I slept until just after 9:00 AM! Actually I think I was just being lazy. After the usual morning formalities and breakfast at McD, I used the internet to do some more research about London hotels. I then completely repacked my stuff, transferring all of the warm weather stuff and souvenirs and gifts to the large bag, and the winter stuff to the medium size bag. My plan is to leave the large suitcase and the one with books and papers at the "left luggage" service at Heathrow, and again at Barcelona, and just take into town my active clothing bag and the computer bag. After a couple hours of work it seems that this will work out.
I then took the MRT to Chinatown and met S for lunch. We went to the same outdoor café that I had dinner at last week. My lunch was S$3, and hers was S$4. Thus, the total bill for both of us was about $4.50 US. We then walked thru Chinatown and I wandered in and out of a few souvenir shops. Is there anything else I need to get? There was one shop where everything was 3 for $10S. That is a very good price, maybe I will go back. We also went to the Chinatown Market, a building with lots of small shops and booths, where I found some shoes that I liked, at a price that I also liked. At a nearby larger store I also picked-up some jeans ($12.90S, about $7US), and a shirt ($7S). I sure won't see these prices in London!
After dropping my purchases off at the hotel, we walked to Suntec City Mall, a very new space-age mall and complex. S wanted to have dinner at Kenny Rogers, so we did. This was my first time eating in a KR, and it was ok. The chicken is roasted and heavily seasoned. I think I prefer fried chicken. After dinner we walked outside to the Fountain of Wealth, a very large (it claims to be the world's largest) fountain. It is a modern design, and much different that the old-style fountains (such as Buckingham Fountain in Chicago). There is a center water source in the middle of a large circular open space. About 30 feet above it is a large circular pipe forming a ring, help up by 4 support pipes. Sometimes the water is sprayed from the center source, and other times the water falls from the pipe ring above it. When the water is sprayed from the center source the shape of the water spray can be changed, and laser lights display designs or words onto the sheets of water while music plays. It is a very very entertaining and creatively designed fountain, unlike anything else I have ever seen.
We then walked back to the hotel, and after waiting about 10 minutes or more for an available taxi to come by (there were lots of taxis, but all were already taken), S got her ride home. I got an ice cream cone at McD and sat outside enjoying the pleasant evening, and then went up to the room.
I walked up Orchard Road for a while, just window shopping at some of the larger stores, and going in to some of the malls. At one point I stopped at a Starbucks and had a coffee and read some of their literature about coffee. Did you know that Starbucks says that a coffee press is the best way to make the best coffee? I made it back to the hotel about 6:00PM, and after a quick check of my email (yes, I received my email confirmation of my hotel booking for London), I went up to the room and changed clothes for dinner.
At 6:30 my friend S came and met me downstairs. We are supposed to meet her friend S, and S's man-friend C, for dinner. They are supposed to pick us up about 6:45. Well, they don't get there until 7:30, but that is OK. They had gone to a different YMCA before they realized where we were. C then drove us to Chijmes, a collection of restaurants and small shops located in a beautiful old building that originally was an orphanage in the late 1800s. We had dinner at a place called Liberte'. The food was OK, not great. The service OK, but slow, very slow. But, the conversation with C was very good.
C is originally from Normandie, France, and has been based here in SIN for about 2 years. He works for a large multinational corporation, and spends a lot of time traveling around Asia. We have delightful conversation about France, Europe, America, Singapore, China, etc., and so the evening was quite pleasant and interesting.
After dinner C dropped the other 3 of us off in front of my hotel. S and S then walked to the taxi stand a couple blocks away, and I came up to the room where I worked on this journal. I have less than 33 hours left here in SIN, in Asia. I can't believe my trip is almost over!
I rise and shine by 9, and again have breakfast here at the hotel. I have read that the Asian Aerospace Show is here and open to the public today. The tickets cost $21S, about $13US, but I must go to Sentec Mall to get them. I do, and after some searching I finally find the ticket counter. I then take the MRT to the Expo station, and from there take the free shuttle bus to the show, which is being held at the Singapore Exhibition Center, located just northwest of the SIN airport, near the waterfront. As the bus gets closer the traffic gets worse. All vehicles entering the show area are going thru a security check, including the local city buses! While on the bus the air show starts, and sometimes we folks on the bus can see various military aircraft flying nearby. I wish the traffic would hurry up! I want to see the show! We finally arrive, and I am able to see the last 10 minutes or so of the Italian fighter jet group. Very good! There were lots of people at the watefront watching the airshow, and there were also lots of people inside the fence at the actual aerospace show. It was very large and quite interesting. There were displays and booths from many different aerospace companies from all over the world. Boeing, Airbus, Dassault, Honeywell, Raytheon, etc. etc. etc. Anything and everything related to aircraft was represented. Outside many aircraft, both civil and military, were parked and on display, some you could actually sit in if you were willing to wait in the long queues. Inside there were mock-ups of smaller aircraft or portions thereof, including the front section of a new airliner being made in China, and there was also a display of a mock flight simulator. I read in the newspaper the next day that more than $4 billion or deals had been made at the show. It was a really big event!
I finally left the show at about 3:00, took the shuttle bus back to the MRT, and the MRT back into town. I went back to Sentec Mall, and found the Fountain of Wealth, where I had been with S a couple evenings earlier. I wanted to see the fountain in the daytime, and perhaps take some photos. Unfortunately the fountain show is only done at night, and the fountain was much quieter now, on a Saturday afternoon. Many people were walking around the fountain 3 times. It is said you must do this and make your wish. From there I walked west to the waterfront near the Esplanade concert halls. Wow! What a nice concert hall, and what a nice setting! I walked along the waterfront for a short time. It was very warm and humid, perhaps the most uncomfortable day for me so far here in SIN. In fact, it was so hot, and I was so tired, that I took a taxi back to the hotel! Soon I went over to the mall for dinner, and then came back to the room where I finished packing. I have to get up tomorrow morning at 5:15, so I went to bed as early as I could.
I woke at about 8:00, and after some laziness made it to the hotel café about 9:00AM. I decided to have the free breakfast today, and give McD a break. I managed to do OK, concentrating on the fruit, pastries, and coffee while I read the paper. Afterwards I used the internet to do a final hotel search for London. I found 3 hotels that were reasonably priced and in good locations, and I selected one of them, the London Crown, located in Paddington. This is just a few blocks from where I stayed the last time I was in London, so I remember the neighborhood, and it is very convenient to the subway and the train to the airport. Then I spent a couple hours uploading my travel journal to the website. It was a little sloppy, but it will do. Hopefully I can add some photos soon.
By then it was after 2:00 PM and I was very hungry. I walked up to Plaza Singapura and had some fish, greens, and rice at one of the Chinese booths in the food court. After lunch I found a hair cutting place at the mall, called QB, where I had a decent haircut for $10S ($6.00US). The QB shop was different than any other barber shop or hair salon I have ever seen. It is very modern, with a trap door in the bottom of the chair to sweep the hair cuttings into, and a vacuum mounted overhead for the hair stylist to vacuum the loose hairs from your head when they are done. Very efficient design. And, you don't use money to pay. Instead they have a machine that takes your $10 note, and dispenses a plastic card. You give the card to the stylist when you sit in the chair. The stylist does not handle any money, and they do not accept tips. There were 4 stylist stations, and 3 stylists were working, 2 women and 1 man. My stylist was a young woman, very serious, who despite my effort to have a conversation stayed very quiet. Similar to the stylists, the customers were a mix of men and women. At any rate, about 15 minutes after I sat down, I walked out a new man. I really needed that haircut!
Back to Home Page
To Site Map/Table of Contents
Go to XXXXX