Oh cursed jet lag! Sleep for 3 hours then awake from 1am. Consequently we slowly eased ourselves into the day. Breakfast at our hotel was uninspiring but edible. Caffeine was essential to be able to explore the shops along Orchard Road. Again we were lucky missing a couple of downpours since we had not taken our umbrellas. After a session in the shops and lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant, we returned to our hotel for a quick swim - quick because the water was cold compared to the warm water in the hydro pool on the ship. The hotel has a sauna, steam room and gym, but I doubt we will use any of them. Anita enjoyed a Singha beer with our Thai dinner. The glass was so cold it must have been stored in the freezer. Alcohol is expensive in Singapore because of high taxes. One local beer at the restaurant cost $9.50 Singapore (about $9 Australian).
On our last full day in Latvia we caught a train from Riga to Sigulda which is a resort town in a national park. Hiking is a favourite activity with many trails through the park. There are also some extreme sports venues such as bungee jumping and a luge run. A cable car crosses the river. I avoid these but went for a look to see the nearby scenery. I was astounded to see two people hanging from the cable in slings that allowed them to lay face down to see the view below as the cable moved them across the river. I thought it would be scary to cross the river in the gondola - but to hang from a sling is positively insane! This area has been in records since the 12th century. Some famous people have passed through such as Ivan the Terrible and Peter the Great. There are castle remains but a lot of restoration work was being done so we didn't go inside.
I had planned a visit to the Riga Art Nouveau Museum on our last day - not planned very well as it is closed on Mondays! Instead we went on a tram ride to see what I thought would be an outdoor clothing shop. It turned out to have an amazing collection of military uniforms, but nothing of interest to us. We walked past this huge mural which has not been damaged by graffiti, which suggests it has some significance as there is lots of graffiti all over Riga. We had lunch at the Riviera restaurant where we have enjoyed good food at reasonable prices. Yesterday we made the mistake of eating at our hotel - the food was very ordinary and expensive by Latvian standards. Our hotel has an arrangement with a taxi service to take guests to the airport for a flat fee of €12 - a very reasonable price for a death defying ride! At the airport we had to queue with kids from the Beijing Students Art Troupe who had been involved in the choir games. I am not sure why there were multiple Chinese choirs in...
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