Day 16 - A German, A Merlion and One Big Wheel

Day 16 Began as usual. I woke up late (as ever) and headed out to the airport to change money, having decided that by this point I was getting stiffed on rates just as much in the city as I was there. I changed my money and headed to the Qantas desk in T1 to see if there was anyone present, and yet again finding no-one. What was up with these people? I headed back to the train station through T3, and found a very confused German woman being given very little help by the staff. Flying Scotsman to the rescue once again. Thank god she spoke English, because my rudimentary German wouldn’t have stood a chance. It turned out that the woman (her name since wiped from my memory (explanation coming up in Sydney)) was looking for a hostel and had been told that she would find one on Orchard Road. I decided to take her up there (well, I had no other plans). We took the train to Orchard station, and bode her farewell (I gave her my email address), and decided to explore, my attention being grabbed immediately by a collection of brightly coloured statues depicting shoppers, but mostly depicting many caricatures of Margaret Thatcher. I noted that many (most) of the shops stocked only items above my price range (or that of anyone who isn’t rich), and decided to take some shots of the architecture before heading back to the hostel to bid farewell to Fahin, who was leaving. I took some shots, and noticed a tour bus, and decided to come back another day for a tour. I took the train back to Kembangan. After saying farewell to Fahin I headed for some food (from the Hawker Centre at Tanjong Pagar) and then I headed up to Dhoby Ghaut to begin a colonial night walk as described in my guide book. I walked right through the city, past the National Museum of Singapore, through the grounds of the Singapore Management University and past the Philatelic Museum, Masonic Hall and Armenian Church. I then entered the parliamentary district, passing the Parliament itself and the Supreme Court as well as the statue marking the spot where Sir Stamford Raffles first landed, and then along the riverbank past the Asian Civilisations museum and the Fullerton Hotel, before slipping under the dual carriageway to end up at the Merlion Park. I got a great view of quite a lot of the waterfront, as well as the Singapore Flyer, which, upon discovered closed at 10pm. I looked at my watch, 9.15pm. I decided to find a way there, and found a bike taxi waiting by the bridge on the carriageway I had ducked under. Poor Guy. He was about a third of my weight, and really skinny and he kept getting caught at the lights. I reached the Flyer in just enough time to get a ride, and boarded the big wheel, which happens to be the biggest observation wheel in the world (30m bigger than the London Eye). Just my luck then that the batteries on my camera were running low. And where were my spares? In a hostel in Kembangan, that’s where. I tried to conserve batteries, taking as few duplicate shots as possible, and it just made it, conking out in the last couple of minutes of the 30-min ride. I then headed down and caught a bus to City Hall, followed by a train back to the hostel, which I found yet again empty.