20 October 2009
Arrived in Singapore at 2.30pm after a long flight with Singapore Airlines. Great food and plenty to drink. Being just 85 miles north of the equator the temperature only ranges from 26 to 31 degrees (the lowest temperature ever recorded being only 19.4 degrees) – not the place to look for a job if you’re a weather reporter!
Singapore is approximately 40km by 20 km with 5 million people living here. They are a mixure of Chinese, Indian, Malays and a few others making it a truly multi cultural society that all seem to get on very well. It’s squeaky clean, has a low crime rate, has the largest oil refinery in the world and houses all the main finance houses.
Our hotel in the heart of the city centre is ideally located and within 30 minutes of our arrival we were off exploring. First stop was Clarke Quay. This is a modern waterfront with bars and restaurants. After a beer we headed for Chinatown. This is the area where the Chinese settlers originally lived and worked. A great area full of market stalls with a whole street dedicated to food sellers so needless to say we tried a few of the local delicacies. It would be rude not to. We ended the evening at the Raffles Hotel for a Singapore Sling – $54 for the two! Some things just have to be done.
When visiting major cities we always find the easiest way to get your bearings is to go on a city tour so booked one for 9am the following morning. This took us to Little India, the commercial district where all themajor banks are competing for the tallest building, Chinatown where we had time to visit a Buddist temple, Singapore Orchid Gardens and a drive down Orchard Road where every major designer has a shop.
After a quick stop back at the hotel we were straight back out again to check out Orchard Road properly for a bit of retail therapy.
The mixture of cultures has made dining out a great experience. We really like the hawker centres where most of the locals eat. They are outdoor centres with a large number of stalls selling mostly Chinese, Thai and Malasian dishes. We had a great meal of spicy noodles with pork for $3.40 (£1.70) for the two of us. They seem to be open for nearly 24 hours a day. Got one right next to our hotel so going there for breakfast this morning.
In the evening we wnet back to Little India. They are celebrating their new year at the moment (Deepvalli) so the whole area was packed with excited people and all the streets were lit up making a very noisy, colourful atmosphere. Eventually we found a small restaurant (Lagnaa at No. 6 Upper Dickson Road). The staff were so friendly and helpful. They helped us to choose some delicious food. They had a hotness rating from 1 – 10. We had number 2 which plenty hot enough for us. Goodness knows what a 10 is like!! We finished off the meal with a traditional Indian drink called Kodi. It was made from coconut shoots with a very high alcohol content. The chef said it solves all your problems. Two would have done.
It was a long walk back through very crowded streets and straight to bed after a very tiring few days.
Our night flight with Singapore Airlines finished as we flew down the west coast where we watched the most wonderful sunrise from the window of the plane. Some of the flight was spent researching a few facts about Australia.
Did you know:-
It is the worlds largest island.
It is the only nation that began as a prison.
It is the home of the largest living thing on earth – the Great Barrier Reef.
It has more things that will kill you than anywhere else in the world – the 10 most poisonous snakes in the world, and five creatures i.e. funnel web spider, box jelly fish, blue ringed octopus, paralysis tick and stone fish are the most lethal of their type in the world (good to know when you’re camping in the bush!
If you are not stung or pronged to death then you may be fatally chomped by a snake or crocodile.
There is no place in the world like it. 80% of what lives here lives nowhere else in the world and it lives in abundance. Australia is the dryest, flattest, hottest, infertile and climatically aggresive of all the inhabited continents. Welcome to Oz!
After a long time spent in the the customs hall (Australian Customs are very strict – we even had to declare a bit of mud on our walking boots and the fact that we live in a rural area) we were met by our friends John and Diane. Lots of catching up to do.
At 38 degrees it was the hottest day of the year so far so we went for a walk along the coast and had a coffee overlooking the Indian Ocean. After much more talking, drinking and eating we fell into bed.
John and Diane live in the Swan Valley. It is a haven for wine lovers and wineries stretch right along the river. The flat plains of the Swan River produce highly drinkable wines, the main varieties being Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Semillion, Merlot and Shiraz.
We picked the first of many wineries just after breakfast for a wine tasting. Not a bad time for a tasting (I think we were hoping we could fit another in later). After trying several including one very expensive dessert wine we settled on a couple of bottles of Semillion for drinking later that evening.
We drove through the beautiful green valley and stopped for coffee and a cake at the nougat factory.
By chance we came across Tranby House which is run by the National Trust and what a find. It is run by two lovely ladies who spent far too long with us telling us many tales both funny and informative. They are also researching some information for us about the possibility of a family connection.
Tranby House was one of the first settlements of the Swan River colony. The Hardey and Clarkeson families were farmers from Yorkshire and came over on the brig Tranby leaving Hull in September 1829. They had with them 370 passengers, livestock and equipment and were initially given 102 acres of land known as Peninsula Farm in a beautiful spot overlooking the Swan River. The original 2 houses they built were swept away by floods but the third is still standing and has been restored by the National Trust. It still has some of the original furnishings and there is the original log from the ship detailing their journey over.
It’s been said that there is not much history in Australia but this is history that you can actually relate to and we hope to find much more of this over the next few weeks.
Later we had dinner with friends of John and Diane. As caravanners themselves Dave and Sue were able to give us lots of hints and tips about places further north that they thought we should visit. Initially they thought that south of Perth would make for a much easier trip but both agreed that north, though harder would be more rewarding (but you know us – anything for a challenge). Dave brought some maps for us and we’re sure they will come in very handy. Our very rough new itinerary now is the coast road to Tom Price returning inland visiting some remote sheep stations. It could change but we’ll see!
