It’s always a treat to discover you’ve nailed a freebee. Well ours was the hop-on-hop-off bus which was another Club room inclusion. Bargain!! Now priorities. The Orchid Garden was one of the top to-do items. Daniel, the concierge, recommended we begin at the Botanic Gardens. Of course, the bus would pick us up outside the hotel. Easy!!
We arrived and were immediately impressed. These tropical gardens were spectacular. John was totally enchanted and easily distracted by an ad for a Singapore Sling. It seemed right. This place should be celebrated. We indulged. It seemed very reasonably priced but that was before the GST of 7% and then the service charge of 10% was added. Ummm…buyer beware.
Next the Orchid garden- Magnificent! Enchanting! We spent hours wandering through beautifully manicured gardens spellbound by the colour and variety of these wonderful flowing epiphytes.
Again, John was distracted. An invitation from home, to lunch and a suggestion we bring the chilli crab? Well he couldn’t resist the jar of chilli sauce. He even picked up recipe cards from the little specialty store in the garden. Being a pragmatist, I suggested he mightn’t be able to get it through customs. Being the optimist and after some google research and emailing Customs, he is convinced he can bring it in. We’ll see.
The following day we decided to explore Orchard Road. You can hardly come to Singapore and not visit at least two or three of the twenty-two (!!!) department stores on this remarkable ‘shopping street’.
I am always confounded by the suggestion that such and such a street or area is a great place to shop. They are always high-end shopping zones. It would be more honest to say that they are great places to buy incredibly over-priced items and strut around with shopping bags that advertise your affluence and/or gullibility.
We decided we would take in a view. John- my handy travel encyclopedia- of course knew about the 55th floor of ION (just another flash department store) where we could get a drink and take in the view over the city. Of course, the drinks were overpriced so we made ourselves comfortable and took our time to rest and recuperate. It had been another good day.
Personal itineraries (Pi) 