Left Sunday 11th February.
Bris-Sing-Bali-Sing-Bris.
Flew Singapore Airlines - again and couldnt fault them!!! Other 3 travelling companions who had never flown with them before were very impressed with service and food - actually by the time we returned to Australia it became a running joke about 'oh goodie more food'. Mini Magnums went down a treat.
Even though flight is an hour and a half longer than direct Bris -Bali, the time flies (pardon the pun) with choice of movies to watch on personal screens, games etc.
Decided to spend 2 nights in Singapore rather than just passing through as I usually do.
Taxi from Changi Airport to Copthorne Orchid Hotel S$22.
Caught free shuttle bus to Orchid Avenue - where we wandered around for 3 hours - reminds me of Sydney.
Next morning had breakfast in Hotel (not included) cost S$26 - not impressed, if the food was nicer would have been more accepting of price - as we were catching the free shuttle bus to Little India we decided to eat breakfast beforehand to fill in time (we were awake at 4am, managed to doze until 8am - and kinda figured by the time we caught taxi into town to find somewhere cheaper we'd be better off staying put - wrong).
Walked up and down, in and out of every street in 'Little India', wandered through market places, the smells were fantastic (execpt the meat and fish market), the sights colorful.
Next was Bugis Street (which we walked to from Little India).
WOW market stalls everywhere and crowded but atmosphere was great.
Checked out fresh flower stalls, lucky bamboo arrangements, bonsai's and watches, jewellery, street wear.
Next was "Glutton's Bay" - took us about 3 attempts to find it but worth it in the end - supposably Singapores #1 Street Hawkers? We had no complains with 15 mixed sate's and rice for S$5 at one vendors, then Vietnamese Squid and rice for S$8 at another, all very clean and great location - there is about 16 food vendors permenately set up.
Next was boat ride to Chinatown - by this time its getting dark so the city was alight and looking fantastic.
Chinatown was abuzz getting ready for Chinese New Year, stalls jammed the streets selling everything from New Years ornaments, bags, clothes, shoes to lollies and stalls full of dried fish, chooks, ducks, and other unidentified dried things , laneways jammed with people and more stalls, lanterns lit over head, the atmosphere was fantastic if i wasnt about to drop with exhaustion i could have stayed all night.
Got back to room about midnight totally exhausted loaded up with silk cushion covers (4 for S$10), watches (s$1 each), Tiger Balm, Chilli Patches and other numerous must haves.
IN SUMMARY - DIDNT TEMPT ME ENOUGH TO RETURN FOR FUTURE STOPOVERS - BUT CERTAINLY DONT REGRET DOING SO LOVED WHAT WE DID MANAGE TO SEE IN SUCH A SHORT TIME.
Caught 0925 flight to Bali, arriving at 1205 (more food on plane, plus snacks).
Long time friend Jimmy was there waiting with huge smile and open arms - nothing beats arriving and seeing the joy in a friends face in seeing you again.
Noticed a few changes in drive to Adi Dharma Hotel, additions to outside of Discovery Mall, and a few more new shops (and a few closed).
Adi Dharma has been busy in last 10 months with changes to reception and dining area's, new toilets at reception/dining area - all looks great!!!
We requested ground floor room near pool with big aussie bed and thats exactly what we got - with the amount of shopping that we do, we learnt the hard way the first time we stayed here (we were on 3rd floor)that what goes up must come down!!!
Head upto IndoNational once unpacked to catch up with Kerry and Milton and catch up on gossip.
This is when we noticed the 'roadworks' - JL Melasti has a huge hole dug almost opposite where Jl Benesari starts (which also has a huge hole dug in it) - so traffic runs up Jl Sahadewa and down Jl Padma (also dug up towards beach end) onto Jl Legian - once we worked out where the holes were we were able to avoid. But its sure slowing things up at times. Holes are for sewerage, townwater (but no-one knows exactly where this 'townwater' will come from, and fibre-optic cables (even though they dont have this faciltiy yet)- Milton seems to think that they will run out of money before its completed and will never be finished,hence the whole exercise being a waste of time and money? We'll just have to wait and see.
More to come....