Singapore

SINGAPORE – It’s been a long time since I was in Singapore for the first time so I had a feeling a lot had changed in this ultra modern city. From just a city perspective, Singapore is just downright awesome. The city is clean, there’s little crime to worry about, and the public transportation system is phenomenal.  Singapore just reeks of riches and I’m sure this will be present in modern cites we visit like Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Tokyo. The world would be a better place if we all had cities like Singapore. Without a doubt, I’d put Singapore up there as the best city we’ve visited. Cities like Rio and Cape Town win with beauty.

            First off today was a hot day! The humidity is just ridiculous in Singapore. Since I had been here before I had a relaxed mind sight on the day. I had a rough outline of what I wanted to do but it was going to be more of see where life takes me today mentality.  The ship was docked in a great spot so immediately as we got off there was a SMRT station there ready to take us pretty much anywhere in the city. My plan was to go to China Town and pick up a sightseeing bus route from that point, similar to what I did in Cape Town. China Town is a very interesting part of the city and provided anice taste of what’s to come in a little over a week. I headed straight for Maxwell Road Food Center where I knew that there was a food stall I wanted to eat at. One of the best parts about Singapore is the food because the city is so ethnically mixed that it has influences from all around the world. They say the two national sports in Singapore are eating and shopping. Singapore is essentially the shopping hub for most of Asia. Food stalls are all over Singapore and is the cities version of fast food but gourmet and delicious. Take note U.S.A., this is why we are so fat… I wanted to try stall 10/11 because Anthony Bourdain had eaten there before and raved about it. Well it did not disappoint. The dish was chicken and rice, a signature Singapore dish. Honestly, it’s the best chicken I have ever had in my life. They serve strips of boiled chicken over rice with two sauces, one spicy and the other sweet, along with a bowl of chicken broth. The chicken was so moist and tender, absolutely delicious. The name of the stall was Tian Tian.

            Once finished in China Town I found the bus and rode through the city to the botanical gardens, which is another beautiful spot. There are various gardens and a rainforest area but the most noteworthy spot is the National Orchid Garden, which has the largest compilation of tropical orchids in the world. The smell and sight of different flowers was great. They also had cooled greenhouses, which provided a nice escape from the heat too. From the gardens, I headed back into the city down Orchid Street, the main shopping hub of Singapore. I stopped at Raffles Hotel and had a look there to see this historic hotel. We actually stayed here last time I was in Singapore so I wanted to see it again to see if I remembered it well. At the Long Bar at Raffles is supposedly the spot where they invented the Singapore Sling. So I had to go try one there even though it probably will go down as the most expensive cocktail I’ll ever pay for. The bar was cool though and had some spunk. I headed across the streetnext and checked out the mall there to escape the heat. It was all very high end shopping. It also had started to thunderstorm and honestly it is the first time it has rained while I have been on land on this trip. So I checked outanother hotel that supposedly had a rooftop bar on the 70^th floor. Since I wasn’t going on top of Marina Bay Sands I figured this would be a nice alternative. It actually was really cool and is higher than Marina Bay Sands so it was well worth it. The view was spectacular but unfortunately, I couldn’t see too far in the distance because of the thunderstorm.

            By now it was late afternoon and I wanted to hit a few more stops before heading back to the ship area. I made a stop at Marina Bay Sands to check out the lobby andsurrounding area. The place is just nuts with a huge mall and casino attached. Pretty much anything you could imagine is there and the building is really cool too. If you don’t know about Marina Bay Sands, it’s basically a really cool hotel that has three towers connected at the top by a platform that has a swimming pool and other awesome stuff. I learned that in its first year this resort made a $1.5 billion profit and had a 99% occupancy rate! My last stop was in the main business district downtown, Raffles Place where I wanted to see another food market, Lo Pa Sat. I didn’t have too much time so I grabbed some spring rolls quickly before finding the SMRT back to the harbor front getting back to the ship at 8 p.m.

            It was another long exhausting day trying to move around the entire city. The ship is off again and heading north to Vietnam where we will dock in Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) on Sunday, Mar. 25. While Singapore is well known for its strict restrictive laws it has becoming a booming business center in the world. Also, because of the strategic placement along the Strait of Malacca it allows them to take in massive amount of money with international trade. The city is far beyond most cities I’ve been to especially in the U.S.A. A lot of this has to do with having a restrictive government system allowing them to do things such as build a floor a day for a skyscraper. The efficiency in the way they canaccomplish tasks and projects are an amazing attribute.