Singapore

I should have written this post months ago, but I lost the will to blog. Anyway, here is the report on the final stage in our holiday, in Singapore.

We arrived at Woodlands Station and caught a cab to our hotel, the Millenia Ritz Carlton. We have stayed there before and it was excellent, but this time it just seemed a little... less excellent. Service was a bit poor, which I think was the main problem.  And they charged us a fortune for wifi, which is inexcusable.

This is the view from our lounge window at night:

During the day we had views of the Marina Bay Sands hotel which is the one with the crazy ship sailing across the three buildings:

And they have an excellent shopping centre with many nice shops at the bottom.

One day we decided to go to the Art Science Museum, which is the lotus-shaped building you can see in the photo above. We paid our $25 (each!) to get in, went up to the top floor to start looking at the exhibits, and found... nothing. Turns out the Art Science Museum (a misleading name if there ever was one) only has travelling exhibitions and all they had was a Titanic exhibition which had already been in Melbourne two years ago. Talk about disappointing. There was no art, no science. The boy was furious and argued with three different people to get our money back. He succeeded in the end, but it was a total waste of an hour.

We also met up with some friends from Melbourne who moved to Singapore a couple of years ago, and had lunch and a wander around Dempsey Hill, which is locally known as the Aussie Expat centre of activity.

It was a lovely day out and we ended up back at their place for dinner. So great to see Melissa and Dave again after so long!

On another day, we also went over to see the Merlion, which has been the symbol of Singapore for ages. It's a massive tourist attraction:

And then we had the most wonderful experience coming home. If you fly first class with Singapore Airlines, you get to go through customs at Changi Airport via a special separate entry where you sit in leather chairs while they stamp your passport and clear you through Immigration. Then you get escorted to the first class lounge, and if you are regular customers like we are you get to go into the Private Lounge where everything in the known universe is available to you. God it was good.

So all in all it was a wonderful holiday. I would definitely recommend the Eastern and Oriental Express train, it was a fantastic experience. Next time we go to Singapore we'll be staying at the Mandarin Oriental, as our experience there in Bangkok was top notch.

Eastern and Oriental Express Part 2 - Malaysia

After crossing the border into Malaysia nothing really changed, although the scenery was a little different, as there are a lot of palm oil plantations everywhere. Pretty much as far as the eye could see, in fact.

Our stop in Malaysia was at Butterworth Railway station, where we boarded a bus for the short drive to Penang Island.

We were supposed to go on a trishaw ride through Penang to the Eastern and Oriental Hotel, but our driver looked like he might have been a heroin addict and soon lost the rest of the crowd. We ended up making him stop so we could get out and walk. Luckily we found one of the train passengers who told us where the hotel was so we could meet up with the rest of the group.





We got back on the train late in the day. The most exciting thing that happened that day was an emergency stop by the train - we were having lunch and one of the waiters yelled out "hold your glasses" so we all grabbed our glasses and only one person spilt theirs as the train ground to a halt in a very short time. We had to get a replacement engine as ours had blown a gasket and kept overheating. It was quite exciting.

By the way, on the Eastern and Oriental Express you get silver service tea sets and cutlery, heavy crystal glassware and fine bone china crockery. No plastic to be seen!

Eastern and Oriental Express Part 1 - Thailand

The next part of our holiday was a train ride from Bangkok to Singapore aboard the Eastern & Oriental Express train.  It was totally amazing and I highly encourage anyone who likes train travel to do it.



We left from Hualampong Railway Station around 5pm, and settled into our lovely cabin.

 (that's not me - I borrowed this image from the E&O website)

We had dinner late that night, around 9.15pm, but after consuming some snacks and a bottle of champagne in our cabin we really didn't care.  By the way, the dress code for dinner was formal - men were expected to wear a jacket and tie at least.  I had an assortment of dresses with me so that didn't matter.

The next morning we were woken up by our lovely cabin steward at quarter to dawn so we could see the train cross over the trestle viaduct along the River Kwae.  We arrived in the Observation car when it was still dark and consumed some coffee to wake up.

Here's the sun rising:


Our next stop was the Bridge over the River Kwai itself. Our train stopped on the bridge and we all got off:


And then we went on a raft ride down the river, passing under the bridge:


And down to the museum in Kanchanaburi (sorry, no photos allowed). It was quite fascinating and I had no idea so many people - both prisoners of war and asian workers - died to help the Japanese build this bridge and the Thai-Burma Railway.

We continued our train journey after this stop and crossed over the border into Malaysia early the next morning.

Thailand

We departed Melbourne on 2 March, and arrived in Bangkok (via Singapore) around 8pm.  We were met at the arrivals gate by a man who whisked us through security and immigration, took us to collect our luggage and then found our driver for us.  Got to our hotel - the Mandarin Oriental Bangkok - and checked in very quickly.  If you are every going to stay in Bangkok, I highly recommend the Mandarin Oriental.  The rooms are lovely, the staff are friendly, and the service is excellent.

As we were only in Bangkok for one and a half days, the next morning we departed on a quick tour of the city.

Chinatown:


The Old Royal Palace:


One of many monuments with elephants:


The Chao Phraya river, which runs through Bangkok:


View of the river from our hotel room:


Bangkok was an interesting mix of old and new, rich and poor. It was extremely hot - about 38degC each day, and very humid. I swam every day in the pool, which you can see at the bottom of the last picture above.

On the night before we left, we decided to have dinner in the hotel's famous french restaurant, Le Normandie. It was extremely glamorous and the food was excellent. What was even more exciting, was that the Crown Prince of Thailand's first wife was also dining there that night, so we got to greet her as she arrived in the restaurant (with an entourage of about 20, and four security guards). Most exciting. My shoes were better than hers, though.

Next up

It appears that I have not yet told anyone about our next holiday, which starts one week from today.

We'll be flying to Singapore and then on to Bangkok, where we have a couple of days before getting on a train - the Eastern and Oriental Express - which will take us through Thailand and Malaysia and down into Singapore.  Then we have a few days in Singapore before heading home.

I'm really looking forward to it.  We have friends who moved to Singapore about 18 months ago and we haven't seen them since, so catching up is on our list of priorities.

It's going to be a great holiday.

Arkaroola

Our last stop was Arkaroola, a wilderness sanctuary in the Flinders Ranges.  We landed at a private airstrip in Balcanoona and were picked up by staff from Arkaroola and taken to the sanctuary.  It is quite unlike anything I've ever visited and was just amazing.  The accommodation was fantastic - we stayed in the Mawson wing so Huffle is very impressed - and the food once again was tremendous.

Early the next morning we did their famous ridge top 4WD tour and there is a good reason it's famous in the region.  Wow. This is the view from the first look out post.

We saw a Wallaroo - which is a cross between a Wallaby and a Kangaroo.

This is Sillers Lookout, which is the highest point the 4WD goes up. The view from up there was amazing. We had morning tea at the top, admiring the view.

There are quite a lot of native plants to be seen - one of the most impressive is the Xantheria, or Black Boy.

Our final stop on the tour was to see the dry waterfall, which would look positively wonderful with water. It's very picturesque when it's dry!

After we got back to the lodge we drove back to the plane and began the long flight home. We stopped in Mildura for fuel and made it home just after 6pm on Friday.

We covered 3,049 kilometres on this trip and did the whole lot in three days. There is just no way you could cover that distance in that time in a car so flying was definitely the way to go. I do recommend it.

There are a few more pictures in my FlickR photostream, just click on any of the pictures above and you will be taken there.   I hope you enjoyed your outback Australian tour as much as I did!

Flinders Ranges

After leaving the vast openness of Lake Eyre, we flew over the Flinders Ranges on our way to our next stop.  Again, these were all taken from the plane.

The Flinders Ranges seem to rise out of nothing, because on either side of them there are vast areas of flat land.  Quite amazing really.

Talk about a road to nowhere...

Lake Eyre

Our next flight was over Lake Eyre itself.  As you can see from the map, it is very big and covers an enormous area.  The lake is usually dry but due to extreme rain in northern Australia over the past three years, has actually had water in it for nearly three years.  The water is starting to evaporate now, and the lake is only 60% full.  When it's dry, it is just a huge expanse of dry salt flats.

These photos are all taken from the plane, apologies for unscheduled propeller appearances.

This is where the water has already started drying out.

Coopers Creek

Our next stop was Cooper Creek along the Birdsville Track.  The Birdsville Track is a dirt road that runs through central Australia and there are always MANY people in their four-wheel-drive vehicles driving along it.

This is the view from the Birdsville Track.

We landed at a private airstrip and took a bus to Coopers Creek, where we went on a boat cruise. The last time there was water in the creek was 1980. And now there are lakes and flooded areas everywhere you look.

Somehow, the birds seem to know when the water is there, and they all come flocking back for the season. I don't know what birds these all are (aside from the pelicans) but there were plenty to be seen.

When the Birdsville Track is flooded, as it is at the moment, cars are not permitted to drive down it but must detour and get ferried across the creek on the punt.

It's big enough to hold one car/4WD and a towed caravan or boat.

Birdsville

Our next stop, and our overnight location was Birdsville.  Birdsville is an iconic outback Australian town in Queensland.  There isn't a lot there but they do have a racetrack and the Birdsville Races are held every year at the end of August.  The resident population of Birdsville is about 120 but more than 8,500 people came for the races two years ago.  Last year there were only 5,000 visitors for the races as the town was flooded and cut off by road - the only way in or out was by plane.

This is the Birdsville Hotel, the only pub and accommodation in town.

We stayed at the Birdsville Hotel for the night, and after making friends with the locals in the bar, had a thoroughly delicious dinner. The accommodation was surprisingly good and we slept very well.

The next morning we took a tour of the Birdsville Working Museum, which is possibly more famous for the character who runs it than the collection itself, and then we got back in the plane to head to our next destination.

Innamincka

Our first real stop on this tour was Innamincka, in South Australia.  That was after stopping in Broken Hill for fuel, but we only got to see the airport for 10 minutes so it doesn't count.

Innamincka doesn't have a lot going for it, as the resident population is about six people.  It used to be a Customs stop between South Australia and New South Wales way back in the day when there was a charge to be paid for crossing the border, but now it's just another stop on the way to Birdsville and through to central Australia.

This is the main street. The Innamincka Hotel (accommodation for $2 per night in the low season) and the trading post/general store/petrol station.

We had lunch at a home stay farm which was lovely.

After lunch we wandered down the road to the creek, which had flooded earlier in the year. Only in Australia do you see road signs like this:

This is Coopers Creek which flooded and cut the town off for several days.

Innamincka is essentially in a desert but the recent flooding is what allowed the grass to grow so green.

You can see the height the water reached on the tree - the brown mark to half way up shows the high water mark.

This is the original nursing home in Innamincka which has been restored and is now used as the park rangers station and as an information centre.

You would think from the blue sky and bright sunshine that it was very hot but actually it was cool enough to wear a jacket most of the day. In the summer though, the temperature regularly tops 40 deg C for days at a time.