Day 67-68 at sea; March 13-14, 2011
Singapore
I spent the first few hours in Singapore working on my book. Then we went exploring. Took a cable car sky ride above the city that took us over to Sentosa Island which was a rather magical place. Views were spectacular. In addition to several parks, we hopped a tram and went from Beach Station through Merlion Park to Resort World which has Universal Studios, fabulous restaurants, a casino and convention center. HUGE complex. The parks were wonderful and I’ll post some pics on Facebook soon. There is a carving of the Merlion that is several stories high and has a number of water features at its base. These people know how to do parks.
BTW I posted some Hong Kong photos on FB the other day.
Singapore is a city and a state. While it adheres to British ways, it has Chinese, Hindu, Maylay, Islamic, Confucian, and Buddist elements. About 5 and ½ people live here. In early years, people were forced into certain areas—Chinese, Indians and Malaysians had their own territories which are still in place today as Little India and China Town. There are a number of Hindu and Chinese temples.
The laws in Singapore are very strict and enforced—there are a lot of rules. If one does not take care of their elderly parents, one could land in jail. Drug traffickers can expect a death sentence. There are no street people—everyone in Singapore has a home. The literacy rate is 93 percent. It is safe and it is clean—mostly. It is probably the busiest seaport in the world.
These people know how to build malls. We have nothing in comparison. I shopped and again bought nothing. Their idea of sizes here is small and extra small. J
I was to escort a tour on the second day, but my bus was cancelled so I went along with Marie, the watercolorist on hers to “learn the ropes.” It was a wonderful 4 hour tour and our guide had a good command of the English language, which is the primary language here. We went through Little India and saw a temple there and another in China Town. The highlight of the tour was a bumboat ride on the Singapore River. Lovely. At the end, we went to Raffles, a very old and expensive Hotel and the famous Long Bar where the Singapore Sling was invented. It’s a wonderful place and would be a fun place to stay if you could afford the $1000 per night rate. The drink costs $30, but ours was complimentary (included in the tour).
We had to be aboard by 1 pm and did make it back to the ship, but when I went to get my passport and my room card I discovered my room card was missing and I couldn’t get through security without it.
Totally embarrassed, I had to wait for someone from the ship to get me a new one. Marie was kind enough to wait for me. We ended up being a bit late boarding the ship, but others were behind us. I am so glad it wasn’t my passport. The day before A very sweet elderly lady lost her passport (or it was stolen), but they brought her through and took her to the US Embassy the next day to get a new one.
Finally, at 3 pm we sailed away, gazing in awe at this beautiful city. Oh, the skyline here is amazing. The Sands has a hotel Casino here that has a park on top. There is a structure—three skyscrapers with a ship on top than spans those three buildings. You have to see it to believe it. We left Singapore feeling as though we only scratched the surface. I want to come back and stay a week or two. I’d shop more in Little India, I’d eat at Bait, a world famous restaurant, I’d do the Zip Line—and so many other things to do and places to explore.
In the meantime, we are at sea for three days and then arrive in Kochi, India. Captain Olav gave us the sad news that due to the unrest in Egypt, we will not be stopping there. Instead, we will go to Israel. Some are disappointed. I am a little, but I’m excited to be wherever we are. J
Signing off for the moment, Pat
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