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Having done most of the packing the previous evening we had allowed ourselves only half an hour before the taxi arrived, this turned out to be 5 minutes too long! Stepped out of the hostel door just as the taxi driver was stepping out of his cab. Soon we were wending our way to the airport. Booked in without problems, in fact we were first to check in and were given 3 seats between the two of us. The check in girl said that in fact they had enough space for us to have a row between the two of us, and so it proved. The flight was one of the best we have ever had. Although only about a fifth full it carried a full compliment of stewardesses so we were well taken care off. But the cream on the cake was the entertainment system, every seat had its own LCD screen with video on demand and a choice of around 20 films, 50 TV programs and a dozen audio channels as well as a range of video games. I had planned to use the time on the flight to catch up on my diary but after 8 months with little TV I made a glutton of myself with two videos and a TV documentary.
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Reading the press and internet we have assured ourselves that the health risk from SARS was infinitesimal and so had no reason to change our plans to travel but we would seem to be in a very small minority. Of the small number of passengers on our flight most were only in transit and so we quickly moved through immigration, baggage and customs.
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As we had arrived in the early afternoon we had time to check out what accommodation was available. In the end we opted for the YMCA.
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For S$76 (£30) per night the YMCA provided a well furnished twin room with en-suite, TV, air conditioning and breakfast. Also available, if we wished, was a gym and swimming pool.
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To get into Singapore City we took the No36 bus from the airport which dropped us off almost outside the door. We only had $50 notes for the $1.70 each bus fairs and the driver doesn't give change, but a quick whip round soon produced some change. Another passenger also showed us the route we were travelling and how the fare stages worked.
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Settled into our room, and as we had an extra two hours in the day we spent the extra time relaxing.
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Took an evening walk to stretch our legs by going along Orchard Road, a main shopping street. Even if there weren't many tourists about there were plenty of locals crowding the streets. Singapore must have the most mixture of races in the world. Everyone on the island is basically an outsider as 200 years ago it was virtually uninhabited. Peoples from Malaya, China, India and Briton have come together to create the most prosperous country in South East Asia.
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With our body clock 2 hours out of sync we woke early so by 9.00 we were ready to continue with our sight seeing. Returned down Orchard Road to the airline office to confirm that our flight would fly as planned - it would, and then took to wandering the streets. First we made our way through Canning Park where the old fort of Singapore was sited. In the warm humid air, even though the effort was not that great, the sweat was soon running off us.
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Singapore River
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Continued on in to Chinatown, which was no different to any other China Town and back to the river where we stopped at Clarke Quay for lunch.
On again following the riverside walk north and then cutting across to Raffles Hotel where we took tea just as the heavens opened with a heavy down pour of rain, but it did little to clear the air.
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Raffles Hotel
Raffles Hotel opened in an old bungalow facing the beach on 1 December 1887. Today it is an international landmark, an icon of travel that, as Somerset Maugham said, "stands for all the fables of the exotic East".
Raffles Hotel steadily expanded during the first few decades under the Armenian Sarkies brothers. The series of additions culminated in the opening of the Main Building in 1899. Designed by R A J Bidwell of Swan Maclaren, the Main Building secured the hotel's status as "the finest Caravanserai east of the Suez".
By the 1920s, Raffles Hotel was already known as the historic hotel of Singapore. It survived the death of the last Sarkies brother, Arshak, in 1931, bankruptcy proceedings in 1933 triggered by the Great Depression, the Japanese Occupation (1941-45) when it was renamed Syonan Ryokan (Light of the South Hotel) and modernisation in the 1950s.
In 1989, the hotel closed for a complete refurbishment which enabled the buildings to be faithfully and elegantly restored to their circa 1915 appearance. Raffles Hotel reopened on 16 September 1991 to reclaim its status as an icon of travel.
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Raffles Hotel
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By mid afternoon, after six hours on the street we were ready to returned to the YMCA to relax in the cool of our room.
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Watched a program on TV about the dire results that the SARS scare was having on the local tourist industry, it was at least as bad as the effects that foot and mouth had on the UK. And yet it was all unnecessary as no tourist had been infected. SARS was quite difficult to catch, requiring close contact with an infected person. The fast majority of infections had been between close families and hospital staff. Singapore had the situation well under control with very few infections in the previous couple of weeks.
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Singapore City
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For our second day in Singapore we walked first up to Little India, in the north of the city, with a wide variety of small shops including many given over to engineering and plumbing type supplies. This contrasted with the shops in the Arab quarter which we visited next and which again were similar except that there were no engineering shops but carpets, silk and fabric outlets which were absent in Little India. The only other difference besides the signage and appearance of the people were the temples and the mosques.
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Returned to the city centre by way of the Suntrak Centre, an enormous shopping mall where we indulged in a little window shopping.
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Returned to the YMCA to rest up, try out the swimming pool and complete our packing. We were able to extend our occupation of the room until 7pm and so we did not have to rush to vacate it and this gave us just about the right amount of time to travel out to the airport.
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Just before 7.00 we made our way down to an MRT station that was close by. For S$1.60 each we had a smooth trip out to the airport on a crowded but air conditioned train. Our bags were a bit of an handicap but we made our presence felt amongst the other standing passengers.
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Progressed smoothly through check in and soon we were in a large well facilitated departure area with numerous shops, TV viewing areas, phones and internet connections. Had a bite to eat and browsed around the shops before progressing on down to the departure gate.
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The flight was full, possibly because the Amsterdam flight leaving 30 minutes after us had been cancelled. There seemed to be more than the usual quota of old people, young children, and people with large and numerous bags of hand luggage.
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When the flight boarded we were about the last to get on so we thought that we would be short of space in the locker but we were wrong.
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Got away in reasonable time for our flight to Heathrow.
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Despite being only one row back from a couple of babies the journey was quiet and between the on-demand entertainment system and dozing the thirteen and a half hours actually passed reasonably quickly.
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Arrived at Heathrow on time and smoothly passed through the procedures which to our surprise, with the concern being raised by SARS didn't include any health checks. Our bags were among the last off the carousel but they all came together and we were off down the long tunnels that link terminal 3 to terminal 2 and the Central Bus Station. Unfortunately we had missed the previous bus by half and hour and so had another hour and a half wait before we boarded the 8.40.
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As we travelled up to Northampton the green of spring was returning to the countryside and white blossom filled the hedgerows. Caught up with the news in the papers and watched the world go by until at 11.10 we reached the bus stop at the end of the road, just another 50m to carry the bags and we were home.
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