Singapore, Singapore

Our friends Paddy and Gwen drove us to the airport in Auckland and it was a pleasant trip up. John's brother and his son had a delayed flight from Gisborne as Auckland was covered with fog so there was a bit of a panic as we heard them announce boarding for the flight to Singapore. However the 2 boys arrived on time.

Singapore Airlines do a great job so it was an enjoyable flight. The boys had 6 hours in the airport and were looking for a TV screen to watch some of the World Cup Soccer games while they waited for their connection to Cape Town, South Africa to watch more soccer games.

I followed the directions given to me to get to my hostel and headed off as night fell to find my bus and take the 40 minute trip that cost $1.60NZ to the Katong area.

The hostel is well resourced and the staff so helpful, even down to a huge dispenser for foam ear plugs. There are bars each side of the hostel and the tables vibrate in the common room. I am sharing a dorm room with 5 other girls from Taiwan and Malaysia and being on the top floor we don't hear the noise from below.

Friday was very quiet so I headed out to explore the East Coast beach and see how the Singaporeans were spending their time relaxing.

It has been about 33 years since I was here and the place looks as tidy as ever but the old houses look newer as a lot has been done to renovate them.

The beach area is not suitable for swimming but children were playing in the sand and there was a special path for bicycles and skaters and a second paved lane for walkers and joggers. Most of the signs in the park were safety notices, information signs as well as government signs promoting healthy lifestyles and events to be held in the park.

Some teens were practising their wake-board and skiing skills on the cable ski run in the lake while others were spending the time in their tents with their family and friends. There are areas where they can camp for up to 8 days per month and but have to get a permit. There are dozens of BBQ grill pits which also need to be booked but as it was raining on and off no one was able to fire up.

The parents were out with bicycles getting the young ones skills up in order to get off their trainer wheels. Even though it was a Friday there were quite a few families with school aged children about.

I chatted to a man catching grasshoppers with a net to feed his song birds.

There were lots of fishers at the pier with their bicycles loaded up with the paraphernalia needed for day out fishing. If they had no luck there was a business that had pools where you could catch fresh seafood yourself. There were queues of ships of all sizes lining up to get their goods to the port.

This unusual tree had huge brown fruit, I presume, and then some gorgeous orchid-like flowers on the trunk.
Nearby the hostel was a street of old houses painted different colours and all in various states of renovation.

Across the street was a business that made all kinds of creations for burning for good luck for their Chinese customers who later burn them at festivals. When I went by in the morning there were dozens of frames made of thin bamboo sticks and this was was finished in the afternoon ready to be loaded on a truck. The rice paper is thin like tissue paper.

I managed to find a restaurant for a Malay curry and a blurry TV showing one of the soccer games, but decided against the restaurant with this advertisement "Die, die, must try"