Saturday 13th June 2009

After the earlier storm, we awoke to sunshine dancing through the palm leaves.
A light breakfast continental style was in order in the Club lounge.
I was expecting a selection of dim sum and curries but this is probably available in the main restaurant.
 

A leisurely start to the day taking in the sights in the day light, everything seemed quieter especially for a Saturday. Strolling down Orchard Road, where stores were only just opening up.

We arrive at Dhoby Ghaut MRT station, where Groz shows me how to work the ticket machine.

The tickets are reusable plastic tokens the size of a credit card, where a deposit of S$1 is required.
When you redeem your ticket at the end of your journey you get your S$1 returned, should you wish to.

Then you wave your ticket at the electronic gates. Some don't even remove the card from their wallet.

Choose which colour line you wish to travel on and make your way down the escalators to the platforms below.

We were visiting The Chinese Gardens today, so required the purple line, heading to HarbourFront # 6.
The stations, trains are all clean, well signposted, informative, efficient and air conditioned! Impressive.

We changed line at Outram Park for the green line to Joo Koon # 2, getting off at Chinese Garden.
Where it started to rain really hard. Luckily I had brought my Singapore mini umbrella with me, a gift Grozzie had given me from his previous visits to the country :)

Our first glimpse of the chinese pagoda was all misty in the amazing rain shower.
The rain soon eased and we made our way towards a relaxing day in the gardens.

The Chinese and Japanese gardens are free to enter!
It was surprisingly quiet everywhere. So we had no problems seeing most things except the Turtle museum.

We started with the 7 storey Pagoda, climbing slowly to the top, taking in each level at a time due to the humid conditions. We were rewarded with stunning views on each floor but especially from the top, looking down on the river, bridges, bonsai garden, stone boat and twin pagodas. All pictures are in our main gallery collection.

Twin Pagodas, we went inside both of them simultaneously and waved across to each other. Last time Grozzie visited the Chinese Garden he said one of the twin pagodas was locked shut so it was nice to go inside them both this time. These are really beautiful buildings with intricate detail.

We rested on the stone boat where a bride was having photos taken: white train trailing in the puddles.
Alas the restaurant no longer seems to be here.

Stunning plants, bamboos, statues and bridges everywhere. Then the occasional gecko lizard!

The highlight was spending time in the stunning bonsai garden, where a couple of gardeners tended to their ancient trees. We rested by the river in a typical chinese shelter from the midday sun. Just around the corner we discovered another outdoor alcove with steps rising to another pretty chinese style shelter, with great views over the koi ponds with turtles, and the bonsai collection towards the main pagoda. The attention to detail is exquisite and calming. The stone patterns on the paths to the clipped hedges and trees.

Then there was the amazing miniature bonsai on the rock garden collection. Where the tiny trees were clinging to the rocks, it looked like mountain scenery.

There was a whole section with calligraphy painted in red on huge boulders.

A very enjoyable way to start my stay in Singapore.

We made our way over to the Japanese Garden via the huge ornate bridge.
Last time Grozzie was here the garden was closed for renovations.
It was a little bare compared to the Chinese garden but the bridges and Japanese lanterns were all quaint.
I'm assuming Japanese Maples were noticeably missing here as they don't like the climate (?)

It was getting late and our tummies were only just beginning to rumble. Being so hot we didn't have an appetite. There weren't any proper food vendors, stalls or shops nearby. So we made our way out to the station around 4pm and stopped for ice creams. Durian flavour and Blueberry. They also had some strange savoury flavours as well. Lets just say the durian flavour lingered a long time afterwards! LOL

By 5pm we were back via the MRT at Dhoby Ghaut and were seated for a very late lunch of teriyaki chicken club sandwiches at Rocky Master alfresco style. Very tasty and it was good to be hungry again and sit down with a cool drink of water after a fantastic day out.

Crashed out at the hotel for an hour, cooled off. Had snacks and Tiger beer during happy hour. Then made our way to have "noodles under the bridge" by the Merlion for dinner.

We used the MRT to take us to City Hall. It was a long walk past Raffles City, parliament buildings, over Elgin Bridge and my first sight of Boat Quay so colourful at night. All the restaurants were tauting for business. It's hard to pass them by but smiles ease the way. We were on a mission to meet the Merlion and have noodles elsewhere.

We found some of the riverside sculptures near Cavenagh bridge. And finally we were nearly at the Merlion park, only the hawker stalls under the bridge had been replaced by a Tapas bar and Starbucks! It's amazing how much has changed in a few short years. D'oh! :(

These are the noodles Grozzie had on his last visit to Singapore.

I'd been looking forward to the "noodles under the bridge" for so long.

So we spend some time in Merlion park and make our way back to Boat Quay for noodles anyway at Seafood on the Pier. No idea where the pier is, but it was a great place to have the best Thai herb infused satay, followed by Hong Kong noodles and honeyed Pork watching the world go by on the river.

It was getting late so we wandered back to City Hall and got the MRT back to Dhoby Ghaut.
I never tired of the buzz at night, the lights on the buildings, the bustling food outlets. You just want to try them all but there's not enough time alas.

[total number of images taken today: 484]

Friday 12th | Sunday 14th | Monday 15th | Tuesday 16th | Wednesday 17th |
Thursday 18th | Friday 19th | Saturday 20th | Sunday 21st