Disclaimer: All prices quoted in Singapore dollars.

Friday 14^th August, 2015.

Spur of the moment decision to go to Singapore as Patrick is being sent there for a week with his work and it seemed like a good idea to visit him there. And, it's Singapore's 50th anniversary of Indepedence, the big celebrations were last weekend, so Happy Birthday Singapore!!

We were picked up at 5.25am today for our transfer to the airport for our flight to Singapore. And when the shuttle company say 5.25, they mean 5.25! Turns out Mrs Boss picked us up and delivered us to the main shuttle at Kariong, a ‘link’ run. The main shuttle was picking up at Pt Clare and the people weren’t ready on time, so the poor driver, Peter copped a bit of a serve from Mrs Boss. She rings them and tells them  if they’re not straight out to the vehicle in 5 minutes from the appointed pick up time she’s leaving. Her responsibility is to the passengers who do the right thing. It’s the only way some people learn! The world does not revolve around them. We didn’t know she was Mrs Boss until Peter told us, so we had a very unguarded chat with her on the drive, mostly about her trip to the Philippines and diving with the whale sharks. Jenny P. take note!! It might be easier than Ningaloo!

According to a website I looked at, our flight hadn’t departed on time all month, so when we were boarded, doors armed and cross checked, it looked like we were going to break the hoodoo. Sadly not. We departed 50 minutes late, although I’m not sure at which point a plane is considered to have ‘departed’. Is it departed the terminal or actually taken off? 50 min was to take off.

We had an uneventful flight and couldn’t really complain about anything on board. The food was nice and the service was attentive enough. No dramas getting through Immigration and we headed to the shuttle bus point only to find we had over half an hour wait for the next bus. At $9 per adult, it sounded like a good deal but we didn’t want to wait, so we jumped on the queue for a taxi. The queue was short and in no time we were on our way into the city. Boy, has Singapore changed since we were here in 2007! So many more high rise buildings and of course, the whole Marina Bay Sands development, Gardens by the Bay et al. Traffic wasn’t as bad as we had thought and the potential $30 - $35 fare turned out to be just under $25.  

view of the pool from our room

Village Hotel Bugis

Arrived at the Village Hotel Bugis to have a staff member whisk our suitcases away and direct us to Reception, up the escalator. Check in was quite a process, the fellow didn’t seem to know what he was doing, or his computer was telling him crazy stories. Who knows??  Took ages!! But we finally got everything sorted. Our room was very disappointing and if I hadn’t been so tired and over it all I would have asked to be changed. It’s a nice enough room, but the window is so narrow, we can’t even stand side by side to look out it! Then when we got back from dinner there was a family next door and the kids are yelling and squealing! It’s 9pm Singapore time, but it’s 11pm by our body clock and we’ve been up since 4.45am, so my tolerances are below zero. I figure I’m so tired though, nothing will keep me awake, and I’m right. By the way, we ate dinner at Bugis Junction. Trevor had chicken cutlet rice and I had char siew chicken noodles and wonton. Under $10 for both, the beers cost nearly that much!!