Singapore Days 2 & 3

We didn’t have a tour scheduled until the Singapore by Night at 6:00 PM. I went to the mall attached to the cruise terminal with Betty. Bunny’s legs were sore from the previous days events so she elected not to go. It is a huge mall and since it was Saturday, it was very crowded. I found the sandals I wanted, a white shirt, a lanyard for my phone. I have one at home but didn’t think to bring it. The only one I found is very thick cord and very bulky. I used it today but in retrospect I should just have gotten a wristlet for the phone. We were worn out after a couple hours so made our way back to the ship. We had to go through passport control and bag screening every time we left and returned to the ship. Then we had to walk at least a quarter mile down a long hallway. By the time we got out of the terminal to do anything, we were exhausted!
‘Our Singapore by Night tour started before dark. We took a ride on a boat along the Singapore River. We saw the huge Marina Bay Sands hotel. The “surfboard” on the top has an observatory, a bar and a restaurant. We didn’t get to go to the top. Friends did and said it was a beautiful view of the city. We then went to an area across from the hotel and mall to watch the laser show we saw the night before. It was quite a distance away but we could still see the lights and water, just not the lasers. From there we went to the Raffles Hotel for a Singapore Sling drink. We went to the Long Bar, which is the only place in the city you’re allowed to litter. There were small burlap bags filled with peanuts in the shell. We were of course happy to eat the peanuts and throw the shells on the floor. The drink was pretty good-one of those slushy, sweet concoctions with a wedge of pineapple on the top.. Our friend Beryl didn’t like the drink so she ordered wine at $30 a glass. One of the guys ordered a beer and was charged $24. Glad my drink was free!
I was pretty tired when we got home. The mall walking caught up with me. I was having trouble trying to get into this site to even upload pix from the iPad. I finally gave up and crashed.

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day everybody. We celebrated today and you’ll be celebrating when you get this post. We had a tour of the Botanical gardens, primarily the orchid garden. I’ve never seen so many orchids in one place. There was a great variety of them too. Every time a foreign dignitary visits, they create a new orchid.
It was really hot today. We went into the cool room where there were many more orchids. It was also air conditioned, a definite plus! We also went to an overlook where the views were good. It was pretty hot and I was sure I wouldn’t make the climb up a steep hill so we stayed on the same level as the road. We had an ok view but the trees were pretty high so we didn’t see as much. Then we went to the place where we were last night to watch the water show. There is a statue of the Merlion, half lion, half mermaid that is the symbol of Singapore. I had gotten a good photo of it the night before from the water so I stayed on the bus with a few other people. Our last stop was Chinatown. We saw the same temple we’d seen on our first tour. We walked through, then went into the market across the street. Nothing there we needed, so we went into a fast food place and bought a Coke. Then it was time to get back on the bus back to the ship and go through Immigration once again.
‘We had gotten a list of excursions for the next portion of the trip the day before and were supposed to make our choices on the World Cruise app at 2 PM. The time came and went and the list wasn’t there. They were waiting for a tour to get back so everyone would have the same chance to choose. The upper decks had already made their choices. Finally they went live. We were in the atrium with a ton of other people trying to book our excursions. Bunny booked them while I waited in line to see someone in case of problems. We only didn’t get one and the overnight to Marrakech was full. So when it was our turn to talk to someone, it turned out to be the head guy, Nick. We went into his office and he booked the one we didn’t get and put us on the waitlist for Marrakech . No more than two minutes later the system crashed. We all predicted that would happen. So they quickly printed up paper lists and said it was first come, first served. We filled ours out right away and turned them in. Who knows what we’ll get. We only put our first choice that we’re already booked. Once again, first world problems, in 3rd world countries.
‘Photos are of the night water show, and orchids. There is one photo of the 8 of us with Karen, the receptionist at the desk in the Restaurant. It was her birthday, so we had gotten her a card, signed it and put in some money. When we went to dinner we all sang happy birthday to her. It brought her to tears. She is such a sweet girl, 31 today, she deserved it. The other girl is Diana, our waitress.