Come sail with me on a virtual cruise on Majestic Princess to Fiji!

[winifred]

Thank you Ellie1145, Yes I'm glad I made it too,   lucky I  can pack  quickly!  It would have been our  first Princess cruise, we have done most of the main cruise lines and wanted to try the new  Sky princess.  My husband and I were treating our daughters too until CV decided otherwise! We usually go to  the USA or Med either on  land or  cruise ships,  have never headed to the far East  but now very tempted , your pictures are amazing!    

[ellie1145]

Our Last Day. Sunday 13 October 2019

 

Good morning, cruising adventurers!

 

Hope you all slept well and are raring to go!

 

Well, WE are going to have a fairly relaxed day prior to our night flight, but all you ‘young ‘uns’ may want to have a more active day. So as this is a ‘virtual’ adventure I am going to digress a little and suggest a few things that you could do if you have the energy. I will put up a few photos to accompany these suggestions, and then you are on your own.

 

But if you want more, just say, or if you have any photos of places I’ve missed then fire away. I’m hoping this might be of use to those hoping or planning to visit Singapore in the future.

 

I promise it won’t take too long as it will be mainly photos.

 

If you want to chill out in the hotel then feel free, or you can take yourselves off for the last time and explore a little more of Singapore.

 

But remember, be back to the hotel by late afternoon as our car will be here ready to speed us to the airport on the next leg of our adventure - Sydney. And what an adventure that turned out to be.

[ellie1145]

2 hours ago, winifred said:

Thank you Ellie1145, Yes I'm glad I made it too,   lucky I  can pack  quickly!  It would have been our  first Princess cruise, we have done most of the main cruise lines and wanted to try the new  Sky princess.  My husband and I were treating our daughters too until CV decided otherwise! We usually go to  the USA or Med either on  land or  cruise ships,  have never headed to the far East  but now very tempted , your pictures are amazing!    

 

Morning Winifred.

 

Thank goodness you are a quick packer. Lucky you managed to get the last seats on that flight and you’ve made it safely.

 

You’ve joined a lovely group of people so I’m sure you are going to have a ball.

 

So sorry to hear about your trip being cancelled. And on the beautiful new Sky Princess, too! I’m sure she is even more beautiful than the Majestic Princess.

 

Your daughters must be so disappointed, too. But maybe this thread will open your eyes to new horizons.

 

Now you’re here, sit back and enjoy the view. We are a friendly lot so do chip in if you feel like it. I’m happy to answer any questions if I can.

 

Ready? Well, off we go then!

[ellie1145]

The Changi Museum and Chapel

 

 

We first visited this museum in 2013, and it was the primary reason why we wanted to go to Singapore. We have since returned one more time, but at the moment the facility is closed for redevelopment, and it is due to reopen in 2020, although the advent of Covid-19 will probably have postponed that date.

 

The catastrophic events of World War II affected millions, but it  affected our family personally due to the incarceration of my FIL in Changi Prison, and later on, on the infamous Burma Railway, during the Japanese Occupation.

 

 

The original Chapel was built by our Australian allies who were also POWs, and this building was dismantled and relocated to Canberra in 1988. 

 

A replica was built in 1988 and it is this chapel which is now at the museum.

 

 

This cross was made by one of the prisoners, Sgt. Harry Stogden. It was fashioned out of a brass  howitzer shell case in the prison workshops. Sadly, Harry died on the boat on the way home to England. Tim Hemmings, another POW, engraved the cross with the badges of their regiments using an old umbrella stem he had found in the prison camp

My husband was able to light a candle and leave a message in memory of his father. 

 

It provides a fascinating glimpse into the lives of the POW's, and their courage, spirit and resilience, despite their brutal treatment. We found it interesting to note that thousands of women and children were incarcerated in Changi Prison for 3 years.  

 

The museum contains the personal effects, photos and drawings of those poor souls who entered its portals.

 

For my husband, it provided emotional closure. It was a very moving experience.

Edited July 2, 2020 by ellie1145

[ellie1145]

Getting Around Singapore

Waiting for the train

 

We used both buses, trains and taxis on previous trips to Singapore. They MRT is clean, fast, well maintained and very safe. It is very easy to navigate the MRT, Mass Rapid Transport system. This time we have used the 'Grab' taxi service which has been brilliant and very cheap. 

 

You can purchase a travel card, or Singapore Tourist Pass, which allows unlimited travel  for one day for S$10, or two days S$16, or 3 days S$20. You can also use Mastercard or Visa contactless bank cards.  The Tourist Pass can be bought at the ticket offices of selected MRT stations, or at Changi Airport in Terminals 2 and 3.

 

 

No eating or drinking is allowed on the transport system, and there is no littering. 

These lights on these boards change as the train reaches each station so it is easy to navigate.

 

Definitely NO Durians! 

The Bus

 

 

[AF-1]

ellie1145;  your flight to Sydney is about 7 1/2 hrs;  correct?

[ellie1145]

Morning AF-1  

 

We are on SQ 221

Departs 20.20

Arrives 06.55 local (next day).

 

So it's approximately 8 hours, depending on conditions of course. 

 

See you there!

[ellie1145]

Gardens By the Bay - Where Wonder Blooms

 

The Flower Dome

The dome, which is the largest glass greenhouse in the world, houses 30,000 plants and over 150 species in 9 different gardens from 5 continents - Europe, Asia, Africa, America and Australia.

 

Singapore is committed to transforming itself into a 'City in a Garden' with the aim of raising the quality of life by increasing the amount of greenery in the city. The Gardens By the Bay was visited by 50 million people in 2018 and is very popular.

 

The Flower Dome has an ever changing display of flowers, and as you walk round you will see numerous sculptures hidden among the plants. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can do an audio tour which tells  you about the plants

Beautiful sculptures

 

This is a 

This is a 3 part bronze sculpture called 'Famille de Voyageurs' They are almost ethereal

as parts of their bodies are missing, and it depicts a young family visiting the Gardens

before flying home. They take with them beautiful memories but leave something of 

themselves behind. 

We were surprised that it was cool as we expected a greenhouse to be hot and humid, but it makes it easy to walk round.

 

 

 

 

. 

[ellie1145]

Gardens by the Bay

 

The Cloud Forest

 

 

The second green house is the Cloud Forest, which is taller, but a little smaller, and houses a 35m (115ft) waterfall. It represents the cool moist conditions found in tropical mountain regions. 

 

It is built around a 42m (138ft) 'Cloud Mountain' which you access by an elevator. You then walk down the mountain via a circular path, or  you could just walk up and down. There are ferns and orchids galore.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ellie1145]

SINGAPORE FLYER

 

The Singapore Flyer has 28 air conditioned capsules, each able to accommodate 28 passengers.

 

When we went it was empty, and we had a capsule to ourselves.  We had walked across from the mall at Marina Bay Sands (don't ever be mad enough to do that! It half killed us in the heat. It didn't look far.... but it was!)

 

Inside the capsule - the best bit was it was air conditioned and lovely and cool!

 

It was probably the most disappointing attraction we visited as, to be honest, there is very little to see.

If you've ever been on the London Eye you will know that that is a real experience, with amazing vistas over London, where you can see all the famous historical and modern landmarks on a good day.

 

IMHO it's really not worth the time as there are far more interesting things to see and do.

 

 

Marina Bay Sands Hotel

The National Stadium seats 55,000. As you would expect, it has the world's largest retractable domed roof, and it can host many different sporting events.

 

The Merlion

The International Passenger Terminal Marina, Bay Cruise Centre

The Flower Dome and The Cloud Forest

The Art Science Museum, shaped like a lotus flower

The low rise building to the right of the Marina Bay Sands hotel is the 'Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands'

Victoria Theatre

The National Gallery of Singapore which holds the world's largest collection of Singaporean and Southeast Asian art, with over 8,000 artworks. 

 

 

 

[winifred]

 That must have been very emotional for your  husband  to visit the Changi museum and chapel.The pictures and stories you are showing us  of that time of occupation during WW2 are so incredibly moving. I had a  school friend whose Uncle was interred in a Japanese POW camp I remember her telling me if anything came on TV about the war he just got up and left the room till it was over. No counselling in those days  for the"lucky ones" who made it home. How brave and selfless that generation were, we owe them so much. 

  In contrast I am loving the brightness and colours of the flower dome You have such a good eye for photography. I enjoy taking  photographs  too hope "my photographs" come out as well as yours!  

[JF - retired RRT]

1 hour ago, ellie1145 said:

 

 

Wow!! Is this an actual flower or a sculpture?

[ellie1145]

Singapore Zoo

The zoo houses about 315 species of animals and of these, about 16% are considered to be endangered.

 

It has the largest colony of captive orangutans in the world. 

 

So here is a  taster and a few of my favourite photos.

 

I must mention my endlessly patient husband. He often has to stand there while I wait to take a photo, and he has kittens when I am travelling on an escalator trying to take photos, or leaning over somewhere, he nearly has a fit! 

 

 

These giant insects were made of metal 

 

 

 

He looks utterly bored with all us humans gawping at him.

There is a little tram which circles the park and which you can hop on and off. We found it really useful as it was incredibly hot and humid. It made us realise what FIL must have endured.

 

 

 

There was a nice little show with sealions etc.

 

My favourite, meerkats

 

 

 

 

[ellie1145]

The Jurong Bird Park

 

 

The Bird Park is home to nearly 3,500 birds, of 400 species, of which 20% are endangered. There are numerous free flight aviaries, and our favourite was the Waterfall Aviary.

 

Naturally, it is the world's largest bird park in terms of numbers (do you notice a pattern here?) and the second largest in terms of land area. 

 

 

 

This little train takes you around the bird park and you can pick it up at various stations on the way.

 

 

The stunning Waterfall Aviary

 

 

The Waterfall Aviary focuses mainly on African birds, and it reaches a height of 35m. It covers 20,000 sq metres and is the second largest walk-in aviary in the world. It also has the 30ft tall Jurong Falls, one of the tallest man-made indoor waterfalls. There is a stream that cascades over a number of levels. The suspension bridge allows you a wonderful view of the surrounding landscape.  It was a really beautiful environment to explore, with lots of fish water birds and plants to see. There are 1,500 free flying birds from 80 African species.

 

A spoonbill

 

 

  

 

[rmf11699]

The "Gardens By The Bay" looks awesome. Hope to see if for myself someday!

[ellie1145]

Jurong Bird Park continued

 

 

This pretty bird was building this beautifully formed nest

 

 

 

 

 

At the time we visited Singapore my 2 year old grandson was obsessed with movie, Rio, with the Blue Spix's Macaws,  so of course I had to take lots of photos.

 

 

There was a big outdoor arena where there was a vulture show.

 

Flamingos

 

This was where they incubated eggs and nurtured the young hachlings

I guess their mothers love them! 

 

 

[ellie1145]

For all you shopaholics - The Shoppes at Marina Bay

 

This mall is connected to the MRT.

 

This is Singapore's flagship shopping mall. It has hundreds of high end shops, restaurants, cafes, and bars.

Famous brands are on sale like Dior, Hugo Boss, Armani, Alexander McQueen, plus premium jewellery brands and watches. 

 

Even if you don't buy anything, the architecture is spectacular, with its vast walls of glass, huge open atriums and an indoor canal where you can relax in your own sampan, complete with driver. 

 

As you can imagine, there is a vast food hall serving everything from Cantonese, to Italian pizza, modern French cuisine, Indian Curry, or Japanese sushi.

 

 

 

 

The indoor canal

 

 

 

 

 

This restaurant serves delicious afternoon teas and is set on an island in a lagoon

The Food Court

 

 

 

 

 

[ellie1145]

3 hours ago, winifred said:

 That must have been very emotional for your  husband  to visit the Changi museum and chapel.The pictures and stories you are showing us  of that time of occupation during WW2 are so incredibly moving. I had a  school friend whose Uncle was interred in a Japanese POW camp I remember her telling me if anything came on TV about the war he just got up and left the room till it was over. No counselling in those days  for the"lucky ones" who made it home. How brave and selfless that generation were, we owe them so much. 

  In contrast I am loving the brightness and colours of the flower dome You have such a good eye for photography. I enjoy taking  photographs  too hope "my photographs" come out as well as yours!  

Yes, Winifred, it was amazing. We never thought we would be lucky enough to visit Changi, so when the opportunity arose we jumped at it. Our three children and son-in-law flew into Singapore to join us before they went on to Thailand, so it was an emotional time for all of us.

 

As you say, those who returned never received any help, or support, and few talked about their experiences. They certainly were brave. We owe them a lot. But it was amazing that after all the hardships my FIL lived until he was nearly 94, and he was compos mentis up until the end.

 

So glad you enjoyed the photos. They were taken with my ‘proper’ camera, not my iphone, so a bit better quality. I just snap away as the photos are the basis for my memories, as I don’t write anything down, it’s all from memory.

 

 

[ellie1145]

3 hours ago, JF - retired RRT said:

Wow!! Is this an actual flower or a sculpture?

 

From memory it was a huge sculpture, but very realistic. There are sculptures all over the greenhouses. All of them very different using a variety of different medium and textures. 

[ellie1145]

2 hours ago, rmf11699 said:

The "Gardens By The Bay" looks awesome. Hope to see if for myself someday!

 

Thank you for looking in rmf11699

 

They Gardens are amazing, and I truly hope you will get to see them one day.

 

We hope that we, too, will see them again. 

[ellie1145]

 

Sunday, October 13th

Our final day in Singapore

 

We decide to have a restful day before our night flight to Sydney. It’s been a busy few days and we haven’t stopped. We’ve walked miles, and explored so much more of this lovely place than before. But we must pace ourselves as we’ve got a busy few days in Sydney. We have asked for a late check out and are delighted that we can keep our room until 5.00 pm, when we depart for the airport. 

 

After a good night’s sleep we make our way downstairs to Level 4 where we partake of a late and leisurely breakfast.

 

I did online check in last night in the business centre downstairs.

 

After breakfast it’s time to finish the packing and then we both rest as we have a long night flight ahead of us, where we will get little sleep.

 

I manage to nap for an hour or so and then pop upstairs for a swim which is lovely and refreshing. It’s a nice pool, but they are doing some renovation and extension work so part of the deck is out of bounds. I shower and wash my hair before lunch.

 

 

 

 

DH goes downstairs while I do a little more packing and he orders a late lunch from the bar downstairs, which we eat in our room.

 

Then it’s time for a leisurely and relaxing bath.

 

 

All too soon its time to gather our belongings together, and at about 4.30 pm we take our luggage downstairs and wait in the Atrium for our car.

 

I’m sad to be standing in the glass elevators for the last time.

 

We sit in the atrium and wait for our car.

 

 

 

Our driver arrives a little early and we must bid farewell to this lovely hotel. I really hope that one day we will be able to return. Little do I know that the world will be rocked on its axis in just a few weeks.

 

Our car takes us through the streets of Singapore, past the iconic Marina Bay Sands Hotel, and eventually we arrive at Terminal 3 after a 40 minute journey.

A final glimpse of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel

 

 

The lotus flower Arts and Science Museum is silhouetted against the setting sun

Huge apartment blocks

We have arrived at Terminal 3

Thankfully there are plenty of free luggage carts

 

 

Edited July 2, 2020 by ellie1145

[ellie1145]

 

Changi Airport

 

We enter the terminal and make our way to the check in which is completely automatic. First you go to a machine which prints your luggage labels. Then you go to another machine, where you put your suitcase on a belt and it weighs it before it disappears.

 

 

 

I’m always a bit worried in case our suitcases are overweight, especially my hand luggage, but all is well, and a very helpful lady assists us to print our luggage labels, and our suitcases disappear into the bowels of the airport. She asks us if we are going to see Jewel and tells us we really should go and view it.

 

Changi Airport is truly one of the seven wonders of the aviation world. It’s spectacular, and there is too much to see in one visit. This is our third visit and there is still so much we haven’t seen, but today I really want to visit Jewel, the amazing new area which has, as its centrepiece, the world’s tallest waterfall, the Rain Vortex, which is surrounded by an amazing terraced forest.

[ellie1145]

Thank you all for following along. It’s been a long day and now we just have our visit to ‘Jewel’ before we board our ‘plane, and fly to Sydney.

 

Now starts part 2 of our amazing adventure, so be ready to fly with us to Sydney, and share with us the wonders of the Sydney Opera House, the spectacular Blue Mountains, and a train ride to Paramatta. Come walk the streets of this beautiful city with us, before we set foot onboard the wonderful Majestic Princess.

 

So pack your bags and make sure you’ve got comfortable shoes because there will be a whole lot of walking ahead! But don’t worry, it’s only virtual walking! 

 

[mtn_couple]

 

12 hours ago, ellie1145 said:

But if you want more, just say, or if you have any photos of places I’ve missed then fire away. I’m hoping this might be of use to those hoping or planning to visit Singapore in the future.

 

One place that's rarely listed on the tourist "must do" lists, but is quirky, unique (and free!) is Haw Par Villa, it's really close to Haw Par Villa MRT station so really easy to get to.  It's a sculpture park that was originally the home to the man who invented Tiger Balm and it's one of the most bizzare places i have ever been - https://www.hawparvilla.sg/.  Here are some pics from our last visit.  

 

 

 

My other recommendation is the free food trail tour run by the ION Mall - https://www.ionorchard.com/food-trail.  It's a 2 hour free walking tour, you get told about and get to taste some traditional foods and taught the history of Orchard Rd.  

 

 

 

Looking forward to joining you for Sydney (I grew up 10mins from Parramatta and then lived in The Blue Mountains for 7 years before moving to Melbourne).  

 

Edited July 3, 2020 by mtn_couple
Formatting

[azbirdmom]

Loved Gardens by the Bay.  My favorite was the Cloud Dome but the Flower Dome was also impressive.  We would like to visit Jarong on our next visit so it's nice to see that you enjoyed it.