Singapore Sling

I was kidnapped! Kidnapped, I tell you!

Lunch-time. Friday January 24, 2003 (the eve of my birthday). I'm sitting at my desk at work taking a support call. I hang up and the phone instantly rings again. It's Greig.

"Get home and pack a bag."

"This is it", I think to myself, "I'm being thrown out on the street to fend for myself. All because of one indiscretion with that boy and let's face it, he was begging for it and I was in no position to . . . "

Ummmm - we'll continue this line of thought some other time.

"We're on a flight in 2 hours time." He continued. "You will need to pack for Melbourne weather." Hmmm. That's useful - pack for every possible season.

I race home and throw clothes in a bag. Greig turns up, grabs what's left of the clothes and throws them in as well. A cab is called and we're off to the airport.

Naturally once we are at the airport we are forced to join the long queue to check in. A lovely lady from Singapore Airlines appears and plucks us from the queue and rushes us straight through check-in. Ahhhh - friends in high places.

After a few drinks in the First Class Lounge, we're told our plane is ready for boarding. At this stage, I still have no idea where I am being taken. It's not until I see the screen at the gate that I discover that we're off to Singapore.

After an 8 hour flight we touch down in the tropical warmth of Singapore. Greig is still leading me on that this may just be a stop-over and we'll be back on another plane soon. I guess not because we jump into a cab and head towards the centre of town.

Our view from the
Merchant Court Hotel.

We were booked into the Merchant Court Hotel, right on the banks of the river. The view out the window looks over a beautiful city sky-line, the river with its small boats put-putting up and down it and a brilliant blue pool.

It's funny about Singapore - it's so warm outside and yet they insist on keeping their buildings cooled to about minus 10 degrees Celsius. Walking into a building sends shivers through your body and walking outside nearly induces a feint. I would have thought that it would make more sense to keep the temperatures at a somewhat moderate level to save on power and the chill factor.

Actually, the cabs are just as bad. All of them are old Toyota Crowns that haven't had their engines turned off for the last fifteen years. Each of them is like a refrigerator on the inside.

Anyway, before long we were joined by Jameel, a friend of ours from Sydney that due to the generosity of our government was put on a plane and shipped out when it was discovered that his student visa had expired. Jameel's a local who had agreed to be our guide while we were in town.

Rocky suffering by the pool.

Friday night we had a fairly early night. The 8 hour plane trip saw to that. It always amazes me how exhausting sitting in one place for so long can be!

It didn't take us long to sort out a routine. Sleep until 9am. Go downstairs and have breakfast. Head out to the pool and lounge around until lunch time. Have a few cocktails. Have a swim. Then Jameel would turn up and it's time to work out where to have lunch.

The three of us explored Singapore on foot. Took lots of photos (we are tourists after all) and generally had a good time.

Saturday was my birthday so that night we headed out and walked along the river until we found a restaurant that appealed to us. One again, Jameel was invaluable, making sure that we chose one that didn't look too dodgy or charge too much. Actually, restaurant food is quite expensive in Singapore, but I guess all things are relative. Alcohol is hugely expensive. That didn't stop us from having a bottle of wine with the meal though. It was a very pleasant night looking over the river as we ate.

Rocky and Greig on Night Safari.


A few drinks at Raffles.

After dinner we headed out to Singapore's famous Night Safari. As it turns out it's just a day zoo that turns the lights on at night. That's not entirely true. The lighting that they use creates a great atmosphere. Just enough light to see those animals that only venture out in the dark. It was a hugely fun experience, poking fun at groups of German tourists.

Sunday was pretty much the same as Saturday as far as the morning routine went.

We headed out to a couple of the technology shopping centres that Singapore is famous for. Actually, these came as a bit of a surprise to Jameel who had never been to one of these places. We didn't spend a huge amount of money, but we certainly spent a few dollars - when in Rome . . .

Sunday night was spent exploring the city again. We spent a couple of hours at Raffles, enjoying several Singapore Slings. Raffles is the home of the Singapore Sling and they certainly know how to make them. It's a beautiful old building with an atmosphere straight from the turn of the century. You can almost picture the boys pulling the ropes to operate the ceiling fans.

Jameel and Rocky on their
third Singapore Sling.

After our traditional lounging by the pool on Monday, Jameel took us shopping for clothes. We ended up in the Indian part of town where we lunched at a very traditional Indian Vegetarian restaurant. The food was excellent, although I wasn't fussed on the desserts.

At least I managed to buy a nice loud shirt to wear when I got home as a reminder of a great weekend. That afternoon we were back on a plane, bumped up to Business Class for the trip back.

Jameel reckons that he had more fun that weekend than we did. Living in such a conservative country like Singapore, he misses the somewhat "off-beat" Australian sense of humour. The same sense of humour that people from many other countries don't seem to understand at all. I must admit, we wouldn't have been able to have as much fun if it wasn't for Jameel, so I guess we're even.

I gotta say. That was one hell of a birthday present. Made even more amazing by the fact that Jameel knew all about it, my friends knew about it and everyone at my work knew about it. Until I stepped on the plane on the Friday afternoon, I had no idea.