The Ice Cream Seller by the Singapore River

To most people, Singapore is hot … all the time, day and night. When the sun sets it is not quite as hot but still definitely tropical.

Down by the River, often on the walkway between the Cavenagh Bridge and the Asian Civilisations Museum you will find the Ice Cream Seller.

I am not sure why, but ice cream bought in any of the many shopping malls just doesn’t taste as good as the ice cream from the street Ice Cream Seller. Shopping mall ice cream is also much more expensive, but I guess that the rents there also add to the price.

The street Ice Cream Seller has a mobile “stand” like a motor bike with a side car that is a mobile freezer. He will set up where there will be a passing parade of hot tourists and locals alike and a queue forms fairly quickly. Up goes his umbrella to protect him from the sun and the shop is open. His ice cream is stored in cartons (in the old fashioned way) and he will cut off a generous slice of your chosen flavour and present it between two wafers, wrapped in a tissue, all for the very reasonable price of $1! There are many flavours to suit all tastes, even the local variety – durian – a very interesting taste.

So, if you see the bright umbrella of the Ice Cream Seller, don’t hesitate, try it, you’ll like it.




The Cavenagh Bridge was named after Colonel Cavenagh, the last Indian appointed Governor of Singapore. Construction began in 1868 and it was originally planned to be a drawbridge, but on completion it was found only to be suitable as a fixed structure. It continues to wear its original splendour and is now open only to pedestrians.


The Cavenagh Bridge links the Asian Civilisations Museum and the Fullerton Hotel. Both, places of wealth, one in culture and the other probably more correctly in dollars.


The Asian Civilisations Museum, formerly the Empress Place Building, named after Queen Victoria, was completed in 1867 and has served at different times as a Court House (not of royalty!) immigration department and government offices.

The Fullerton Hotel was constructed in 1928 as the Fullerton Building, has seen duty as The Singapore Club, the Chamber of Commerce, General Post Office and Internal Revenue Authority. Today it remains a masterpiece of neo classical grandeur and splendour. Walk through and take in the ambience, perhaps even stop for a cool drink in the airconditioned café or bar.

Seeing the Sites in Singapore……….by Bus – VERY DOABLE

No, it is NOT a spelling mistake.

As a tourist you need to get around the place and the tourist sites easily, cheaply and quickly. Often that may be on foot, especially in a city area.

In Singapore the MRT and the associated light rail in some suburban areas provides a great way to travel around. But for comfort, avoid morning and evening peak hours……….they get very crowded. Quite a normal experience really. The various MRT stops and interlinked lines are mostly convenient around the main city tourist spots. BUT……..you are underground and really see little.

Although, like many underground systems around the world [Mexico City and Moscow come to mind immediately] they do have quite a bit of art work on the walls and tile art on the floor, especially at Dhoby Ghaut in the interchange walk areas. Singaporeans usually rush past……….take some time and have a look.

But buses around the city are also worth discovering. First principle………assume you can get very close to where you need to go, even if there is a bus change part way. Buy and use one of the current and easily obtained bus and train annual guide books put out by the authorities. You can easily work out the how to get there from where ever quite easily. You can also obtain verification of the routes and bus stops at the actual bus stop itself. It is very common to see locals also checking out this while they are waiting.

Buses are usually reasonably quick for journeys around the main downtown city core areas and within a few kilometres from the central areas. Often they allow you to board at a very close by stop, avoiding the walk to the MRT Station. For some areas eg Parkway Parade / Mercure Roxy Hotel and East Coast area buses are it……….there is no MRT [well not yet anyway].

There are some special tourist buses that offer “get on / get off” passes for a day. Compared to the local buses they are VERY expensive, so do not dismiss the local buses in Singapore. Mostly air-conditioned too.

It is generally possible to get to and from most tourist sites by public transport, with buses offering a reasonable option. Whether it be Changi Point or Changi Chapel or Woodlands Interchange or Woodlands Checkpoint [crossing to Johore Bahru] you can get there by bus.

Try it …………you might like it. Remember that the “touch and go” multi journey stored value MRT / Bus ticket means you do not need to know the fare, just use it on the bus. Makes it very easy.

There are some late night routes that offer a slightly different route to daytime, often combining a few bus routes into one. Not always as convenient, but usually cheaper than a taxi.

Singapore is NOT a late night city for urban public transport, with the MRT having last trains around 1130 pm, and buses around midnight for normal routes. But these night bus routes do offer some extra travel a little later into the early morning.

People of Singapore

Whether they are working on a construction site high up in the city, cooking up a storm, waiting for a meal, having a smoko break, just walking down the street or resting after a hard day in the saddle; they make very interesting and diverse pictures don't they?

Wordless Wednesday

Old houses and buildings in the Adelaide Hills

I recently took a road trip around the Adelaide Hills. I came across some amazing old buildings, some still habitable, some not and some, I am not quite sure, but all of them with character.

Right in the middle of the supposedly fastest growing town in South Australia, Mt Barker, was a strangely majestic sandstone building which looked to me as if it had once been a stable, or perhaps even partly living quarters.

It sat high on the hill, with an aura of authority as it looked down on the town, knowingly watching it grow. If only those wall could speak … the stories they could tell. Sitting beside it was an old rusted plough … amazing feeling about the place. I would have loved to walk inside and feel the aura; but the barbed wire fence surrounding it made it reasonably clear that that would not be welcome.
I do, however, intend to check it out again next visit. It sits on the hill in a large paddock, in the middle of a new subdivision on the outskirts of Mt Barker - Mt Barker Heights? - in splendid isolation definitely oozing authority. Below and around it are many modern homes and even the odd McMansion, but it has not an air of being threatened. And I hope it stays that way.
Bit of history …

What is today known as Mount Barker was first sighted by Captain Sturt from Lake Alexandrina in February 1830, though Sturt believed he was looking at Mount Lofty, which Flinders had discovered in 1802. Captain Collett Barker rectified this error when he undertook a survey of the district in 1831. Sturt renamed the mountain in honour of Captain Barker who was killed by Aborigines while exploring near the mouth of the River Murray later that year.

When I first drove through Mt Barker I decided that it may be a town with a long and venerable history. From memory, the sign at the beginning of the main street said “Historic Gawler Street” – that was a fair warning! The town centre has many historic buildings nestled beside modern ones, including the inevitable Maccas (it’s not exactly nestled, rather standing out there on it’s own with a surrounding carpark!) and new shopping centres. Historic Gawler Street does, however, have some old time buildings that work and blend well.

Captain Sturt reported favourably on the agricultural potential of the area, with rich soils and luxuriant native pastures of the surrounding undulating hills and plains, but it was not until the late 1830s that this area was explored further. The first Special Survey of the Mount Barker District was opened to prospective buyers in March, 1840. Land was cleared and the rich agricultural land was developed for grazing and crop production. In February 1840 the proposed layout of the township of Mount Barker was announced.

Moving into the closer suburbs you will come across a large number of mostly, well kept and renovated old homes. These vary from tiny workmen’s cottages to large estate homes.

Driving out of town towards the Laratinga Wetlands, I glanced left at an empty block and there sat what in it’s youth would have been a stately home. It took me a few dead ends to try and find my way, through the new developments, to the rear of the home, to discover that serious renovation was taking place there. I returned to the original viewing position and discovered that a closer look showed me that the main roof had already been replaced and that the bull-nosed iron on the verandah would be next in line as that is part of what was being done at the rear. I wonder if the vacant land in front of that beautiful old house will become a new subdivision soon.

That cappuccino I had planned for at Hahndorf would have to wait until the next day, because I had taken too long looking at “just down the next street.” I did however get one in Mt Barker at Giovanni Pizza.

Next day I was travelling along the (old) Princes Highway, near Nairne in the Hills, and right there on the side of the road was another old sandstone building. After turning around and returning to the safer, other side of the road and pulling off to a safe parking spot, I took some photos of another building from the past.
More barbed wire to keep the adventurous out, some reinforcement to prevent further deterioration and there was a sign above what was probably, in its heyday, the front door.

St James School 1848. Could this one’s walls tell some stories!

Nairne was one of South Australia's earliest settlements, founded by Matthew Smillie, who named the town after the maiden name of his wife Elizabeth Corse Nairne. Established in 1839, it is only three years younger than the state of South Australia.

So this old building was there almost at the beginning.

Back in the car and not much further on some buildings once again caught my eye.



Hardly any room at all to get off the road, so pictures were captured hurriedly.

An old farmhouse, which has obviously had some reasonably recent additions, in the form of pine lattice work. There is character in those, what would appear to some to be absolutely ramshackle, buildings. It gets quite cold in that part of the world. I could almost feel that lazy wind whistling past there in the middle of winter. Brrrr!

Can you also notice how dry the paddocks beyond are? It is still drought in that part of the country.

Adelaide

Adelaide is a well set out city.

The Bicentennial Conservatory in the Adelaide Botanical Gardens

South Australia was proclaimed in December 1836, and in 1837 Col Light in his plan of Adelaide showed an area set aside for a botanic garden. In April 1855, George Francis was appointed Superintendent, and the garden was opened to the public in 1857. In planning the layout, Francis is said to have been influenced by those at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in England and Versailles in France, together with certain German and Dutch stylistic influences. Even today, the Adelaide Botanic Garden has a northern European style, also reflected in its nineteenth century buildings.

Even in the present time of drought it is a 30-hectare garden oasis in the cosmopolitan heart of Adelaide city.

Built to celebrate Australia’s Bicentenary, in1988, is the largest single span conservatory in the southern hemisphere. Designed by South Australian architect Guy Maron, the building is curvilinear in shape, 100 metres long, 47 metres wide and 27 metres high. An elegant steel superstructure supports the 2434 square metres of toughened glass which forms the roof, walls and doors. Its glistening and distinctive shape is a landmark particularly for visitors flying into Adelaide.

It houses a display of lowland tropical rainforest plants from northern Australia, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and the nearby Pacific Islands. Many of these plants are at risk or endangered in their natural habitats.

A lower walkway winds across the undulating forest floor and an upper walkway takes visitors among the canopy of tropical trees and palms. Both walkways have full wheelchair access.

I have included some photos of the Bicentennial Conservatory.

If you visit Adelaide, try to make a visit.