War, missed tours and airports

26/6/11

With a war legacy such as Singapore’s it was unsurprising that our family friend who collates details of the Sedbergh’s war fallen would ask us to visit the Singapore war cemetery. So Sunday was spent seeking out the war cemetery and finding the names of those who had perished during the Second World War. Even more poignantly each of the 10 service men had never been found and were simply listed on a war memorial that went on and on. Of those we sought the vast majority were from the public school famous for churning out officers although there was at least one local who had the name of Dent (the local village just up the road from Sedbergh).

29/6/11

The plan had been for us to go on another walking tour but this looked unlikely at 2am when James had still not got to sleep. The plan was further obliterated by my alarm failing to go off. I did however make a determined effort to get to the tour but alas was 20 minutes late and despite walking along the route of the tour I could not locate the group. Not to be detailed I took myself on my own tour ending up and Marina Bay Sands or in my view the three sky scrapers with a space ship on top ball built on reclaimed land. Whatever one calls it there can be no doubting that the structure is huge and imposing. I arrived in the attached (obligatory??) huge shopping mall and asked directions to the sky park. I was told to take an elevator, go up one flight of stairs turn left at this shop and that and then I would be there. Sensing it would be quicker to walk around the outside of the building I enquired as to whether this would be possible. The answer “of course sir but it’s not air conditioned out there.’

After my brush with the elements I arrived unscathed and un scorched at the first sky scraper. I located the lifts paid $20 and was shot up 57 floors in 30 seconds or in my reckoning 228 meters. Unsurprisingly my ears popped on the way up. Never the less the rocket like journey was worth it for the views were spectacular and it gave a glimpse into the makeup of Singapore.

Where I was standing albeit 57 floors above ground level was reclaimed land build by importing water rocks and sand from around Asia. That said most of Singapore’s neighbours will not sell these items particularly sand as the net result is that Singapore encroaches on their territorial waters with every meter of reclaimed land. The view also demonstrated the strategic importance of Singapore in terms of trade as the sea was crammed with literally hundreds of cargo ships. The container parks were nestled next to the multi bullion dollar generating banks and the multi million pound apartment complexes. For an Island so small there is certainly a lot going on.

Having left a note for James we caught up in china town where we met Gary’s dad, John. This meeting was not coincidence but the fruits of my planning. 8 months ago I sent Gary away from one of his visits to our house with two months supplies of my tablets. These tablets were transported to his parents at Christmas where that awaited my arrival. After handing over the precious goods John took up for lunch in China town. Such a location normally requires me to find a stall that has pictures that depict the food but with John we dined in resultants with only words on display. John was the consummate host and selected numerous dishes for us to try. We can see where Gary gets his love of food and ability to eat a number of dishes as john was quite disappointed when we called a halt to the eating after only four plates. John had intended that we sample some other stalls as well but alas all we could manage was a desert of ice, sweet potato and coconut shared between us.

After lunch we waddled to the botanic gardens where we had an enjoyable in not rather hot explore of the lush green space in the heart of Singapore. The highlight may have been the cool house, an environment designed to simulate the cool mountain climate where certain orchards flower. The rest of the gardens were not so cool so after a few hours we retired to the hostel for the evening.

28/6/11

We are definitely flash packers for I sit on board a Singapore airlines flight sipping a glass of wine whilst typing this on my notebook. Boat from Singapore to Bali I think not. First class on the airline not that either but never the less there is more leg room than easy jet and they give away free stuff too!

Today was crunch day. Would our passports be ready three hours before we were supposed to collect them? If not we would miss our flight so we arrived in good time at the embassy and I was ready for a bawling match should it become necessary as we had flights booked and mum would be waiting in Bali for us. As it turns out our fears were unfounded as the Indonesian embassy was efficiency personified. We arrived, check in and collected our passports within 15 minutes. Top marks from us.

Later we arrived at what we may describe as our favourite place in Singapore… its airport. This marvel is cool efficient, clean and there is so much to do. If you had the time there is a cinema, there is the intent, a garden, a chill out area, computer games a multitude of shops and much more that we have yet to discover. And the best thing for cheapskates such as us is that it’s all free (well apart from the shopping). So it was with no great disappointment that we arrived four hours before our flight. After checking in we reclined in confortable chairs, had an automated foot message and surfed the free internet. Can we stay for a week next time???