Landing 15 min early was a bonus into Changi Airport. We got through customs amazing easily and straight into a taxi. $25SGD into the CBD from the airport (No traffic on the roads at 5.30am).
The Naumi Hotel is a little cracker of a property. The old Metopolis Hotel right across the road from the Raffles Hotel and 2 minutes walk from the most expensive pints of beer you will ever come across at the Long Bar (famous for the Singapore Sling). The bill was $51SGD - about $41AUD.
The Naumi is a small botique hotel which has everything covered...i mean everything - there is a welcome condom in the top draw of the bedside which on the front says - "Naumi says....play safe".
When we got into the hotel at 6.00am, we just had to crash - 4 hours later we awoke and headed down for breakfast.
If you are expecting those MEGA buffet breakfasts, you will be disappointed. We weren't disappointed though, cereals, juices, fruit, eggs, toast and pastries were all we needed.
After breakfast we got ready to head out into town...with no map or expectations, we walked out the front of the hotel, turned left, then left again....walked for 3 minutes, turned around and went back the other direction! Took us all of 3 1/2 minutes to get lost.
Our point in the sky to give us our bearings was the Singapore Flyer, the large ferris wheel which looks over the city. But without a map, we had no idea that is was in the opposite direction to where we wanted to be.
We walked through the many malls and archades of the shopping district, walked past the same stalls, and shop a few times, walked to dead ends and over overpasses which put us back to those same stalls, shops and dead ends!
Jaz: So as described above, we spent a large part of the day wandering around taking in the sights of Singapore. I was amazed at the amount of shopping malls but not really interested in shopping - which is just as well for Brett's sake and that of my already full suitcase!
When we got back to the hotel we were hanging out for a nice cold drink and an opportunity to put our feet up. We did exactly that in our lovely air-conditioned room then went up to the roof top pool for a dip. There are amazing views from the pool at Naumi, looking right out over the town from the 10th floor.
Following drinks at the Long Bar (as described above) we headed out of town with Jacinta Yeo - a friend of mine from UWA and a Singapore local. Jacinta gave us a guid
ed tour out to Serangoon where we descended on the locals favourite eating place. Numerous stalls with all sorts of interesting foods, we ordered the following: sugar cane drink, grilled stingray with chilli, numerous satay sticks, seafood noodles and black carrot cake (a traditional chinese dish made from eggs, wheat flour, onions and other veggies - looked and tasted nothing like the carrot cake us weterners are used to, but it was delicious none the less!)After dinner we had a quick walk around the block to help with digesting our yummy dinner, then said goodbye to Jacinta before hopping on the train to Clarke Quay. The train system here is awesome, Perth in particular could learn a lot from Singapore in this area.
There were lots of things going on in Clarke Quay but we were happy to just wand
er through and watch. Brett took some photos and I tracked down a street vendor selling icecream sandwiches, highly recommend the chocolate one with waffer - yum! We had planned to catch a taxi back to our hotel but as we couldn't find so much as a tuk-tuk, we ended up walking all the way back!A big day of walking and exploring saw us cooling our tired feet in the pool before turning in for the night. What new adventures await us tomorrow...? We'll keep you posted.
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