Caught in the rain

Ted has been working nights the last few days, leaving around dinner time and arriving back sometime between 1-2am. That’s just how it is when you’re working in the simulators, you take the times that are doled out. So, I’ve been on my own in the afternoons while he is prepping for the session and after he leaves for work. It’s given me the opportunity to walk around the parts of the city that I’ve already been to and feel like I’m getting to know it, and explore a bit of new territory. I’ve ventured out for dinner by myself and enjoyed some awesome food, but I’ll be glad when we can have an evening meal together again.

Since he has been working at night we have had the early part of the day together and we’ve taken a number of walks, through Fort Canning park, and along the river, repeating the path in a few variations. Today, after a visit to One Visa for our Visa paperwork, we ventured a bit further afield, past the Marina Sands Hotel and into the Gardens by the Bay. I’ll take another trip down there soon, on a sunny day with my camera to share with you how truly amazing the gardens are and the views of downtown from the gardens. We didn’t go into the greenhouses, but I can’t wait to see them.

View from the Marina Barrage back towards the Gardens by the Bay, the Marina Sands and the financial district

The walk was further than either of us had planned to take and really we should have looked at the sky earlier and known what was awaiting us, but by the time we did notice we knew we were doomed to be caught out in the storm.

About the time we were nearly as far from our hotel as we could possibly get the heavens opened up and dumped rain on us. We escaped into the Marina Sands mall, which is still under construction, and wandered for a while waiting for the rain to let up. So, we waited, and we wandered, and we waited and we wandered. Neither of us had brought any money, or a credit card with us, so even though the mall is full of restaurants and I was getting very hungry indeed, all we could do was wait and enjoy the sights.

I wasn’t entirely oblivious to the dark clouds, but we knew we weren’t going to make it home before the rain hit anyway

We wandered up to the oculus during the heaviest part of the downpour to witness the funneling of the deluge down into the mall. You seriously have to see the oculus to believe it. It is essentially a giant acrylic basin that collects water and allows it to pour down into a central pool in the mall and then on into canals that have little bridges across them. This, in one of the toniest malls I’ve ever seen. Every high end brand you can think of has a presence here; Calvin Klein, Dior, Balenciaga, Mikimoto, the list goes on and on. It’s all part of a giant development, which if you follow the link above and here will allow you to read about it. It’s an amazing feat of architecture, engineering and money.

The oculus. It doesn’t look as impressive as it really is.

Eventually we got tired of waiting and made a run for it. Ted was already pretty wet and I had and umbrella, but we still both got soaked. By the time we made it back to our place it had slowed to a mere sprinkle.

Next time I’ll bring money so at least we can have lunch while we wait out the storm.