Day 20 - Sun 1 Dec: Singapore

Fine and partly cloudy with a late afternoon thunderstorm, 26 to 33 deg, felt like 38 just after lunch walking back from the Bot Gardens
Walk:22km

Due to a relatively late night (for me) 10:30pm, I slept in till 6am this morning. Had a cuppa in my room then did a lap around Chinatown. You can see that in the main it’s very prosperous. Most of the old buildings have been renovated and it’s much cleaner than I remember it from previous visits.

I’ve noticed too that the whole of Singapore is greener now with extensive tree and garden plantings everywhere. Off course with their rain and heat everything about jumps out of the ground when planted. Even some of the buildings are being greened up by vegetation on the balconies and rooftops.

The worms drove me back to the hotel for breakfast, which although very ordinary is included in the price so I take advantage of it. After brekky I started my trek to the Botanical Gardens. I estimated that it would be about 7km each way with a few more at the Gardens. Most of the walk was along the Alexander Canal which isn’t far from the hotel. They’ve done a great job of making it a very pleasant walk / cycleway on both sides of the canal. It’s a very popular corridor for high rise units with hundreds already there and many more under construction. I had to stop by a couple of local eateries on the round trip as I was burning energy fast in the heat and humidity; or I might be a bit of a fang.

The Gardens were beautiful as usual, with a few additional features since Wens and I visited when we were posted to Darwin many moons ago. Being a Sunday, it was busy with people, especially families, many with their dogs all over the place. Got back to the hotel about 2:30pm just when it was really heating up and registered just over 17km on map my walk. I thought I deserved the cuppa in my room with my feet up.

At 4pm the remaining six gathered in the foyer for our last catch up before the four British gentlemen leave for the airport at 4:30. They are all characters and great blokes to tour with. I appreciate that I’m the odd man out as I don’t drink, but that doesn’t seem to worry them at all. I don’t mind that they like a beer on a hot day as long as they don’t mind if I drink tea or tonic water.

Met up with Kev at 6pm and we walked a few hundred metres up the road to Chinatown where we had dinner. Very ordinary surroundings, a real local hangout, not a tourist to be seen anywhere, but lovely tasty tucker. I had a curried fish with veggies, no rice, while Kev had a wonton soup. We then walked across the road to the upmarket part of Chinatown where we each got a custard bun thingy for sweets.

And then there was just me as Kev is flying home later tonight so he went back to his room to check out and catch the underground to the airport. I continued walking, as if I haven’t done enough for one day, to my favourite walkway along the river. I stumbled across a contemporary dance and music group doing an impromptu performance on the promenade of Marina Bay. They were very impressive, and fit, it’s no mean feat dancing in this heat. After that finished, I called it stumps and wandered back to my room.




Lunch, nothing like the picture on the board I ordered it from

Botanic Gardens





Part of the canal walk


Chinatown







The green building concept, love it. Why can't this principle be used to grow food?


Riverside with its ripoff restaurants

Passing parade of river cruise boats

Never get tired of photographing this hotel

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