Uniquely Singapore

 March 22^nd and 23^rd

 Uniquely Singapore

 

You might recall that Vialula and I were here back on our first World Cruise in 2019.  If you do remember (and I know you don’t),  I left with the feeling that everything seemed hunky dory and perfect on the surface, but that there was an underlying feeling of do as we say or else ….

And guess what, it still has that same over-all feeling.  But guess what, it works here and it works very well.   I am not going to claim that everything is perfect nor that I want to move here but for someone living here in Singapore, they are more than content to relinquish what I will call some personal freedoms for the good of the many.

One of the names I would put on this city/state is that they are incredible planners.  Nothing is done here independently from what is in the over-all strategic plan.  You can’t cut a tree in your yard down without permission. Everyone knows that you don’t bring chewing gum here, you don’t bring cigarettes here, you don’t spit here, you don’t j-walk here.  These rules are all in place for a reason and while the normal westerner would call it a civil rights violation, the normal Singapore resident would happily follow along because they understand and for the most part agree with these decrees.  It works for them.

So as I hop off my soapbox now, I will tell you a little of our 2 day adventures here.  First off, we docked at a port that provided a beautiful view of Singapore.  This was a marked change from our last two ports in Vietnam that were in the center of commercial ports and not convenient to anything.

The architecture here is incredible.  We hopped on a boat and took a short cruise around Clarke Quay to see the city from the water.  Just about every big-name corporation has a large presence here.   The very strategic location of Singapore dictates that just about every shipping lane goes thru here.  The number of ships and boats lying out in the waters is incredible.  Hundreds, if not thousands are moored outbound waiting their turn at either loading or unloading or passing by.  This is the second largest shipping port behind Shanghai, but this is the world’s largest shipping port when it comes to gross tonnage. 

But anyway,  here we are in our little boat cruising the bay and taking photo after photo of the big shiny new buildings.   Nothing here looks old.   It is all cutting edge.  The last time we were here, we didn’t get to see the national mascot of Singapore as he was down for maintenance.  But today the might Merlion was gushing his water out like he was brand new.

Next we went up to the 56^th floor of the iconic Mandalay Bay Sands Hotel to the outdoor observation deck which gives you a 360 degree view of the city. The three tower structure represents the Chinese symbol for luck, prosperity and is topped by what looks like a ship where there is an infinity pool!  We sipped on a couple of Singapore slings as we marveled at the view below.   We could see the giant ferris wheel called the Singapore Flyer and the Gardens by the Bay below us.  Our guide kept referencing the movie called "Crazy Rich Asians".  Check it out as it is set in Singapore.

So much of Singapore is reclaimed land.  They have perfected the art of taking back land from the sea.  How they do this is lost to me but when you see these huge skyscrapers sitting on land that not too long ago used to be saltwater you can’t help but wonder what if…   I would hate to think of what would happen if… The sun was intense, but the breeze up there kept us cool enough to enjoy the view.

No stop to Singapore would be complete without a stop at the Gardens by the Bay and the super trees.  Every night a lightshow is presented and the whole place is part of it.   The stars are the super trees which ingeniously play multiple roles.   These metal structures are covered in living plants and create vertical gardens.  They also generate solar power and act as exhaust air towers for the nearby conservatories.  Lastly, they collect rainwater for the gardens’ use.  The Flower Dome and the Cloud Forest are truly remarkable in and of themselves and you can spend an entire day in each one and still not see it all.  One display inside the flower dome finally gave us a view of what several Japanese cherry trees in bloom looked like.  The promised “riot of blooming cherry trees” in Japan was fulfilled in Singapore.  Beautiful.

 

Our tour ended with a trip to one more temple .... the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple in Chinatown.  It is a very active temple and they were having service there.  Vi had to don a skirt to cover her knees first, and then we walked through observing and trying to understand this very foreign religion.  This is LeRoy's last temple!

On our second day in Singapore we ventured out of the city proper.  The focus of this tour was Singapore during WWII.  America did not really have too much of a presence here at all.   Britian and Australia were the forces here for the allies.   It was thought that Singapore was impregnatable and so when the Japanese overtook Singapore in such a quick and divisive strike it was a terrible blow to the British war machine.   The Japanese had naval and air superiority which led to a much larger task force (90,000) surrendering to a force a third the size (30,000).  Per what was usual for Japan, the prisoners were not treated well, and they had to suffer 3 plus years of this before Singapore was taken back after the war in September of 1945.  

We visited the Kranji War Memorial Cemetery for the ones lost in the war and later the resulting deaths of prisoners.  Our visits to the two museums, the Changi Chapel and Museum and the Former Ford Factory housed in an old Ford factory were very sombering and very similar to the places we visited along our route thus far.  Hawaii, Guam, Saipan, Japan and China.  All these places were affected by that dark time that we call WWII.  It is more and more easily seen as this was our greatest generation and while we are losing more and more of them, we need to remember and honor them for what they did.

So today we leave Singapore and while I can’t quite buy into the everything is fine group, I do see that there is a reason and rhyme for everything here, and it really does work for them.   It is an impressive place and we in the US could do with a bit of their self-control and discipline.

Three days on the sea and then we arrive at Sri Lanka.  Vi and I are going to go see some elephants.  Come and go with us!

Vialula and LeRoy