Singapore

          It’s a bird!

                             No! It’s a plane!

                             Not even close!

                             It’s Two, Two…

                             Two mints in one!

                   What in the world are we talking about here?

                   Well, In the World is a good place to start, and no… it’s not Australia this time! But our new topic/destination does have some things in common with Australia, such as being several different things at the same time.

                                      Singapore!

                                      It’s a City!

                                      It’s an Island!

                                      No! it’s a country!

                                      (Now we’re getting close!)

                                      It’s three, three…..

                                      Three things in one!

                   Yes, our Port of Choice today is the Island City-State of Singapore. Singapore sits at the very southern tip of the Malay peninsula, which is just south of, and connected to, Thailand. It consists of the main island of Singapore and sixty-three other, very closely connected, smaller islands all served by an impressive mass transit system.

                   Singapore is obviously a very well-known place in the world, conjuring up exotic images in our minds, but how much do we really know about this far-flung place that is guilty of placing those imageries in our minds eye?

                   Some cool facts  would be a helpful place to start.

                   Singapore ranks 175^th in area out of the approximately 190 or so countries in the world. I say 190 because depending on one’s definition of “Country”, there are several different totals, but you get the idea. I think that we can all admit that on a world scale, it’s tiny!

                   Next item….  Singapore takes a jump here and ranks 118^th  in population with roughly 6,000,000 very close inhabitants.

                   Now, here comes the biggie…..

                   Singapore soars up the charts here and ranks 3^rd in population density! Well, what do expect when you take a tiny land mass and squeeze a bunch of peeps into it!

                   But even though there are all of those humans jammed into it, Singapore consistently ranks second or third (behind Tokyo) as one of the safest cities in the world. This safety is not brought about because everyone here is super friendly. They may be, but the real reason is the local laws and customs. Singapore is quite strict and borders on oppressive when it come to some of these categories.

                   I tried this one on my kids years ago… NO gum chewing!

                   I was just trying to prevent them from looking like cows chewing their cuds (and a fortune was spent on orthodontics!) But why here in Singapore?

                   The answer is simple, and the real story has been somewhat relaxed over the years, but the bottom line was that “Gum Vandalism” had risen to heights unimagined. Totally new rail systems were brought to a halt as gum was stuck on the sensors that automatically open and close the doors. This is just one of the ailments that this city found itself grappling with over the years. So it is illegal to import or sell chewing gum here. Exceptions are made for medicinal and nicotine gums prescribed by a doctor, which brings us to the next ban….

                   Smoking in public places is taboo. You can smoke outside, like on a street, but you’d better have your tape measure out and make sure that you are five meters away from any door openings and the like. And don’t even think of crushing that butt under your shoe. Wham! Littering Fines galore!

                   Singapore uses harsh fines, prison sentences, and the public humiliation of printing any offenders’ names for the general population to read, as tools for enforcing these local laws. There are many of them and I will not detail them all here, but I will tell you that even visitors are subject to these penalties, and leniency is rare.

                   We were very careful!

                   On the lighter side, they have a charity event here called The Great Singapore Duck Race and yes, it consists of those little yellow rubber duckies! Back in 2002 a record was set when more than 123,000 of those bobbing darlings were released into the Singapore River!

                   There is no language barrier here as English, along with Malay, and Mandarin Chinese, are spoken fluently. The taxis are all metered with the rates plainly listed so there are no issues when hailing one, trying to tell the driver your destination, and then wondering if the fare is correct or not. They all take credit cards too!

                                      Excursions Part l

                   We had an interesting evening last night. The ship was a bit too tossy and turny for Paula’s tastes. Consequently she received no sleep and spent a good portion of the night making intestinal offerings to the ocean gods…… if you get my meaning. So, that meant that feeling well enough to go on the Excursion was questionable. We were supposed to go to the National Botanical Garden which, sitting down here in a tropical climate almost directly on the equator, means that those gardens are nothing less than spectacular! I was hoping to shower you with photos of stunning florals but that did not happen for another unrelated reason.

                             Needless to say, Paula was not quite up to going out on the town (or bus!). It was decided that I should go, and Paula would stay. We have other plans for later on in the evening to go and visit those giant tower-like structures that light up, so Paula would still get the opportunity to get out in Singapore. The weather here today is questionable at best, you know, 70% chance of storms and showers, but it’s warm! That was the other factor in Paula making the decision to stay on board for the time being.

                             Reluctantly, I went down to the Excursion Meeting Area to sign in and get my Tour ID Sticker (Purple 11 was todays). I say reluctantly because I wasn’t sure that I even wanted to go. I don’t like doing things by myself, and I really didn’t want to leave Paula back on the ship. Besides, it was raining and as I said, the forecast was not good. Had it been better, then I am sure that myself, and possibly Paula, would have felt better about the Excursion.

                             I waited for Purple 11 to be called and having been forewarned about having my Passport (the actual one) on me and some other official documents, I patted my pocket to make sure that they were there. This is the first port that made us bring our passports. I guess that most just trust that Princess is not harboring any Baddies and let us come ashore and drop oodles of money in their laps.  I made my way with the other lemmings outside Deck 6 and into the extended walkway (think airport) where we came to a grinding halt.

                                      We waited.

                                      And waited.

                                      Then we started moving.

                                      About fifteen feet, where we stopped.

                                      And waited.

                             This was definitely not looking good and hindsight being 20/20, I should have bailed right there. The problem was that I did not know the end game, where we were going, and what lay at the termination of this seemingly endless line.

                             But noooo….. I stuck it out. I let the thought of reversing my steps tumble endlessly in my head for 45 minutes too long.

Do you know the feeling when you finally make a decision?

Right or Wrong, at least you have a plan?

Well, that’s how I felt when I did an about-face and marched back through the excursion groups of Purple 11, Green 18, Orange 9, and all the rest of them.

I occasionally came upon some shipmates that I knew, and they peppered me with questions that I could not answer. I told them that all I knew was that I should have made this decision 45 minutes ago. The look on their faces….

                                                Post Script.         

I hung around the gangway for awhile and listened to the Deck Officers who were as frustrated as the passengers. One made a comment about a two-hour delay.

Ouch!

I went aboard and found Paula starting to recover nicely. We decided to try a bit later when the line had subsided, and she felt up to it.

Further reports to follow.                                          

Excursions Part ll     (Later in the day)

          Well, THAT could not have gone any better if we had planned it!

          I am referring to our late day excursion into the wilds of Singapore.

          Our good friends, Harold and Sherry, who have been everywhere multiple times, had been to the place that we wanted to go to just this afternoon.

                                      How convenient of them!

                             Detailed instructions in hand, info about taxis, ticket booths, sights, etc. we left the ship again but this time without the throngs of folks all trying to get through Immigration at the same time. We zipped through, got our taxi, and arrived at Gardens By The Bay a few minutes later. You may have seen photos of their gigantic “Trees” that light up at night. More on that later.

                             It was about 6pm and “All Aboard” was at 9:30 so we had a few hours. I’m the guy who wants to get to the airport two days in advance never mind two hours! So, getting off the boat with a deadline three and a half hours hence was a little trying. But it was worth it! The taxis and the ride to the Gardens went exactly as Harold and Sherry said it would, so there was an air of familiarity already.

                             While those “Trees” in the Grove were certainly the initial draw, we were kind of blown away with these two “Domes” that are there. One is a Botanical Garden on steroids and the other is a botanical “Cloud” experience complete with a waterfall.

                             The expression “Takes your breath away” should only be used when that, in fact, happens. No worries here as that is exactly what happened! Someone had a vision and then planned that vision to the N’th degree. The engineering of these marvels was as impressive as the contents within.

                                      You will see.

                             There will be no problem showering you with those photos of florals that I had wanted to do before canceling the morning Excursion! Please enjoy your tour of Gardens By The Bay, Singapore!

After the Flower Dome we went across the way to the Cloud Forest. There was an Avatar: The Way of Water experience in residence at this time. I can’t think of a more perfect spot on the planet to put this exhibit.

By the time we exited the Cloud Forest it was getting dark, and darkness is a very important ingredient in the light show that was to be given by the Trees in The Grove. Just wait!

All of these lights, and there were probably all-totaled, millions of them, all synchronized with music. The show lasted for about 15 minutes or so and was on the other side of spectacular!