Tag: hop on hop off bus

“THE RETIREES GO AROUND THE WORLD – Singapore Day 2“

We had planned on catching the bus on Day 2 to visit places on the Yellow line of the hop on hop off tour route. A restful night and we were getting ready to get on the move again. Kerry hopped in the shower but was suddnely overcome with dizziness and despite calling me to the shower ended up falling over. She passed out and I was able to wake her and together we got her to a seated upright position. Fortunately she had not done any harm but she was still light headed. She said she only wished to rest today and urged me to go off on my own. After arranging breakfast I took off to catch the bus before 9.40am which was the expiration of my tour ticket. I got to the bus by the skin of my teeth and travelled the yellow route the the rest of the day.

The yellow route tended to travel north west to south east whereas the red route had travelled north east to south west. So I caught the red route bus to the terminus then changed bus to the yellow route. The first stop was near the Singapore Flyer – a ferris wheel overlooking the outer bay. It then followed the red route to the Gardens by the Bay then meandered through the CBD out to the Botanic Gardens and then returned to the terminus at the Suntech Mall. I again transferred to the red route to return to the hotel. The following is a pictorial of some of the sites along the way.

On the first day we had passed the Yueh Hai Ching Temple. I decided I would visit the temple which required I get off the tour bus at the Fullerton Hotel and wind my way back to Phillip St and find the temple. The Temple is walled and the front doors being open I stepped into the square at the front of the temple. Yueh Hai Ching Temple is also known as the Wak Hai Cheng Bio from its Teochew pronunciation. The temple, whose name literally means “Temple of the Calm Sea”, was the first stop for Chinese immigrants to Singapore in the early 19th century. Philip Street was once near the sea, so that sailors could head to the temple immediately after docking to offer their prayers and gratitude for their safe journey . Due to land reclamation, the temple was effectively distanced from the shore.

There are in fact two temples. The right temple is dedicated to Xuan Tian Shang Di, otherwise known as Duo Lau Yah. The left temple is dedicated to Tian Hou Sheng Mu, otherwise known as Ma Zu. The Xuan Tian Shang Di is a god worshipped by the Taoist. It is very much respected and worshipped by the secret societies in 19th Century. Mazu is worshipped as she guides ships to safety in times of peril. Our son Adam has throughout his life been a Chinofile is now a highly accomplished Mandarin speaker, writer and translator. After his service in the military and before retiring he served representing Australia in Beijing for 3 years. Because of his interests in matters Chinese I sent him photos of the temple and its Chinese scripts and he was the first to alert me tothe fact that the Temple in fact worships two Gods namely Duo Lau Yah and Mazu. Here are my photos.

I wanted to send him images of the manuscripts on the walls for his interest and my need to have a translation so I took further photos with my phone for ease of transfer.

I have forgotten what Adam told me about the different scriptures but understanding that there are two temples and these manuscripts were prepared at different times I begin to understand why there are marked differences.

I returned to Kerry at the hotel. She was feeling better and I think we may have taken a walk to obtain dinner that night. All of the various cafes and restaurant all seemed to fire up after dark. “THE RETIREES GO AROUND THE WORLD – Singapore Day 3“

“THE RETIREES GO AROUND THE WORLD – DAY 10 SS NIEUW STATENDAM – Cork“

After sailing from the Isle of Man, we headed toward a former British dependancy – Eire and the city of Cork. We have been to Ireland previously but despite it being tiny compared to home, 4 weeks was not enough to get everywhere and Cork was one of those places. We have become quite adept at finding our own way. But it becomes tiring so we took the easy way with the hop on hop off bus. I have attached our map of Cork – things to see and do in Cork. We had been to Blarney castle and I had kissed the “Barney stone”. Its supposed to give the kisser the gift of elequence – some might consider that to be an overkill in my case. And thats why we did not go to Cork – we went to the castle only all those years ago.

2026.01.10 Map of CorkDownload

The port for Cork is actually a town called Cobh and a pretty town it is with a good connection to Cork by rail. So our day started with a train ride. The ship passed some of the pretty houses as it docked but once we docked and entered the Port of Cork we then had to pass through the Cobh Cruise Terminal – now that’s Irish. On arriving at Cork rail terminal we crossed the road to Station View Tavern (it looks at the station) and awaited the hop on hop off bus.

Having boarded the bus, we occupied seats on the open roof of the bus. The following photos follow the ride. Firstly we moved through the docks area to an old bridge which had street lighting where all the lights appeared to be arching over the road similating dockside cranes. There were church spires on the horizon some like the one photographed below adorned with a sign of the occupation of its parishoners – in this case a fish atop the weather vane. We had no particular things we wished to see so we were taking the full tour before deciding. We came to the entrance of the old gaol and the bus had an exagerated lean towards the footpath. After some passengers got off the bus the cry went out, “Stand up and move over on top”. Well that had me puzzled until I realised the bus had to be righted so that it could leave its parking place – you see all of us moving as instructed. The bus then carefully made its way to the Courthouse.

We planned to hop off the bus at the English Market. We passed some graffitti on the way – some in the street style and then a full size portrait but there was little else of interest before reaching the Market. I am not sure what we were hoping to find. As the name implies its a market and there was nothing that we could take back to the ship.

We left the market and waited in the square for our bus. Kerry stopped a local bike rider for some directions. We felt like fools (I was taking the picture).

There was some time wasted waiting for the bus. I took some further photos of surrounding buildings and ultimately the bus arrived. Our tour was coming to an end. We got off at the Station View Tavern and then returned on the train to the port. Nothing much to do when Kerry noticed the cabs lined up offering tours and one was to the Jameson Distillery. That sounded promising. We climbed into the cab and shot off expecting this would be nearby. Well we were wrong. Firstly he stopped to show us a castle tower converted into a dwelling before turning into a place called Middletons which turns out to be the maker of Jamiesons Whiskey and some other labels. They offered tasting paddles at a price of course but I picked up a bottle of Redbreast single pot stilled 12 year old whiskey and saved paying for the paddle. I also obtained a whiskey taster. Many years ago, probably 10 years ago, Doug and Neirda travelled with us to Oban and Doug and I did the tour and obtained an “Oban” labeled taster. So I also obtained a Jamieson’s taster. I have shown both tasters below.

We were returned to the dock in Cobh and boarded the ship with our booty. Tomorrow would be at sea and our last day would result in our returning to Dover and disembarking. So this is what its like to be at sea. The only vessel we passed between Cobh and Dover.

We had planned to take a taxi to our hotel in Heathrow following which we would fly to Singapore for a short stay before travelling home. However, the ship was providing a bus to Heathrow which meant we could make a saving of over 100 pounds and a more reliable way to travel or so we thought. My next blog we return to Heathrow Airport then go to Singapore. Stay tuned for the trip home – “THE RETIREES GO AROUND THE WORLD – Heathrow overnight and arrive in Singapore“