I arrived at my beautiful Singapore hotel called the Naumi Hotel, shortly after 9.45am hoping against hope that I would be able to get into my room even though it was far ahead of check in time ! A charming young lady wearing a smart uniform immediately came to the taxi door, opened it and proceeded to take my luggage and even my small bags ! At the reception desk I was assured my room was ready and waiting for me and within a nano second I was in a cool, clean lined and delightful room and flopped onto the bed !
I had done my research and although not cheap, the price was not that of the Raffles or Goodwood colonial hotels, but I did want a little comfort to finish my trip and boy I got it. Raffles Hotel is on the other side of the street, and sadly at the moment is being totally restored so the one time in my life I will come to Singapore the most iconic place is firmly shut. Never mind, my hotel is gorgeous so I am not complaining even a little.
The finished back half of Raffles
The famous facade of Raffles wrapped up like a parcel.
I had a shower and changed before making a coffee with my in room espresso machine ( hurrah !) and sat for an hour relaxing before venturing outdoors into what I knew was hot hot hot. A second strong coffee later and I was ready to face it. ‘Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the Midday Sun’ and I was one of those as by now it was 12.30pm and temperatures had soared to the middle 30’s. I walked slowly around Raffles until I saw the large mall called Raffles City and made my way into the cool air con to find some lunch. Of course shopping malls are the same world wide, all the recognisable shops one sees in Edinburgh, London and New York, but these were intermingled with some interesting Asian shops and restaurants.
I found a restaurant on the lower food court floor and decided upon this Singaporean and Japanese fusion place and in I went. All instructions and menus are in English first, perhaps because it is such a cosmopolitan place and English is the common language, so that was lucky ! I ordered a Curry Set, I thought it was just a chicken curry and rice, but turned out to be soup, rice, curry, Dim Sum dumplings and prawn tails........ for $25 which is about £12 it was a feast indeed and I couldn’t finish it. A great introduction to Singapore cuisine.
Prawn Tails - Yum
I wandered a bit further and found a lovely supermarket which provided me with some provisions for my stay - by now I knew that low carb was going to be more difficult than me completing a tough mudder course. It was surprisingly expensive, but if I am honest it was quite upmarket perhaps the M&S foodhall or Waitrose of the east ! I loaded up with some apples, cheese, water, yogurt and nuts and wended my slightly dripping way back to the Naumi Hotel.
Later, after something of a cool down and a flop into the easy chair in my room I decided I needed to keep going and venture out again. So off I went to see some sights, which are quite close to be honest, thank the Lord, so I went to what was the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus and was used as many of the filming locations for Tenko in the 80’s. Now it is a wonderfully restored set of buildings, painted gleaming white and a plethora of eating places ! I wonder what the girls in the old Convent school would have thought about having a Costa next door to the Physics Lab ! I found a small and interesting place called ‘ Toast’ made a mental note for the next day lunch !
The Convent of the Holy Jesus - now a restaurant planet !
I returned on Saturday to have my lunch in Toast ! Actually it served other food too, so instead of door steps of bread with - wait for it - egg and peanut butter, jam and curried fruits, ham with lemon curd......it was reminiscent of Stanley Market in HK 30 years ago where you could buy, Tea, Coffee or Tea and Coffee mix !!! I avoided the dodgy toast toppings and went for a chicken curry and rice. The bowl of curry was large and the chicken was almost completely chicken skin with potatoes, meat I saw nothing of, so I ate the white rice ( numbers soaring you understand) with the some spoonfuls of the curry sauce. Not the greatest meal on my trip so far, but you win some and you lose some !
After lunch and a good look around these lovely buildings I went one block further to St Andrew’s Cathedral in the very centre of Singapore city. It looks like a miniature version of a large church, but that is entirely because the skyscrapers around diminish its size ! It was built with the money of the Episcopalian Scots in 1859 after the original building was burned down, hence it being St Andrew, and inside the colours are an attractive blue and white. The flag which flies is a blue and white cross, not exactly a saltire but close. It was a haven of cool and peaceful in the centre of a bustling Asian world and along with others, I enjoyed the quiet for 10 minutes. There was a deep fish pond with gigantic goldfish who all came to the surface, hopefully looking for food I imagine, when I took a photograph. They clearly associated humans with calories !
St Andrew’s Cathedral - it’s windows open for a small breeze.
I went to the cathedral cafe for a coffee and cake ( absolutely nothing else.......I kid you not) and basked in the air con so as to brace myself for the walk home. I know a good few lovely folk who either come from, or have lived in equatorial climes ! I take my sun hat off to you, I have no idea at all how any human being can function in such uncomfortable conditions. I constantly feel as if I am slowly melting into pavements, which are in actuality, disguised grills enjoying the act of slowly cooking northern hemisphere tourists !
Back home........
I then flowed back at my igloo in Seah St and glugged down lots of water whilst watching a movie on the enormous tv. I had to regroup a bit. Do I stay indoors for 75% of my stay, which seems a waste, or do I book an official city sight seeing coach trip in a cool bus ? Yes, I booked it, and I leave in an hour. Phew..........!
Back tomorrow with a tour update !
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