Bathroom with a view …

I HAVE a bathroom with a view.

I’m staying at Shangri-La’s Rasa Sentosa Resort, which sits on the south-western tip of the little island that snuggles against Singapore southern coast, and my room has a glorious view across the beaches and man-made lagoons to the busy shipping lanes that run between Indonesia and Malaysia.

My bathroom is at the back of my suite, but there’s a window which means I can look across the bed to the ships swinging on their anchors in the water beyond the hotel as I stand under the water.

While I was taking my morning shower today I watched a swarm of tugs hurrying about, saw a couple of cargo ships leave the port and crawl towards the open water, and counted a fleet of ferries and landing craft dashing off towards the outer islands.

Just in the 90-degrees of view I can see from my balcony I counted 50 ships and the vast majority are just resting, with everything from shiny rig tenders and dirty old oilers to long cargo ships and wide tankers.

I was told it’s cheaper and safer for the vessels to drop anchor just off the Sentosa coast when they’re waiting for their slot to pull into port or some other appointment.

If you like a ship, this is the hotel for you – now all I need if for the American fleet to sail past with a couple of aircraft carriers and a whole lot of battleships in tow.