I had my alarm go off this morning.  We did the same breakfast deal as yesterday, and then I had a Fitgenes meeting on Skype, so had to go back to my room.  I spent the next 2 hours talking shit, and trying to pack my room for checkout, by 12.00 local time.

I left my suitcase at reception – it was pretty full!  And weighed about 27kg!  I then found Simon at the pool, relaxing.  Because my swimmers were packed, I just splashed some water on my face to cool down.  We then went for a bit more exploring.

We caught the train to Chinatown, and after some walking, found a nice restaurant to have lunch at – Peking Duck!  Some more walking and I was able to find a present for Kaoru (with a bit of bartering, of course!)  I was now happy I had done everything I needed to, so we went back to the hotel, via a drink stop, of course!

Back at the hotel we went to the pool for a couple of drinks, and a bit of cool air.  I fell asleep it was so relaxing!  Then we went to the bar in the hotel for a couple more.  I got my bags, we said goodbye, and I caught a taxi to the airport.

I was there with plenty of time to spare, so enjoyed a leisurely meal, and Skyped Kaoru.  Finally it was time to board my plane to Japan (11.55pm take off).  After sitting down, I had a Bourbon to wash down my sleeping tablets, and I was out to it.

Simon had reminded me that the booking I made at the hotel included Breakfast.  Wish I had remembered that yesterday!  So I went down to the restaurant and quoted my room number.  Simon came in about 15 minutes later and just came and joined me at the table – so he managed to get a free breakfast!  With what we were paying a night, we didn’t feel guilty!

After that we had to make our way to the Harbour, to get the cable car to Sentosa Island.  We caught the train there, again, since it was so easy.  On the way, the weather turned from nice and sunny, to pissing down raining, so we got pretty wet walking from the train station to the cable car ticket office.  And the line was MASSIVE!  It took about 20 minutes just to get our tickets!  Once done, we were straight on a car though, and on our way to the island.

We had a bite to eat at the Starbucks, as there was little option when we got off the cable car.  It was pretty crap, but gave me a bit of energy.  We then made our way to the bus shelter to catch the bus to our next destination.  On the walk there, we found the proper eating area….grrr…..lots of nice places to eat at!

We got off the bus at the beach, and saw what we had come here for – the iFly building!  We were here to have a go at Indoor Skydiving, and see how it compared to the real thing!  We filled in the paperwork and had some time to kill before our session, so we walked around and saw the wind tunnel.  Eventually it was our turn….

After a brief on body position, we were taken to the “gear up” room.  We told the instructor our background, and he said he’d watch us, but pretty much let us do what we wanted out there (one at a time, though).  Finally it was my turn to enter…..

It was a different “leap of faith” – the ground was right there, but you trusted that the air would get you, and you wouldn’t fall face first on to it.  It took a few seconds, but eventually my body reverted to its normal position, and I was able to fly up and down, and turn (more or less) on the spot.  Exiting the tunnel was fun – hands on the door, and just stand up, hoping your legs would catch you!

In our group there was a 6 year old boy, who was funny to watch.  Some first timers did OK, and others ended up fetal and the trainer had to catch them.  My second “jump” felt more natural, and I was doing figure 8’s.  A bit of over rotation – stopping turns was much harder than in the air!  For an extra $30 we were offered a 3rd “jump” – too good to pass up!  On that, at the trainers instruction, I did turns, fast fall, slow fall, and side sliding.  It was great to be in control of where I was going again!

After our jumps, we went upstairs for a couple of drinks (as you do!), before catching the monorail back to the cable car station, cable car back to the train station, and train back to the hotel.

We had a swim and drinks at the pool, and then got ready to go out for the night.  We went to Clarke Quay again, and ate dinner at a Chinese Restaurant on the waterfront.  It was another fantastic meal.  We then went out for a “night on the town”, which included watching a couple of live bands play (seeing Asian’s doing Metallica was a site in itself!) and lots of drinks.  It was a great last night out in Singapore, which went on a bit later than we really should have 🙂  But you only live once.

We had a relaxing start today.  Breakfast…a swim….relaxing by the pool…apart from me having to do a bit of work, it was what a holiday is meant to be like!  We returned to our rooms to shower and get ready to go and see some sights though.  I called room service to get some ice.  After waiting over 15 minutes, I gave up on waiting, as we were supposed to be leaving.  So I just had my camel back with water in it.

We walked up to Raffles (about 5 minutes from our Hotel) and got on the SIA Hop-on Hop-off bus, to see a bit of the city.  Our first hop off was at Chinatown, where we walked in to a temple there.  It wasn’t as nice as the ones I see in Japan.  Maybe that’s because it was Indian… but it didn’t have the same appeal, and seeing some of the food and drinks they were serving.  YUCK!!!  We then left and continued walking…

Simon considered buying a suit, so we had a look in a store at materials.  We got the price down from $720 to $500, and eventually Simon said he’d think about it.  The guy was a bit too pushy, so he wasn’t interested in buying from him.

We stopped for some lunch, which we shared about 5 small servings of food.  More great stuff to eat!  I always love that part of travelling!  We then walked around Chinatown a bit more.

Back on the hop-on-hop-off bus, we went to the Singapore Botanical Gardens.  We spent a couple of hours walking around them, where Simon managed to get a number of photos.  There were some great colours in the flowers, and the “Cool House” was great!

We just missed the next hop-on-hop-off bus by about 30 paces, so took that as a sign to have a cold beer to cool down after all our walking.  The next one arrived about 20 minutes later, and that took us back to Raffles for a Singapore Sling in teh Long Bar.

Back at the hotel we were going to have a swim, but the heavens opened up on us.  Nonetheless it seemed like a good idea for me to walk out to the pool.  I got just as wet on the walk as I would have if I had gone in the pool fully clothed!  I was dripping wet!  So I went back to my room to have  a warm shower.

We had a couple of drinks at Happy Hour in the bar at the hotel, and then caught a taxi to the Casino.  The Singapore Casino looks amazing as you drive around the city, so I wanted to see what it was like up close.  In the food court we had dinner, so a simple meal.  Then it was off to try our luck on the Roulette Wheel.  We had to show our passports to get in to the casino (something which, luckily, we had found out earlier), as locals have to pay ~$100 to get in!  Lady luck wasn’t with us though, so after not a lot of spins, we were both done.

Instead of a taxi home, I suggested we catch the train.  It’s cheaper, and always fun to work your way around a public transport system in a strange place.  I knew a bit of what to expect, from when I was here in 2001, but when I pointed out that the train had no driver in it, it had Simon caught by surprise!  It took a little longer than a taxi, but we made it back without too much trouble.  Once we were at the City Hall station, we just had to look for the Carlton Hotel sign, which wasn’t too hard.

It seemed wrong for a Saturday night, but we were out of things to do, and so went back to the hotel.  We thought about a few drinks to end the night, but ended up crashing early.

I spent last night at Brett’s house.  It was a very relaxing night.  No last minute preparations – in fact, I didn’t even get the laptop out!  Naomi, Brett and I just sat up talking and enjoying a couple of beverages.

Brett dropped me at the airport about 9.00, where I met up with Simon having a “last cigarette”.  We joined the longest check-in line I had experienced for an international flight in a long time!  It took us about 20 minutes to get to the head of the queue!  Once checked in, Simon went for “a last cigarette”, and I started going through – knowing there would be lines at the TRS office.

The line at immigration was even longer!  That killed another 20 minutes or so.  Eventually I was in the TRS line, which was shorter, but not moving.  So more and more waiting.  I still hadn’t had breakfast, as I was hoping to get something once at the airport.  I had never expected to be wasting so much time standing around!

Finally that was all done, and the clock had reached boarding time.  I needed some food, so bought a muffin and juice, and Simon had a coffee.  After a last dump, we rushed to our gate, with about 15 minutes before scheduled take off.  When we were at the lounge, the doors were closed, and there were lots of people around.  We didn’t know if they were for the other gate, or if the plane was just running late.  Luckily it was the plane being late, so we sat down and eventually were given a call that there has been a “slight delay”.  Boarding will start 1 hour after the scheduled time.  So all that rushing was for nothing.  Oh well, we managed to sit down and relax for a bit though.

The flight over, we had a few drinks to start our trip, and watched a couple of movies.  We made up time on the way to Singapore, so didn’t land much behind the scheduled arrival, which was good.  Once off the plane we went through Immigration, and, as always in Singapore, were easily in the Country.  We got in a cab, and 15 minutes later, we were checking in at our hotel.

The room was beautiful!  As it should be, given the price!  Simon wasn’t going on any budget, so it was a nice hotel (The Carlton).  I was on the 14th floor so had a great view of the pool.  Simon was on the 9th floor (a smoking floor) and could see the Casino (he was on the other side of the hallway).  So we got changed and met at the pool for our first swim and drink.

After a swim in the pool (which was quite refreshing) and a Mojito, Simon couldn’t find his glasses on the table.  I went up to my room to see if he had left them in there, but no.  After a lot of searching (which was quite difficult as it was dark now), I found them at the bottom of the pool!  So I recovered them for him, saving what was about to be a big expense on the holiday!

We showered and got ready to hit town for some dinner.  So we caught a taxi to Clarke Quay, and ended up at a Japanese restaurant.  Simon had never really had Japanese food before, so I ordered for us both.  I didn’t tell him what the eel was until after he ate it, just to be safe!

After dinner we walked around, and ended up on a 2 seater bike carriage, with the driver telling us he was going to take us to some nightlife.  We ended up in Little India, with people waiting for us at the door.  Once in there, we left after about 10 seconds – not the sort of night life we were after!  We ended up in a taxi and went back to the hotel for a few more drinks.