Singapore: October 18 - 21, 2012

We only had 3 ½ days to visit this extremely modern city but we managed to fit in quite a lot considering the monsoon season came early and we had hard rains for a lot of our visit.  What struck us first was just how clean, green and new Singapore appeared.  It has a pretty iconic skyline (like Shanghai has) and many beautiful skyscrapers amongst the well preserved colonial buildings dating back to when the British were in this port city.

Building on left dated 1929, one on right dated 1939

 Modern Singapore is known for its many designer and high fashion stores along famous Orchard Road (Prada, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Hermes and Jimmy Choo just to name a few), along with its world class hotels and convention centers and exotic nightlife in enclaves of Chinatown, Little India, the Kampong Glam area as well as Holland Village and Dempsey Hill. Kampong Glam was home to the Malay aristocracy in 1819 before British settlement in 1822 divided the area to ethnic groups for the Chinese, Arabs and Europeans. Today it is home to the Malay-Muslim community but is considered to be a hip neighborhood due to the numerous eateries, chic bars and boutiques.  Holland Village is bohemian culture and houses Singapore’s expatriate community. 

Super trees will create their own ecosystem

Aerial view of Gardens by the Bay from the Ferris wheel

One of the highlights of our visit included the new Gardens by the Bay (over by the Marina Bay and City Center) which is a 101 hectare green park featuring towering steel Supertrees that go up to 50 meters into the sky along with two domed conservatories that house many rare trees, flowers and plants.  

Helix Bridge across the river

Under the helix dome

After touring the gardens we walked across a beautiful glass and steel mesh Helix Bridge to the world’s highest Ferris wheel, called the Singapore Flyer which was really a giant observation wheel at 165 meters tall. We had a great view of the city and port even though it was a cloudy, rainy day. The port is full of huge barges and ships waiting to offload their cargo in this major east- meets- west shipping port.  

Singapore Flyer from across the river

 One of the most bizarre structures was the Marina Bay Sands resort that is comprised of three towers, a shopping arcade and casino. The three towers are joined at the top by a boat looking structure filled with shops, restaurants and tree lined observation areas.  This 8 billion dollar structure was built by the Las Vegas Sands group.  The Lotus looking building near it is the Art Science Museum.

Art Science Museum & Singapore skyline

One of a dozen corridors at Lau Pa Sat

Singapore has every conceivable type of food in the world.  We dined on a variety of local fare at Lau Pa Sat which is a Victorian cast-iron structure with a wide range of hawker stalls.  Satay, black peppered or chili crab (crab could cost up to $100 depending on the crab) and buttered fried prawns are all very popular. You can also get a nice bowl of live frog soup and a dish of pig’s intestines if you are in the mood. Another popular place to eat is called CHIJMES, located in a 19^th century convent and chapel compound. We ended up eating at one of the many eateries and bars when a huge thunderstorm caught us there. In the compound was a restaurant/bar called Hogs Breath Bar!!! (Shades of Key West!)

Main street in Singapore's Chinatown

 Me enjoying a cold coconut water while recovering from "Buddha Fatique" which is not a disease yet to be discussed in the Merck Manual or Gray's Anatomy

Beth's Buddha Buddy

Inside the Buddha Tooth Temple

We explored Chinatown by day and night. During the day we browsed the many shops, vendors and eateries. I lucked out and found a Buddha Buddy!! An elderly Chinese man who had served up some fresh coconut juice to Jeff followed us to the 5 year old heritage sight of the Sacred Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum.  I had used up all my “Buddha Equity” in Thailand and so this man decided to be my personal guide into the temple (while Jeff waited outside recovering from the lingering side effects of Buddha Fatigue).  His English was pretty good and he was a wealth of information. He took me to the top of the temple and we turned a giant prayer wheel three times so I would have good fortune. He took me all through the museum; the 3^rd floor houses hundreds of Buddhas from all over the far East and India. He gave me all sorts of background  about the different Buddhas, showed me the large “tooth” of the Buddha which  is on a throne of gold and he made sure I was able to get some photos of the monks leading the faithful in afternoon prayers. He explained that the temple was built from the  donations of a few  Chinese gazillionaires and that the huge solid 24K gold Buddha in the main temple was the gift from one extremely wealthy Chinese businessman.  He also noted that I would have a long life due to the fact that I had long ear lobes (considered desirable to Chinese men!) and that Jeff and I would never part because he is from the year of the Tiger and I am from the year of the Ox and that is deemed a perfect partnership.  This man was so proud of “his” temple and thrilled that I was a willing student for over an hour.  I had a great time with him.

That evening, we returned to Chinatown and had dinner at a lovely French restaurant!!!!  Apparently all the best French restaurants can be found in Chinatown!!  We loved Chinatown and even though it was crowded and filled with locals and tourist alike. Little India was even more overwhelming- a real blast of colorful buildings, women in beautiful silk saris and lots of different smells of spices, flowers and strange foods cooking along the roadsides.

Buddha Tooth Temple

Roof of a random temple in old Singapore

A few interesting facts about Singapore imparted by one of our friendly cab drivers:  The government is all powerful and does not allow any criticism of the way it runs the country.  Cars cannot be more than 10 years old and are extremely expensive. To buy a car, you must first go to the government and get approved for the purchase. To get the “paper” to take to the car dealer can cost up to $100,000.00 and then once you go to the dealer, if you want a really nice car, like a BMW, you will pay another $200,000.00!!! Yikes!!! Taxis can be no more than 5 years old, so consequently no taxi drivers can afford to own their own car; they lease them from the cab companies.  The government only wants clean, newer cars on its spotless roads. Talk about clean, even the back alleys of Little India were pretty clean and free of trash and debris. Also, there is a mandatory death penalty for any drug related crime, murder or possession of firearms.  In the local paper, it was reported that the government is considering allowing the judges some leeway for drug crimes to give life in prison instead under a few very restricted circumstances- like mental illness. You don’t litter or jaywalk in this city either!!!  Also, you can be arrested if you criticize anyone’s religion- they have a great deal of religious tolerance here.  Our cab driver said it is a very safe country but he said there are too many laws and rules and it was very expensive to live here.

Overall we were impressed with Singapore but it is very expensive and a bit sanitized for our taste. We preferred the hustle and bustle craziness of Bangkok.  We will now be leaving the Orient and flying to Istanbul, Turkey which is about 12 hour trip. Turkey begins the second part of our adventure.  We are very intrigued by this country as we know very little about it.  We are having an amazing adventure!!!