Singapore Slings & Night Markets.

In the early 1800s, the British East Asia Company (think Hudson Bay Company without dogsleds or canoes) sent Sir Stamford Raffles to establish a trading post on what is now Singapore island. His legacy lives on in the beautiful Raffles Hotel and the restored Long Bar, where the Colonial Administration folks met for drinks & chit chat back in the day. Because it was considered unladylike for women to drink in public the bartender invented a brightly coloured, fruit based drink that he loaded up with gin and liqueurs and created the famous Singapore Sling.

So when in Singapore, you go to the Long Bar, drink Slings, eat the provided peanuts and litter the floor with the shells and watch the bartenders use a hand cranked, 6 container drink mixer machine go to work.

Then you head off to a local Night Market for dinner along with half of Singapore and practice the art of finding a table in the crowded mayhem and deciding what to eat . . . There are hundreds of food stalls. Bonus points if you get a table that is blessed with a ceiling fan!

Then you say goodbye to your Perth cruise shipmates and realize everyone is on the homeward bound leg of their vacations.Read more