Tuesday 17th March, Singapore

Happy birthday to me!! We used our last morning in Singapore to visit the Raffles Hotel and celebrate with Afternoon Tea (instead of breakfast and lunch). Elegant, sophisticated, delicious. Madam, sir, hope you have enjoyed your time here, may we wish you a very happy birthday with this cake.
The last photograph here is on display at Raffles, taken at its opening under the Sarkies brothers' new ownership in 1887. It also shows therefore how Emmerson's Hotel at 1 Beach Road had looked when Charles Emmerson died - of a week long fever, and only 47 years old - in 1883. A 10 bedroom beachside bungalow, which had been advertised as "Singapore's most complete and private hotel". It was only later when new buildings were added and the extraordinary grandeur of today's hotel was created, more like a whole town's worth of splendid edifices, and a whole peacock-tail-display of rich-men's brand shops. We enjoyed walking through from back to front and front to back, but didn't stopped more than to ogle the extraordinary wares on display. And to poke a nose into the famous Long Bar, home of the Singapore Sling, only to see no peanut shells littering the floor, despite all rumours to the contrary.

La-di-dah. A pretty nice way to finish up our travels, and to enjoy my birthday with Luca.Read more