Well the time had to come , we weren't ready for it - didn't want to be , but here it was time to leave the UK and probably not return for year or 2 maybe ????
It was an early start , someone booked a 10:15am flight on a Sunday - wonder who that could have been?? . That just meant we had to be up at 6:30am so that we could make it to Gatwick for our flight . Justin kindly volunteered to drive us to the airport - about an hour away - and made sure we got there . Everyone piled into the car , and we headed off , we were in the back with Isla , amusing her by playing corners - you know how hard that is when she's in a solid children's car seat ?? 😂 - she had a ball and we enjoyed the trip . Arriving at Gatwick , we headed into the multi-storey car park , driving slowly in a line of traffic from the bottom layer to the 5th and top layer , only to find no spots - there was 20 mins of fun . Down & along to the next one , we found a spot on the 3rd floor and headed across to checkin , There were armed police , sniffer dogs and a heavy police presence - the airport was the busiest we'd seen it ! Over to Singapore airlines check in , and queue up . There were 3 people checking people in - but all of them had someone with oversized baggage , which seemed to take forever to clear - meanwhile our queue had grown to about 150 people and growing still . Not much longer and we were through and clear of our baggage , now the hard part - time to say goodbye 😟 , many hugs later , maybe a tear or 2 and we were left to go through security . Out of 15 weeks away , I think we spent about 8 weeks with them - time very well spent !!
Security was running flat-out , we had to take our shoes off , go through the scanner , then wait for our backpacks , shoes etc , before going into the departure area's . Being with Singapore Airlines , I thought we would have been at a closer gate , but as the time ticked away , finally our boarding gate was put up . We had been through gates 46 & 48 previously , and they were right at the end of one boarding area , today we were going to gate 41 - has to be closer right - we turned off where the arrows pointed and found ourselves in an airbridge over parts of the airport , on a couple of travelators , down some escalators , finally at gate 41 - we must have been early , there were plenty of seats , so we sat and waited . It took us 30 mins of walking to reach the gate !!!
Everything looked to be going well , passengers were arriving , cabin crew flitted in & out , finally we were loading , takeoff was getting closer , people were being ushered to seats very orderly . We were at our seats - either side of the aisle !! we didn't have any choice , they were our seats - we sucked it up and figured it was a mostly night flight , so who needs a window seat anyway .
Our flight time came and went , we were still at the gate ! , finally we got pushed out and started the long slow taxi out to the runway - we managed to take off 45mins late !! You miss your time slot at Gatwick and you have to wait for someone else to be running late and slot in there . It was almost like bumper cars getting to the main runway , we managed it without getting collected 😆 and away we went - 12 hours of the longest flight we'd had for about 14 weeks since the overnighter to Athens from Singapore . 14 weeks is nearly long enough to forget how much fun it is - not !
After attempted sleep , a few movies , music , watching the jets progress as we flew , just closing our eyes and pretending to sleep . Our flight path was a bit interesting , from UK we flew across France & Switzerland , across to the Black Sea and toward Tajikistan , we finally turned and headed toward Nepal and flew on the southern side of the Himalaya's - we got some turbulence there as well - till we reached Kolkata , and headed over the water towards Singapore .
Arriving at 6:45am , we were only just past our stated landing time - they made up some time during the flight ! Our longest wait was for our bags , breezing through immigration , we headed to the MRT train system and got aboard a train into the city . We were staying at the same hotel , so we knew the way and made it easily . Our bags were put into storage , then we went & changed and went for a swim while we waited for the room to be ready at 10:30am - that was the best thing , refreshed us after our 12 hour flight & 1 hour car ride and 40 mins on the train - it was nice to be still !!
We checked in and went to our room , before headed back out to Chinatown for a rather nice lunch of Chilli beef and fried rice . We dodged the storm that came over as we ate , dropping some cooling rain .
The old parts of Chinatown have some great looking buildings , different colours , shutters and terracotta roofs .
Precision parking required here .
A nice street art scene in a side alley .
The Sri Mariamman Temple is at the end of Pagoda St , and is one of the most photographed Hindu Temples . This is the main gateway .
They do elaborate decorations all around the compound .
Humidity was getting up again , so we headed back to the hotel , arriving just before the storm covered us in a veil of rain - great timing . We lasted till, 8pm then crashed big time - waking again at 8:30 am - needed that !!
Next day we head down to Marins Bay Sands , with the intention of going up to the observation deck - it has got very busy in Singapore from our last visit 14 weeks ago - it was all booked out , no time slots till 9:30pm ! Here's the Merlion , one of Singapore's older attractions .
There's Marina Bay Sands , where we won't be going up to .
This is inside The Marina Bay Shoppes shopping centre - 3 levels of the most expensive brands . They have gondola rides on this small waterway - just like Venice ( only on a much smaller scale ) - they go up about 50m , turn and come back . A novelty for some , as people were queued to get into the boats .
There was one garden full of Singapore Orchids of course - yes they are real !!
More from inside the shopping centre - water features .
This shop serves nothing but High Tea - all the tables were full and there's a queue of people waiting to get in . All the staff were dressed in suits / uniforms and there wasn't a coffee to be seen or had here!!
Outside the Singapore Art Science Museum are ponds full of waterlilies , appropriate seeing the building is shaped like a lotus flower .
Looking over the lillies to the financial district .
This is the Helix Bridge , leading across to the Singapore Flyer .
Our main mission today was to see the night show at Gardens by the Bay , so we made our way across to the gardens with what felt like half of Singapore haha , found a spot to sit on the ground and waited for it to start . 5 of the larger tree's were used in the show , and it was best to sit or better still lie down and watch it unfold above you . Very hard to watch it all , better to focus on a couple of the trees and enjoy that . Not many photo's of it , it was better on video , so we now have several videos showing it happen ,
A magical light show enthralled all who saw it , no-one leaving early , but it was a huge exodus after it ended . We made our way to Satay on the Bay for a nice icy cold drink to cool down , the humidity was taking it's toll on us . There was some sculpture on exhibition as we wandered along , I was taken by the round lights and the curved roof above .
This one also took my fancy .
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