Monday dawned hazy like every other day we have been here. The tour manager managed to get some washing and pre packing done in the morning before we wandered off to a Clarke Quay for a look at the shopping centre there.
To be truthful there is very little difference between a shopping centre in Singapore and a centre In England or France or Germany.
What was different in this case was the discovery of a giant food hall/ court under the main shopping area which was full of office workers enjoying their lunch break. Th food looked appetising and cheap so who could blame them. We decided when we return that we will go there and try it.
We then headed back to the Clemenceau bridge to meet Jean and Colin from Dunheved Road who were staying in Somgapore on their way home. After some discussion whilst we stood on the bridge, necessitated because the bridge was a dual carriageway and you had to use an underpass to get to the other side, I was despatched by the tour organiser to scout the underpass and the other side of the bridge. I duly found Jean and Colin who were sensibly sheltering under some trees and then had to walk back to find the tour organsiser.
We headed for a restaurant we had been to with David but they were shut for staff training as were all the other restaurants around. After some fruitless wandering we headed back to Liane Court where we found a very good and pleasant Chinese restaurant and we four merry travellers enjoyed a hearty meal.
After a two hour lunch we parted company and took the tube out to Marina Bay Sands only to find ourselves in another gigantic shopping mall full of very expensive shops.
It became a puzzle to both of us as to how we could escape and eventually have spotted some trees outside we found a door that led onto the promenade. This led us to walk to the gardens on the bay where after some dallying we bought tickets to go into the flower dome to see the chrysanthemum display. The garden was a riot of colour and was well worth the eight pounds we paid to get in. The gardens on the bay are Singapore's equivalent of the Eden project, great glass domes built adjacent to the river, surrounded by a grove of super trees, which are man made metal structures planted with orchids and climbers. It was very impressive and we will return. In truth we spent too much time there and were late home so David had to ring the restaurant we had booked to tell them we would be late.
We had a super Italian meal on or last night in Singapore which included a interesting discussion with the chef about how Italian food would have looked before the introduction of the tomato. One of the dishes we had was a pasta dish flavoured with garlic and ginger with a pine nut and basil pesto.
The chef believed this is what Italian Renaissance food would have looked like, it was hard to argue that it may not have been.
And so to bed