Colonial District

I got about 2hour sleep last night, between roaring club music from next door, a guy having his bedside light on until 3am (there were 5 other people in the room all awake because of his light, looking back I'm not sure why none of us said anything instead of looking at each other in misery…) and another guy coming in at 4am clearly tipsy and climbing onto the creakiest bed.. 

After a quick breakfast (although the complimentary breakfast is very simple, as it is at most hostels, they've chosen what they offer really well!) I got ready and set off over the river into the Colonial part of town! 

This was just before I got to Esplanade Park

I really loved this part of town (hopefully you'll be able to recognise one or two of the places Frank!)

I worked my way up to the Padang, passing the Old and New Parliament houses & the New and New and Former Supreme Court.

The Arts House of the Old Parliament

The New Parliament Building

The Old Supreme Court

 The New Supreme Court

Overlooking the Padang was City Hall and St Andrew's Cathedral 

Cit Hall

St Andrews

Across from the Padang was Esplanade Park which was lovely as not only did it have great views over the financial district but it was dotted with trees giving some shade and a nice place to read a bit of my book before setting off again. 

From there it was up St Andrew's rd, past the 'chopsticks' to Raffles City Shopping centre - and into their lovely air conditioning! 

(each 'stick' represents an ethnicity living in Singapore who died in war for Singapore)

Then it was onto the thing I was most excited about seeing in this part of town - Raffle's Hotel!

Raffle's Hotel

 The Singapore Sling (it was first created here at Raffle's Hotel, so I thought what better to sip in the afternoon sunshine?

After lounging around enjoying my lovely pink cocktail I wandered up Raffles Boulevard, past the Singapore Art Museum, to the National Museum.

 The 'glass atrium' 

One of my favourite exhibitions they had on that day

It started to drizzle a little be after the museum (pretty common in Singapore) which just made the humidity even more stifling! On the way back I passed the Chinese Chamber of Commerce & the Armenian Church of St Gregory.

The roof of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce

St Gregory's

Anyway I finished off the day by stopping by a vender's cart and picking up a Sugar Cane drink - they're all the rage here with everyone sipping on them throughout the day! Anyway it was pretty cool, she grabbed a stick, washed it and then put in this machine… and somehow I ended up with this green liquid, add a splash of lemon and a handful of ice and it was done! 

 The sugar cane

It's not what I was expecting.. I think I was expecting something really refreshing but it was very sweet (I know, duh, it's made form sugar cane) but anyway it was nice after a day walking around in the heat!

Then I managed to find a quiet spot to have some dinner overlooking the Buddhist Temple

Day 44 Dog’s Stream

Today was another lovely relaxing day, despite the fact I got no sleep thanks to snoring, as the weather was absolutely gorgeous! I am worried how I’m going to survive when I get back to England for Christmas though, yesterday was what I considered a cooler day meaning I had tights and a cardigan on, yet the average temperature was 25degrees... while today was lovely at 30degrees.. I think I’m going to freeze!

It's hard to take a photo that shows how clear the water is, as the cleaner the water the shallower everything seems to look! It was past my knees though

If your wondering why it looks like this photo was taken from the middle of the stream that'd because that's where I stood (the path randomly cut across the stream!

Taking advantage of the weather I headed over to the other side of town to the pine forests and explored the lovely little stream than runs along side the town. It was so peaceful and beautiful I ended up wondering aimlessly through the forest for hours! I’m not entirely sure why it’s called Dog’s stream as it doesn’t sound particularly nice... anyway I stumbled upon a surprising little park in the middle of the forest, and with no one else around I lay down and just enjoyed the complete peace and quite until it was time to head back!

The momma bird who's obviously sat on some eggs at the moment 

Today is my last day in Hanmer and it’s gone by way too fast! It was great to just relax and do very little for a few days as I think travelling everyday is catching up to me a little bit! I finished off the day sipping a drink and reading by book on the table outside while the sun set and the little bird who’s made a nest in the hostel twittered away!