We are on our way!

This past week has been a very busy and exciting one. Not only have we made the last minute arrangements for our trip, but Kerrie has also retired after a teaching career that spanned 40 years. Quite an achievement. Her career has covered teaching in 4 states of Australia, all year levels and numerous schools but most of her time has been at Oxenford State School where she started full time at the end of 1988. She was honoured on Wednesday afternoon by her school community with a farewell “Hats and High Tea” function in the school hall followed by a dinner with some of her friends and colleagues. As she walked out the classroom door on Thursday afternoon she said “come on, let’s get out of here, we have a holiday to go on.”

We decided to stay in Brisbane the night before we left as we had an early flight to Singapore on Friday morning. We had a great Italian dinner (just to get in the mood) with Vicki and Michael who had driven us up to Brisbane. Of course, the dinner was washed down with cold Moretti (Italian) beer.

Part of our planning included a 1 night stopover in Singapore for $1.00. This included hotel accommodation and transfers to and from our hotel – a bargain! We arrived in Singapore at 3pm and were transported to Hotel Miramar. After a quick shower, we were off to explore. First stop – Chinatown – where else!

In true holiday fashion, we found a little restaurant for dinner and 2 very large Tiger beers that went down really well.

Next morning we took a Hop-on-Hop-off bus tour that was only $8 each as part of our Deal – another bargain! It is 33 years since we have visited Singapore although we have passed through the airport on several occasions. We spent the day marvelling at the variety of architectural styles that have appeared since we were here last. One of the most spectacular of these new structures is the Marina Bay Sands Hotel. It looks like a cruise ship perched on top of three tall towers. Greg reckons it must have been one hell of a Tsunami to get that ship up there!

One complete circuit on the bus and we got off to explore Orchard Road. The usual selection of high end boutiques such as Louis Vuitton, Prada and Tiffany adorned the streets but the true treasures of Orchard Road are below street level. Every retail outlet that you could name and imagine are collected in multi levels underground. Greg likened it to a bee hive – many levels in all different directions and people everywhere – way more than up on street level, probably due to the fact that it was cool down there and very warm up above. After a couple of hours below ground it was back to the top for our next stop.

Raffles Hotel has been featured in many movies and is one of the treasures of Singapore tourism. Of course, you can’t go to Raffles without having a Singapore Sling – or at least Kerrie couldn’t! Greg settled for a non-alcoholic cocktail but did sneak a sip of Kerrie’s. The Long Bar at Raffles lived up to its reputation with the fans swaying to keep the clientele cool and the floor covered in peanut shells. This building is beautiful in the traditional Singaporean architectural style as contrasted with the more futuristic styles of more modern buildings.

Back on the bus and we returned to Chinatown for dinner in Food Street, an open air market that was once located in Newtown Circus but has now been regulated and centralised without losing the character of open air dining.

Our observations of Singapore were very positive. Everything is big - including Changi Airport and the hotels. The commentary on the bus tour was full of comments about how good it is to live in Singapore and how many of their attractions are the best in the world. The city is certainly clean and well organised and we felt safe and welcomed as tourists.

After dinner it was time to return to the hotel to freshen up before our 1:45am flight to Istanbul and then on to Athens to pick up the bike.