Thursday 27 July

We are both still struggling with jetlag and it is affecting our capacity to appreciate Singapore. It was hot and sometimes sunny and that was a welcome change.

The Mass Rapid Transport (MRT) system is to be envied - frequent driverless airconditioned trains, no graffiti, clean, with glass barricades at stations to minimise the risk of people falling onto the tracks. We travelled on the MRT to Marina Bay to view the gardens with these enormous artificial "trees".

The Marina Bay Sands hotel is probably the most expensive in Singapore starting at around $900 per night. There are 3 towers of more than 50 floors each so the nightly turnover must be astronomical. There was no shortage of Asian guests lined up to check in - I didn't see any European guests. There was no one at the VIP check in area - at those prices everyone should be treated as VIPs! The fee to go to the top for plebs not forking out for the privilege of a view of the bay is $23. We didn't go up - I struggle to go above about the 10th floor as it is a long climb down the fire stairs with dicky knees.

We had luch at the restaurant behind the tallest pots for trees I have ever seen. A local beer cost $16 so lunch helped my plan to die in debt.

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