Needlework Cruise: Singapore

The cruise finished in Singapore, where we were met by family members who live there. It was lovely to spend some time with them, especially as it was all organised in a rush the night before (they thought we were arriving on the Friday!).

The main thing I wanted to do in Singapore was go shopping in Arab Street (THE place to buy textiles and beads in Singapore). And then we just planned to have an explore and wander around the city. Both of us had been to Singapore before, so it was not new to us in the way that Bangkok and Saigon were. We only had 12 hours in Singapore before flying home to see our girls again, so there wasn’t that much time to fit things in.

Arab Street is an area where there are a lot of textile and persian carpet traders. There is a mosque in the area also. We arrived just before 10am, when all the shops seemed to be opening for the day. We made our way up one side of the street, and then down the other. As we explored, we did see other ladies from the needlework cruise also having their own explore!

Part way along the second side, I decided that I shouldn’t go into any more shops as it was becoming a bit expensive! If I didn’t see the fabric, then I wouldn’t feel the need to add it to what I was taking home with me as souvenirs…!

As well as fabric shops, there were also a few bead shops, from which I sourced some beads for a project that I have in mind. C Rashiwala Bros was the first bead shop I went into, and it had an excellent selection of beads. I purchased quite a few there. The second one we went into, I had a packet of tiny seed beads in my hand, and as I was looking at another one, I accidentally dropped it! I split open into the container below. I was so embarrassed and so apologetic. At least it was all contained and didn’t go *everywhere*.

After our Arab Street sojourn, we wandered towards the Marina Bay area, and went across the Helix pedestrian bridge to the Marina Bay Sands and the shopping centre at its base. The Marina Bay Sands wasn’t built last time I was in Singapore (about 10 years ago) so it was rather an amazing sight.

In the afternoon we went back to our relatives’ place to collect our luggage. We missed seeing their kids after school by about twenty minutes which was disappointing, but we had to get to the airport.

All in all, our whole trip was really enjoyable. Neither of us are sure that we would want to go on a cruise if we didn’t have something to *do* on it. The three cruises I’ve been on now, I had something to do on all of them – two I was teaching needlework, and the other I used as a writing retreat so I was writing all the time. However, most cruises leaving from Australia don’t have 5 consecutive days at sea, either. We loved the introduction to new parts of the world, and can see that we might go back to Vietnam some day.