Wednesday April 6, 2016 – At sea en route between Cambodia and Singapore. A restful day at sea after our stop in Cambodia, where we caught up on the blog, Pictures are a bit behind, and went to the Port Lecture by Graham Howell on Colombo, Sri Lanka and Jim Jimirro (Disney Channel) on “the Great American Songbook”, which again was entertaining and informative for the 30 people in attendance. Tachy had a session with the trainer and we said goodbye to Dale & Gail – our table mates from South Australia that get off in Singapore.
Thursday April 7, 2016 – Singapore – This Island, City, Nation (permanent population 5.4 Million / Visitors per year = 6 Million) located at the southernmost tip of the Malay Penninsula consists of the principal island (known as Pulau Ujong) as well 63 smaller islands. The name derives from the Malay Singa = Lion and pura = city, thus Singapore = The Lion City with it’s emblem being a Merlion (half Mermaid, half Lion) with a big white coastal fountain statue spewing water into the Singapore River (now a fresh water reservoir). In 1918 Thomas Stamford Raffles landed on the main island and signed a treaty with Sultan Hussein Shah on behalf of the East India Company to develop the southern part of Singapore as a British Trading post. On April 1, 1945, following brutal Japanese occupation during WWII, Singapore gained its independence from England and on August 31, 1963 formed part of the Feredation of Malaysia (Malay, Sarawak and Sabah), however this association only lasted 2 years before Singapore became an independent Island / Country / City in 1965. Due to it’s location at the tip of the Penninsula, it is a major trading site with 1000 ships being parked in the bay at any one time, waiting to unload / reload cargo; every 3 minutes a ship enters or exits the harbour and 270 containers are moved every hour on or off ships. There are over 100 banks doing banking, amongs other products, some 300 trillion dollars of Foreign Exchange a day. Employees are taken care of and are well educated with “O” and “A” level examinations being sent to Cambridge for marking / grading. Not only is the Education in the English style, but a lot of the feel of the place (including driving on the left) is British. Employees have a mandatory 20% taken out of their wages for retirement savings matched by 17% from government / employer. This can be borrowed against for purchasing homes, cars etc. Control of vehicles and thus traffic jams is achieved by having to pay S$50,000 (US$1.00 = S$1.30) for a Certficate of Entitlement which is valid for 10 years. This Entitles the bearer the privilege of buying and owning a vehicle for that period, after which it has to be re-applied for at additional cost. Then the cost of a mid sized Japanese car (eg Toyota), due to tax will cost between S$80,000 to S$150,000. Only a certain amount of Certificates are available. This is just one example of how meticulously the country is run. We have all heard of the No Chewuing Gum Law, well it is very serious and it is prohibited to sell gum and if you as a tourist bring some in and are caught, it is a S$1,000 fine (Vs another law which fines the person S$500 for Urinating in an Elevator)!!! This excellent management can be attributed to a Parliamentary democracy (elections every 5 years) with President but the People’s Action Party have lead the government (89 MP’s) with close to a totality of seats since 1959 and the strong leadership of Lee Quan Yu (who died in 2015), setting out many of the plans, organization and rules. Singapore consists of 60 islands covering 720 Sq Km (286 Sq Miles) of which the largest – Singapore Island is 640 Sq Km (247 Sq Miles), yet has many shopping malls (more per capita than anywhere else). It is located 1 degree above the equator thus hot and humid. There were a few other interesting points that our outstanding guide Georgie gave us during the tour. Things like there is 24 hour a day home delivery of McDonalds. A US$6 billion hotel / Casino with 2,500 rooms – Marina Bay Sands, has just been completed consisting of three towers connected at the top. In September each year a Formula I car race is held at Night (only one in the world) through the Financial district, this closing that area off to all traffic for 10 days. The predominant ethnicity of the population is Chinese (76%); followed by Malays (15%), Indians (6.5%) and the rest – Europeans, Arab, Armeinian, American and Jewish. Thus four official languages are used – Malay, Mandarin, Tamil and English, with English being the language of Administration. Apartment blocks are not permitted to be mono-ethnic, but certain percentages of each of the ethnicities have to be maintained, to avoid “ghettos” and thus creating an ethno-centric enclave. Property titles are controlled to prevent this from happening and permits refused if the percentages are not maintained. I have gone on a lot about this, but I found it all fascinating and new knowledge, I am sure others are familiar with this, but I found it interesting. All we found was extreemly expensive and this is due to the fact that Singapore has no natural resources (only recently has it achieved Water independence) so everything has to be imported, to which is added a hefty GST.
Our first stop was at the 52 hectare Botanical Garden (opened in 1860) and specifically to the orchid garden (opened in 1994) with its 2,000 varieties. There was one particularly fascinating section – The VIP Orchid Garden, where visitors, such as Queen Elizabeth II, Princess Diana, Prince William and Catherine, Kofi Anan and many others have orchids named after them and sensational exhibits of these orchids were in the gardens. The layout and manicured texture of the gardens are absolutely fabulous, with every colour and type of orchid on show. Like the city, all is immaculate and everything is in its proper place. The Botanical Garden is a UNESCO World Heriatage Site. The next stop was in Little India, a section of the city where predominantly Indian people have their shops. It was fascinating to wander around the area and soak up the atmosphere. We purchased some Indian sweets, but decided that they were interesting, but not completely to our liking. Our next stop was at Kampong Glam where we visited the grounds of The Sultan Mosque (we could not enter) – Lower level for Men, upper for women, and refreshed our knowledge of the 5 tenets of Islam – A) One God; B) Tithing; C) Pray 5 times a day; D) Fast during Ramadan and E) Visit Mecca and do the Haaj once in your life. An interesting feature of the Mosque was that just below the gold onion dome, 11 rows of bottle bottoms were placed into the structure, representing the tithing (bottle collection) of the poorer members of the community. We started to learn of The “shop-houses” where the shop is downstairs and the people lived upstairs. When we visited the Chinese heritage site we learned more and I will discuss then. We wandered through the gardens of the Malay Heriatage Center, all immaculate and fountains everywhere as water is a sign of prosperity. We were impressed at all the modern skyscrapers that dot the landscape and give the city its character. Next, to the famed 1887 Raffles Hotel (100 suites that cost $1,000 to $6,000 a night. The sheikh tall doorman greeted us, but as we were not staying there we could not enter the lobby, but did look inside. It is very tropical in its design, white, with open spaces and marble corridors. We walked through to the rear to the Gift shop where despite astronomical prices, we managed to harm the credit card balance a bit! The Long Bar at the hotel was the source of the “Singapore Sling” (which we enjoyed later, back on the ship). As an aside “The Faulty Towers Experience” (based on the UK TV show) is being performed at the hotel dining room. Next to the 5 Km long Singapore “River”, as I mentioned, now a fresh water reservoir, and to Clarke’s Quay for a Chinese Szechuan / Cantonese lunch at Peony Jade (Dim Sum, Sweet corn and mushroom soup, Sweet & Sour Pork, Vegetables, Rice and Longan fruit cocktail) – Beers were $11.00 per! I did say expensive!
After the very good lunch, we then went to the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple with its many exquisite gold Buddha effigies and opulent surroundings. Supposedly one of the Great Buddha’s teeth was given to the mosque and as such is, understandably, it’s prized position and located on the upper floors under guard. As we wandered through the Mosque, there was a service taking place with chanting led by the orange robed monks with the brown robed novices as the congregation. It was the Service, which occurs at this time of year, called the “Tomb Sweeping Festival” where 108 sutras are chanted, followed by a deep bow and three incense sticks are lit – one for Heaven, one for Hell and one for yourself. This precedes the visitation of the tombs of the ancestors, where they are completely cleaned and venerated. This was a fascinating, albeit somewhat awkward intrusion on a prayer service. We were given a short time to wander around the area, before heading to the Chinatown Heritage Center. This is set up as a museum to show the public how the early Chinese settlers lived. Facing the street was a tailor shop, where the public was served, behind which was the cramped working space of the tailor shop workers, and a communal kitchen and bathroom for all the residents in the rear. Upstairs, some 8 8 ft X 8 ft cubicles served as the residence for multiple Tennants. The Tailor and wife had one. The group of apprentices had another, then the others were rented out to anywhere from 2 to 6 people in a cubicle. That was their total living space, with the communal kitchen serving all. It was not only impressive given the small size, but even more so as our guide grew up in one of these places so was able to recount the stories first hand. Depressing, but realise that many places around the world still have these types of living conditions, and thankful for what we have as our homes. Before proceeding to our final site we were again given some free time to wander around the streets and explore and / or shop (at exorbitant prices – One camera battery, which we had to replace was almost half the price of a new basic camera in the USA). Not for the faint of heart! As we drove to our final stop the guide told us the story that any woman looking to get married is looking for a husband with the 5 “C’s” – Career, Credit Card, Club Membership, Condominium and Car – nice to have are Care and Concern! Merlion Park is accessed by walking along the waterfront under the bridges to the statue that is emblematic of Singapore – The Mer-Lion (lower half Mermaid, upper half Lion) sitting upright on the fish tail. There are two merlions, a smaller one facing towards the shore in a fountain spouting water from its mouth, and the larger one, some 15-20 feet high facing the Singapore River (reservoir) also with water gushing from its mouth. We all wanted one for the garden, but had to be satisfied with a fridge magnet!
It was a long and exciting day, the guide brilliant, the weather hot, but a truly amazing time in Singapore. At most ports, the immigration authorities, inspect passports held by the ship, so all we need is our room key to enter and exit the ship as well as enter our room or pay for anything on the ship. However in Singapore, we had to have our own passports and go through the authorities entering and leaving the country, one by one. A minor inconvenience, given the exciting day we had experienced. We were pleased to hear the friendly voice of our favourite Captain – Christopher Wells, welcome us aboard. He left us in Barbados and returned here, will be with us to Southampton. Once on board, we headed to the rear deck, where a steel band was playing and we knocked back a couple of Singapre. Slings as we sailed away. Tomorrow Kuala Lumpur and much to see.
Roger & Anne Travels 