Tuesday 4th December 1984 - Singapore
We arrived here last evening in a
tropical downpour, which soon cleared up. So far it looks a lovely place – the
airport certainly lived up to its reputation as the most beautiful one in the
world – plants everywhere surrounded by attractive garden and lots of running
water – little fountains tinkling away.
We had a pleasant flight over from Sri Lanka in a
SwissAir Jumbo. The plane was pretty full and Rab, to her annoyance, was
sitting next to a bloke who said he was a Pakistani but who Rab swore was an
Arab. She always claims not to be a racist but has condemned the entire Arab
people based on her experiences in Cairo
many years ago. For a Muslim, he certainly dived into the booze! (And there was something rather odd about
his passport and his story which didn’t quite match!) He had five bottles
of wine (125 ml each) and a beer during the flight which lasted about three and
a half hours.
We took off at 11.00 and landed here
at 17.00 gaining two and a half hours on the way. The food was excellent
although I spent a good deal of time helping my two seating companions, a
couple of pleasant Sri Lankan women who had no idea how to deal with the strange
food or the cutlery. They were headed for domestic service in Singapore and
we got on pretty well despite the fact that they spoke no English. I must say
that Sri Lanka
would not be high on my list of places to re-visit, although the countryside may
be worth seeing and it is said that there are some lovely beaches. I would
imagine however they would be pretty tatty like the rest of the place.
It turned out that everybody went on
the tour to Kandy
except us and David and Chris. They all said they wouldn’t have missed it for
the world, but on cross examination by Mrs Rab QC, it seemed to have been
rather an awful experience in a hot car with poor suspension over ghastly roads
to see a slum town. The entire trip took over 12 hours. Thank goodness we didn’t
go!
The drive out to Colombo airport was interesting – plenty of
bullock carts – but what I found fascinating was all the little businesses
along the side of the road. Obviously one man-shows (or one family), but with,
for example, enormous stocks of tyres. Or a panel beater operating out of the
garden in the front of a house! Plenty of wrecks about too, which is not
surprising given the standard of driving.
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| Rab in the Boulevard foyer |
Singapore is a complete contrast
with a skyline like New York,
modern highways and disciplined traffic. Actually, the whole place is very
orderly with substantial fines for littering, jaywalking etc. The hotel we are
at is fine-looking. It is the Boulevard and the wing we are in was only
completed in September. The building is semi-circular and, like so many new
hotels, the walkways to the rooms all give a view into a deep atrium. Difficult
to describe but magnificent with orchids on the ledges. The foyer is beautiful
too with orchids everywhere. They have the latest in security locks, with no
keys, but a security card to be inserted in the door. Once in, the card is
placed in another slot which “activates” the room, turning on the lights and
aircon etc. Very futuristic.
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| Orchids all the way down |
After checking in we nipped off with
Peter and Margaret (from Botswana)
to an ethnic food place just around the corner in Tanglin Road. It is run by the Singapore
Tourist Promotion Board and consists of a whole lot of specialists in various
dishes. I had a fine old time wading in with both trotters and had a couple of nice
draught beers. Our companions were a bit more restrained and had a very plain
and dull looking chicken dish. On the way there we popped into a supermarket to
pick up some beers (Aussie Green it was called) as those in the mini bars in
the room were so damn expensive.
Having eaten, it was about 20.30 so,
since the shops close between 21.00 and 21.30, we strolled down Orchard Road. All
very interesting. Landed up in the American fast food area with McDonalds
(second biggest outlet in the world ) Wendy’s etc. had a good Baskins
Robbins ice cream …. and so to bed.
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