SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE

NOTE: We’ve just passed the halfway point of our Grand Voyage, and have traveled approximately 20,000 land miles! Pictures are large files and difficult to upload, so I’ll add them to past entries as reception conditions improve.
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SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE

What a city! It may be a “fine” city (they fine people for everything -- spitting on the sidewalk, littering, chewing gum, underage smoking etc. etc., with lots of rules) but we loved it! I’ve never been to a city like it -- the first impression is that it’s sparkling clean and everything is well maintained, with all the silver white, glass and steel modern skyscrapers reflecting the sun. We didn’t see any slums, or any policemen -- they don’t wear uniforms so are virtually invisible. The people were well dressed, friendly and looked happy -- and their English was good!

On the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, Singapore is an island country, the smallest in southeast Asia, with the highest standard of living in Asia. 83% of the people live in government constructed housing and half of them use public transportation which keeps the pollution levels below the world health organization standards. It truly is a first world (and first class) country surrounded by third world countries.

The symbol of Singapore is the Merlion (Lion City) -- the head of a lion and the body of a fish and symbolizes commerce. We didn’t see the large concrete Merlion that greets visitors in the harbor because it had just been struck by lightning and the top of its head had been damaged so was covered with a tarp. They speak English, Malay, Chinese and Tamil, often mixed together as “Singlish.”

It is a city originally planned by Governor Raffles, who first arrived there in 1819, laid out in an orderly fashion, with defined ethnic neighborhoods -- there is an Arab town, Chinatown and Little India, the British administration area and low income subsidized housing as well as the larger homes of the affluent residents. Ten per cent of the land has been set aside for parks, and most of the streets are beautifully canopied by old growth trees. The city/country has been reclaiming land for several years so there are no natural beaches -- their recreation area is Sentosa Island, a small island accessible by gondolas (the world’s longest traveling over water), by monorail or by bridge and offers beaches, an amusement park, golf course, flower gardens and resort hotels. The island was brightly lit and alive with young people in the evening when we stopped in for a brief visit.

The National Orchid Garden is stunning! It’s the world’s largest collection of orchids. I never realized there were so many sizes, shapes and colors! The Vanda Miss Joaquim hybrid orchid was selected as the national flower of Singapore in 1981. We thoroughly enjoyed admiring these beautiful gardens! However, our stops in Arab Town to see the mosque, and in Chinatown to see the temple, were marred by a heavy tropical downpour so we were disappointed that we couldn’t explore them further. When it rains in the tropics, it really rains, flooding the streets almost instantly!!

My goal to see the fabled Raffles Hotel was finally realized! It is much larger than I had imagined, with extremely high ceilings and wide verandahs, walkways and atriums. The uniformed doorman alone was worth the trip! We had lunch in the deli and then went upstairs to the famous ‘Long Bar’ for our long anticipated Singapore Slings. What a treat! They pour Gordon’s gin, and are the world’s largest consumer at 55 bottles/day …



Other memorable images of Singapore were the three wheeled cyclo taxis, the prickly ‘durian fruit’ (or eyeball) shaped convention center buildings, the signs warning of the fines for disobeying rules, the fan-shaped travelers’ palms which supposedly grow east to west and collect water at the tips of their leaves, and the eastern style rest rooms. A great city I’d love to come back to visit!