Location: Singapore, Singapore
Date: March 2012
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This was a t-shirt that was for sale in China Town
March 2012 |
I had no idea what to expect when we arrived in Singapore. I’ve heard many things as far as the extensive punishments that are inflicted by those who do not obey the laws of the land. Our passports even had slips of paper put inside that said “drug trafficking was punishable by death”. So the mystery of Singapore was just that a mystery.
Many of the people in our group wanted to join an excursion from the ship which can be both bad and good. Joining an excursion is like being a lamb following the shepherd. No real planning needs to be put forth, and it usually equals a quality day with many sights to be seen. However, children on excursions, especially those that are on long bus rides listening to facts and taking pictures out of the side windows of buses, isn’t very fun for both the parent and the others on the excursion. Kids just don’t seem to have the same level of interest and they want to stop at the vendors with the brightest colored trinkets and try the ice cream on the street corners. Keeping up with a group, or waiting for one is difficult with children. But we decided to go ahead and do the bus excursion since we had heard how expensive Singapore can be.
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Bailey shopping for chopsticks in Chinatown, Singapore
March 2012 |
Our day started on a bus traveling from the harbor into the city. Just getting out of the harbor took our bus 21 minutes since their shipping industry is so extensive. We drove through a beautiful city that surprised me in both organization, cleanliness, and industry. The architecture was amazing and really left me wondering why we don’t see buildings of such strange and beautiful design in the states. It was amazing to see such beautiful architecture on this small island in the middle of the ocean.
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View of the Gardens by the bay from the Singapore Flyer
March 2012 |
They also call Singapore “a fine” city. It is fine, but it is a pun from all of the fines that are posted for anything from riding your bike through a pedestrian tunnel ($1,000 fine) to spitting your gum out on the sidewalk ($500.00 fine). It was interesting to see about 5-10 cameras mounted on the street corners video taping every move.
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A shot of the video cameras that
are mounted on many street corners
in Singapore |
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Trent, Bailey, Clay and I at the top of the Singapore Flyer
March 2012 |
Our group went straight to the Singapore Flyer (much like the London Eye) and had a beautiful view of the city.
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The Singapore Flyer
March 2012 |
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The Sands Hotel & Casino
March 2012 |
From there we could see hundreds of ships out in the harbor waiting to load and unload at this hub of transport. We could see hundreds of tall buildings that were surrounded by a lot of greenery and flora. It was once called the garden city, and now it has been changed to a city in a garden. It was really neat to see the soccer field built on reclaimed land (land they have built up in the water to make the island bigger) and the Sands Hotel and Casino that looks a lot like a cruise ship suspended high in the air on stilts.
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Bailey at the top of the Sands Hotel
March 2012 |
We drove around the city on the bus and stopped on the river that runs through town and rode a water taxi through the river to see other sights of Singapore. One of their most famous statues is of a “Merlion” which is a symbol of this island nation. It is said that when Singapore had a member of the royal family come and visit he thought he saw a lion on the banks of the island and so the lion was used as a symbol along with the fish body to represent the heritage of this fishing community in which it was based.
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Merlion Statue located right in the Bay of Singapore
March 2012 |
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Government Offices just off the river that runs
through the city
March 2012 |
Bailey and Clay enjoyed eating ice cream on the street. The ice cream was cut off in slices almost like a loaf of bread, and then served between two wafers. We saw other local children eating this same thing but they chose instead to eat it between a piece of rainbow colored bread. The ice cream reminded us of dippin dots, as it was quick to desolve in the mouth.
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Clay got captured with the Merlion in the background, and Trent on the
Singapore Flyer
March 2010 |
After our tour was over we ran off to China town since we had heard the specialty of the island was Chili Crab.
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In Chinatown, Singapore
March 2012 |
Trent was dying to get some and we were all hungry. Our group split up and we grabbed a taxi to chinatown and found Dum Do Chinese restaurant and we had one of the most expensive meals of our trip. I think it cost us $250 Singapore dollars which was about $200 US. We ordered the chili crab and it was delicious.
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Bailey & Trent enjoyed the Chili Crab the most
March 2012 |
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Bailey still enjoying the Chili Crab
March 2012 |
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Yes, Clay and I were in Chinatown too
March 2012 |
We ended up shopping in Chinatown, we ran into LDS missionaries, and we bought a few trinkets (mostly iPhone cases) for the kids back home.
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So fun to see LDS Missionaries while we were out shopping
Singapore, March 2012 |
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Me & my slushy
March 2012 |
We soon left Chinatown and had a taxi take us to the Sands Resort since Trent wanted to see the view from their observation deck, and he has also built a car for the owner. It proved to be amazing but we did learn that we could have gone to the top and ordered a drink from the bar up there and still enjoyed the view instead of paying $20 per adult and $15 per child to go to the top. Since we were on the observation deck we had a view of the middle of the cruise ship like structure, and we could see the massive eternity pool that was up in the middle of the towers looking over the city. It was pretty cool and Trent felt like it was well worth it. I just enjoyed my slushy that I was able to find up there and enjoyed cooling off a bit.
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The eternity pool at the top of the Sands Hotel
March 2012 |
Another $8.00 taxi ride got us back to the port harbor where we had to get on a big bus that would drive us those last 21 minutes back to the ship. It was an eventful day in a beautiful city that is full of Chinese, Malaysian, and Muslim people. It was good to see a culture that could coincide so easily. However, there isn’t much room for error because not getting along could easily mean death, or at least a huge fine!
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Some sort of temple (maybe Hindu) just next to Chinatown
March 2012 |
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The kids and I in front of the temple doors
March 2012 |
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