Day two found the weather just as hot and humid as yesterday. Only there was a warning of rain, which might have been nice. Despite carrying an umbrella all day, it never did rain. So the umbrella was used for sun protection instead. There must have been a heat wave in Singapore, since we never remembered it so intense.
All aboard was 9:30pm, so we made the best of every hour we had here. Back on the MRT, we first stopped at Raffles Place to walk the area there. Following the crowd, we navigated to the Fullerton Hotel and the Marina Bay. The most known icon is the Merlion, half lion/half fish symbol of Singapore. This huge monument is a spewing fountain into Marina Bay. Usually you cannot get near it to get photos, but today, there were far less tourists milling around. And because it is located on a large concrete walkway and patio, the heat is unbearable. The best thing we did was walk up the bridge that crosses the river to the Esplanade Theaters. Once up high, the breeze was blowing nicely. Actually the views of the Merlion were better from here.
Continuing along the bay, we passed by the theaters and mall to the Marina Bay Seating Gallery. Today there was an Art-Zoo, a blow-up park for kids, we think. It was closed until the evening. We continued going until we reached the Helix, a modern pedestrian bridge that connects to the new hotel and mall.
We made our way into the Shoppes at the Marina Bay Sands, a most modern and innovative four or more story tall mall. You will find everything here in the way of high end shopping. Besides shopping, there are numerous restaurants, bars, bakeries, a skating rink, a river that runs under it, and a massive Casino. A quick visit there was enough, since there was still so much more to see.
Making or way back outside, we went past the Lotus Museum, and followed the Waterfront Promenade over to the side entrance to the Gardens by the Bay. We entered by the Silver garden, a collection of the man-made trees with flowers and plants growing on the trunks. The Flower Dome and Cloud Forest structures are situated at this end. They are destinations in themselves, and you need much more time to explore them. We found that the restrooms in this area had been closed off completely, and portables had been brought in. Once again, we found it rather uncrowded. Deeper into the park, we followed the nicely landscaped paths to the Supertree Grove and the OCBC Skyway that connects the larger trees. The tallest tree here is 22 meters high, and can be accessed from below with a fee. A restaurant, Supertree Dining, is up near the top serving a variety of food. You can pay $8 Singapore dollars to access the catwalk. From here we found the main entrance and the Dragonfly Bridge over the Lake. From there, we located the area of the MRT.
We got a bit turned around getting on the orange line of the MRT, but went back to the red line, where we knew we could go directly back to Orchard station. But before we went to lunch, we wanted to stop at City Hall, to see if the famous Raffles Hotel was totally under construction. We did find it mostly covered over with tarps and closed up. Perhaps there was a way to find the Singapore Slings, but we did not look further. Took a few photos, and left.
Once again, we navigated our way to the HRC, and a most welcomed lunch with hamburgers and lots of unlimited cans of Coke Zero. The patties of beef in the burgers was good, but a different blend than we are used to. More like meatloaf, or a very fine ground beef. Come to think of it, we usually order something with chicken here. The manager checked with us several times, and even suggested she could change the video to something different, like Elvis or something like that. We said no, Kelly Clarkson or Miley Cyrus was fine. Guess it could be overwhelming if you don’t like that type of music. As always, time flies when you are relaxing, and soon it was time to move on. We stopped at the shop on or way out to pick up a souvenir with our 10% discount.
After lunch, we went back to the MRT, but something went wrong with one of our transit cards, and a station manager had to let one of us out of the gate. The card may not work at the next station, but we would try it and see. If not, one of us will be stuck in here forever…..
As it was, we had some time to check out HarbourFront station for the mere fact we wanted to know what, if any, cruise ships were docked there. Turned out, we found the Insignia, an Oceania vessel launched in 2014, was there. She holds from 684 to 824 passengers and is 30,277 gross tons. Also in the same dock was the Costa neoRomantica, 1993, at 57,150 gross tons. She holds from 1578 to 1800 guests. So why is it that we have been told that only gambling ships would be allowed there? We still find it odd that we have been pushed out of that pier. Anyway, like we said, we are most happy to be stopping in Singapore, even if we are not in the best spot. Call us spoiled. While here, we ran into our host Tom M, who had returned from an overland trip with guests to Cambodia. He was “temple’d-out” and recovering from the extreme heat there. He admitted to sleeping 14 hours straight after that excursion.
Even though it had clouded up today, there was not one drop of rain. We would have welcomed it, but once again, we were going down like moles, to head back. But before doing that, we figured we had time for ice cream at Clarke Quay. Stopping at the service center here, we discovered that our transit tickets were still operable and we could continue with our trek on the trains. So we took the purple line to the Clarke Quay stop. By now, the trains were getting crowded with folks heading home that time of day.
The station at the river is never crowded, since the area at Clarke Quay is more of a night venue for the locals we think. The biggest draw during the day has to be the riverboat rides. It is the city’s earliest commercial center with old warehouses and shops built in 19th century-style buildings. This is also the site where Sir Stamford Raffles landed in 1819 to found this city.
We were in search of the Japanese ice cream shop, and found it was still opened. Sharing a cup of salted caramel ice cream was nice. Sometimes during weekends, there are street vendors and street food stalls, but today was Thursday, and the Riverwalk was empty of people. Back at the Dhoby Ghat exchange, we got on the red line back to Marina South Pier, where we got our $20 Singapore money deposit refunded. Easy.
We arrived back at the ship by 6pm, and immediately went back to the terminal to see if we could download computer updates. Finding that we were having some trouble connecting to the right available local free wifi, we asked some other passengers. Finally connecting, we found the service spotty, but eventually did complete what we set out to do.
Now the most amusing thing happened while we were online. Sitting at a tiny table outside the only mini mart, a film crew began setting up a stage for filming a commercial we assumed. Not bothering us to move, the crew set up around us, and proceeded to stage a scene where two pretty young ladies were meeting a nice-looking young fellow over coffee and cake. Sure was interesting listening to the director who went from Chinese to English in his directions. All we heard was CUT, and do it again. Tedious is the word for it. Any closer, and we would be part of the scene. Before we knew it, a crowd of fellow onlookers gathered to watch the action. Once we completed our downloads, we quietly left the scene. The only mission we failed at was spending the last of our Singapore dollars at the mini mart. Perhaps it will be accepted in Phuket in a couple of days. If not, there is always next year when we stop here again.
We barely had time to clean up for dinner. Actually we could have gone to bed at 8pm, but since the clocks were going back one hour, we knew we could make it through the meal. Soup and salad for one of us, and salad and lamb wellington was good for the other. A surprise birthday cake arrived for one of our tablemates who is not really celebrating an actual birthday. Although we don’t care for the boozy black forest cake, we did like the chocolate drizzled vanilla ice cream.
The ship finally left the port at 11:10pm. This is one stop we enjoyed every second of each day to the fullest. Heat, humidity, and all.
Really looking forward to a lazy day at sea tomorrow. Wish there was more than one.
Bill & Mary Ann
Leaving the cruise terminal through the ground level
The heat make this walk even longer
Still worth the walk to access the MRT
Marina South Pier
Not too many guests used this option, we think
Tiled entrance
