Singapore

One of the great advantages of cruising is that you get to sample a taste of each location visited.  In this case, I leave Singapore hungry for more.  This is an incredible city and we only had a few hours to explore it. 

Yes, these buildings are really crooked

Singapore has lots of green space

There are many modern buildings

Short History of Singapore from Fodor’s Travel Guide

Modern Singapore dates its nascency from the early morning of January 29, 1819, when a representative of the British East India Company, Thomas Stamford Raffles, stepped ashore at Singa Pura (Sanskrit for "Lion City"), as the island was then called, hoping to establish a British trading settlement on the southern part of the Malay Peninsula. There's clear evidence, however, of earlier Malay settlements, and also of an early Chinese presence, such as the 14th-century city of Temasek, which had an elegant and prosperous aristocracy. At various times Singapore fell under the sway of the Javanese and Thai empires. When Raffles arrived, the two sons of its previous sultan, who had died six years earlier, were in dispute over the throne. Raffles backed the claim of the elder brother, Tunku Hussein Mohamed Shah, and proclaimed him sultan. Offering to support the new sultanate with British military strength, Raffles persuaded him to grant the British a lease allowing them to establish a trading post on the island in return for an annual rent; within a week the negotiations were concluded. (A later treaty ceded the island outright to the British.) Within three years the fishing village, surrounded by swamps and jungle and populated only by tigers, 200 or so Malays, and a scattering of Chinese, had become a boomtown of 10,000 immigrants, administered by 74 British employees of the East India Company.

As Singapore grew, the British erected splendid public buildings, churches, and hotels, often using Indian convicts for labor. The Muslim, Hindu, Taoist, and Buddhist communities—swelling rapidly from the influx of fortune-seeking settlers from Malaya (now Malaysia), India, and South China—built mosques, temples, and shrines. Magnificent houses for wealthy merchants sprang up, and the harbor was soon lined with godowns (warehouses) to hold all the goods passing through the port.

By the turn of the century, Singapore had become the entrepôt of the East, a mix of adventurers and "respectable middle classes." World War I hardly touched the island, although its defenses were strengthened to support the needs of the British navy, for which Singapore was an important base. When World War II broke out, the British were complacent, expecting that any attack would come from the sea and that they would be well prepared to meet it. But the Japanese landed to the north, in Malaya. The two British battleships that had been posted to Singapore were sunk, and Japanese land forces raced down the peninsula on bicycles.

In February 1942 the Japanese captured Singapore. A huge number of Allied civilians and military were sent to Changi Prison; others were marched off to prison camps in Malaysia or to work on the notorious "Death Railway," in Thailand. The three and a half years of occupation was a time of privation and fear; an estimated 100,000 people died. The Japanese surrendered August 21, 1945, and the Allied forces returned to Singapore. The security of the British Empire was, however, never again to be felt, and independence for British Southeast Asia was only a matter of time.

In 1957 the British agreed to the establishment of an elected 51-member legislative assembly in Singapore. General elections in 1959 gave an overwhelming majority—43 of 51 seats—to the People's Action Party (PAP), and a young Chinese lawyer named Lee Kuan Yew became Singapore's first prime minister. In 1963 Singapore became part of the Federation of Malaysia, along with the newly independent state of Malaysia.

Mainly due to Malays' anxiety over a possible takeover by the ethnic Chinese, the federation broke up two years later, and Singapore became an independent sovereign state. The electorate supported Lee Kuan Yew and the PAP time and again. In 1990 Lee resigned after 31 years as prime minister, though as a senior minister he maintains his strong grip. His firm leadership of the party, his social and economic legislation, andhis suppression of criticism led to his reputation as a (usually) benevolent dictator; yet Singaporeans recognize that his firm control had much to do with the republic's economic success and high standard of living. Lee's son, Lee Hsien Loong, officially took over from Lee's handpicked successor, Goh Chok Tong, as prime minister on August 12, 2004. His style of governing seems to reveal a determination to distance himself from his father's style of leadership.

  

What do you get when eight different people try to make arrangements to do a group activity? “ I don’t care”, “whatever you decide”, “I want to…”  Yes, at breakfast eight of us decided to take the hop-on-hop-off bus tour and discussed what sites were worth a visit.  It was quite comical and I was in the “whatever you decide” group.  There was Lillian and Adrian, Hanita and Morry, Barry and Christine, and us.  Maps were displayed over the breakfast dishes, and we finally came up with a time to meet at the gangplank.  At 9:15am, the group assembled and we did not leave right away as there was no bottled water waiting for us.  None of us were getting off the ship without water.  It was too hot and humid to tour without this precious commodity.  We didn’t have to wait very long for the water to be brought out, but this slight impediment to our timetable turned out to be unfortunate.

I like the concept of the ship tied to a dock that happens to be adjacent to a huge air-conditioned mall.  We walked through the cruise ship terminal and entered the mall where we spotted the information desk.  After inquiring about the bus, we found out that we had just missed the shuttle to pick up the bus and that we would have to wait an hour for another shuttle or take a taxi or take the subway.  Now remember, we are eight people.  No one wanted to wait for an hour for the next shuttle, and the taxis would not take eight people.  So we decided on the subway.  Why am I telling you all this?  The subway system in Singapore is AWESOME.

Lillian, Adrian, and Beverly

Barry, Christine, Hanita, Morry

Modern and clean subway cars

We exchanged money as they do not take US dollars here.  Armed with maps, money, water and energy, we entered the subway from the mall without having to go out in the heat.  If you have ever seen New York subways, you know they are covered with graffiti and are dirty.  As grimey and dirty as New York is, this was clean clean clean.  Directions were in English and easy to follow.  Some parts of the underground passages were quite warm, but it was better than being outside.  We got our tickets and off we went.  On our way to the bus, we spotted another bus line and wound up buying tickets on that bus after comparing the routes and prices.  Christine was the ring-leader here.

So off we go and I am expecting to die of heatstroke if I chose to ride on the top of the double decker tour bus.  But I was deliriously happy because there was a section of the top deck that was AIR-CONDITIONED!!!  Michael and Morry chose to ride in the open while the rest of us proved we had a sane mind and rode in air-conditioned comfort.  Our tour started at the famous Raffles Hotel. 

Raffles Hotel

As we toured around the city, I could not help but marvel at the modern architecture, the beautifully manicured landscape, and how clean it was.  Everything looked new even if it wasn’t.  There are underground tunnels and skywalks that connect buildings all over the city.   We also saw plenty of construction all around.

We saw an incredible Hindu temple.  WOW  Really cool.  The Clarke Quay area had row houses, and each house had its shutters painted in different pastel colors. We saw gorgeous estates and travelled along embassy row.  The famous Botanical gardens is a must see – and that is for another time – as we all decided not today, although I don’t know when a good time would be as it is always this hot and humid (maybe in the evening). 

Then we came up Orchard Street.  Shopping, shopping, and more shopping.  Mall after mall.  This wide boulevard held every high end shop you can think of plus a Starbucks store every ten feet.  Morry and Hanita bailed out here.  Next stop at the other end of Orchard Street and Lillian and Adrian bailed.  The rest of us stayed on the bus until we returned to the Raffles Hotel.

We wanted to see this famous hotel and go to the infamous Long Bar and get a Singapore Sling.  After getting booted out of the lobby because we weren’t guests (the snobs!) we found the bar after wandering through many lovely courtyards.  We got to the bar and looked at the prices:  $36 for a Singapore Sling!!  We came, we saw, we left.  We ran into one of the ship’s bartenders and he said they will be serving them during the sailaway.  A fool and his money is soon parted, but we were no fools.

Long Bar at Raffles Hotel

One of the sites we wanted to most see was the Marina Bay Sands resort.  This resort is very unusual as there are three towers that are joined together at the top with a ship.  That’s right, a ship!  It isn’t really a ship, but the design from a distance looks just like a cruise ship.  This ship is where the infinity pool is located along with a dynamite view of the city.  It is called the Skypark and can hold up to 3,500 people!  There are restaurants and bars up there as well.  It is longer than the Eiffel Tower is tall.

Marina Bay Sands Hotel with the Ship Skypark on top

It costs $20 to go up top for the view, but there is no access to view the pool unless you are on a tour.  The 2pm tour was full and the next tour was at 9pm.  Too late for us as the ship sails at 6pm and there was no point going up without seeing the pool.  Batting our beautiful eyes and using all our feminine charm, Christine and I could not get on the 2pm tour.  So the unhappy four headed back to the subway via the lobby and Barry suggested  we could go for a drink at the bar.  Cool idea, it worked and up we rode to the 57^th floor, saw the view, saw the pool and left without a drink because it was blazing hot up there.

The infinity pool 57 stories up

View of Singapore from the 57th floor

  

Christine, Barry and Beverly at Yum Cha

We took the subway to Chinatown for dim sum lunch.  By now, we were veterans of riding the rails.   We had the best dim sum ever at Yum Cha (20 Trengganu Street off Temple Steet), stuffing ourselves with interesting items and drink.  We were the only Caucasians in this crowded restaurant so you know it had to be good.  We spent a little time after lunch shopping in Chinatown.  The narrow and compact streets were so clean and had all kinds of goodies to look at.  This was one of the best Chinatowns I have even been to.  The largest ethnic group in Singapore is Chinese. 

By now were running out of time for more touring so we took the subway (with two transfers) back to the mall where the ship was docked, and spent the rest of our Singapore dollars.  Michael and I changed into bathing suits and headed for the pool to cool off.  After showering, we returned to the pool deck for the sailaway and Singapore Slings to drink (same drinks as at Raffles but free, instead of $36.00 each.  Michael, of course, had two of them.)  Bye bye Singapore, for now.  We will be back. 

P.S.  The seas are like shimmering silk.

P.S.S.  Here is some additional information I learned about Singapore today:

Singapore is a bright spot in the middle of chaos and poverty, and Muslims.  It is surrounded by people in countries that are jealous of the capitalistic success of this nation.  It is said by some that Singapore is the Israel of SE Asia.  Therefore, they maintain an army of over 400,000 out of a population of five million.  Service is compulsory for three years and ten years in the reserves after active duty.

Singapore has developed the culture of clean.  Yes, there are huge fines for littering, but this is not a big factor as cleanliness is ingrained into the culture when children are very young.  You drop it, you pick it up.  Period.