AIDA Southeast Asia 2014 · Page 7

Day 8 / 29 degrees / 221 nautical miles / 409 km

At around 8.30 a.m. AIDAaura arrived in the port of Singapore.

It took another 60 minutes until the ship was safely moored at the cruise terminal pier. From the terminal it's only a few minutes to the city centre by train or bus. After going through customs, we originally wanted to just stay in the adjoining shopping centre, as Petra and I weren't feeling well. But then we felt better after all, so we first changed money and then bought four day tickets for the City Sightseeing buses: 33 Singapore dollars per person for 24 hours. A shuttle bus was supposed to leave right from the port terminal and take us to the actual sightseeing bus routes, but even after walking around for 30 minutes we couldn't find it. So we spontaneously hailed a taxi, which took us straight to Chinatown (Eu Tong Sen Street) for 6 dollars.

Chinatown didn't disappoint us: bright, strong colours everywhere and the typical Chinese goods to buy.

We looked at Mosque Street and Temple Street, ended up on South Bridge Road and took the bus route to Marina Bay. Less than 5 minutes later the impressive hotel lay before us.

After asking around briefly, we reached the ticket counter for the SkyPark. But 23 dollars per person wasn't worth it to us, as we want to stay at the hotel itself one day. So on to the next bus.

The red line took us to the Suntec City shopping centre, where all the classic expensive brands are represented. You can have a look, but it's not really important. A 10-minute walk from the centre is our actual destination: the Raffles Hotel.

The Singapore Sling cocktail was invented at this hotel. Today it's a cult thing to have a cocktail in the hotel's Long Bar. Don't be put off by the prices: a Singapore Sling costs about 32 dollars, but it's worth it.

Very untypical for the cleanest city in the world, where you're not allowed to throw anything on the ground, is the way peanuts are eaten in the bar: the shells are simply thrown on the floor, and that's what it looks like.

It's quite something to drink a cocktail at 30 degrees at 12 noon.

In a cheerful and relaxed mood, we went back to the centre to take the red line to Little India. Even crossing the very busy road was a challenge. It's simply wonderful to see this live once.

Simply wander along the streets (e.g. Dunlop Street) and give in to the charm.

After a long walk through this world, we changed lines. Now we took the brown line from Selegie Road to Singapore's landmark, Merlion Park. Everything is being cleaned on every corner – with a toothbrush if necessary. Finally some peace over a coffee. The advantage of Starbucks is the free Wi-Fi.

At 5 p.m. we were back at our terminal (HarbourFront). Right next to the terminal there are two large shopping centres, HarbourFront Centre and VivoCity. VivoCity is even the largest in Singapore, and we can confirm that – you can easily get lost in it.

A few hours later and with a bit less money in our pockets, we went back to the ship.

As our ship stayed in Singapore overnight, many passengers took the opportunity to spend the evening in the city, so the ship was almost empty. But that gave us a little special experience. While strolling around the ship, we came to the photo gallery and saw the photo manager and another crew member sorting photos.

We were promptly invited to help, so the four of us sorted photos together. We had really great conversations about everything under the sun. Many thanks to Katja Sims and Dominic Huber.

Day 9 / 28 degrees

At 10 a.m. we left the ship again. Today's destination was Sentosa Island, Singapore's leisure and recreation island.

The island can be reached by cable car or train. As the cable car ride for 50 dollars per person wasn't worth it to us, we took the train: 4 dollars per person return. The departure station (Sentosa Express) is on the 3rd floor of the VivoCity shopping centre.

10 minutes later we reached the island. Everything is here, from Universal Studios to 4D cinemas.

At 6 p.m. it was time to cast off again and head for Vietnam. After dinner the evening followed the usual routine: AIDA shop and AIDA Bar. Petra was already waiting for her cocktail.