SINGAPORE…THE CROSSROADS OF ASIA

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April 21st 2011

Published: April 25th 2011

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Kevin and Susan

Marina Bay Sands Hotel

We waited for all of the tours to depart the ship so that we could glide through the immigration procedures without the long lines. Singapore is the most efficient country in the world except when it comes to entering or leaving. I think they want to make sure the no troublemakers enter their serene territory. Our friend Mary told us of a quote she read regarding this city-state that goes something like…”Singapore is the world’s only shopping mall with a seat at the United Nations.” This former British colonial outpost is now the most modern of cities. Spotlessly clean, modern buildings and roads, and a great public transit system are just some of the features of the Lion City. Flowers and palm trees serve to camouflage the concrete overpasses and many fountains drown out the traffic noise. But it also seems that on every block of the city sits some type of shopping mall filled with the same designer (meaning expensive) stores. Because Singapore is almost on the equator, it is one hot and humid place where it usually rains hard every day. I think that the weather accounts for the popularity of these air conditioned malls as a place of

Dawn

Marina Bay Sands Infinity Pool

refuge from the steamy climate. Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles would never recognize this corporate settlement now.

We hopped on the MRT subway as we had a number of places we wanted to go and the underground is the fastest way to get around. There is a new hotel called Marina Bay Sands which on the 57th floor has one of the highest and largest swimming pools in the world. Our friends, John and Dawn had stayed at the hotel last autumn and sent us a picture taken at the rooftop infinity pool. The three tower edifice is quite an architectural marvel.

We hiked around Marina Bay and stopped in the City Gallery which has a scale model display of all the structures in Singapore. We had lunch on the Boat Quay where a string of fish restaurants line the river. Chili crab was the most popular offering along with Indian satays. We watched the bum boats filled with tourists cruising up and down the Singapore River.

We decided that we didn't want a $20 Singapore Sling at the famous Raffles Hotel. Instead we walked to Chinatown—one of our favorites. It, along with Little India, is such a

Suitcase Art

lively part of the city and still retains the flavor of old Singapore.

The Singapore Cruise Terminal is---you guessed it---a very extensive mall. We saw many crew members in the grocery store stocking up on ramen and other instant noodle concoctions. A Star Cruise ship had just pulled into port and was disembarking over 2000 guests all at once. The immigration line stretched for hours. Some of our crew got caught up in that and had to turn around and go back to the Voyager without being able to resupply their cup o’ noodle stash.

It was too bad we had just twelve hours in this world class city. We always like spending time here exploring all the nooks and crannies of this well ordered metropolis. As we prepared to sail out, a thunderstorm of almost biblical proportions rolled in. But as quickly as the rain came the sun followed and we were able to have a nice dinner on the aft deck with Steve, JoanMarie and Andreana, the ship’s hostess. We have four ports in a row, so we made it an early evening in order to brush up on our travel plans for the upcoming ports