and haven't reappeared. I accidentally ate earlier when we went to a kind of hawker market inside this Islands By The Bay area. It seems more artificial,more more on the food court side, even though the hawker markets are all basically food courts. This one was just a bit shinier and very quiet. We were supposed to be just looking around to work out if we would eat there later. I didn't realize this and I thought we were ordering food already. So I got my food from a Turkish / Indian place. They didn't have very much. The only thing I could get was falafel wrap so I ate that while the others just sat and had a drink. I think they were pleased that I'd eaten by mistake, because it gave them the excuse to go to McDonald's. We've already been in a McDonald's earlier to get an ice cream for T2, and T1 has been in shake shack to get his ice cream. Not sure if Clare is eating McDonald's or not. I will find out when they get back. I'm holding a bench for them so they can sit here and eat. I don't think it's going to be a good spot to watch the light show from. The park is really filled up preparing for the light show.
On the walk here we went past all the expensive shops again, the expensive mall at the base of Marina Bay Sands. There's a massive Apple store there in a strange globe of a building right on the water. As I came out of there, I was joking in a message to my friends that my phone had been ripped from my pocket by some kind of force field because it's an Android rather than an Apple, and then two minutes later I was taking a picture of Marina Bay Sands from a good photogenic spot and my phone slipped out of its case and smashed on the ground. I'm glad it landed case side down, back side down so the screen is OK, but the back is smashed. Why would they make the back out of glass?? It's still usable, but I guess it's not waterproof anymore. I was thinking of getting a new phone anyway. I've been thinking of it for a while. I was thinking I could trade this one in, but I guess I can't now. Maybe I can get the case repaired. It's just another expense on top of the expenses of this holiday though, so I probably shouldn't. I think I need to sell some stuff when I get back.
Never did see the wild otters.
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