Singapore, our last stop on this Round the World Trip, albeit for only two nights and one full day...what to do?
Easy, a walk through the City to the Marina Bay Sands Hotel, infamous for its three towers with an artistic vision of a boat across the top of the towers.
It hosts a hotel, shops, restaurants, viewing tower and of course an infinity pool on the 56th floor...
The views as you can imagine are stunning, although the day was overcast.
We then went through the shopping mall below the hotel, which hosts shops to suit every pocket, oh and an in door gondola ride...
After lunch, we walked around the bay to check out the best spot to watch the nightly light and laser show, before heading back to our hotel, for a quick nap after which we headed out to Raffles.
On the way we went through the area known as Bugis...here's what Wiki has to say.
Bugis was renowned internationally from the 1950s to the 1980s for its nightly gathering of trans women... In the mid-1980s, Bugis Street underwent major urban redevelopment into a retail complex of modern shopping malls, restaurants and nightspots mixed with regulated back-alley roadside vendors.
Underground digging to construct the Bugis MRT station prior to that also caused the upheaval and termination of the nightly transgender sex bazaar culture, marking the end of a colourful and unique era in Singapore's history. Today, the original Bugis Street is now a cobblestoned, relatively wide avenue sandwiched between the buildings of the Bugis Junction shopping complex.
And now a little bit about Raffles
2015 was the 100th Anniversary of the infamous Singapore Sling, created by bartender Ngiam Tong Boon. At the turn of the Century, Raffles was 'The' meeting place and it was not uncommon to see 'gentlemen' sipping on glasses of gin or whisky. However, back in colonial Singapore, etiquette dictated that ladies could not consume alcohol in public and the niche in the market was noticed by Ngiam Tong who created a cocktail that looked like fruit juice, was feminine pink in colour and clear alcohol, leading people to believe that the ladies were drinking a socially acceptable drink. 
Raffles Long Bar, where we participated in our Singapore Sling, was first located at the old Ballroom and opened in 1921, at the current hotel's driveway. In the 1960s the idea of the Long Bar was created and was a long counter that covered the breadth of the Ballroom. In the 1991 restoration the Long Bar found a new home at Level 2, Raffles Hotel Arcade.
Sitting at our table, tucked away in the heart of the Long Bar, waiting for our 'Slings', you are presented with a large bag of peanuts, still in their shells. Looking around the other tables and the floor, we saw that all of the peanut shells were swept to the floor...a strange custom, or so we thought, until it is revealed to you that this is a tribute to the British planters who used to patronise the Long Bar. 
The planters enjoyed peanuts while drinking in their plantations in Malaya and would throw the shells on the ground...! (The above information is to be found in the Long Bar booklet found on every table or at
After cocktails and dinner, we headed to the Bay to watch the evening Light & Laser spectacular, which was a good way to end our Round the World Trip. The following day we had a 14 hour flight back to London and then home.
On this trip we have been on twelve commercial flights, totalling 27,940 miles and have completed a circumnavigation of the globe. We have visited fifteen islands in six countries, on four continents. We have been on five luge rides, two private flights and sat in one and flown in two of the rarest planes in the world. We spent three weeks in one motorhome, a week on one luxury cruise ship and one on board 100ft schooner, one evening on a steam ship, one evening on a board around Sydney Harbour, and have been multiple dive/snorkel boats, day tripper boats and ferries and a horse and cart twice!
We have driven through valleys and over mountains, walked to glaciers and flown around the peaks. We have dressed head to foot in black neoprene on white sandy beaches, and wrapped up in sarongs to visit native villages, we have swam and snorkelled/dived on The Great Barrier Reef, and flown over it and the surrounding Whitsunday Islands. We swam with all manner of sea-life, with an abundance of turtles and jaw dropping coral reefs. We met numerous new people who became our friends, and met up with those who have been long time friends. We've eaten in simple cafes and dinned in wonderful restaurants and also had the most expensive drink we've ever had (£20 for a Singapore Sling) and attended one wedding.
For us, this was to be a trip of a lifetime, and it certainly fulfilled its premise. We can safely say we have 'ticked the box' headed 'go round the world'. However, we ticked many more boxes along the way. Although the photographs and video will always allow us to look back and view this trip, the memories in our hearts and mind will be the lasting effect of this trip. It was truly wonderful, or in the words of our Antipodean friends, it was truly awesome.
We hope you have enjoyed our travels as much as we did, and so until our next trip...
Great memories for you both. back to reality now !!
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