Suffice to say Friday as our last of eight sea days was welcomed.
Our excursion in Singapore to the Botanical Gardens and Shopping! But that's not exactly what happened. Our tour guide (Jeff and I managed to get this same tour) was a woman who must have been on something that made her move like a rocket! But first she handed us off to a Dutch naturalist for a One Hour Nature Walk which moved at a snail's pace and was quite uninspiring. He was certainly of a scientific mind, but lacked communication skills which translated into very boring. We did learn that our walk was through a small rain forest, it rains every afternoon in Singapore, Kapok trees produce a fluffy substance which is used in pillows, and there are more termites than anything else in the rain forest. Oh, and we could have walked the nature walk in 15 minutes easily, but it took us a very long hour, was about 95 degrees with very high humidity. It was beastly uncomfortable. Our supplied 'picnic lunch' was a tired chicken salad sandwich and a bottle of orange or apple juice.
Then our guide got us together, paid our entry fee into the Orchid Gardens (5$) and defied us to keep up with her as she whizzed along the walkways pointing out various gorgeous orchids and told what orchid was named for which famous person. We lost her after the first one. We managed to take some photos but could have had a much better and useful time had we been given an outline of the interesting rain forest facts and free reign to wander the entire 129 acre area...we saw just a very small portion in the time allotted...and there was no charge into the gardens, just into the orchid area. The charge for this excursion was $99. Per person.
We then rode the bus to Orchard Road and the shopping area, but had little time. Again the guide told us where to go and after trying her suggestions, had no time left! We did manage to find our pins for our little collections and a few post cards. So far I've bought nothing of interest, just pins and postcards! Disappointing.
One little tidbit: there was a Champagne Sail-away Party scheduled for Brisbane, but it rained and was rescheduled for Singapore Sail-away. Remember I said it rains every afternoon in Singapore? It did! It POURED BUCKETS of rain just as the stewards began to pour and distribute the drinks! It was more like a monsoon rain and was relentless, with streams of water coursing over the main decks and obliterating any views of land as we left. It did cool things off, which is the good bit!
The best thing? It was good to get off the ship and on land for a little while. We found a gallery of Dr. Seuss paintings - many originals - and had a very nice chat with the gentleman in charge who showed us some of his favorites which were not mounted and displayed. And one comment on shopping so far...we haven't found ourselves in a place where authentic art and handcrafts have been enticing or interesting enough to tempt us to dig out credit cards...I'm sure Jack is smiling as he reads this part!
One more note...our seas so far have been incredibly calm and even the Tasman Sea part wasn't really rough. There have been long periods of time...days... when we've forgotten we were on water because the ship was so steady.
Quote for today: "How shall I know, unless I go to China or Cathay, whether or not this blessed spot is blest in every way?" - Edna St. Vincent Millay
Sharon - love reading your blog.....except the Dr Seuss experience happened in Sydney, not Singapore! x
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