To the Infinity Pool and beyond!

We all got a good night's sleep in our hotel, in fact so good that none of us woke up until after 10.30 a.m. - and our guests were going to arrive at 11! Luckily all we had to do was get ready for the swimming pool, and at 11 a.m. on the dot I met Ally, Colin, Finlay, Flora, Struan in the foyer, and also Ally's sister and brother-in-law Carolyn and Hugh with their son Lawrence. Up we all went to the infinity pool on the 57th floor and we had a great couple of hours swimming and chatting. It was fantastic to see all the views in the daylight and we also went into the jacuzzi which overlooked the sea where hundreds of ships were anchored. Everyone got on really well, how exciting to meet up so far from home! We all had lunch down at the food court and again it was very interesting to experiment with new foods; this time I tried a Chinese dish - glutinous rice with chicken. The chicken was inside a ball of sticky rice which in turn was wrapped by a big leaf of some kind. Carolyn explained to me that you don't eat the leaf, luckily, because I would probably have tried it! I ordered two fresh juices from the drinks area; kiwi fruit juice and starfruit juice. Both were gorgeous, my favorite was the starfruit juice, it was an unusual but attractive taste. After more chatting we said our farewells and headed for Chinatown. It was well worth seeing, very picturesque and a huge contrast with the high towers that surround it. The narrow streets were lined with little shops which were open at the front selling clothes, medicines and souvenirs, and along the streets were hung coloured paper globes. There were statues of cows and a temple. The clothes were very cheap, and with James' encouragement I bought two dresses, a kimono, and a blouse all for under £30! I'm not a great shopper, especially on holiday, so it was quite unexpected and exciting. The boys had gone on ahead and we met up with them in a little cafe where they were drinking coconut milk out of whole coconuts with the tops lopped off! I ordered one for myself and it was delicious, James had a Tiger Beer. the waiter and waitress were staring at Jamie's t-shirt which had some Chinese lettering on it, they came over to have a closer look and then burst out laughing! We asked them to tell us what it meant but they couldn't explain, so either it means something rude or (more likely) nothing at all, just pretend Chinese characters! Then it was time for our night-time safari to Singapore Zoo. This was recommended in the guide book and sounded a bit different, and a good idea because so many animals are nocturnal. So we took a bus to the zoo and went to a show and on the tram ride. It was all very well organised and the animals seemed well-cared for, however it was a bit too crowded and organised for me - and also I just don't like zoos, never have. I don't mind wildlife parks but I don't like to see animals cooped up. We certainly saw plenty of wide awake animals from the tram but I wasn't sorry to leave and we headed back into the centre of Singapore and went for drinks to Clarke Quay. It was much more lively than it was yesterday lunch-time, there were lots of people, music and it had a great atmosphere. We sat beside the Singapore River chatting and laughing, the five of us together. I felt so very happy!