April Fool’s Day – No Fooling!
I woke up about 3:30 AM to my phone chiming, not sure
why, but checking my email discovered that Welcome Pickups, a ride service, had
emailed me at midnight to inform me that our morning ride to the hotel was
cancelled! At 4 in the morning a very nice young lady at Viking Orion’s
customer service desk helped me schedule a taxi at about twice the cost of the
Welcome Pickup. I had also reserved transport
with Welcome Pickups for our transfer from our hotel to the airport. I cancelled
that reservation. Not only is Welcome Pickups unreliable, they are unresponsive
as well.
After some What’s Apps’ chats and calls with our taxi
driver who initially went to the wrong terminal, we connected for a 5.7 km ride
to the Amoy Hotel in Chinatown, $60 US dollars lighter.
Here’s what Lonely Planet has to say about the Amoy:
" Not many hotels are accessed through a historic Chinese temple, but the Amoy is no ordinary slumber pad!"
We were able to check right-in and unburden ourselves of our bags before heading out to explore.
The Telok Ayer MRT station across the street, is just two stops from Marina Bay’s Bayfront Station. Alas, the Tourist Pass cannot be had at the Telok Ayer station so we walked a few blocks to the China Town station to purchase ours. The Tourist Pass, good for three days, allows the bearer to ride public transportation without buying individual tickets. Very convenient.
The OG Department Store was right there so Joanne decided to have a look at some beautiful dresses before riding the MRT to Bayfront.
Some more interesting facts about Singapore gleaned from Wikipedia:
In 2015, Lonely Planet listed Singapore as their top world destination to visit.
Singapore is the world's 3rd-largest foreign exchange centre, 6th-largest financial centre, 3rd-largest
oil-refining and trading centre, largest oil-rig producer and hub for ship
repair services, and largest logistics hub.
To prevent the bumper to bumper “parking lot”
congestion, Singapore limits the number of private cars on its roadways.
Vehicles on the road and people walking on the
streets keep to the left. However, given
the large number of clueless tourists, people walk on the left, right and
center.
Singapore has the world's highest percentage of
millionaires, with one out of every six households having at least one million
US dollars in disposable wealth.
Capital (hanging) and corporal (canning) punishment are are legal and enforced. Singapore has a very low crime rate.
Singapore's unique combination of a strong,
almost authoritarian government with an emphasis on meritocracy and good
governance is known as the "Singapore model", and is regarded as a
key factor behind Singapore's political stability, economic growth, and
harmonious social order.
Singapore has no homeless. If one cannot afford
an apartment, the government provides one. Health care and education are free.
Singapore a has a military and compulsory service
for males. Since Singapore is short on space, the military operates bases in California,
Australia and Indonesia.
Singapore is the 5th most visited city in the world with 19 million tourists in 2019.
At the Bayfront MRT, we had
no idea which exit to take and so ended up in a multi-level shopping mall with boats
plying an artificial river below us. With a little guidance, we went outside,
across the street and into one of the Marina Bay Sands towers. An elevator delivered
us the Lavo Restaurant on the 57th floor, the very top of the hotel.
We had a pizza and drinks while taking in the views.
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| Marina Bay Sands |
 |
| Lavo Restaurant at Top |
 |
| Flower Dome, Cloud Forest & Supertree Grove |
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| City Skyline |
After riding the MRT back to the Amoy and resting up a bit, we rode back to Bayfront this time exiting to the Expo Center with shops and restaurants along the Bayside. We picked JustIN Flavours for dinner after wandering around for awhile. We shared Singapore Hainese Chicken, Braised Tofu with Assorted Vegetables and Rice. The restaurant is right on the the bay side so we watched the light show from there.
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