Singapore - visa stop

Singapore - our last chance to get 60 day visas for Indonesia. Lilian (the Singaporean lady we met in Oz) told us there will be no problem getting visas in Singapore. We arrive on Saturday so will have to wait until Monday to put in our visa applications.

Singapore is a nice play to visit. This is the area around Orchard Road the main shopping area.



Near Orchard Street

Singapore is 85 miles (137 km) north of the equator and believe it or not an island made up of 63 islands.



Local transport

Singapore became fully independent in 1965 and is one of the four Asian Tigers and the world's fourth leading financial centre.

Money abounds

Singapore is a shoppers paradise, there a shopping centres everywhere...

modern

and traditional.

Little India

In April 2010, the Marina Bay Sands Hotel opened. It comprises of three 55 storey towers connected by a roof sky park and costs a minimum of £375 per night.

Marina Bay Sands Hotel

Whilst waiting for our visas, which  we were told will take 48 hours, we decided to visit some of the visitor attractions Singapore has to offer. We bought a 3 parks ticket which allows entry to Jurong Bird Park, Singapore Zoo and Night Safari.

To get to Jurong Bird Park, we took the MRT (underground) to Boon Lay (no snickering) and the 194 bus to the park entrance. The park is home to around 380 species of which 29 are endangered.

Here are a few of the birds we saw.

A strange collection of birds, you may agree.

Next stop Singapore Zoo. Singapore Zoo displays animals in naturalistic, open exhibits with hidden barriers, moats and glass between you, the visitor, and the animals. There are about 315 species of animal in the zoo, many which are considered threatened.

Here are some of the animals we saw.

An old froend from Costa Rica

A motley crew.

Next was the Night Safari, sorry no piccies as it was too dark. An interesting experience being in a zoo at night but well worth a visit.

We hope you enjoyed our visit to Singapore and you will be pleased to know we did get our visas within 48 hours, so next stop Indonesia.