24&25.04 - Day 27 - Singapore to Sydney, Australia
Friday 24th & Saturday 25th April
Singapore to Sydney
Temperature Min 27, Max 33. Sydney Min 25, Max 25
17,557 steps
Longer lie-ins and later breakfasts just about allow enough time to check out by 11:00am, leaving our single suitcase and 2 of the 3 small rucksacks in the small common area - don’t tell anyone that the passports and ipad, amongst other things are in those rucksacks.
I’ve wanted to get to the tall metal trees in the SuperGrove within the Gardens By The Bay so its there we head via a bakery and the MRT (underground). We enter the gardens at The Meadow to see an installation called Planet. Giant Baby Floating is more descriptively accurate - but the way this large sculpture balances on one wrist is impressive creating this floating effect.
Into the Grove and the Supertrees loom large above us, certainly striking. There are life-sized (and over-sized) animal statues throughout the park; rhinos, buffalo, crocodile, kingfisher.
By now we’re playing ShadowLands to avoid the direct sun; its another hot and humid day in Singapore. To cool off we head to Far East Organisation Park which is an open-to-all (though only if you have kids) water fountain park, just spraying up jets of water from the ground or tipping water from flower shaped buckets above you.
There’s a mix of children there, half from one school wearing bright orange bibs for the teachers to keep an eye on them. A handful of the parents are in and amongst the spraying water and I’m certainly one of them.
After several rounds of Tag we break for our bakery goods before another splash around - all with no time pressures. Finally by 2:30pm we’ve had our fill, walking away from Marina Bay Sands for the last time, catching the MRT to Outram and heading back to Wink to hang up our wet gear.
A slow 10 minute walk away is Singapore City Gallery housed within the building of the Urban Redevelopment Authority - it showcases the history of the island relating to land usage and adapting to growing population today and as part of a 50 year plan. That might sound dry, but the two large to-scale models of the city 5m x 5m are detailed and allow us to map our movements over the last couple of days. There are also a number of interactive elements from designing your own city to designing the make-up of a transport corridor of bus vs car vs taxi vs bike vs pedestrian. An easy hour is spent in this free, aircon environment.
On leaving, the mere mention of a temple has Sienna and Seb disgruntled so thankfully it’s only a peak inside the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple within a large ornate building. Sienna is then enthused within an old Chinese crockery shop, finding a gift from Kate. Seb sits outside - he’s bored and I’m worried about the risk of breakages. But then Seb does come to life for a Tintin shop, flicking through a few books, picking out figurines and gazing at the animated tv shows of the little journalist and his white dog Snowy.
Back in the common area of Wink (passports still in the rucksacks), the kids have some ipad time while I have a final explore; seeking out some of the large murals by Yip Yow Chong depicting scenes of a bygone era of Singapore.
We take a final supper at the People Park Food Centre with a much more considered amount of dumplings, washed down with some sugarcane juice. It seems strange the contrast in prices in Singapore; accommodation is very expensive driven by land scarcity, then there’s clearly a lot of money swishing about in the restaurants and bars and yet things like the public transport is cheap and these hawker stalls deliver hearty meals for just a couple of dollars.
Like last night, there is an ice-cream for dessert, and a trip to the library across from Wink from 8:00pm until it closes at 9:00pm, We scurry back to Wink as Reception also closes at 9:00pm and we no longer have a pass to get in.
Once back we each shower in the shared facilities and sort the bags for the final flight. On the walk to the MRT there’s another warning on a billboard of caning as a punishment which comes across as intense. It’s a bit more of a jaunty carrot style approach on the MRT itself with cartoon characters displaying what good etiquette looks like. Sienna likes Stand Up Stacey, Hush Hush Hannah and Bags Down Benny particularly.
It’s just after 11:00pm when we get to the airport and tiredness is setting in. Thankfully our Scoot Airlines flight departs on time, and being a low-cost airline it means no tvs on the seats, so no distractions for Sienna and Seb (and me) means we’re asleep before the aeroplane even takes off.
4ish hours sleep on the 7 ½ hour flight, arriving back in Sydney at 11:40am with the 2 hour time difference. Arrivals is a breeze, Kate kindly comes to collect us and we’re back at The Boulevarde just 35 minutes after touching down.
Until next time.