{"id":596,"date":"2010-08-12T21:18:39","date_gmt":"2010-08-12T13:18:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mayl.id.au\/?page_id=596"},"modified":"2017-08-17T21:12:18","modified_gmt":"2017-08-17T13:12:18","slug":"singapore-pg-8","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/?page_id=596","title":{"rendered":"Singapore Pg 8"},"content":{"rendered":"

Once we\u2019d eaten and rested we found the loos which were a lot more enjoyable to associate with and, as I\u2019ve already said, went out of the back door of the hotel courtyard onto a busy road full of \u2018citiness\u2019.\u00a0 Not much further along was the Raffles Shopping Centre \u2013 ahh, I see.\u00a0 I\u2019d expected it to be a closer part of the hotel \u2013 and we went in for a look.\u00a0 You guessed it \u2013 all the brand names yet again.\u00a0 It was a very big centre, spacious and light and we just looked at a couple of floors including a close look at the Rolex shop window.\u00a0 $40,000 was the average price for the men\u2019s watches.\u00a0 Yes, just one for that price!<\/p>\n

From here we just headed along North Bridge Road towards our hotel.\u00a0 The streets were very busy, the footpath was wide but still full of people intent on trammelling us underfoot and there were many, many army folk who looked as if they were about to set up roadblocks.\u00a0 We found out later that there was going to be something the next day that the prime minister was to attend.<\/p>\n

We found the now very familiar river and walked along the side of it back to the hotel and decided to have a swim.\u00a0 We usually swim about once a year so you can tell how appealing this weather and this pool were to us.\u00a0 There was still no sun but the temperature was beautiful so it didn\u2019t matter a bit!<\/p>\n

We decided to walk and see if we could find the Clarke Quay MRT station ready for tomorrow and that we would look at Central Square along the way, which we thought was a shopping centre.\u00a0 Ha har.\u00a0 Suffice to say that we walked too far in one direction and then came back only to realise that we\u2019d already explored down this street on our Chinatown day duh!\u00a0 Anyway, we got to look at a heap more shops further around including an absolutely *massive* food hall that covered a full floor of a large shopping centre.\u00a0 It seemed very popular with the Chinese people and sold meaty things that we are not accustomed to and then it took us quite a while to find our way back out.\u00a0 We\u2019d entered via a 2-storey escalator on the outside of the building and there was not a corresponding \u2018down\u2019.<\/p>\n

We did find the MRT station, along with a sign that said \u20185 storeys to MRT concourse\u2019 and it turned out that it was 90 steps and no escalator.\u00a0 But that\u2019s tomorrow\u2019s story.<\/p>\n

It was not really dinner time but it was also pointless going back to the hotel so we went up and down the aisles at Clarke Quay trying to decide where to eat when it was time.\u00a0 In the end I suggested that we go into Malone\u2019s Irish Pub for a drink to fill in some time, and that\u2019s what we did.\u00a0 They were listening to some Australian cricket on a massive TV screen at volume three thousand, four hundred and sixty five.\u00a0 Man!!!\u00a0 And it was well outdated cricket at that.\u00a0 The little Asian girl that came out to serve us couldn\u2019t understand a word David said and he couldn\u2019t hear a word she said and in the end she managed to make a hasty retreat.\u00a0 A few minutes later an amused guy came to see to us, surreptitiously watched by the Asian lass from behind the door post.\u00a0 She and I both wore smiles as David managed to order a Guinness for himself and a Sing Sling and a glass of water for me.\u00a0 The 2 alcoholic drinks arrived quickly and I drank mine before David had got half way through his.\u00a0 I\u2019d forgotten to ask for no ice and hate drinks that have become watered down as it melts!\u00a0 He was stunned!\u00a0 I am not a drinker.\u00a0 My glass of water arrived just as David was finishing his beer.<\/p>\n

Now I\u2019m sorry that today\u2019s story seems to have spent half of its time in the toilets but here comes another one.\u00a0 Just be thankful I didn\u2019t take photos to share \ud83d\ude42\u00a0 After enquiring as to their whereabouts we were directed to the back of the pub.\u00a0 Men left, women right.\u00a0 I went through the door to be met by a brick wall and an arrow pointing left which I followed along a long, narrow corridor which then veered right and continued another decent distance.\u00a0 Then left to a crossroads, and finally there was a half-glass door (the other half was wood, not missing) in front of me and inside was a nice clean and spacious room.\u00a0 However, the cubicle doors were misted glass and you could clearly see outlines through them.\u00a0 Maybe I\u2019m obsessive about my privacy or something!?!? but I found this rather \u2018off\u2019 as well.\u00a0 It was still an improvement on the black shiny tiles of our first day though \u2013 I\u2019ll have nightmares about that one!!!\u00a0 Luckily, I\u2019d left a trail of the ice cubes I hadn\u2019t wanted from my drink and managed to find my way back to David.\u00a0 OK, I lie, I was very clever without ice cubes and found my way back unassisted hehehe.\u00a0 David said \u201cWhere have you been?\u201d and I said \u201cBack to the loos at the Raffles!\u201d\u00a0 It turns out that his had been straight through his first door.<\/p>\n

We decided to eat at Shiraz Persian restaurant where we\u2019d partially seen and fully heard (they had to battle the pub noise and did so well) a belly dancer from the Balinese restaurant next door on Tuesday.\u00a0 We chose ourselves a nice table indoors, saying to the waiter that we wanted to be away from the smoke outdoors.\u00a0 I understood the odd look he gave when, a bit later, I noticed that they\u2019d opened up part of the glass wall to stick their speakers outside and there was a 2 foot gap where smoke could come straight in to us.\u00a0 We just prayed we were early enough to eat our food before anyone sat outside and started up!<\/p>\n

David ordered a prawn something kebab with rice for himself and a vegetable kebab for me.\u00a0 Neither kebab had a stick but the items were lined up along the plate as if they had and it actually looked really cute.\u00a0 My veggies were all deep fried and rather oily for what I\u2019m accustomed to \u2013 there was cucumber, celery, capsicum, 2 fig-like things, 2 small potatoes and a block of cottage cheese.\u00a0 David had a shiraz to drink which he said was very nice and I had a virgin colada.\u00a0 The belly dancer was excellent with very good skills and her (we think) hubby, the drummer, was quite the character!\u00a0 Here\u2019s the photo David took after asking the guy to pose.<\/p>\n

\"Shiraz

Shiraz Persian Restaurant Drummer<\/p><\/div>\n

I\u2019ll put a pic of the dancer in a minute.\u00a0 I\u2019ve failed in my mission to have story and pic together \u2013 oh well!<\/p>\n

A lot of the people outside were smoking bongs (for want of a description, and perhaps this is where they started \u2013 Persia, not in a Singaporean restaurant) which the waiters were filling with something and adding hot coals.\u00a0 They actually smelled very pleasant indeed which was a huge relief, and were obviously legal.<\/p>\n

After the meal we went to the ATM to get some money and were shocked when it showed David\u2019s full name on the screen in living colour with the word \u2018welcome\u2019 under his name.<\/p>\n

\"Shiraz

Shiraz Persian Restaurant Bellydancer<\/p><\/div>\n

From there we finally bought the graphic equaliser t.shirt for Nat \u2013 yaayyy.\u00a0 Unlike the beer that went up in price during an hour at the night safari, the t.shirt had come down $4.<\/p>\n

This time we walked home trying to hug one side of the path with David on the \u2018outside edge\u2019 and found people moved around us a little better rather than barging through the way they did when it was \u2018the woman\u2019 on the outside.\u00a0 Yet again, men have an advantage, and people perceive even my gentle little David who wouldn\u2019t say boo to a goose as a bigger threat than me.\u00a0 How wrong they are LOL<\/p>\n

When we became pushed to the middle of the path despite our best attempts I discovered another trick.\u00a0 If we pretended to be deep in conversation and looking at one another rather than the people coming towards us they could see that we were oblivious to them and they had no choice but to be the ones taking the evasive action.\u00a0 Bliss!!!<\/p>\n

SUNDAY 18th<\/sup> July
\n<\/strong>The breakfast room was a lot quieter today and even had spare tables the whole time we were there.\u00a0 We had a German couple sit next to us but they spoke really quietly, and on my deaf ear so I understood very little as I could barely hear them.\u00a0 Bother!\u00a0 I love listening to German accents and words.\u00a0 I heard her say she was unwell and that was it.\u00a0 Funnily, it didn\u2019t bother me that they didn\u2019t want to speak to us, because I was enthralled with listening to them.\u00a0 Our Asian lady table-mates the other morning would have had the same appeal had they spoken amongst themselves as I\u2019m entranced listening to any foreign language, but it was just an uncomfortable silence with them.<\/p>\n

We decided to go to the Jurong Bird Park today as it was the 3rd<\/sup> park we\u2019d paid for, along with the zoo and night safari combo ticket so off we went to catch the train at Clarke Quay. This was the decent of 90 steps before 2 flights of escalators to reach the train and we then had to transfer at Outram Station for the train to Boon Lay.\u00a0 The train, as always, was busy but we managed to score a seat when someone got off which was a great relief.\u00a0 My balance is not good because of the damage to my left ear so I dread having to stand on a moving vehicle even though David is always my hero and dutifully holds me tight and safe.\u00a0 There are other risks involved in him having his arms around me but we won\u2019t go into those \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

The train emerged from the tunnels yet again at a height of about 2 storeys and travelled sometimes higher than that as well.\u00a0 We were heading in a different direction than we\u2019d gone before and were yet again amazed by the housing \u2013 high blocks of flats one after another as far as the eye could see.<\/p>\n

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Once we\u2019d eaten and rested we found the loos which were a lot more enjoyable to associate with and, as I\u2019ve already said, went out of the back door of the hotel courtyard onto a busy road full of \u2018citiness\u2019.\u00a0 … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":475,"menu_order":8,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-596","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=596"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/596\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3885,"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/596\/revisions\/3885"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}