Posted by ;
We arrived in Singapore with John feeling sick and weren’t sure if it was food or viral so once we checked into The Fullerton Hotel it was time to crawl into bed and settle it all down. Our room is huge as we got upgraded to a suite in a heritage room with its own living room and sep bedroom. The only downsides are the tiny windows so the view is hard to see,but for the space that is not a problem. A night in tonight with just a light soup from room service.
As usual it’s dam hot and it doesn’t change at night so it’s aircon all night longThe next day we had breakfast out on the terrace looking out over the river and decided for the price we would spin it out for as long as possible. We decided that today we would walk the waterfront and go down to see a Chinese temple and some old Singapore Colonial buildings before heading to the beach at Sentosa Island.
We heard that it had improved but when we got there it was much the same as 16 years ago except with more hotels and WORLDS and the beaches although well looked after, it very dirty in the water so just a quick cool off and a few laughs watching the wave machine riders before heading back along the monorail to Vivo City shopping mall for some AC .
We both had a one hr massage which was excellent and wandered the shops before a taxi back to the hotel. John realized when we got back that he had bought the dead video camera charger adaptor by mistake so he ventured out to a Sony store and got a new charger which was a relief.
That night we dined at Indochine a lovely restaurant on the river that is part of the Asian Civilizations museum in the old colonial government buildings and then took a walk along the river to Boat Quay for the tacky tourist strip.
Saturday we found a neat little breakfast joint just around the corner and had a light starter before heading across the river and up to Raffles City to try dumplings for brunch, but it didn’t open till 11am so we jumped a taxi to Orchard Road and found Din Tai Fung which Opened at 10am, we were the first in line and enjoyed a lovely section of tasty dumplings that filled us to the brim.
We wandered the shops in The Paragon complex which was very fancy and Ann found some sandals to keep her sore feet happy .
We headed down Orchard road for a while until the heat got to us and oh my god the shopping is insane , so many many complexes, the funniest was wandering into Abercrombie and Fitch, am I getting just too old and cranky but is that just a consumer joke gone wrong or have the total tossers of the world finally found a home where they can wallow in their own self importance. Right in the midst of all this madness stands a remaining street of old Singapore.
Taxi back for a rest out of the heat and then a swim in the hotel pool went down well. We went up to Chijmes for a pre dinner drink in the maze of bars and restaurants that make up the converted Convent complex but not much was open at 5.30 pm so across the road to Raffles for a rip off drink at the outdoor bar before heading back to no1 Raffles place to The Altitude complex on the 62nd floor and the worlds highest open air rooftop bar with amazing views in every direction.
Dinner was at “Stellar” With a window seat right on the edge looking out to the financial district and the Marina Bay Sands which put on a great light show.
Dinner was excellent but exy and we finished the night with a view back up to the top of Altitude before a waterfront stroll to take in the light shows over the Harbour.
The vast Foyer of the Fullerton at night is just as spectacular as the outside and it has some very interesting art pieces throughout.
Our last day was slower pace with a late breakfast on the terrace out of the rain before packing our bags . We visited the Asian Civilization museum in the middle of the day which was very interesting especially the textile exhibition, Patterns of trade.
An early meal at the new street hawkers refuge on The Esplanade on Marina Bay was a nice final farewell before grabbing a Drink at one of the many Harry’s Bars in Singapore while waiting for the sun to set over the bay for a final glimpse of the night lights.
