Singapore - Auckland dep. 8:50pm. Walked am. to Fort Canning Park - Spice Garden - cocoa and pepper + turmeric.
Fabulous Baker Boys Cafe - cake! Walked to Raffles, closed for renovation. Backto hotel to collect bags & tale MRT to airport. Problem on runway, plane dep. delayed.
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| Fort Canning Park - a scrap of rain forest in the city centre with interesting monuments from the early colonial era and archaeological remains dating back to the 14th century |
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| And just on the edge of the park the Fabulous Baker Boys cafe - famed throughout the city for its stunning cakes. |
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| The choice is bewildering.. |
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| Gill went for the chocolate, I opted for carrot cake. |
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| The co-owner was really friendly - as serious about coffee roasts as his cakes - our sort of place. |
The plan was to go from here to Raffles Hotel and say goodbye to the city with a Singapore Sling - even though cocktails are not really our thing. Sadly the entire hotel was fenced off. It is being re-furbished and will nor reopen until next summer.
We had to make do with a Tiger at a riverside bar. It was doing a 'happy hour' two for one deal. An authentic Singapore experience at a fraction of the price of a cocktail at Raffles. Authentic, but cheap - that's the way we like it!
Then back to Hotel Bencoolen to collect our luggage from their store, off to Changi Airport by late afternoon - we had hours to spare between bag drop and the gate opening so we explored the food court. Yes, if you searched for it you could find a dispiriting burger joint, but most outlets were Chinese with an array of noodle bars and other street food style dishes.
It was cooked to order and rustled up in about seven minutes - delicious. Fast food does not have to be demoralising.
It was just as well we did have a snack and did not opt to wait for a meal on the plane. It soon became clear that the schedule was completely screwed with the board showing ever more flights delayed and some cancelled. It was only later we discovered what happened. We had arrived during the Singapore Airshow - like Paris and Farnborough - a showcase for new developments in aviation, both civil and military. Due to its size Singapore International Airport hosts the show while still functioning as a major hub for international travel. This works until something unforeseen happens - like today - when two small planes collided as they taxied down the runway, one plane caught fire and reduced the airport's capacity by half. Hence the ever longer list of delayed departures. I think we were relatively lucky to be delayed for just two hours - still, that was enough to ensure we would arrive in Auckland even more wrecked than ever.
