Singapore 3

  Singapore, Singapore
Monday, August 10, 2009

Another full day in this wonderful city, with the plan being to do a few of the city sights, ending up with something a little more exotic and slightly off the tourist track.

So an early start saw us setting off into the Financial Centre, via Raffles Place MRT.  Overcast skies and rain failed to dampen any enthusiasm as firstly the Fullerton Hotel, then the Esplanade Theatres on the Bay and Merlion statue were promptly visited, admired and photographed.
A brief rest to take on board refreshment before recommencing the perambulations, broadly around the river area.  this took in the Cavenagh Bridge, Empress Place, Victoria Theatre, Raffles Landing Site and Statue, Old Parliament House, Supreme Court, City Hall and, of course, the Padang together with the Singapore Cricket Club.  An added bonus, or detraction depending on your viewpoint, was the fact that major preparations were in hand for the forthcoming night F1 Grand Prix, with extensive overhead lighting gantries within this whole area.  It will be fascinating watching the event on TV at home, having covered some of the track on foot. 

Thus it came to pass that the sun came out as the time came to leave the big city in search of a little nature study, with a visit to the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve.
Not for the first time on this trip there was a taxing of our ability to successfully utilise public transport outside of the immediate city environs, this time by both MRT and then bus.  No worries - once again the idea that, in our hands, sat-nav is an unecessary gimmick, (teacher-speak for "We're Luddite techno-phobes"), was incontrovertible. 
What a great place to visit, despite the slightly alarming signs warning of the dangers of crocodiles.  In total there are 87 hectares of wetland on the site, with mangrove boardwalks, walking trails and observation huts from where some 212 species of birds can be observed.  Whilst we failed to encounter any crocodiles, the monitor lizards provided us with sufficient interest - thankfully the reverse was not the case.  Again it seemed that westerners are not that frequent visitors here, and we enjoyed the company of a wonderful local lady who was able to give us all sorts of fascinating information about the flora and fauna within the reserve, (and also to confirm the existence of estuarine crocodiles!).  With views over the Johor Straits to mainland Malaysia, this was a wonderfully peaceful way to (nearly) end the day.

By the miracles of modern time-table reading, the bus arrived on time and we were soon whisked back to Kranji MRT from where we travelled on back into the city and a sumptuous Vietnamese evening meal at the Viet Lang, situated in an annexe to the Old Parliament House.
The end of another perfect day.