Singapore via anywhere

[OzEire]

Our first full day in town we headed to the Super Tree Grove and two botanical domes.



The main grove has a high walk which is not really any competition for the view from Marina Bay Sands, so more about getting a view of the botanical gardens themselves and the MBS structure as a fairly impressive backdrop.



The trees are concrete and steel structures but given a living appearance through a mesh of wire holding what are essentially sponges with tropical plants growing out of them. They are accessible from the stairwell which spirals down from the top - most tourists were taking the elevator (yes!) but I found the stairwell more interesting to look at how the trees were constructed. Not a great photo but you can see how it works. I guess it rains often enough to keep the sponges wet, or a good hose from the stairs would work in times of little rain (like our visit, 4 days an not a drop), I couldn't see any fixed watering system.



All in all, its a pretty impressive collection of installations in this area, well worth a morning wandering in the balmy, sunny tropics.

 

[OzEire]

Heading back to the Intercon for afternoon tea and a freshen up, we couldn't pass Marina Bay without stopping for a quick look inside. One of us (no names) isn't great with heights so there was no question of going to the top (and we would only be there for a few minutes anyway so not really worth the price), but still found the interior impressive enough.





The shopping centre and casino is exactly what you might expect, endless designer shops and all the trappings of a luxury mall... I felt at times like I was in Dubai or similar opulent, OTT environment and the gondolas in the artificial canal sealed that impression. Thankfully, OzEiress was not in a shopping mood so we both just played the role of window shoppers. As an aside, I found the prices comparable with non-sale items in Australia. The Aus dollar where it is today means that effectively you get 1:1 to the SGD so comparing is easy and nothing seemed particularly 'cheap' or a bargain. Even in the markets (later in the trip) there weren't really any super deals - not that we looked particularly hard because this was not that kind of trip. However, i can see that when the AUD was around parity with the USD (say 2008 or 2013) then things would be very different. I can certainly recall from many moons ago visiting a very different Singapore and finding that electronics and alcohol were great bargains and food (esp street food) was dirt cheap... clearly modern Singapore is a different prospect.

 

[OzEire]

As I mentioned in the last post, we headed back to the Intercon for their afternoon tea in the Club Lounge. Very nice all told, no alcohol until the evening coughtails and canapes (actually it is available but at mini-bar prices!). We found the coffee was noting to write home about but loved the tea - my rule of thumb is to do as the local do and the British left behind a culture of tea that has blended nicely with the Chinese influence. Just a super cuppa and the high-tea a treat to go with it.



A very nice touch, the hotel provided OzEiress with a birthday cake so we enjoyed this during afternoon tea. They also supplied fresh roses in our room and a note of congratulations from the GM, the gesture was greatly appreciated.




After a freshen up we headed out for a lovely dinner and evening - we enjoyed ourselves so much there are no photos!

 

[OzEire]

Next day we were back out to SIN to collect our European visitors enroute to Australia. While we had visited Marina Bay the day prior, it is an essential stop so we took a detour for a night time visit this time. A few photos starting with our group at the iconic site:



We headed out to see the grove at night and I now know that the scene is even more spectacular when the trees are lit up, and the walk around them much more pleasant in the evening without the sun beating down.

 

[OzEire]

Earlier in the day we took in the promenade and you have to get a photo with the iconic Merlion !




And a view of the city from the promenade area. After doing the touristy thing we headed down town to see how the locals live, enjoying a bite to eat surrounded by very neatly dressed bank execs out to grab a quick lunch before heading back to the many towering office buildings. Quite a different feel to Australian city CBD's, perhaps a bit like Perth but a bit more energised. I found myself thinking that I would be happy to take a job here for a few years, but would probably not want to live here forever. NB: This is my yardstick for how much I enjoy a place, would I live there (could I stay forever ?).

 

[craven morehead]

This was the great SIM deal I picked up upon arrival at SIN (the carrier / reseller is M1, one of the majors in town it seems):

View attachment 87441

Frustration that my supposedly unlocked phone wouldn't accept the SIM but I had a old school backup for just such an eventuality and it provided a nice "hotspot" capability for our devices during the stay

Anyway, can't complain about the SIM deal - we saw a few cheaper options being sold on the street or in the market places, but honestly S$15 isn't much for 100GB and unlimited calls, great for a short visit.

OzEire did you purchase this at the airport?

 

[OzEire]

My first post said that we had two objectives in this trip, treat OzEiress for her birthday and collect our visitors... both were done and we had a day left so our final day was just exploring without much purpose. We took an MRT out of town, walked the back streets and found amazing bao, talked to some locals in what seemed like a little light industrial street that we happened upon, and I ran into a old friend that I hadn't seen for 20 years - go figure.

The Europeans had to visit Raffles so we stopped for the bags of free peanuts and a couple of slings at the Long Bar... by the early afternoon the floor was littered with peanut shells. Apart from the mechanical waving fans overhead (and tea behind the bar!), this could have been a bar somewhere in the US - Guiness and steak on offer, international beers... still we had visited another landmark site (yes we also did the hotel lobby and gift shop). Oh, and it was nicely decked out for Christmas too.




Next stop was Haji lane, the Masjid, perfumes and wafting smells of middle eastern cooking.




Also found the best coffee since Melbourne, a little place run by Koreans on Kandahar street... a nice little break from tea, especially for a coffee addict like me.

 

[OzEire]

These were hard to resist.

 

[OzEire]

The return journey had all 4 of us on QF36, all on different PNRs, some with MEL as a final destination and other CBR which gave the check-in staff a bit of trouble at first, but they figured it out. It almost seemed like we were missing out when we realised that we were only using a bit over 50kg of check-in for all of us but had well over 200kg of combined allowance.

The duty free was nothing special, prices much like what we had seen in MEL with the added complication of a security checkpoint at the gate meant that we deferred getting anything until arrival back in Aus.

Next stop the QF lounge... hmmm, I had clearly developed the wrong impression of how nice this refurbished place would be. It reminded me of a very overcrowded domestic Qantas Club and was full of kids and I'm guessing J* pax so didn't really have a premium feel. The options available were minimal and not particularly appetising, the drinks offering was bottom shelf at best. I can see now why many AFF'ers head to other OW lounges when departing SIN. Anyway, I was appreciative of the AFF advice up thread and we had no trouble guesting everyone into the lounge.

After a bit of celebrity spotting I remembered that there would be no announcements, but all ok, we arrived at the gate on time to watch a monumental priority boarding fail - no only were the boarding queues indistinguishable (and staff did nothing) there was confusion about which gangway pax should take such that many Y pax trundled through the J cabin on their way to seats "down the back". Again, thanks QF for a very non-premium experience, remind me again why I paid for J ?

The flight continued in this vein, minimal service from the J crew - nothing bad that you could point a finger at - but just lacking any panache or enthusiasm. A frenchman in the seat directly in front of me got quite worked up, he must have pressed the call button 30 times, usually to check on why his various requests were taking an inordinate amount of time - I don't blame him, everything was just painfully slow.

The meals were another let down, a supper service and then a light snack pre-arrival (oh no, not breakfast, that would be asking too much). Not only that but the pre-arrival was served - I kid you not - 30 minutes before the wheels touched the deck in MEL, I had barely received the food and a crew member was hovering to take it away, muttering about "captain has asked us to prepare the cabin". Here's a tip, try serving it a bit earlier next time. Not like I was sleeping, I was actually sitting upright, and a good J crew should be capable of serving a "light snack" without disturbing other pax who might be sleeping, again, its not like they had to serve a full meal or anything.

In summary, QF36 in J was a major let down. Another opportunity for QF to impress me (on the very trip that marked both my 20th year as a QFF and where I crossed 14k SC and attained LTG), but they only reinforced the impression I have that QF is slipping. Most of my travel is domestic so I had assumed that QF was putting their effort in to the international fleet, clearly I was wrong. Alas, not time for a tantrum and swearing off QF... no, I am likely to retain WP this year (despite the LTG) but would have zero intent of pushing for WP1. I will check QF prices when making bookings, but I am unlikely to prefer QF on the product... leaving only their record on safety and recovery from interruptions (noting as i write this QF2 is going pear shaped).

What gets me is that surely many other pax are walking away from QF in droves, how have they not seen this in data and taken steps to address the fundamentals ? Perhaps the plan is to cut costs until all of the expectations have been shattered (not LCC but second tier airline that is not even trying to match the best asian carriers) and the legacy crew have retired. Rant over.

 

[OzEire]

OzEire did you purchase this at the airport?

Yep. As I said there were slightly cheaper SIMs in the market but I found it much easier to just grab a SIM in the arrival hall enroute to the taxi.

 

[drron]

On our first trip to SIN we were getting 6 SGD for $A1.
And the SGD prices were way lower than now.

 

[Irishbazz]

Thanks for the report, OzEire