Sky Park

Today was all about the Marina Bay Sky Park. I couldn't decide whether it'd be better to go up during the day, so I could see everything, or at night since I adore the evening in the city. So, I did the only logical thing and went up twice!

The view was even better than I was hoping.

I zoomed in a little on china town as I love how it's nestled next to the towers of the financial district with the river cutting it off from the colonial region. 

obligatory photo of me and the view!

On the other side were great views over the gardens, including the two conservatories 

and a shot over eastern singapor

I was a little mesmerised by the boats just outside the reservoir. I saw them when I last landed in Singapore on my way home for Christmas from the airplane and something about seeing a working port is just really interesting… I've never seen so many ships in my life! And they dot the entire coast all the way to the horizon

Anyway I spent a good portion of the day pottering about Singapore, just enjoying the city. I did go back to the merlon as I realised after I went through photos I forgot to ask someone to take a photo of me and the lion and I kind of wanted one. 

Ignore the fact I'm wearing my sunglasses…

After pottering about I popped on some make up and headed back to Marina Bay Sands to attempt to get into the 'Sky Deck'. This is a club on the 57th floor with views over the city and it's right next to th pool which i wanted to see. 

There's quite a strict dress code, and there's normally a door charge which I didn't want to pay. Anyway I got in, and I didn't have to pay the $20 to get in as the bouncers were lovely to chat to! :)

I managed to get over to the glass railing and enjoy the sun setting over singapore 

I had to be ruthless to cut down the amount of skyline/sunset photos I uploaded - they are all so beautiful but I think these three may be my favourites, partly because you can see the different stages of the sunset. 

 I love this photo (perhaps because it took several attempts and my heart was in my mouth as I placed the bottle on the edge when it was so windy)

I'm so glad I didn't have to pay the door charge as my little bottle of tiger beer was $22! That's over £10… now I don't normally drink beer but I'm pretty sure that's expensive… 

The infinity pool of which there are hundreds of photos circulating online. You can only go in if you're staying at the hotel (2 guys who were in my hostel booked a room together purely so they could go for a dip) Got to say, it was pretty cool.

On my way back to the hostel I took my usual walk along the water front - where you can get the best views of the CBD and found a performance going on! I keep forgetting because it's chinese New Year there's some sort of performance every night, I've caught a few, but this one was my favourite evening. 

The dancers were hypnotising, and as such I only have one or two photos as I was too caught up in the various dances to even think about taking photos!

(I think this particular dance was my favourite)

Arab Street

I was so excited to find Arab Street! Some governor or other of Singapore decided that the different ethnicities congregated in Singapore needed to be sectioned off - with each race/ethnicity/whatever you wanted to call it, getting an allotted section of space within Singapore. That's why there's a distinctive China Town, a Little India as well as 'colonial' district, so today I went to Arab Street, the street and the surrounding area caters predominantly to people who've moved to singapore from the middle east

As soon as you walk through the high arch which signifies this area the Golden topped Mosque takes pride of place. 

 The 'main' street was a public walkway and it's been majorly renovated in the last few years, so it almost feels mediteranean rather than middle eastern, it did have a lovely relaxed vibe though with people coming here purely to sip some coffee and have some seesha (whenever I smell sheesha I can't help but think of Dubai!)

 The Mosque dominates this area of Singapore as it's high golden dome can be seem above every building in the surrounding area

I loved some of the little shops, there was one filled with beautiful leatherwork, lots devoted to silks and cashmere, the best of the bunch for me was this perfume shop though

Alcohol is banned in Islam which means so are most mainstream perfumes. This shop sold oil based perfumes and some of them smelt amazing!

There were a couple of these painted dotted around the moque

 Aside from the one main street leading to the Mosque there were a few narrow little side roads which had a great range of hippy shops

There were so many fabric shops I lost count

 a shop called the alternative who, selling all sorts of bits and pieces

I loved the side of this building!

After relaxing at the hostel for a little bit I headed into China Town - the place looks so lovely when it's all hit up at night!

 The Buddha Tooth Temple all lit up

some incredibly spicy popiah 

Year of the Horse Decorations!

Can't believe how fast my time in Singapore is going! It feels like I've been here forever and yet I can't believe how little time I have left! 

Day 36 Moeraki Boulders and Tekapo

Todays started with a minor heart attack when my camera wouldn’t turn on, a quick trip to a local camera store fixed everything though so it wasn’t too much of a big deal – not the best start to the day though.

Once my camera was up and ready I went to meet Axel at the Dunedin Chinese Gardens, the only truly authentic Chinese garden outside of China, every sculpture, plant and pebble has come straight from China while the design was fashioned by traditional Chinese gardeners in Shanghai for Dunedin to acknowledge the contribution Chinese immigrants have made to the formation of the city. It was overcast but that didn’t diminish the serenity of the gardens, everything was incredibly tranquil and beautiful with no detail being overlooked.

It was relatively small, or compact, so after exploring the garden I went to the tea rooms where me and Axel had some green tea and sampled some of the bits and pieces they offer, from dumplings, steam buns and, of course, fortune cookies.

 We spent much longer than planned but it was a beautifully peaceful spot to while away some time reading and sipping tea.

Eventually we hit the road though, George and Cara had already driven off to Akaroa but me and Axel were taking a detour through the middle of the country to see some of the stunning lakes. First stop on the road was the Moeraki Boulders.

 Just ignore my hair... it's a long story, and I haven't the slightest idea what it's doing 

 Some of the boulders have cracks while others have eventually shattered 

It was sadly more touristy than we’d expected, and hoped, but they were great to see and snap a few touristy pictures with. We also timed it pretty well as we ended up there at low tide so we got to see them in their full glory.

After that little stop we drove for a few hours inland. The weather couldn’t seem to make up it’s mind along the coast, varying from boiling hot to freezing in the space of 20 minutes, in land was a different story, the weather had most definitely decided to be miserable. I personally didn’t mind too much as the misty weather gave the whole region a particular feel and it’s own sort of beautiful – it’s a bit of a shame though as I imagine on a sunny day the lakes would have been even more impressive.

 The first lake we saw, excluding some dams we passed, was Lake Ohau. We didn’t linger too long here as it started to really rain, there was absolutely nothing around, and we really wanted to see the other lakes while it was still light.

Our first glimpse of Lake Pukaki

Then it was the turn of Lake Pukaki to take our breaths way, mainly because it was so incredibly windy here! But also because of the crazy turquoise blue of the lake.

Then we finally made it to Lake Tekapo and the village that hugs it’s southern shore. We knew Tekapo was always busy, and we knew we were coming into high season, and we knew we ought to book a hostel… but we didn’t. We rang every hostel, B&B and campsite in and around Tekapo but everywhere was completely full. We did a slight detour to the Good Shepard’s Church which was really beautiful and then, sat in the car we decided we didn’t like the idea of sleeping in the car so we head off for Geraldine another hour or so away.

 The Church of the Good Shepard on Lake Tekapo 

A statue to acknowledge how essential the dogs are in farming these lands

The drive to Geraldine was incredibly beautiful and I'm actually really glad we ended up going there instead of staying in Tekapo as the light was perfect!

 The sky was surreal at times

The drive to Geraldine was beautiful and the hostel, although kind of deserted, was welcoming. A quick dinner with some Americans and we hit the hay. It’s ridiculous how tired you can get by just being sat in a car all day!