Singapore by Night

We set out to catch the last hop on, hop off bus of the day from the Orchard Road area to Marina Bay.

First of all, some interest at the  bus stop ....

Here's one for Chris Whooley

Who is that ghostly man in the middle?

Rates of crime are low in Singapore.  Chewing gum is illegal - as is jay walking - and our landing cards in our passports remind us in red print that the death penalty applies to drugs traffickers.  We have seen no litter, no beggars, no bad manners, no graffiti and no gangs of lads looking as if they have nothing much to do, all the time we have been here.  We did see a notice asking for witnesses to a handbag snatch some time in June!

The default BMW here is the 7 series, the default Audi seems to be the A6.  There are Jags and large Range Rovers aplenty, as well as a general array of Rollers and Ferraris on the road.  They don't buy used cars here - Singapore is the second highest exporter of used cars in the world!

Having got to Marina Bay, it was just starting to drop dark ....

We then realised that we could wander around on the Grand Prix circuit - next one is 20-22 September and it takes place at night ....

Lots of people were using the race track for running training and there is a lot of fitness and healthiness around here.  Now that I think about it, I haven't seen a fat person since leaving the ship on Tuesday - well, except in the mirror!

It really was dark by now and the are came to life in a splendid array of lights and colour ....

We then walked across the Helix Bridge towards the Marina Bay Sands Hotel area.. The bus commentary said it cost billions to develop on reclaimed land - think the bill came to $5 billion US - or was it 50?!  You could buy 10 new cruise ship for $5 billion - or 100 for $50 billion!

There is a massive shopping complex at Marina Bay Sands - including ice rink ....

Will there be time for more than this on the blog?  Not sure.  We do get free WiFi at Changi Airport - we think, so we shall see .....

And finally - two other things which are so civilised about Singapore - they drive on the left and, although the hotel has electrical sockets which can cope with a number of plugs, the extra sockets around our room show that the default type is the UK 3-pin variety.  What a truly lovely place!