March 7,

Well neither of us slept well last night… chalk it up to being a travel day. We got up at 0600, finished packing and readied. By 0655, Jeff had E-hailed a Grab taxi. And by, 0705 we were on our way to the airport. We arrived by 0715, and got checked in. Then with our luggage on its way, we went to the lounge.

As we entered the lounge, we saw the same You Tubers that we saw on the beach a couple of days ago! We were able to converse some this time. They were in the lounge, waiting to fly to the same place as us, but they are on an earlier flight. It is a small world!! They were very nice and we wished them safe travels, as they did us. We commenced with Javas and breakfast. Jeff actually mixed it up and had some Earl Grey tea! It has been a hot minute since he has had it and surprised me! We both had Fried Penne Pasta; and Rice with with Chicken Bhuna Curry. Jeff also had a bit of Porridge.

We left the lounge by 0820 to our gate. We are flying on Scoot Airlines for our first time. The plane arrived around 0840 – it's a happy yellow colored one. By 0915, we are loaded and buckled in. The plane backed out only four minutes late, at 0929. That was a quick turnaround! Flight was fine, and smooth. We landed at 1049, 15 minutes early!! But we sat waiting for “an apron” as the captain called it. (That's our parking spot!)

Welcome to Singapore, Singapore!

It's a new country for us, and a new island. (We are still continuing our Island Hopping venture.) We hung around the beautiful Singapore airport. The airport is a tourists' destination! The main attraction is The Jewel. It's a five level waterfall inside. Very impressive.!!! Surrounding it is a mall. If you ever come to Singapore…

By1250, we were on the MRT – the subway of Singapore – from airport to city and our place. By 1330, we were checked in at our new home for four nights, The J8 Hotel. Our room is an inner one – tiny and without a window. Hotels are expensive in Singapore (as with most everything). But Jeff, as normal, was resourceful and booked this hotel with points! So it's like a free accommodation!! We unloaded a bit and then went to the hotel restaurant for lunch. It was called Xin Chao, specializing in Vietnamese food. We had Beef Pho and Bun Cha. So good! We have been missing them.

After lunch, we set out to explore. We caught the MRT to the Singapore City Gallery. It was free. There is a to-scale model of the Nation/Island/City of Singapore. I am still wrapping my head around the small island being a nation and most of it being the city. One placard in the gallery says… ‘Singapore a city, an island, a nation’. It is finally starting to sink in. Singapore was a British Empire Colony, and since has gained independence becoming a sovereign country in 1965. It is very much a planned city-nation and the gallery went into depth on this. Another interesting fact I learned: Singapore gets 2300 mm of rain each year – that’s seven and a half feet! We spent around 45 minutes in the gallery. It was interesting.

We left and walked just a bit to the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple & Museum. It was 1640 and closed at 1700. So we quickly went through it. We did not see where Buddha’s tooth was displayed, and we did not read up on it. There were like 11,000 small Buddha images lining the walls and a very prominent gold-gilded – crowned and robed – sitting Buddha display.
We existed as personnel were making known how much time till closing for all the tourists. We still had three minutes. Anyway, we now meandered along the streets taking in some of the older historical buildings of Little China working our way toward the bay. Another interesting fact I learned at the gallery – Little China used to be on the shoreline, but Singapore has reclaimed quite an amount of land, so it’s inland a ways.

Anyway, we made to the bay and this is where most of the tourists are. The city skyline is very distinct because of a hotel building down here, The Marina Bay Sands. It is like a boat floating many stories above in the sky, anchored by three tall columns – the buildings of the hotel. It is surreal. The bay is beautiful with other skyscrapers lining the rest of the horizon, and some small sailboats sailing in the harbor. The is also some huge art sculptures: a “catcher’s mitt”, for arts science center; a Double Helix Bridge, and Merlion, sculpture of a water spewing half lion/ half mermaid. It was eclectic and fun to walk around. But we were hot and in search of refreshing drinks… they are so expensive. We finally found a 7Eleven shop – thinking it would be cheaper. Nope! We just got a mango tea. The water was outrageously priced and Jeff said not even cool, let alone cold. We drank the tea in no time and walked on. The little stands are cheaper, we found one and got two waters.

We crossed the mouth of the bay on the Double Helix Bridge, which is like a strand of DNA. Then we went to the Marina Bay Sands, which is also a very high end shopping mall. We went there to go through the complex of the three buildings to get to the other side. This is the Gardens by the Bay. Here Singapore has built a “Supertree Grove”, which is huge man-made structures that resemble trees. At night the trees pulsate with colors of light to music. We found a spot and got some water and waited 15-20 minutes for the show. All colors of the rainbow, waving all up and down the giant trees, dancing to the time of a few different waltzes! The show lasted 15 minutes and was a dazzling display, which we enjoyed very much! WOW!

Then we zigzagged our way out to catch the MRT back to our place. What a day! Singapore has made me feel like I’m on vacation mode. We did not even have supper! The proverbial – gotta move it, move it, & go, go, go… to see, see, see. It was a busy, fun, but exhausting day.