Day 21 - Mon 2 Dec: Singapore

Fine and mainly sunny in the morning with an afternoon thunderstorm (sounds like a stuck record) 25 to 33 deg
Walk: 25km

My last full day in Singapore so I’ve got to make the best of it. Two more places I wanted to visit were the National Art Gallery and Arab Street, where as a young (19-year-old) infantryman I used to go to buy better kit than the Army issued us. Most of the gear the Army issued us in the late 1960s was leftovers from WWII.

My early morning walk this morning got a little extended (just over 7km) as I kept finding interesting stuff “just around the corner”. Singapore has got to be one of the best pedestrian cities in the world, it’s clean, (squeaky) safe and it’s interesting. Yes, it’s got its ugly glass and concrete high rise but intermingled with them are some nice old colonial stuff and old Asian architecture.

Called into Starbucks for coffee and a little cup of chia “porridge,” which set me back over A$14; maybe a tad more expensive than home but not much.

Back to my room for the morning routine before heading back out. Called into Maccas and got a wrap and coffee for mornos and lunch. The Army disposal stores in Arab Street are well and truly gone, most of the shops are now lady’s material, carpet, and lighting shops. The old buildings are the same, some have been tarted up, but it was basically the same as it was 50 years ago. Wandered by Raffles Hotel but didn’t go in, could not afford one Singapore sling at this five-star hotel, even if I was drinking.

Kept wandering around most of the day, going in and out of some of the thousands of shopping centres. Nothing jumped out and said, “buy me”, I’m the worst shopper at the best of times. The souvenirs were all junk, so I wasn’t going there either.

The sky opened up for the regular afternoon thunderstorm about 1:30pm which kept me inside the National Gallery for an extra hour or so. The Asian Art scene is not my thing, much prefer European artists personally.

It continued to rain, but not as heavy so I started back to the hotel with my umbrella, which decided to break on me. The little thingy that holds it up fell out, so I had to hold it open with my hand as I walked along. Stopped by one of those shopping centres and had a very nice laksa for dinner. I’m certainly eating well, must be all the walking stimulating my appetite.

The rain was still steady when I went back outside so I walked back to my room and called it a night. Got an early start in the morning so it won’t hurt to have an early night.
Great idea for table legs

Looking out from the National Gallery

National Gallery

The afternoon thunderstorm is about to hit

The thunderstorm unloading

My hotel

Singapore Police Response Group, on exercise I hope

The one and only Raffles Singapore

Beach Road, hasn't changed much

And then there was one

Restaurant Mall

Footpath of Beach Road, the road to our Barracks from the city

Arab street is still there, but no longer Army disposal stores


Bugis Street is now a market. It was a favourite drinking place 50 years ago

No mistaking what this room is for

Whole streets have been covered over, making them into indoor shopping centres

One of the old temples in Chinatown

Street art is everywhere, some origami

Another green building

A lovely cool, dry space for people to enjoy


The old and the new. I hope they don't knock down all the old buildings as they make the place worth visiting

If cranes are a measure of how well a city is doing, then Singapore is doing very well

Lovely old Chinatown

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