I ♥ Singapore!

This time last week I was enjoying time out in Singapore! This is a montage of pics taken at the beautiful Singapore Botanic Garden. Click to enlarge to see a little more detail!



We also went to the zoo but my camera wasn't playing ball that day so these are a couple of shots of my favourite tiggers from a previous visit .

Marina Bay Sands Skypark

And I forgot to take my camera when we went here. So stupid of me as it was such a spectactular view:( This is the Skypark at Marina Bay Sands. Click on photo if you'd like to read more about this amazing place.

I ♥ Singapore!

Singapore revisited

Here we are in Singapore circa 1986!! I'm showing this family photo (check out my dodgy perm!) as we've just been back for a visit. We met up with our daughter Louisa (right) who was there on holiday from Dubai with her partner Matt. We spent a day at Singapore zoo which was where this photo was taken. Lou fondly remembered that day as we were allowed to cuddle the lion cubs! She was rather hoping that we'd be able to do the same this time round!
No such luck - look who's all grown up now!!

We all agreed that the White Tigers stole the show this time. Aren't they magnificent?

Love these striped pyjamas!

And this majestic tree.

What a beauty!

We paid a visit to the famous Raffles Hotel for a refreshing Singapore Sling! The hotel has been revamped since we were there 20 years ago, but the Slings were just the same!

2009

1987!

Did a bit of shopping - found a large art store and a huge book shop, so I was happy for a few hours!! We also found the very cool Chocolate Research Facility - great name, don't you think?

Just look at all those drawers full of chocolate!

We did some research of our own of course - the Cardamon and Almond was my favourite, I think - there were just so many delicious flavours to choose from! Take a look at their website here and you'll see why I couldn't make up my mind.

Weekend in Singapore

We've just had a whirlwind weekend in Singapore! Well, it's not that far away - just a comfortable 5 hour coach ride. We went to look at a car we'd seen for sale. And very nice it was too - so we've bought it! Now we have to wait for all the paperwork to be in order before we can import it into Malaysia - by all accounts this can take anywhere between 3 weeks and 3 months - sigh!

That done we checked into the hotel on Scotts Road then headed off to see how much Singapore has changed since we were living there 20 years ago! In a nutshell - it's changed a great deal!



Orchard Road, a favourite area for shoppers, now has even more malls, is way too crowded and incredibly noisy. Not our idea of fun so we were glad to turn off into peaceful Emerald Hill, a conservation area where many of the lovely old Peranakan houses have been renovated to provide contemporary living spaces, bars and cafes.











That evening we ventured a little off the beaten track again to Rochester Park where pre-war colonial black and white houses sitting amid lush tropical greenery have been converted to chic eateries. We enjoyed a delicious al fresco Italian meal and can thoroughly recommend this venue to anyone visiting Singapore!




Next day after breakfast we headed for the zoo. Singapore has one of the very best in the world and we enjoyed a few hours with the animals in beautiful surroundings. Here you can get up close to the animals in their natural habitats - dens are 'open' (well, almost!) and there are lots of monkeys swinging freely through the trees and parrots posing for photos! In addition to the inmates there are many beautiful varieties of orchids and other flowers and trees here, some of which I can't identify! We didn't have time to do it all but the white tigers cooling off in the water were definitely the highlight!