Monday, September 26 – Malacca to Singapore

Malacca to Singapore.  The Renaissance Hotel in Malacca was not up to the standards of the other places we’ve stayed, but we had a pretty good breakfast. Then onto the bus for the trip to Singapore. We realized that it’s forbidden to take alcohol into Singapore, so at our lunch stop we had to ask Ruslan to unload some suitcases to take out the beer. We added it to the mix on the table at lunch. We had so much fun at lunch! It was a karaoke place and it turns out that Rithzuan is a terrific singer - particularly doing Loi8is Armstrong singing Wonderful World. So we sang and laughed and enjoyed a very tasty lunch. Unfortunately, when we came out we found that some vandal had keyed the back of the bus -- it seems to happen everywhere.
Crossing the border from Malaysia to Singapore went smoothly but was complex. First we went through the exit process for Malaysia, which meant our passports were carefully examined and stamped. Then back onto the bus for a couple of kilometres across a bridge to the Singapore entry point. There we had to take all our belongings from the bus. First we went through immigration, again a matter careful examination of our passports – hats off. Then onward to customs, where our bags went through security screening and so did we, just like at an airport. No problems for any of us, so back to the bus.
Singapore is an eye-popper! Very densely settled with a wide variety of architecture. A huge ferris wheel at the casino complex. Lots of traffic – every car has a transponder which tracks charges for every kilometer travelled on some streets. We also got several looks at the vast container port – the biggest one in the world and still expanding. Wouldn’t want to have to get something out of one of those bottom containers!
The hotel proved to be lovely, but sadly we had to say farewell to Rithzuan and Ruslan. They were a really terrific team and we had a great time touring with them. Once we checked in, we unpacked and headed for the pool. Only 8 of us were there, so others must have headed out to explore. We did a bit of that after a swim and a drink at the bar ( thought about a Singapore Sling but found they were made with gin!!!). Then a light supper in our room using some of the food we’ve been carrying.

Photos 26 Sep