Jewel at Changi

One final post from Singapore. We took some time out at Changi Airport to explore the truly stunning Jewel complex that opened here a few years ago. We missed this extraordinary indoor destination on our last visit to Singapore, and transit stops from Europe never give us enough time to pass through security to visit it outside the terminal.

On paper, Jewel is simply a multi-level shopping mall at the airport, with the usual retail and dining outlets, plus an airport hotel. However, this is Singapore, so it’s also a compelling tourist attraction. The building’s centrepiece is a massive atrium surrounded by a terraced forest garden. In the atrium’s middle is the world's tallest indoor waterfall, the Rain Vortex, which falls 40 metres into a pool below.

While Garry headed for the lounge, I spent almost 45 minutes circling the collecting pond, climbing the stairways that wind through the tropical gardens, and exploring the uppermost Canopy Park level. The top floor features a series of attractions that you can pay to explore, including a rope-net climbing experience, two hedge mazes and garden walks with stunning aerial views of the Rain Vortex. However, I gave the paid options a miss.

 
The experience is simply breathtaking. The coolest feature? It’s got to be the inter-terminal Skytrain track that runs through the middle of the atrium. Crazy! But it’s very cool! I’ve read that more than 300,000 people visit Jewel each day, or more than 50 million a year.

Sentosa stopover

Sentosa Island is Singapore’s purpose-built mecca for tourists. Since the 1970s, the Singaporean Government has progressively transformed the once heavily militarised island into a tropical playground filled with artificial white-sand beaches, golf courses, amusement parks, cafes and holiday resorts. Garry and I decided to base ourselves on Sentosa during our brief homeward-bound stopover. Three years ago, we explored Singapore while travelling to Europe for business. However, aside from a brief excursion to Singapore Oceanarium, a giant aquarium on Sentosa, we largely gave the island a miss.

I first visited Sentosa in November 1990. Back then, access to the island was only possible by ferry or by a cable car system that started at Mount Faber. Like so much of Singapore, it offered clean and perfectly manicured public spaces, along with a series of rather tame, uninspiring attractions. It’s somewhat ironic that I recall the cable car ride across Keppel Harbour but little else from my backpacker day trip.

These days, in addition to the cable car, a monorail and a causeway link Sentosa to the rest of Singapore, making it easier to access. We cashed in some Amex loyalty points and treated ourselves to a poolside room at the Barracks Hotel. After our memorable experience in Krabi, we quite liked the idea of pool access directly from our room. Our room rate included breakfast and a canapé cocktail hour every afternoon. Pampered is the word that comes to mind.

Our flight from Heathrow landed shortly after 5:00pm. As a result, we rocked up to the hotel shortly after 6:00pm and were immediately invited for canapes by the pool while the staff prepared our room. Who says no to a free cocktail? After settling in, we decided to explore the Sentosa nightlife along the Straits coastline. We walked there via the Sentosa Sensoryscape, a series of domed gardens connected by a walkway to the coast. Everything was decorated for the Chinese New Year. This is the Year of the Horse.

We quickly discovered that almost every restaurant and café kitchen stops serving food after 8:00pm. As a result, we ended up dining at the only thing still open, a local KFC knock-off. Our luck didn’t improve much the following day. We decided to spend the day at Universal Studios, a short walk from our hotel. The theme park opened in 2011 as part of a massive redevelopment of the island’s central zone.

It proved to be a colossal waste of time and money. The shortest queue time for most rides was at least an hour, with up to two hours for the most popular options. Half the rides were also closed. We decided to do our best and make the most of it. We started with the Transformers Experience. After queuing for an hour, it broke down as we approached the boarding zone. We eventually abandoned the ride and moved on to our next queue.

We stumbled across a 15-minute wait time for a roller coaster that had been 90 minutes earlier in the day. After standing in line for 15 minutes, a staff member announced that the wait time was now two hours. Apparently, the 15-minute wait posted at the entrance was a system malfunction.

We decided to go for lunch at a faux New York pizza diner. While waiting to be served, the cash register system crashed, leaving me standing at the counter for ten minutes while it rebooted. We finished our food and decided to give Universal Studios a miss.

We did salvage something from the day by buying tickets for the Wings of Symphony fireworks and light show held in an open-air, purpose-built stadium on the seafront. It was relaxing to sit in the warm evening breeze and down a cold beer while watching the pyrotechnics do their thing.

Dinner was at another fast-food restaurant because, once again, we forgot to plan ahead for Singapore's early dining hours. This time it really was KFC. 

Garry decided to spend Sunday, our final day, chilling out by the pool. I decided to explore Sentosa’s military history. On the island’s northern tip is Fort Siloso, a decommissioned coastal artillery battery. It consists of 12 such batteries, which made up "Fortress Singapore" at the start of World War II and saw action during the Battle of Singapore. The fort is now a military museum open to the public.

To get to the fort, I caught the cross-island cable car. This network traces the island's hilly spine, offering spectacular views of the coast, Sentosa’s artificial beaches and the Singapore skyline. Upon reaching the terminating station at Siloso Point, I made my way down to the beach for a quick look at resort life Singapore style before heading for the fort via an aerial canopy walkway.

The fort itself was an excellent attraction. A series of exhibits in its repurposed buildings told the story of the island’s early history, its redevelopment as a military base, the Battle of Singapore and life under occupation. I learned plenty about Singapore’s history and the colonial British hubris that ultimately made it a sitting duck for Japanese invasion. 

The fort was built to defend Singapore against an invasion by sea from the south. However, during the Battle of Singapore in February 1942, the guns were instead turned 180 degrees inland to fire at rapidly-advancing Japanese forces approaching from the north (via British Malaya). The fort subsequently served as a POW camp until the liberation of Singapore in 1945.

The only downside to my walk through history was the heat. It was unbelievably humid. Thank goodness the Singaporean authorities had the forethought to install air conditioning throughout the complex.

Our hotel offered a late afternoon checkout. This gave us just enough time for one final adventure before heading to the airport. We couldn’t leave Singapore without feasting on some “traditional” Black Pepper Mud Crab. We grabbed a late lunch at the Sentosa Resorts complex, consisting of 900 grams of deliciously decadent seafood. However, we passed on the 1.8kg Alaskan King Crab offered to us for half price. Then, when we returned to the hotel to collect our luggage, we were offered a final farewell cocktail. Nice!

One final image. Access to the Fort Siloso canopy walk is via an elevator tower opposite the cable car terminus.  The front of the tower is covered by a giant hanging mural. This woven mat of tiles shimmers, flaps and rattles in the wind.  It's insane. I can't decide if it's cool or kitsch.  I guess that's good art - it makes you think?

London update

I've finally completed a series of posts about our week in London this month. Follow these links to join us on our latest adventures in the UK.  It's hard to believe that last month we celebrated 15 years since our return from living in Swiss Cottage. That's insane!

• ABBA Voyage - just as good a second time around.
• Climbing to new heights at Monument.
• A rainy day at the British Museum (and a trip to the West End)
• The day I bought a rubber duck.
• A play I've waited 42 years to see.
• How to almost miss a flight (again!)

Hell on the M25

We spent our final day in the UK reviewing toy samples and meeting with our second-largest supplier in Folkestone. It was miserable weather all day. At one stage, the rain was so heavy that we could barely see more than 50-100 metres ahead of us on the M25.

Disaster struck on our drive back to Heathrow. An accident on the M25 Ring Road saw westbound traffic brought to a halt for more than 45 minutes, about an hour’s driving time south of Heathrow (according to Google Maps). Even more frustrating, we'd just passed the last viable off-ramp, less than 100 metres behind us.  The accident was also less than 500 metres ahead.  Had we driven through ten minutes earlier, we'd have missed it.

Traffic alerts warned that the motorway wouldn’t reopen until 6:30pm. The bag drop for our flight closed at 7:10pm. Google Maps said it would take at least 48 minutes to reach the rental car depot. Surrounded by four lanes of traffic going nowhere, Garry and I quietly resigned ourselves to our fate. Another flight missed.

Then, a small miracle occurred. The road reopened shortly after 6:00pm. Even better, the lengthy road closure had cleared all previously reported congestion approaching Heathrow. Google Maps claimed we’d now reach the rental car depot in 30 minutes. The race was on.

We pulled into the depot at 6:35pm. Our lucky streak continued when a dedicated shuttle bus bound for our terminal arrived six minutes later. Upon hearing of our dilemma, the driver offered to take us there immediately.

Qantas called me as we approached the terminal (I guess there are benefits to flying First Class, even on a points upgrade). When they heard how close we were, they offered to keep check-in open until we arrived. Our bags were finally tagged and dropped shortly after 7:00pm. We’d miraculously made our flight with barely minutes to spare. Never again!

We’re now in Singapore reacclimatizing to warmer weather in preparation for our final flight home on Sunday. Loving our hotel on Sentosa Island. It was once home to the British Army barracks. A quick dip in the pool is the perfect antidote for jet lag. And before you ask, we cashed in more Amex loyalty points to pay for these fancy digs.

All My Sons

I studied Arthur Miller’s play, All My Sons, in my final year at High School more than 42 years ago. It was part of a Syracuse University Freshman English course for which I received college credits. I loved the simplicity of the script and its gently arcing dialogue. Today I finally saw this Tony Award winning three-act play performed live on stage. It was well worth the wait.

Two hours and twenty minutes simply flew by inside the Wyndham Theatre this afternoon. To quote a recent West End theatre critic, “Bryan Cranston, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Paapa Essiedu and Hayley Squires achieve theatrical alchemy in Ivo van Hove’s superb production.”

As for me, I loved every moment of it.

London redux

London turned on some unexpected good weather today. It's been wet and miserable since our arrival, with more rain predicted tomorrow. I decided to make the most of the sunshine and enjoy a walking tour of inner London's most iconic sights. Garry is still feeling less than 100 per cent, so he joined me briefly for a walk to Sainsbury's before returning to our hotel. 

But first, we dropped into Duck World. I'd heard about this store on Instagram. It specialises in selling nothing more than rubber ducks. I couldn't resist temptation and bought myself an Admiral Nelson duck, served by a quirky Michael Jackson Wannabe behind the counter. Garry just laughed.

I carried on down Charing Cross Road to Trafalgar Square, where the crowds were out enjoying the sun. I then turned toward Buckingham Palace. I reached the Mall in time to catch the Horse Guard rehearsing for a forthcoming parade. Once again, the crowd was out in force outside the palace.  I decided to head for St James Park to enjoy one of my favourite views of the palace from the Blue Bridge. 

Next on my itinerary was Parliament Square, the Palace of Westminster and Big Ben. I crossed the Thames via Westminster Bridge, stopping long enough to capture another iconic photo of a red double-decker bus passing the famous clock tower.  I walked as far as the London Eye in the hope that I'd encounter Luke Silva, a popular busker with more than 1.2 million Instagram followers.  He regularly performs in Covent Garden and outside the Eye.  Sadly, I wasn't in luck.

I consoled myself with a walk through the infamous Graffiti Tunnel under Waterloo Station. This throughfare has become a haven for some spectacular street art. The tunnel didn't disappoint.  

I completed my circuit back to Charing Cross Road via Somerset House.  I had hoped to see its picturesque seasonal ice skating rink.  However, this was packed up and removed immediately after the New Year. My afternoon finished with a matinee performance at the Wyndham Theatre.  You read about this here.

This evening we caught up with Martin and Jonny for dinner.  It was lovely to see both of them again.  How quickly a year flies by!  This is our final night in London.  Tomorrow evening we'll head to Heathrow for a flight to Singapore. We're finally on the homeward leg of our round-the-world journey.