I’ve been looking forward to Singapore, since I’ve heard about how safe, modern and clean the city is. However, not all of this is true more about that later.
I disembarked from the ship early and took the long walk through the terminal to a Starbucks where I published my most recent Blog entries, checked out Facebook and read my emails. Time well spent especially since the coffee was good and it’s always fun to sit in a foreign café and do some people watching. Which I ended up doing a lot of as the day progressed. I was supposed to met my friend Dawn later on so that we could tour the city together. However, her morning tour must have been delayed because after waiting an hour longer than our appointed meeting time, I decided to go on alone.
I walked across the street and after some mishaps found the subway (Metro) entrance. By the end of the day I was a “an expert metro rider” but for the first 30 minutes I was somewhat bewildered. The Metro is both clean and efficient.
My metro experience was heightened by the fact that for the majority of the time I was the only non-Asian person in the area. A very amazing and wonderful occurrence for me. I had a delightful chat with a young couple and their adorable 3 year old twin daughters. I always felt very safe.
I was heading for the Suntec Mall which is where I was told that I could buy a ticket for the “Hop on & Hop off” bus. This mall was huge and extremely crowded. It was very modern and sleek and I felt very bewildered until I went up to the mall concierge who very nicely drew me a map to the ticket office which was a 15 minute walk. So off I headed with the throngs of people who were there to shop, socialize or just to be seen.
With my ticket in hand I loaded onto the red double-decker bus and even though it was hot and sunny I choose to sit at the open top deck. I was pleased with that decision, you get a better sense of the city from that perspective instead of behind a window. Besides that the scents of exotic spices from the alley ways of Little India are magnificent.
I thought of Sharon because she was taking the “A Taste of Singapore: Curry Luncheon” tour today
I took 2 bus rides, one was the Heritage Route and the other was the City Route. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and jumped from side to side of the bus to take pictures. There was a recorded travel monolog that was very informative without being intrusive, they also played the appropriate music for each of the ethnic neighborhoods that we were going through. No one can really claim to be a “native” Singaporean, however, Malays lived on the peninsula long before anyone else. There are 14 major nationalities here but most people belong to one of several Chinese ethnic groups. The first Indians came to Singapore in the 19th century as forced laborers to cut away at the thick jungle that once blanketed the countryside. They quickly became assimilated in Singaporean society as well as versed immigrants in the arts of British-style civil service.
Another ethnic group are the Arabs and their neighborhood is called the “Arab District”.
And we can’t forget Chinatown:
So as you can see many cultural elements have contributed to Singapore: the British, Hindu, Islamic, Chinese, Confucian, Buddhist, and of course Malay all define this pulsating tropical city-state. However, the over all impression is of modern skyscrapers and lovely parks.
As I was walking the deck earlier this morning, our Ship’s Chinese Dentist pointed out Singapore’ s National Bird – The Crane. So there I stood looking into the sky for a Crane, he laughed and said no the “Construction Crane”.
A ferris wheel that my grandkids would love.
Medical Tourism is big business in Singapore with plastic surgery being the big attraction.
This is a beautiful building with a colorful display of windows. I wondered what the inside looked like.
We drove my the famous Raffles Hotel which is where the “Singapore Sling” was first created.
Raffles was the Englishman who was instrumental in laying out the city of Singapore. You see his influence everywhere.
Now onto to tell you of a very unfortunate incident that happened to Sharon while she was out shopping by herself. She was in a large, confusing mall that was right next to where we docked. Her wallet which contained all her credit cards and her passport was either stolen or lost. This of course was very distressing for Sharon. She was quickly helped by the mall police and three passengers from the ship who sat with her for quite some time. It took some time for the officials on the ship to be notified (???) and it was then that I was called into action. I had looked for Sharon when I returned from my day’s activities but couldn’t locate her. I wasn’t worried since there are so many places on this ship for one to “hang out”. So there I was sitting in the “Queen’s Lounge” watching “The Black Swan” when my name was called over the loud speaker. It must have been around 8:30 pm. I reported to the front desk and was quickly hustled off the ship with the Singapore Port Agent; Alvin, a short fellow whose English wasn’t all that good.
I was very concerned about Sharon because the Ship’s staff person told me that she had been “mugged”, which was not the case. Sharon wasn’t physically harmed at all. After giving each other a hug, we were then driven to the Singapore police station to give a report. After that we were driven back to the port to speak to immigration about getting Sharon back on the ship. It felt very much like we were being handed off from one official to another. Singapore is known for it’s efficiency but this all still took some time. We didn’t get back to the ship until 11:30 pm. After Sharon had some dinner, we headed for our cabin to get some sleep so that we would be prepared for an early morning at the American Embassy to get a temporary passport issued. So finally at 11:30 am the next day we got all the details worked out and were both safely on the ship before our departure time of 1 pm.
This was a “wake-up” call for the both of us. We will now both be more alert and aware about our personal safety. Also, it’s never wise to keep all your personal documentation in one location. You live and learn.
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