Singapore in December 1990

Here's another short film of our trip to Singapore in 1990. The building covered in bamboo is the New 7th Storey Hotel and we stayed there when we landed in Singapore. It actually looks worse in the film than I remember it! I think that the hotel was in Rochor Road and has only recently been knocked down. When the taxi driver dropped us off, he said, 'No good!'. We stayed there anyway, because we were on abudget. We appeared to be their only guests and they'd left a pair of flip flops out for us in two completely different sizes! The cockroaches woke us up in the morning and we went to have breakfast in the restaurant on the top floor. Great views but it looked nothing like their leaflet which I've still got. I'll scan it sometime and put it on here. I remember that there was a very old man operating the lift. Of course, many Naval families stayed at the 7th Storey Hotel in the 1960s but I think that it had gone downhill a lot since then.



The film also features views of the streets, Chinatown, the Merlion, Singapore River, the Christmas lights in Orchard Road, the remaining sampans on the river and right at the end, Singapore Zoo. It's worth sticking with the film just to see the swimming polar bear!
After we left the 7th Storey Hotel, we stayed at the much more plush YMCA on Orchard Road. It was better than any posh hotel I've stayed in but you could only stay there for 3 days so we ended up in the Supreme, which was a step up from the 7th Storey Hotel but not much of one. The wiring seemed dodgy and the air condition was jammed on which made it freezing cold in the rooms. The man on the reception told us if we wanted it warmer, to just open the window! When we left, the taxi driver said, 'Don't stay there - big fire!'.
I'd love to go again some day. I bet it's all changed and even many of the places in this small film will now be gone.