I've been to Singapore at least eight times. That needs to sink in; I can give tours of the place. A couple of years ago I felt the need to attempt to show Barbara all of this island nation's wonders during a two day port visit. It was 104 degrees out then, hot even for Singapore. If we missed a few of the wonders on that trip it wasn't because of not trying. For this trip, I booked four nights in Fairmont luxury hotel before we embarked on our 32 day voyage from SE Asia to Europe. There would be time to relax. The Fairmont is owned by Raffles Hotels. The iconic (meaning overpriced) Raffles is across the street, and the co-owned Swissotel is adjacent to the Fairmont. Visiting iconic Raffles Hotel properties was to become a theme on the cruise.
Singapore's wonders are less than meet the eye. Albeit dazzling, the entire country is 35 miles across. Despite a few hard to reach green corners, Singapore is essentially an island city. There are hundreds of identical looking huge apartment complexes. The rebuilt and sanitized ethnic areas near most of the hotels are really only a bit different from Epcot Center versions, and there is that benevolent dictatorship thing. Don't even think of clearing customs with chewing gum or bringing a dorien melon on the immaculate subway system. Not flushing a public toilet is subject to a hefty fine, and passing by the hotel window unclothed is considered a sex crime. I never done any of those things.
But the water is safe to drink everywhere in the country. The people are wonderfully friendly and helpful. The signs are all in English. And there's the hawker stands and food courts. Actually a visit to Singapore is worth the trip for the food. More on that below.
Day 1 (Actually 14 April to 16 April). United SIN-NRT-SIN and first day in Singapore.
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| Deformed wing on the composite skin B787 as viewed through electronically dimmed sun shades |
Saturday, Sunday, and Monday was one long day.
I blew all my remaining United miles on two business class tickets for the flights from Denver to Singapore. Door to door was almost 25 hours. But I was excited to take the new non-stop "Dreamliner Boeing 787" flight on the 12 hour plus segment from Denver to Tokyo. This first really new commercial aircraft design did not disappoint. (I asked the flight attendants a number of times, "Is this really United?". They were most amused as you can guess.) The sound level is not unlike that in our living room. Really. Our Bose noise cancelling headsets remained in their cases. And for apparently only my amusement the wings deform an exciting amount in flight due to their quite pliable composite construction. If you ever find yourself on a B787, don't look at the wings. Playing continuously with the liquid crystal window shades made a long flight go quickly. At least for me.
We crossed the International Dateline without incident and enjoyed a very short Sunday for a little more than an hour at Narita Airport's United Club. We arrived at Singapore's sparkling airport at 1 am on Monday morning after a much more conventional 8 hour flight in the venerable Boeing 777. The Bose noise cancelling headsets were deployed shortly after takeoff.
At 2 am Monday morning we were assigned a 17th floor room at the fantastic Fairmont Hotel downtown. After I told her that we had been traveling for three days, the night clerk asked if we wanted to upgrade to a better view for "only $50 a night". It was 2 am for heaven's sake. I made a respectful inquiry if the room I was holding the key for had a bed. She backed off from her upselling with a nervous laugh.
After a refreshing few hours sleep we discovered that our "limited view" room in reality had a dynamite view, but unfortunately the night clerk had gone off duty for my report. The only negative to the view was that we could see the Marina Bay Hotel, rated the 5th ugliest hotel in the world by the London Daily Telegraph. The others are in England plus one in Korea and the hideous pink Atlantis in Nassau, Bahama. Other than having to look at the Marina Bay Hotel, we were most happy with our not upgraded room. Rule #1, don't ever pay for an upgrade until you see what you already have. Kind of like the first rule of wing walking*.
We wondered why there were no chairs on our balcony. We know when our 9 am quick look resulted in serious discomfort from the 90 degrees and 95% humidity. Maybe it was the other way around. Doesn't matter. It's one or the other always in Singapore. Except for our last visit when it was 104 degrees F, or maybe it was 104C. You don't come to Singapore for outdoor comfort.
After our ordeal on the balcony, we decided to venture down the street visible behind me in the above shot on the balcony, the beautifully named Bras Basah Road, towards what appeared like gigantic metallic mushrooms.
We found that the temperature had increased by the time we found the exit from the huge hotel complex. It was a slow walk. Everyone in Singapore walks slowly. (There's another reason why. I'll explain that later.) We ventured across the "Helix Bridge" and into the brand new, "Gardens by the Sea". These new attractions are built on reclaimed land where the beautiful rural bay I had photographed during my first visit to Singapore in 1992 had been. In those 23 years Singapore had filled up all the land with buildings and then made more land so that they can build more buildings. In this case, they built a bizarre but oddly appealing public park, mostly for the residents of Singapore. My feeling is that the government felt they had to provide the locals with an alternative to the once beautifully archaic and somnolent Sentosa recreation island after it was enhanced by a gigantic theme park and all the open space was filled with high rise hotels.
After being tailed by an overly friendly taxi driver down Bras Basah Road, we ventured over various skyways and eventually found a couple of large domes. The less inviting one enclosed a "tropical rain forest." It was now about 100 degrees and 90% humidity, maybe the other way around. We choose the other dome, the "temperature climate flora" dome. It was actually a huge botanic garden with familiar and very unfamiliar plants from Asia, South America, and the Antipodes as well as from North America. We enjoyed the 70 degree temperature the dome was kept at most of all, except maybe for the sculpture of a very decaying family who apparently arrived that morning at 2am on the same flight we did.
After an afternoon's rest, we purchased an unlimited ride three day pass for Singapore's transit systems and took our first MRT subway ride to find a hawker stand. Years ago there was an abundance of these neighborhood outdoor food courts, some with as many as 100 or so very specialized micro kitchens.
Unfortunately, like everything else in Singapore the few hawker stands have been rebuilt to resemble their former selves. Those remaining are small and are only located in touristic areas, like the one in the Chinatown facsimile we visited. (See my comment above regarding the "theme park" nature of the formally ethnic areas). The small Chinatown location was technically still outdoors but had been roofed over and surrounded by more conventional small but inviting restaurants. The small Chinatown version at least seemed authentic. Most stands served one or perhaps two dishes only. The customers order from one stand for an appetizer, various other stands for the main courses, and perhaps a Tiger Beer from one of the beverage stands. The common tables were kept clean by the court's staff. And the entire meal was very cheap. But as before the food didn't disappoint. We had fried oysters and a number of Tiger Beers and rode the MRT back to the Fairmont. Not bad for a first day. We slept very well and didn't go out on the balcony other than very early mornings for the rest of our stay. Tomorrow we planned to visit an actual theme park, the Jurong Bird Park.
*The 1st rule of wing walking is, "Don't let go of something until you are holding on to something else." It is extremely important for the independent travel to remember this.
We crossed the International Dateline without incident and enjoyed a very short Sunday for a little more than an hour at Narita Airport's United Club. We arrived at Singapore's sparkling airport at 1 am on Monday morning after a much more conventional 8 hour flight in the venerable Boeing 777. The Bose noise cancelling headsets were deployed shortly after takeoff.
At 2 am Monday morning we were assigned a 17th floor room at the fantastic Fairmont Hotel downtown. After I told her that we had been traveling for three days, the night clerk asked if we wanted to upgrade to a better view for "only $50 a night". It was 2 am for heaven's sake. I made a respectful inquiry if the room I was holding the key for had a bed. She backed off from her upselling with a nervous laugh.
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| View from our 17th floor balcony unfortunately included the Marina Bay Hotel |
We wondered why there were no chairs on our balcony. We know when our 9 am quick look resulted in serious discomfort from the 90 degrees and 95% humidity. Maybe it was the other way around. Doesn't matter. It's one or the other always in Singapore. Except for our last visit when it was 104 degrees F, or maybe it was 104C. You don't come to Singapore for outdoor comfort.
After our ordeal on the balcony, we decided to venture down the street visible behind me in the above shot on the balcony, the beautifully named Bras Basah Road, towards what appeared like gigantic metallic mushrooms.
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| Helix Bridge with the Marina Bay Hotel in all its glory |
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| A skyway in the Gardens by the Bay |
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| The effects of flying from North America seems to erode one as depicted in this sculpture in the temperate climate dome |
After being tailed by an overly friendly taxi driver down Bras Basah Road, we ventured over various skyways and eventually found a couple of large domes. The less inviting one enclosed a "tropical rain forest." It was now about 100 degrees and 90% humidity, maybe the other way around. We choose the other dome, the "temperature climate flora" dome. It was actually a huge botanic garden with familiar and very unfamiliar plants from Asia, South America, and the Antipodes as well as from North America. We enjoyed the 70 degree temperature the dome was kept at most of all, except maybe for the sculpture of a very decaying family who apparently arrived that morning at 2am on the same flight we did.
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| Barbara enjoying the MRT ride despite perhaps a bit of jet lag |
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| The Chinatown has a rebuilt remnant of an old Singapore hawker stand |
Unfortunately, like everything else in Singapore the few hawker stands have been rebuilt to resemble their former selves. Those remaining are small and are only located in touristic areas, like the one in the Chinatown facsimile we visited. (See my comment above regarding the "theme park" nature of the formally ethnic areas). The small Chinatown location was technically still outdoors but had been roofed over and surrounded by more conventional small but inviting restaurants. The small Chinatown version at least seemed authentic. Most stands served one or perhaps two dishes only. The customers order from one stand for an appetizer, various other stands for the main courses, and perhaps a Tiger Beer from one of the beverage stands. The common tables were kept clean by the court's staff. And the entire meal was very cheap. But as before the food didn't disappoint. We had fried oysters and a number of Tiger Beers and rode the MRT back to the Fairmont. Not bad for a first day. We slept very well and didn't go out on the balcony other than very early mornings for the rest of our stay. Tomorrow we planned to visit an actual theme park, the Jurong Bird Park.
*The 1st rule of wing walking is, "Don't let go of something until you are holding on to something else." It is extremely important for the independent travel to remember this.
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