Report # 70 Singapore March 9, 2014 Day Two Partly cloudy, 91 degrees

You know what? We have never been to Singapore that it did not rain sometime during the day or evening. However, today looked like it was going to be a repeat of Saturday, weatherwise, with partly cloudy skies and temps in the low 90's. We are still talking about how dry the parks and green spaces were that we saw yesterday. This is an area of sudden thunder and lightening storms, that can drop unreal amounts of tropical showers in minutes. Guess that will not happen today.

The underground link from the MRT to the Gardens by the Bay

Since it was Sunday, we wondered what the traffic on the MRT would be like. Yesterday, Saturday, had to be a major shopping day, just like we have at home. We left the ship around 10am with the plan of finding our way to the fairly new Gardens by the Bay, located right outside of the Bayfront MRT Station. It took a couple of transfers to get there, following directions all of the way. We cannot say enough about the efficiency and cleanliness of this entire transit system. This time of the morning, the foot traffic was really light on the trains we took, but that would not stay the same for the rest of the day.

The HRC is buried down a side street

Resembles a pagoda

One modern building after another

Back at the Wheelock Place

The map of the Gardens by the Bay

Entering the park

We had a little bit of a walk after exiting the station to get into the entrance of this large complex, which by the way, has no charge to get into. We entered at the Meadow Bridge, and found our way to the information center with maps and all the info one needs to see the entire park contents. Knowing we would not have enough time to devote to touring the entire park and the two main conservatories, we used the time we had to stroll around all of the exhibits. 

Singapore Flyer, the world's largest giant observation wheel ($33.S per person)

Singapore Flyer - each car holds 28 people

Dragonfly Lake at the Gardens by the Bay

Some of the whimsical tree structures and a conservatory dome

440 meter walkway around the lake

Swaying palms

Fountains, ponds, and sculptures

Hibiscus

Manicured grounds of the garden

Modern art throughout the park

Resting spot in the shade

Crocodile seating

Ants, the metal kind

Looking towards the harbor

Seating between the conservatories

Animal display

Love the croc

Park art

Unusual palms

Imported from all over the world

The Children's Garden

Note the sunglasses

Cactus display

Healthy and thriving in the heat

Tall palms

God-willing, we will be coming back to Singapore next year, and we will have the time to see all of it in a full day. The standard rate for visitors that are not local residents is $28. Singapore. 

View from the mall

The bus we never rode for free

If you want to do the catwalk, or the OCBC skywalk, in the Supertree Grove, you need to pay $5. Singapore at the elevator. Actually, these structures are not real trees at all. They are manmade vertical plant displays made to resemble a tree. They are draped with lighting that comes alive at night with a light and sound show at both 7:45 and 8:45pm. We bet it is spectacular. 

Supertree Grove

Supertree structures

The Supertree Grove and catwalk

Well-watered gardens

Next time we will take the walk

Neat trees

One of these hides an elevator

There are even restaurants up there

Cost $5 S to access the tree walk

Many super trees

Connected by walkways

Light up at night

Must be pretty at night

Catwalk

Motion-activated splash fountain

Now the most fun part of this park is the Children's Garden with a splash pond that activates with motion sensors to operate streams of shooting water, giant orchid flowers that fill with water, then dump over, and metal wands that go in circles, spreading the spray in all directions. It was the first time in a long time, we were disappointed that we were not between the ages of 6 and 12 years old, so we could go play in the cool waters. The little ones were having a ball.

We counted at least 10 restaurants in this complex, but it was way too early for lunch. And we had one thing on our minds for lunch, and that was pizza, of course. But first, we wanted to find our way out of the park, and pass through the newest icon of Singapore, the strangely designed Marina Bay Sands Hotel. 

Yes, no matter how you look at it, we tend to see a three-pillared ironing board structure. The pillars are the hotel rooms, and the ironing board is the restaurant and infinity pool that sits across the top of the pillars. By taking the Dragonfly Bridge out of the Gardens by the Bay, we connected to the bridge that took us right through the upper portion of the hotel complex, and continued to the Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands. 

View of the Marina Bay Sands

Marina Bay Sands

Skypark on the top of the hotel

The lobby of the Marina Bay Sands

Tower of the gondola ride

The Ferrari Store

This is another truly fascinating mall with the most highend stores you can find in the world. One of the neatest stores is the Ferrari shop with a real car in the window. It is the best "guy" store in the entire place for sure, as they all like to take photos here. Another popular spot in this mall is the casino. The younger crowd probably like the theaters and ice rink, not really ice, but a synthetic surface. On the lowest level, is a canal with real gondolas in it. It is on this level that we connected with the MRT at Marina Bay to make our way to lunch.

Marina Bay

Marina Bay

Structures at Marina Bay

The canal at the Shoppes at Marina Bay 

A gondola

Decorative purses

Back at the MRT

Ad for the River Safari

Modesto's  -  wood-fired pizza

Our choice of restaurants today was Modestos, close to the Hard Rock Cafe and the Orchard exit from the MRT. We ordered one 12 inch margherita pizza with two Tiger Draft 16 ounce beers. The price of the pizza was $20.50 Singapore, but the beers were $16. Singapore each. Needless to say, we each had one only. The grand total for a shared lunch was $62. which included a VAT tax and 10% service charge. Taking a wild guess, we suspect this will be the most expensive lunch of the trip. It was nice to sit under a ceiling fan on the covered outside patio, while watching the hustle and bustle of folks on Orchard Road. We understand this is the "hoity-toity" area of Singapore....the place to be seen.

The Tiger beers

Margherita pizza

Casual dining

The oven

Statue outside the restaurants

Orchard Road is lined with trees

All aboard time was 4:30pm, so we headed back on a very crowded train to Harbourfront, and the end of the line. Since we had $50 Singapore dollars and change left to spend, we went to the small grocery store where we found some more dips and sodas to buy. With the last $2., we bought a couple of little candy bars at Watsons Drug Store. Good to go, we boarded the ship, but not before leaving our passports with the staff member at the gangway.

Dumplings for sale

Desserts

Very sweet

The sailaway was scheduled from 4:30 to 6pm. We spent the entire time waiting to watch this sailaway at the aft railing on deck eight with friends Bill & Marianne. We waited and waited......nothing was happening. At one point, there were calls for certain people to check in with the front desk. Usually that means their cruise cards did not register when scanned at the kiosk when boarding. Or......it means some of these folks were not back on time. The Captain eventually came on the speakers saying that once the immigrations procedures were complete, we would be underway. OK, again we waited and waited. Nothing happened. Watching the dock hand waiting to drop the lines, we knew we were going nowhere since he was asleep while sitting against a cement pillar. We gave up at 6:45pm, and went to clean up for dinner. Somewhere around 7pm, we were underway, but got no photos of it. Truthfully, it had gotten so smoggy, the pictures would have been lousy at the best.

The sailaway that happened later

Decks cleared by dinnertime

During dinner we found there had been a rumor going around that the sail away was delayed, because a passenger had lost their passport, and was refused the continuation of the trip. Cannot say it was a fact, but things like that can occur. Another disturbing story was that the Pinnacle Grill Manager has left the ship, resigning his post due to an incident that forced him to leave. It had to be something very serious for him to back out like that in the middle of a grand voyage. Will keep you posted as to what happened. And here we thought the biggest problem on the ship right now, with the exception of the poor internet, was the TV reception, which has gone dark ever since we docked in Singapore. We have lost all of the news stations for two days now. For unknown reasons, it has been turned off.

Dinner was better this evening with yesterday's chewy prime rib becoming today's savory pot roast. The chefs have a way of creating the most delicious reduced gravy for the beef. Paired with mashed potatoes and crispy steamed veggies, it is one of our favorite entrees. The dessert of lemon tarts finished a nice meal.

And finally the clocks went back one hour this evening as we sail north towards Phuket, Thailand.

Smoke-filled skies due to forest-burning in Indonesia

Ferries run around the clock

Pilot boat also waiting

Tugboat waited for hours

The sun would set before we left