EC-Rider Travels

Goodness I slept well! Despite the time difference, I slept through and had a nice breakfast with Christina de la Sala who arrived late last night and is also staying in the Ed and Justinna Pank hotel. She is a big fan of Tim so we had a nice chat about him! I then headed off to meet Charlie and Shona Benson in the Botanic Gardens. I don’t think I have seen Charlie for about 30 years and oh my goodness, it was so lovely to see him again. Just the same but turning into his lovely gentle father. He is married to the most gorgeous girl and we have not drawn breath all day!

The botanical gardens are, needless to say, more perfect and more stunning than any other and their new orchid house is quite exquisite, with the most incredible range of orchids all laid out in different regions of the world. Charlie’s company had been involved in its construction and he was so interesting about how it all came about and the many engineering challenges which arose…. his area.

Being a Saturday morning it was pretty busy, there really are a lot of people in Singapore. We had delicious coffee and chatted, followed by a bit more walking and chatting, and then lunch and a chat – there was a lot to catch-up on. Shona is an actress and had to head off for a costume fitting, so Charlie and I continued chatting.

Eventually we parted company and I headed out of the gardens, passed some unbelievable houses (mainly embassies and residences) to the Museum of Singapore to learn a bit more about this extraordinary place. It was beautifully presented and fascinating to learn the turbulent history of this little island; the Brits, once again, not always shown in their best light. As indeed it was to hear from Charlie what it is like living here. They greatly enjoy it and say it has been a wonderful, safe place to bring up their three boys, but there are a lot of rules and restrictions and very serious consequences if you break them. (No wonder Cindy was so worried when I drank from my water bottle on the train!) You cannot chew chewing gum, (love that!), vape or smoke in the street, have electric scooters but you can cycle on the pavement! Walking around naked in your home, carries a fine of $1,000!

Charlie returned at about 6pm and we went on the most amazing walking tour and particularly of the architecture. It was brilliant. Having last night, slightly wondered what the redeeming feature was of Singapore, I have now seen it ….. it is the most incredible city, which goes totally insane at night.

We wandered around the City area, Charlie talking me through some of the incredible buildings and how, despite some gravity defying angles, they remain upright. We then went to the beautiful Fullerton Bay Hotel for a drink overlooking the bay towards the infamous Marina Bay Sands Hotel. This iconic, triple towered hotel with a socking great ‘boat’ on the top, defies belief. In front of it (you guessed) there is an enormous Vegas style shopping mall with rivers running through it and layer upon layer of swanky shops. The most impressive, of course being the Apple Store which is in a dome set out in the bay, accessible only from below by the coolest passage (which Charlie had engineered) and a mirrored escalator – ‘awesome’!

We then went across the Helix Bridge to watch the Gardens by the Bay Supertrees light show. These magnificent ‘trees’ are in fact twelve giant (25-50m) exhaust pipes, releasing steam and gasses, at a high level, whilst collecting water and solar energy. They provide shade during the day, but at night come to life, lighting up to classical music. Stunning and once again designed by our friends, Wilkinson Eyre.

We then walked to the Arab Quarter which, tucked beneath huge skyscrapers, is a maze of brightly coloured old colonial houses – some of the few that still remain and luckily heavily protected. It is full of restaurants and quirky shops and packed with young people We had a delicious supper and a bit more chat and I then returned to ‘hotel Pank’ 23,000 steps later!