I’m writing as we are beginning our third and final full day in Singapore. We’ve walked miles, literally! It’s been hot, uncomfortably sweaty, and tiring at times but we’ve enjoyed every minute of it. I only wish we had decided to stay longer. Starting Tuesday morning we used the hotel gym and pool thereby maintaining our mega fitness regime (yeah right). Sergeant Major Lynne insisted! Afterwards we went for breakfast. Don’t you just hate the first morning at a buffet breakfast? You walk in with no idea where everything is or how the system works. It drives me up the wall. I looked at the hot foods available and it all looked like dinner to me, really, who in their right mind has broccoli and cauliflower for breakfast? I ended up having cereal and an omelet. The next moan is about the tables. I can’t remember ever staying at a hotel before where you had to sit at long tables alongside other people. I ended up sat next to a Russian body builder type, one of those sort of guys who, whilst eating, lowers his head down almost to the plate giving whichever implement he happens to be using as little distance to travel between plate and mouth as possible! Lynne sat opposite a Japanese girl whose plate was piled as high with food when she left as it was when she sat down. That’s a great idea, spend ten minutes hunter gathering around the buffet and then barely touch any of it!
Feeling slightly less than satiated (I mean food you dirty beggars) we set off for our first proper walk around Singapore. First port of call was to be the Gardens by the Bay which is also close to the Marina Bay Sands Hotel. I’d wanted to stay at the Marina Bay Sands after seeing a TV programme about it and seeing how impressive it looked but for the four nights we are in Singapore it would have cost roughly £1500 so we decided to give it a miss. We found our way there fairly easily although it was a long way and we were already uncomfortably hot. Once inside the hotel the overriding feeling was one of disappointment. Being there in person, I wasn’t particularly impressed at all. It’s very big and imposing but I found myself completely underwhelmed! Also, if had we stayed there, it seemed there would have been nowhere else to go to eat other than very expensive places in the nearby mall. The Park Regis where we are staying is surrounded by restaurants within a ten minute walk so actually turned out to be a much better choice. The mall is called The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands. It’s all terribly upmarket, all very snooty and designery! This brings me to a pet peeve of mine. As someone interested in photography, I wonder if anyone else ever takes the time to look at some of the images designer clothes shops adorn there windows with? Well I do and I never cease to be gobsmacked by how awful some of them are. The following are just two examples, both found at the Gucci shop in this particular mall. See if you think either of these would make you want to emulate their look.
Seriously, the yellow coat, what young woman with any brain cells would choose to look like that? And besides that, look at the face on her! Also you’ve got two partial dogs in the frame. They are a major distraction from the main (awful) subject. What are they even there for? I imagine an advertising executive presenting these ideas to a room of utterly pretentious wankers and pissing his pants laughing when they get accepted. For anyone rash enough to consider entering the shop, the picture below is what you’re presented with in the doorway. I’m surprised anyone ever crosses the threshold. I know I’m not a young man but am I missing something here?
Leaving the Marina Bay Sands we made our way to the Gardens by the Bay to look around. This was more of a reccy for me by way of finding a suitable spot to photograph the Supertree Grove at night during the light show. I would say this is probably the biggest attraction in Singapore and rightly so. They are massive structures and even during day time they present a striking spectacle.
We walked the approximate three kilometres from our hotel not knowing at the time how far it was. I’d have to say though, in the heat it feels like more! Having walked around, the only spot I could find where I could get the Supertree Grove and the Marina Bay Sands Hotel in the frame was directly in front of where a group of workmen were laying a large lawn. I assumed at the time that by the time the light show started at 8.00 pm they would be long gone. Now I had my spot we decided to walk back to the hotel and have a rest. We grabbed a Subway sandwich on the way back and once back in the cool of the room we stuffed them down our necks washed down by half a gallon of Sprite. We really know how to live life on the edge!
At 6.00 pm we set out to walk back to the gardens but this time I was carrying a heavy camera bag and a tripod and it was still as hot as ever. The walk seemed even further this time as we crossed the Helix Bridge which is a steel footbridge apparently inspired by the curved form of the structure of DNA.
Once back at the spot I’d chosen I was slightly miffed to find the workmen were still laying their lawn. They had a large area to cover and were going about it in a very orderly fashion. It’s actually a man in a tractor that lays the grass while 20 others all stand and watch. The tractor picks up huge rolls of perfect turf and the 20 other men line up the edge and then he just reverses away slowly leaving the turf in it’s place. This was fascinating to watch but as the sun set and darkness descended it became obvious they weren’t finishing any time soon. That’s all by way of explanation for the streaky lights in the bottom of the following image. We stood for at least an hour and a quarter waiting for the light show to start and I was set up with the camera on it’s tripod with everything set and by the time it was dark my exposure times were 30 seconds. Hence the moving lights from the tractor. I don’t think it detracts from the image too much though.
When the show started I think I can speak for both of us when I say we were well and truly blown away by it. An absolutely stunning display. Remembering back years ago to the visual feast of the fountains at the Bellagio in Las Vegas I think it’s safe to say that the lights at the Supertree Grove has it beat all hands down. I’d expected a lot of lasers shooting out from the Marina Bay Sands Hotel which is what I had seen previously on YouTube but this was nothing like that in fact it didn’t involve the hotel at all. Just fantastical lights choreographed with music which held the entire crowd, and by then it was a big crowd, utterly spellbound! What a magnificent show, and all for free. As it came to a climax and ended the crowd burst into appreciative applause. That whole time Lynne myself and the tripod had been surrounded by people and not one of them came too near or got in the way which I was extremely thankful for..
Getting away from the Gardens by the Bay after the light show was a bit like leaving a football match, a very slow shuffle following the crowds. It was only when we got to the other side of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel that things began to thin out and we made better progress toward returning to our hotel. We weren’t sure where to eat but within about a mile of the hotel we stopped to look at the menu at a riverside restaurant called Haven Lobster Seafood. Apart from Crunchy Baby Squid which we had as a starter (delicious tiny squid) I can’t even remember what we both had. What I do know is that it was expensive. It cost us £105 and Lynne had to go into the shop to pay. I hung about outside for a while till eventually I started to wonder what the hell was taking so long. I hoped for their sake they hadn’t decided to take her away and harvest her kidneys. God help the recipient! While I waited I noticed the days fish and lobster from the menu in tanks all morosely floating about waiting for certain death. Makes me glad I’m human, you’d have to be extremely unlucky to find yourself on anyones menu!
After waiting for what seemed like an age I walked through to the back of the shop to see what was going on. As soon as Lynne saw me she said “my card was declined” Her card had been declined and we didn’t have enough cash to pay for the meal. Cutting a long story short, it just so happened that as I was carrying my camera bag I actually had my bank card with me. This is highly unusual because using it abroad accrues fees and we try to avoid using it at all costs. On this occasion however it saved the day and having thankfully paid the bill we both returned to the hotel, both lots of kidneys intact!
I started this blog intending to cover two days but this one day has gone on long enough, I’m sure you’ll agree so I’m calling it quits at this point. Just for the record, my phone tells me that we walked 28659 steps today which according to the phone equates to 21.3 kilometres. No wonder we’re both knackered!😩
Wandering Wildman 