Frugal Bastard's Cruise 2008 - Day9 - October 12th 2008

We arrived safely in Singapore. After a late night the 8am deadline to vacate the room was a bit difficult. Didn't have as much breakfast as usual. Perhaps the cruise was just long enough. Disembarkation was done by deck numbers and started at deck 7. We were on deck 3 therefore the second last group to depart. We were separated at the escalator leading to immigration. Our bags were already waiting for us so there was no time wasted.

The Boy with the crew saying goodbye.


We caught a taxi and the driver was quite funny but when he informed us that the Australian dollar had dropped from S$1.13 last week to S$0.98 the laughing was over. He referred to the Singapore PM, an Indian, as a "nigger" which I thought was a bit much, especially as he didn't know us.

The Le Meridien Hotel had had a name change to Concorde so there was some confusion when we arrived. Flight Centre failed to inform us of this little fact. The driver asked me to stop them from unloading the bags just in case it was the wrong hotel. Apparently it is a common theme for Singaporean hotels to change their names and confuse taxi drivers and tourists alike.

Once that was sorted out there was no authorisation for our included breakfasts even though I had a voucher for it. They couldn't find the booking for us either! One of the girls who served us had the name Fence! We took a king-size room on the smoking level. The room wasn't as comfortable as the Holiday Inn Park View however. After a brief rest to freshen up our mission was shopping.

Took the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) from Somerset to Orchard. There are quite a few department stores in the area. First stop was Food Republic at Wisma Atria Shopping Centre where we had Taiwanese food. Then we hit the shops before Miky blew a gasket. She couldn't find exactly what she liked and with the dollar being so low the purchases hurt a bit more. Saw a money exchanger offering S$0.96 to the dollar.

Temple in Singapore.

Closeup of Temple in Singapore.

Another closeup of Temple in Singapore.

Inside Temple in Singapore.

It's busy in Bugis.


We split up with Yu-Jin coming with me to Bugis where there are some markets. An India money exchanger offered S$0.95 and wouldn't go to S$0.96. Over at the Sim Lim Square Building an exchanger had an advertised rate of S$0.975 but he gave me dollar for dollar. I shook his hand afterwards I was so happy. The Boy and I purchased matching t-shirts. The first shop we saw them in wanted S$25 but we got them for S$20. Caught the MRT back to the hotel, showered and had a swim. Miky rang twice while we were swimming. She rang again just after and wanted to meet us at Food Republic but we only wanted to go to the street stalls next to the hotel. She said she'd meet us there.

We waited for quite some time, talked to another family that was on the Superstar Gemini who also had problems with Flight Centre, and went to the supermarket for water before returning to the hotel. Miky showed up half an hour late as she had gotten lost - headed the wrong way on Orchard Road. Went back to the supermarket at 10pm, on a Sunday, and found it was still open. I like this place but it is so crowded. Can't imagine what it is like during the sales Singapore is famous for.