Day 2:Ship Ahoy and Birthday Boy!

Awake at about 5:30am and feeling refreshed we headed down for breakfast. I always like to try local food when I can so instead of the usual I tried an Asian breaky.
Delicious! 
A coconut flavoured rice with accompaniments. There was a chilli sauce but I was a bit scared to take too much. Bad move as it was tasty and not too hot at all. Wrapped in the leaves was a sweet and slightly spicey fish. And the steamed bun had heaps of oozing red bean paste.
As it was only 24 degrees we thought we would go for a look around before it got too hot. At 7am it was still pitch black outside so at 8am we wandered down Orchard Rd once again.

After 20 minutes Lance sat outside the Apple Store and I kept on wandering passing mall after mall. All luxurious but closed. After a while I thought that I should cross Orchard Rd and start heading back to Lance, however the only way to cross was through the underpass. Shouldn’t be too hard I thought. I am resonably okay with directions but only when I am outside. Once I am inside a building my compass leaves me and I am a an absolute doddle head. So down the escalator I go and into the basement floors of a mall. The shops were all closed but there were people around. I spent 20 minutes trying to find a way out. I went through an MRT (subway) station and a couple of food halls and finally emerged. But in a street that was totally foreign to me. Back down I went and finally found my way out on the other side of the crossroad. But alas, I needed to cross yet another so back down I went. This time it was not as confusing and it on the third go I finally arrived in the Marriott which I knew was on the right side of the intersection. Phew! And back to Lance still waiting patiently and people watching.
We had a bit of a await until the Apple store opened and 30 minutes before opening time about 20 staff in red T-shirt’s and armed with devices came out of the store and attended to the 20 or so who were waiting outside. It looked as if they were solving problems for them. Anyway we had free WiFi whilst we waited. After we picked up a few small items we nipped into Orchard Central Mall and I had a wee shop whilst Lance had a coffee.
On our walk back to the hotel we passed a tailor and popped in to suss them out. Looks like we will return when we are back in Singapore on the 9th to get a few things made. Lance wants a new dinner suit and I have some pants that I love but the fabric has pulled and he seemed like a nice enough fellow and not too sleezy.
The queue to embark the Diamond Princess was huge, snaking right out of the building.  But with true efficiency they whipped us through with only a half hour wait. As I write this we are waiting after having checked on. We are sitting in holding pens with a million others. 

Well we waited hours and I really mean hours! We were cattle herd number 15 and when herd number 10 got called up they stood in line waiting for an hour! Something had happened and we couldn’t board. At least we were waiting on seats and there was aircon. Finally we boarded and are now at sea. 

Our cabin (B252) is compact but adequate with a nice little balcony. Something we haven’t had before on a cruise is a kettle! It’s the little things that count and it means that Lance can make me a cuppa in the morning. We enjoyed a beer on the balcony after unpacking and then set off for Lance’s birthday dinner at Sabatini’s. We had booked this before departure and you pay $30 each for an extra special meal. And of course alcohol on top. The meal was nice and it meant that Lance could have lobster on his birthday. There were a few little things that they could have improved on with the service but the food was good. We had a voucher in our cabin on arrival as well as balloons and a birthday sign on the door. The voucher entitled Lance to something special at dinner which was an extra desert with a candle and some staff singing happy birthday. A nice touch, but an improvement could have been to stick the candle in the desert that he had ordered rather than giving us an extra desert, which by the way tasted like ... well nothing actually. 

After dinner we popped into the Wheelhouse bar and listen to Divo Duo who were easy to listen to. And then Lance went to the loo and discovered another band who were more our thing so off we toddled. My main problem of the night was that they have 2 NZ wines on the wine list and both are not on board! How can I try and boost the country’s economy when I have to either drink wine from other places or cocktails. I the hardship I have to endure is endless. 

   

Singapore City

What can I say...the unexpected upgrade to premium economy made our 10 hour flight almost enjoyable. We each had one of the most delicious airline meals ever. I had chicken breast poached in a fig and balsamic sauce with spinach and garlic whipped poatatoes. My habit is to use the butter in my airline meal to make it taste better or even make it taste like something. But this didn’t need anything. It was perfect. That was for lunch and for dinner we both had pork belly with rice and beans. It was up there as far as airline meals go but not as good as lunch. 

Landing at Singapore’s Changi airport was great and we had been picked up by our driver and on our way only half an hour after landing. Our accommodation for one night was the Rendezvous Hotel located a short walk from Orchard Road. 

Our room is adequate, small but perfect for one night. We paid $47 Singapore dollars (almost dollar for dollar with NZ) for an upgrade, free use of minibar (only 2 cans of beer and soft drinks) and breakfast for two. Pretty good we thought. The highlight is the toilet. Heated toilet seat front and back squirters, oscillating and pressure control and a blow dry for the nether regions. I WANT ONE!  

After dropping our bags and having a play with the toilet we wandered out for a walk. It is much more pleasant on the streets than in Hong Kong or Vietnam, still busy but at least you can walk next to each other. Orchard Rd is only a five minute walk so we made our way down and popped into the Orchard Rd Plaza (air con ahhhh). This is a smallish mall with at least 5 levels. In the middle where in Auckland you might have Santa or a couple of coffee counters they had fridges, televisions etc for sale. I made a couple of purchases in Uniqlo and we made our way back. We were pretty tired so popped down to the bar for a snack and a drink. Pretty ordinary really with a premix mojito but the deep fried bar food was okay and the wine (Australian) and Heineken were only $13 each. We were in bed by 9 and fast asleep by five past. 

Singapore and Malaysia 2018 - 2019

Join us on a new journey! We are about to board flight NZ284 from Auckland to Singapore. 

The beauty of flying with the same airline whenever we can, combined with Lance's business fights, means that we will not be in cattle class for this flight and for ten and a half hours can pretend that we are rich and famous. Well not quite because we are not quite up the front with beds and footrests, but just a couple of dozen rows behind the pilot in premium economy. This is where the glasses are made of glass and the cutlery is stainless steel. Premium economy guests obviously are not terrorist types.

We are off to Singapore for 1 night before we board the Diamond Princess for eleven days, stopping off at Bali, Langkawi, Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Phuket. Then a quick four nights to discover the delights of Singapore. 

If you are keen to come on the journey with us you can follow us on reestra.blogspot.com.  Or pick up the links that I share on Facebook. Because wifi may not always be available my posts will not be coming daily. And of course you must remember that this is my travel diary and there may be details that you are not used to reading about. Come on, you know exactly what I'm talking about . . . The toilet report!