Raffles, Singapore

Raffles, Singapore 

My hotel was in the heart of Chinatown which was where we were staying...but we were going to Raffles for a Singapore Sling in the Long Bar...

The entrance to Raffles...

...part of their garden...

...a walkway overlooking the gardens...

...another view...

...one of the wings of the hotel.

Inside the Long Bar in Raffles. Note the ceiling fans, originally operated by a punka wallah. The floor looked clean but it was covered in peanut husks. It is a tradition that peanuts in their shells are waiting for customers at every table and that the shells are thrown on the floor. Singapore is a benevolent dictatorship republic. Rules can be harsh. Every where else in IndoChina, the roads are clogged with masses of scooters. They are banned in Singapore. Drive a car or take the very cheap public transport, buses, rail, metro or taxis. 

Fines for littering are up to SGP5,000 (circa USD3,500). Second offences are double the maximum and three months in jail. Throwing peanut husks on the floor is an offence, but due to tradition, the Long Bar is exempt. I am sure some people just come to legally flout the law just to get their money's worth.

The Magnificent Seven, the seven who had started in Istanbul more than five months previously and had survived the pouring rain, camping in the middle of nowhere with no facilities, freezing temperatures, altitude and cold in mountains especially at Everest Base Camp, hot and humid conditions, being eaten alive by insects and not just mosquitoes and all sorts of nondescript stomach upsets.

We had earnt our Singapore Slings in Raffles, posing in front of the billiard table...

...and posing in front of the bar with our Slings, probably the most expensive single drink I have ever had at USD30 each...made more expensive by 10% service charge and 9% tax.