Southeast Asia Travel -11/15 – Day Seventeen: Packed and ready to go, our suitcases outside our door, we were ready to disembark Le Soleal for the last time. We had to go through immigration and customs in Singapore before we could take the shuttle to our hotel.

The Singapore Business District.

We arrived at Raffles Singapore and were escorted through the magnificent lobby to a waiting area on the second floor while the staff checked everyone in. Our rooms wouldn’t be ready until the afternoon so we headed out to start touring the city with only one day to take in as much as we could.

Raffles Singapore

Instead of taking a planned tour, we had already planned to use the hop on hop off bus to see Singapore with our friends George and Mary, who were staying a couple extra days. We decided we could either settle on seeing just a couple things; or by taking the bus around the city instead, we could at least get a nice overview. I think we made the right decision.

We rode the first line and then went back to the hotel to get settled in our room.

Our room in Raffles Singapore.

I could go on and on about the Raffles Singapore. It is the most beautiful hotel I’ve ever stayed in. The hotel itself (built in 1887) is massive and elegant. Our room was huge! The bathroom alone was almost as big as our room on the ship had been. Michael and I were both disappointed we could only enjoy Raffles for one night.

The stunning lobby of the Raffles Singapore Hotel.

In all, Michael and I rode three of the five bus lines around the city. Though we didn’t really get to explore; we saw most of the different districts in Singapore. We saw much of the eclectic mix of modern and historic architecture and only wished we’d had the time to wander through the vast markets in Chinatown and Little India. Instead of being overly wordy- here are some of my favorite images I took throughout the day.

The Original Singapore Sling at Raffles’ Long Bar.

We went to Raffles’ Long Bar for their famous Singapore Sling, which was celebrating it’s 100^th anniversary. A busy place and always a line out the door, Long Bar is full of old world atmosphere. I have to say that they have quite a racket going with the Singapore Sling though. One drink is about $28 USD!

We had hoped to go to Gardens by the Sea for the light show but were seeing lightning in the distance. Exhausted after a long day, we decided to call it a night. Sadly, we said ‘goodbye for now’ to George and Mary. We’d had a great time with them throughout our vacation and I’m sure we’ll see more of them in the future.