A trip to Singapore

In his weekly The Bar Man column, Jeff Hoyle discusses a trip to South East Asia…The rise of the internet allows travellers to fill in vital entry documents to many countries in advance of their arrival. Indeed, in many cases border security insists that this is done. For entry to Singapore, a mandatory health declaration is required, easily completed online before departure.I left it to the Bar Wife, who was able to include us both on the same form and after a trouble-free trip I was rapidly through the automatic border control. Not so the Bar Wife. I glanced back and saw that she was the automatic gate refused to open for her and she was whisked away to a desk at the far side of the concourse.

Time passed. What should I do? Continue with the trip alone or insist on accompanying her wherever the authorities decide to take her. There was a precedent. Many years ago, I was initially denied boarding a Xian-Hong Kong flight due to our tour guide filling in the booking details too hastily and completing my details with her surname. She was all ready to go. ‘It’s easier to find a flight for one than two’ she reasoned.Fortunately, it didn’t come to that as my ticket was cancelled and rebooked in the correct name, and in Singapore, they eventually allowed her through after completing another form with no explanation as to why the advance one was unacceptable. Still, after travelling down from Lynn and taking the 13-hour flight we arrived at our hotel ready for food and drink.There were just a few minutes of happy hour left as we passed the hotel bar so without hesitation, I ordered Tiger Beer on the buy one get one free promotion. £12.99 spent and saved. A sign of things to come? Being our second visit to the island state, there was less pressure to visit the big attractions such as the Sky Park observation deck and the Gardens by the Bay, so we wandered around and took in the sights that we encountered, though sadly not ‘George Russel’s Skid Marks’ which appeared as an attraction on our map.The one place that was on our list was the Long Bar at Raffles Hotel, arguably the most famous bar in the world. Rebuilt since its heyday, it still has rattan furniture, dark wood outlined in gold and lots of mirrors reflecting its origins as a haunt for the colonial elite. Here was where the Singapore Sling was invented and that was the Bar Wife’s drink of choice while I picked a bottle of Golden Ale brewed especially for the hotel in Da Nang, Vietnam of all places. Remember the observation about hotel bars being rather pricey? That came to £46.79. The peanuts were complimentary, and the tradition is that you sweep the husks onto the floor.They might be the most expensive drinks I have ever bought, along with a beer and a Bellini in St Mark’s Square in Venice, though I guess it’s not the drink but the experience that you are actually purchasing. Still, with that ticked off the list we could go on to enjoy wandering around Chinatown, the Son et Lumiere display in the colonial quarter and the magnificent Botanic Gardens in our remaining time there.Our final evening saw us in a craft beer bar and restaurant where about 30 different beers were on offer, 28 of them with various fruit in them. The IPA and Golden Ale were the exceptions and very drinkable, but perhaps light on hops. On to Australia. The forms have been submitted. What will our reception be like there?