A lot has been going on, and finally we find some time to report it here. On Sunday, September 21st, we took a night flight from London to Singapore. T. had suggested to fly with Singapore airlines, in order to find out if the stewardesses really are as pretty as in the ads. (We did not expect this to be the case.) Well, they are. Most beautiful. A bit depressing actually for little D. ... But in the end, she spent much more time staring at them than T. And making admiring comments. In any case, the flight was comfortable, the food was good, the movie program included Keinohrhasen (a flick with Til Schweiger, the master brain of German film), and after all the excitement, we could even catch a little sleep.
Immigration was extremely simple, and we took a taxi to our hotel on the island of Sentosa, which lies south of the main (is)land. We had a really nice hotel with an especially nice pool and beach.
Our room had hillside view, which just meant that we saw 180° of this:
And yes, it is quite humid, but not too bad, we whitebreads could cope with it. It is also not too hot. Around 30° or less, which is OK. Singapore is interesting, but very modern and westernised. You can find all the shops from London's Oxford Street there as well. And prices in these shops are nearly the same as in Europe. We had only two whole days and an afternoon in Singapore, which of course is not enough to get a real impression. We very much like the Singapore Sling (kleiner versteckter Hinweis an unseren Freund H. aus B.), the famous cocktail invented by the Raffles Hotel in Singapore in the early 20th century. Very nice ;-) Of course, we had it in the Raffles Hotel. Beautiful building, restored in the late 80s, and just as colonial as you would expect from history books. We enjoyed our evening on the verandah there anyway.
The short time given, we still saw quite a bit of Singapore: Chinatown, the Indian district, some restaurants near the Singapore river, some Buddhist temples, all very nice. It was exam season for pupils when we were there. And you can make an offer in a temple to let your son or daughter get A grades. Funny. It was reported in the newspaper as well. I am not so sure if this is really Buddhist thinking or just a practical way to believe in good grades and the potential of your children. Or for the Buddhists to make some money.
If we should get back to this area of the world some time, then we will surely try to stop over in Singapore again.
