We left Auckland on a wet Sunday afternoon on our Singapore Airlines flight arriving 10 hours later in a hot and humid Singapore where were met and taken to our hotel - Pan Pacific Orchard. The next morning we headed down to Orchard Rd and took in the shopping plazas and department stores like Tangs but only bought some trousers from Marks and Spencer. In the evening went to a nearby food court where the food was superb and oh so cheap. A three course meal for two cost NZ$20.
Each of the food shops specialises in a different dish like Yong Tau Foo. You select the the components of your meal from the items on display and they will cook it for you in any number of diiferent ways.
Then on Tuesday we caught the Singapore Airlines Stopover Bus to Sentosa Island for a look-see. There were not many people there (and in fact Singapore was very quiet with only a few tourists.) It was OK but too touristy. We spent most of the time at Fort Siloso where a few of the big guns that Singapore had during WWII remain. There were tunnels to excplore and excellent displays of life under Japanese occupation.
We dined out that night at Tony Romas with a great meal of baby-back ribs accompanied by a Singapore Sling.
On Wednesday after we checked out we went on a bus trip to Changi where we toured the Changi Museum and Chapel commemorating the imprisonment of soldiers and civilians during WWII. Then we continued to visit a modern Singporean town to learn how modern Singaporeans live before heading out to the airport for our night flight to Amsterdam.
At Amsterdam we were met by our lovely friend Petra who took us back to her house in South Holland. After a relaxing day, next morning Petra and her daughter Ellen drove us to the famous Koekenhof Tulip gardens.
It wasa lovely sunny day and the tulips were glorious in their park like setting. The park was due to close just two days later at the end of the tulip season so we were lucky to have such great weather (albeit a bit cold). The park was vey very busy but somehow the flowers managed to overpower the crowds.
Early the next day Nico drove us drown to Roermond where our boat had been wintering. With a new coat of antifouling it looked lovely in the sunshine. It was soon craned into the water and we were expecting to head off when we noticed that the water pump was on all the time. We couldn't find a loose hose anywhere and were beginning to get worried when Wendy had a look at the back of the boat and discovered that the engineer in winterising the boat had aleft the cockpit shower taps on. Problem solved. But... I noticed another leak from the engine and the mechanic said it was the engine cooling water pump bearing. Unfortunately it had to be ordered and that could not be done for another two days after the weekend. So we remain in Roermond awaiting a new pump bearing. But it has given us time to clean the boat and do lots of maintenance so it has not been a big problem for us. As soon as it is fixed we will head into Belgium and start our trip up the River Meuse and into France.
