More life in Singapore

 



The view from our back window

As promised here are some more photos of where we are here in Singapore. We are staying close to the Sembawang dockyard in accommodation used primarily by Expats and other nations' Defence personnel. It's fairly basic but is much the same as serviced apartments back home and does the job quite nicely.

The Sembawang dockyard isn't very far away where there's an American Naval Exchange (NEX) store as well as a social club (Called the Terror club after HMS TERROR) where you can get something to eat as well as have a swim in the pool. Just not today though as it is throwing it down as well as flashing and banging just for good measure.


My bedroom

I'm sharing the apartment with the Command Warrant Officer who is nice and quiet so things are nice and peaceful. Indeed I'm writing this to you on the first full day off I've had since we arrived as things have been busy pretty much from the word go. Having said all that it's good that we are making progress and as such the ship is starting to come along nicely.

 

The Marina Bay Sands hotel

I managed to get a second day off and took a ride on the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system downtown to have a look at the Marina Bay Sands and the surrounding complex. It's certainly impressive stuff though I gave the shopping centre on the ground floor area a miss when I saw that the shops consisted of Louis Vuitton and Breitling outlets... A bit out of my price range I reckon!



The Singapore Flyer

They have their own version of the London Eye though I didn't see many people in it when I was there. Perhaps mid morning on a Sunday isn't the most popular time to use it - I suspect that nighttime gives you more value for your money. At the time these photos were taken it was around 30 degrees Celsius and 80+% humidity so you just end up sweating whenever you walk anywhere. I managed to find a Starbucks and, once they'd checked my vaccination sticker freshly affixed to my passport, I was allowed to buy a sandwich and something to drink.



The waterfront

Singapore is a funny place. Heavily regulated with over 80000 CCTV cameras within it and laws for seemingly everything I don't think I would want to live here. However you have to admit that they get a lot of things right. The streets are clean, the public transport is good and their reaction to Covid is nothing if not comprehensive. Perhaps as somewhere to spend a couple of years on an overseas posting it'd be great but otherwise I'm looking forward to the space and freedoms of NZ once more.

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