So this is a story about travel, not involving Amelie. We were very fortunate to be invited as Leo and Karin's guests to their home in Singapore for two weeks,

enjoying life as tourists and experiencing this city-state for the first time, arriving from the sky, not the sea. The apartment is in a quiet, residential area with a swimming pool to die for. Surrounded by leafy plants and trees giving shade to the swimmers in a lake like pool. We often had the pool to ourselves with a small well equipped gym on the edge. 

The earliest mention of Singapore dates back to the third century, with the Kingdom of Singapura becoming an important port during the fourteenth century. It was invaded and occupied several times during this era. Modern Singapore was founded in 1819 by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles by an agreement with the Johor Sultanate to allow the British to use this island as a trading port with the East.
Between 1942-1945, Singapore was invaded by Japanese forces, only to be handed back to British control after the Japanese surrender. Self government became a feature as the Singaporeans had become despondent with the British surrendering to the Japanese and Singapore merged with Malaya to form Malaysia in 1963. Social unrest and many disputes led to Singapore becoming an independent republic on August 9th 1965. By 1990, Singapore had become one of the world's most prosperous nations.
The climate is one of high humidity, temperatures 30 degrees and above, fascinating lightning storms and torrential rainfalls that are short lived. Cyclists and bikers shelter under the many bridges and flyovers when the heavens open.
The overwhelming vision we had of Singapore was it is the cleanest, greenest city we have visited. Building work appears to be a constant activity using reclaimed land or knocking down the old to build new, contractors generally using Malaysian, Indonesian and Indian labour.
An army of gardeners tend to the thousands of apartment buildings, roadsides, malls, bridges, office buildings and roof top gardens. 

We visited the 156 year old tropical Botanical Gardens, situated in the middle of the city and now a UNESCO World Heritage site (2015).The Gardens were founded by an agricultural society, playing a huge role in the country's rubber trade. The gardens were exquisite, well established and a joy to walk through. We experienced the noises of the rainforest, andspent a long time in the National Orchid Garden which is world renowned for its study and cultivation of hybrid orchids. The various aromas as we sauntered along the leafy paths were heady. Stephen likes Bonsai trees so in full sun, we looked at the specimens on display.....could we have one on Amelie?
Singapore bird park (Jurong Bird Park) is linked to the Botanical Gardens and was opened in 1971. It was the dream of the then Minister of Finance, Dr. Goh Kent Swee, for all Singaporeans to have the chance to visit a place that was away from the hustle and bustle of city life and for them to relax with nature. The various shows we attended were incredible, especially the birds of prey. A walk through various aviaries surrounded by hundreds of different species of birds with various shapes, size and colour was a wonderful experience. One of our favourites was the Lori (small parrots) enclosure with the different types of Lori mingling together.

They appeared to enjoy the company of Leo as he bribed them with a cup of sugar water or was it his charisma? At one stage Leo was covered in colour with the birds nibbling his ears and hair, gently licking the sweat from his neck.
More recently the ‘Gardens by the Bay’ have been built on reclaimed land. The nature park has been designed to transform Singapore to a "City in a Garden". It has two gigantic glass domes (reminiscent of the Eden Project in Cornwall), without interior support. The Flower dome housed amazing plants, flowers and trees from various regions of the world. A central festive display was very "Disney-ish", totally over the top and largely unnecessary, the many children loved it though. The Cloud forest dome was our favourite with a huge cascade of water, plants and flowers with artistic sculptures dotted amongst the foliage. The gardens are the home to the Supertree Grove, which are vertical gardens which function as planters, shades and "environmental engines” for the rest of the gardens.

We enjoy walking so Bukit Timah Nature Reserve was a must. This is a 400 acre reserve, set up in 1883 on the recommendation of the Botanic Gardens, on the slopes of Singapore's highest peak, Bukit Timah at 163.63 metres. In Malay, Bukit means hill and Timah translates as tin. This is a mystery as there are no tin deposits here only granite. Crab eating Macaque monkeys reside in the wild here and we were fortunate enough to witness a small troop picking up litter on our path. Stephen managed to get very close while taking photographs and was totally ignored. The hike to the summit was short but taxing in the humidity, downhill was a pleasure although extremely steep. A family decided to walk backwards down the slope, quite bizarre but sensible regarding protecting the knees.
We were joined by Leo to visit Singapore Zoo, locally known as the Mandai Zoo. This establishment was opened in 1973 and displays animals in natural "open" exhibits separated from visitors by dry and wet moats or glass fronted enclosures for the animals that can climb. The whole place felt as if you were in the jungle and the animals looked well cared for and content. The only disappointment was the solitary Puma in his enclosure......far too small and he showed disturbing behaviour of a caged animal relentlessly pacing up and down. This seemed totally unnecessary and hopefully will be rectified.
Many of our friends suggested we ought to visit Sentosa Island and we did....twice in one day! Sentosa in Malay means "peace and tranquility" but all the signs suggested that it was "The State of Fun". It is a hugely popular island resort with theme parks, hotels, a casino, waxwork museum and Universal Studios. Leo has a membership with a fabulous marina (1deg15) on the island but more about that later.
Sentosa Island is 0.5 km from the southern mainland of Singapore and is 5 km square. The environmental impact on the island during build was minimal to protect the habitat of its natural residents....Monitor lizards, monkeys, peacocks and parrots. The island is connected to the mainland by various ways. Firstly in 1974, the Singapore Cable Car system linked Sentosa to Mount Faber, then in 1982 the Sentosa Monorail was in operation this was replaced by the Sentosa Express in 2007. By car you can reach the island by a causeway bridge opened in 1992 which acts as a toll road and the traffic congestion can be alarming at times.
The 1deg15 marina was hosting a Christmas extravaganza with boats adorning their decks, rails and masts with lights, doing a sail pass and being judged. Meanwhile we sat near the stunning pool eating from the excellent buffet, chatting to the other guests with club music in the background. Leo introduced as to several acquaintances from his time on Duchess and we joined him on his trip down memory lane. Karin gave Debbie a tour around the facilities, ending up with both covered in body spray......you can't take those two anywhere!
The National Museum of Singapore is the oldest museum in town dating back to 1849. The various exhibits relay the history of Singapore including the building of the nation, a fascinating story and the foundations are seen everywhere in Singapore today.

Magnificent sacred temples were dotted around Singapore but prevalent in China Town and Little India. Vibrant colours and golden dragons and lions decorated the temples with the terracotta roofs dipping steeply ending in an exaggerated curve at the points. The smell of incense radiated throughout the streets of the Chinese quarter, the quietness was palpable and a heavy sense of mysticism hung in the air. In Little India, the bustle of people going about their everyday activities with scores of shoes left along the footpath outside the mosques, Muslim men praying harmoniously often spilling out onto the street not something we’d seen before but it seemed the norm here with a modern bar adjacent to the religious house with people in summer attire. In contrast, Orchard Road famous for its high end shops and two M&S stores was displaying the annual Christmas lights. The colour scheme this year was blue and white involving reindeers and baubles but Debbie's favourite was the stunning candelabras outside Tiffany's.......a double whammy. Throughout the day and late into the evening this road is packed with shoppers, tourists, cars and buses creating slow progress along this lengthy road.
Raffles Hotel was a venue that Debbie had read about in the past and arriving in Singapore was determined to visit. Mike and Jackie several years before had an iconic photograph taken at the Long Bar with Mike and his usual pint. The four of us arrived after a theatre production and enjoyed cocktails, Stephen sampling the famous Singapore Sling, in the relocated Long bar, peanut shells crunching underfoot and a huge sack of monkey nuts plonked on our table. The AC was a series of woven fans above us, electronically controlled and very efficient. This famous hotel started life as a private beach house in the 1830s. The colonial style hotel was opened in 1887 and named after the founder of modern Singapore, Sir Thomas.S.Raffles. The Long Bar was originally in the lobby but now relocated in the new shopping arcade alongside the hotel. The actual hotel is only open to guests.
A slightly low key establishment we visited was the Orchard Towers. The first four floors are known as the "Four Floors of Whores" taken over by retail units and primarily bars which are reputably raided by the police, as the freelance girls rarely have a visa and certainly not a work visa, coming from Malaysia, Indonesia, Russia and Ukraine. This building is 18 storeys and during the daytime it serves as offices, embassies and home to the Mauritian Consulate. Nighttime is a different story but the band in one bar was exceptional, they were courteous to us as couples and very respectful towards Karin and I.
Stephen and Debbie have missed the pantomimes at this time of the year so we suggested to Leo and Karin to experience a Chinese version. A local production company, Wild Rice had adapted a well loved Chinese fantasy based on the novel "Journey to the West". This great literary classic was published in the sixteenth century during the Ming Dynasty. Being the Year of the Monkey, this pantomime was titled "Monkey goes west" with many references to the local areas and making jokes in Singlish (Singaporean English). It was a brilliant production with fantastic acting, singing, costume changes and choreography particularly from the children. Debbie remembers watching a TV programme based on this in the 1970s but had forgotten until watching this pantomime.
Leo spent several afternoons driving us around the areas we hadn't covered on foot with his local knowledge we certainly got the best from our time in Singapore.
We were spoilt by the options of eating establishments in Singapore ranging from eating local food at the hawkers for S$2.60 to many S$s at the restaurants. We enjoyed the street food from the many vendors displaying their hygiene tag on the face of their stall. We loved eating outside again on basic tables and chairs but eating unbelievable food. The only downer was the lack of wine but Karin and Debbie soon found out that purchasing wine in a nearby convenience store was by far cheaper despite drinking from the bottle or a pint glass.....it still tasted the same. We enjoyed cooking our food on Hot Stones, eating salads imported from Australia, having our food cooked on a hot grill in front of us by a young man wielding knives, spatulas etc, supper in the jungle watching people having golf lessons, Dim Sum on the 60th floor of the Plaza 1 building with green tea being poured from a long spouted pot from a distance to the cup, trying bean curd, Singaporean Chilli (one of Singapore's national dishes is mud crab stir fried in a thick sweet/savoury tomato and chilli sauce), Black Pepper crab and the "King of the Fruits", Durian. Durian is a love or hate experience. It has a strong, unusual odour often recognised from metres away. It is banned from certain hotels, MRTs (Mass Rapid Transport), airports and public transport because of its pungent aroma. Stephen enjoyed Tiffin in the shape of crumpets from M&S, smothered in butter.

Eating out is always a huge treat for us and we enjoyed several decadent meals. The first was a Champagne Brunch at theShangri La Hotel with unlimited Veuve Clicquot together with a huge variety of foods. Sunday will never be the same again. One of our last evenings was spent in the Marina Bay Sands Resort, which was opened in 2011. It is the worlds most expensive standalone casino, built at a cost of S$8 billion. The structure holds an ice rink, shopping mall, theatres, spas, eateries and an enormous hotel within three structures. At the top is an infinity pool with two celebrity chef restaurants housed in the shape of a huge ship. The night time views were very romantic and the taster menu was sublime. The service was exceptional with the men and women having a huge knowledge regarding the food we were eating. Night caps at the end of the evening overlooking the lit city is a memory we will never forget.
The time flew and before we knew it we were back at the airport, wishing Bon Voyage and festive greetings to Leo and Karin. With lots of time to spare we were expecting to duty free shop and relax over a coffee and perhaps something to eat......too good to be true. We found out that we needed an Electronic Travel Authorisation to re enter Canada as we weren't residents, luckily we could do this on line with the help of the staff but the minutes ticked by and thank goodness for a clear thoroughfare in immigration and security. Stephen still managed to buy cigars during this stressful time and our journey back to Victoria went smoothly.
Singapore felt like an early, warm, Christmas present to us both and with that in mind it’s time to say a Very Happy Christmas to all our blog readers.