Singapore

Saturday  11th  May

Houses at the side of the railway

Getting to Singapore turned out to be quite an adventure !

I had chosen to travel by train so I could see some Malaysian countryside.

The journey was great  - not fast  ( I'm not in a hurry !)  -  but very interesting.

The railway runs the full length of Malaysia from Thailand (Bangkok) in the north

down through Kuala Lumpur and on to Singapore in the south.

Singapore is an island State seperated from neighbouring Malaysia by the Straits of Johor.
Both road and railway cross the Straits on a causeway which is the only mainland link to the island.

Straits of Johor

The train stops at the last station on the Malaysian mainland, J.S. Sentral, where passports are checked before moving on over the causeway and on to Singapore island.

The railway no longer goes in to the old Singapore railway station (shame) but terminates at Woodlands checkpoint on the north side of the island.

Here you are processed through Singaporian Customs and Immigration.

Welcome to Singapore !

For the purposes of this Blog and in the interests of pursuing informative journalism !

Arrival at Woodlands Checkpoint

the "Old Geezer" stood on the platform and quite innocently took a photograph of the train

and also one of a station sign that simply said "Woodlands Check Point"

A hand appeared on my shoulder and I was promptly whisked away into a security office

where they wanted to confiscate my camera !!!!

Following a lengthy altercation and the " Old Geezers' " Academy Award winning portrayal of an ageing bumbling fool they relented and, calling on some additional colleagues to act as witnesses,  agreed to observe me officially deleting the offending photograph. I was then allowed to proceed.

Strange thing ... they allowed me to keep a photograph of the train in the station but not a photograph of the station sign !!
Don't ask questions John,   you have your freedom back !!

Continuing the spirit of adventure I decided against getting a taxi into the City.

Following instructions from the "lonely planet" I got a bus to Woodlands MRT train station and then a train to City Hall which is a 2 minute walk to my hotel.

A bit slow but no problems and total cost of  S$3.20 = £1:70p !!

Visitors to UK must get quite a shock.

My first reaction was that this is just another Kuala Lumpur.
But it's not.  Even before you get into the city you can feel that this is a much different experience.








The first thing you notice is how clean everywhere is.





There is a wonderful blend of old and new  (More new than old )
( it has to be said ! )

There is the old, preserved and very famous.






















And the
( slightly ridiculous !)
 very new

Beautiful Canning Park







Great choice of restaurants and the lovely Singapore river.

Singapore is
A beautiful City at night.














Unlike Kuala Lumpur which seems to struggle for space,   Singapore feels wide open, very clean
and pretty much everything you could want if you have to be in a city.

If it wasn't for the draining humidity I could  almost  happily live here !


Now though, I'm off to visit my lovely eldest sister Carole in Adelaide, South Australia.
I'm afraid the blogs may dry up a little for the next week or two whilst I concentrate on family matters.

Then I'll be off to Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef,  followed by Brisbane, Sydney, Jakarta and Kalimantan,
where I'll be looking for Orangutans in the rain forests of  (what used to be)  southern Borneo.

The blogs will resume in earnest around the 28th of May I expect.

PLEASE    STAY  TUNED  !!
I enjoy your company !