We moved our baggage into the dormitory on the sixth floor but apparently all the beds were still taken. Our sortie to the General Post Office at Fullerton House, which was situated by the famous lion-headed fish statue, taught us that we could kiss goodbye to our mail. It was not with Post Restante, so the clerk told us that it would have been “returned to sender”.
The Merlion is the national symbol of the city-state of Singapore. It is depicted as a mythical creature with a lion's head and the body of a fish. Being of prominent symbolic nature to Singapore and Singaporeans in general, it is widely used to represent both the country and its people in sports teams, advertising, branding, tourism and as a national personification and patriotic emblem of the Singaporean nation. The Merlion was first used in Singapore as the logo for the tourism board.
George picked up his other 4x24 Exposure films worth of photographs and we decided against flying to Cairo as it was £27 for an Egyptian Visa. The photographs cheered us up again and the Egyptian Visa problem exercised our flexibility. We decided to fly to Athens in Greece with a stopover in Moscow for £234 on Aeroflot but would have to wait until Monday for confirmation of our booking.
PJSC Aeroflot, the Russian Airlines commonly known as Aeroflot (English translation: "air fleet"), is the flag carrier and largest airline of the Russian Federation (at this time it was still The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)). The airline was founded in 1923, making Aeroflot one of the oldest active airlines in the world. Aeroflot is headquartered in the Central Administrative Okrug, Moscow, with its hub being Sheremetyevo International Airport.
The rest of the day passed in window shopping and the accumulation of more S$2 music cassettes, bringing the total to eleven each. Our problem now was how to play them. This was solved by the purchase of a couple of Unicef Z-8 “Mini Home HiFi’s”. This composed of a Walkman with detachable speakers and cost S$45 Singapore Dollars including a S$6 mains adaptor.
Back at Peony Mansions we were finally allotted our dormitory beds in a seven-bedded room that looked like a bomb had hit it! Personal belongings and drying laundry were scattered hither and thither. We assembled our HiFi’s and treated ourselves to an LP side of favourite music each before hitting the streets again.
We selected the nearest McDonalds for our evening repast and recreation, striding swiftly to our goal, with me stubbing my toe in the process. These flip-flop sandals don’t offer much toe protection. During the day we had avoided the few rain showers and I ignored a young girl of about twelve years old who kept winking at me in Burger King.
Motorcyclists roared up and down wearing their jackets back to front as we risked life and limb scurrying across the multi-lane one-way streets. Back at the dormitory we were intruded upon by two English blokes who wanted to see our photographs.
One of them assured me that I would not require a return or onward ticket to gain entry to Australia and then produced a list of Australian Immigration “Conditions of Entry” that proved otherwise. You had to have either a return or onward ticket or sufficient funds to purchase one.
That was me scuppered as far as Australia was concerned. We listened to our Walkman music players before turning in at 00:30 hrs on Sunday morning.
Music Cassettes that we Purchased in Singapore:-
Let’s Dance David Bowie
Duck Rock Malcolm McLaren
The Best of The Doors The Doors
The Very Best of The Sex Pistols The Sex Pistols
Dig the New Breed - The Jam Live The Jam
Quartet Ultravox
Vienna Ultravox
Dazzle Ships Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD)
Whammy The B52’s
Romance of Our Time Various Artists*
Combat Rock The Clash
London Calling The Clash
One Step Beyond Madness
War U2
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road Elton John
Tropical Gangsters Kid Creole & The Coconuts
My Aim is True Elvis Costello
Born to Run Bruce Springsteen
The Singles Siouxsie & The Banshees
Viva! Roxy Music
Party Mix The B52’s
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