Singapore is a sovereign city-state and island country in Southeast Asia. It is home to 5.6 million people who enjoy one of the highest qualities of life in the world based on several indicators. It lies one degree (85 miles) north of the equator, at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, with Indonesia's Riau Islands to the south and Peninsular Malaysia to the north. Singapore's territory consists of one main island along with 62 other islets. Since independence, extensive land reclamation has increased its total size by 23% (50 square miles). The country is known for its transition from third world to first world in a single generation, under the leadership of its founding father, Lee Kuan Yew.
Stamford Raffles founded colonial Singapore in 1819 as a trading post of the British East India Company. After the company's collapse in 1858, the islands were ceded to the British Raj as a crown colony. During the Second World War, Singapore was occupied by Japan. It gained independence from the UK in 1963 by federating with other former British territories to form Malaysia, but separated two years later over ideological differences, becoming a sovereign nation in 1965. After early years of turbulence and despite lacking natural resources and a hinterland, the nation developed rapidly as an Asian Tiger economy, based on external trade and its workforce. Source: Wikipedia
Where in the world are we?
Singapore is under the blue pointer.
We were quite excited today to see Singapore with eyes that hadn’t just run full-out in Dubai and then flown overnight to boot. We were both so wiped out when we boarded the Sapphire Princess last turnaround that we didn’t remember the Marina Bay Cruise Center nor the area surrounding it. In fact, G was surprised that we already had Singaporean dollars that I had gotten from an ATM at Singapore’s Changi Airport (I didn’t let on that, frankly, I was a little, too). ;-)
We braved the Horizon Court Buffet for breakfast, despite the fact that the madness of disembarkation day breakfast in the buffet is matched only by that of embarkation day lunch. We had received conflicting information about what time we could retrieve our passports this morning, and waited until the later of the two times to go to the Internet Cafe to collect them as well as the Singapore Landing Cards we needed to go through immigration. In the end, that probably worked in our favor. There were lines for Singapore immigration but not as long as they had been first thing this morning.
Our goal for the day- well, actually, the first of our goals for the day, which turned out to be all we accomplished- was to explore the Marina Bay area, not far from the Marina Bay Cruise Center where the Sapphire Princess was berthed. But we weren’t certain if there were sidewalks in place to walk there (it was less than two miles away) and so decided to take a route 402 bus most of the way there. Singapore’s buses don’t give change, and we had gotten two SGD 50 notes from the ATM (worth about $37.50 US each) so the first thing we needed to do was get change. G bought a Mountain Dew at a shop in the port terminal, and though the 1 SGD notes he received in change were higher than the SGD 0.77 bus fare, we went with it. It was easy to realize we were already getting bogged down in starting our day.
We watched as the bus drove toward the iconic Marina Bay Sands Hotel. The area was quite walkable, with sidewalks the entire way, but it was already very hot and humid, and I was glad we were on the bus. Once we got off, we still had a 10-15 minute walk to reach the Bayfront area. We were instantly struck by how clean Singapore is. Actually, Dubai was clean, Monaco was cleaner and Singapore is antiseptic.
Marina Bay Sands Hotel and Singapore Flyer
We walked along the Singapore River into a large mall (honestly, that entire area is full of malls, most of them underground connecting the major buildings, which makes sense given the heat). And there we kind of lost focus. The Singapore Marathon is being run this weekend, and in the convention hall attached to that mall was the race bib pick up location and huge expo featuring running gear and health and fitness clothing, accessories and nutrition. G is like a moth to a light with that sort of thing, and in we went.
On the positive side, I did find a great gift for McGee, who is quite a runner. I must remember that, because, on the downside, we spent a lot of time wandering around in that expo. If we had disembarked the Sapphire Princess today for good and were spending time post-cruise in Singapore, G would have competed in the 10K race tomorrow. Because of course he would have.
Panorama view of Singapore Bayfront area
It was well after noon when we emerged from that expo hall, and crossed the street (at a marked crosswalk; jaywalking is NOT allowed in Singapore!) to the Marina Bay Sands Hotel. This hotel is notable for its three separate angled towers topped with a large connecting horizontal bridge that houses an observation deck, restaurants, garden and pool. Our original intention had been to purchase tickets to go to the top of the observation deck (the hotel is something like 58 stories high) or have a drink or lunch at the restaurant up there, but by the time we figured out where to go to do that, it was after 1pm. We had to be back in the ship by 3pm, and had to go through Singapore immigration again before we did, so it wasn’t worth going to the top of the hotel today. Maybe another day, if we could stay very focused, we could do that plus ride the giant wheel called the Singapore Flyer (like the London Eye and the one in Melbourne, Australia) in one day. Especially now that we know a bit more about how to get around, I think that’s doable.
Inside one tower of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel
Heliconia rostrata
Instead we had a snack at a café on the ground floor of the hotel, and then walked the fifteen or so minutes back to a bus stop to catch the 402 back to the ship. Even that simple thing left us frought with indecision. Singapore drives on the left side of the road (based on its British colonial history). There was a four lane wide road going one way, separated by a park from a four lane road going the other way. On which side of that four lane, one way road would you think the bus stop was located? We made a guess, which turned out to be wrong and ended up jaywalking to get back on the correct side.
That Singaporean learning curve is a steep one!
Once back at the cruise terminal, we still had to get past the check in counters before we faced immigration. Luckily, there was a separate, slightly shorter line for in transit guests, but it was still nearly 3pm by the time we stepped back on the ship. The muster drill announcement was our cue to take showers and dress for dinner, and we went up to the Elite Lounge in Skywalkers to watch sail away from Deck 18. We had missed that altogether last embarkation day. G had been unpacking and I…was sleeping.
It was nice to go to dinner at 5:30pm at the same table with the same waiters and headwaiter. Joffrey (from the Philippines) and his assistant Yisi (pronounced EZ, from China) are fantastic, and our few special requests are already in place when we arrive. Tonight’s entertainment was an acrobatic duo from Russia. We had missed their show last cruise (it had been on Most Traveled Guest cocktail party night), so I was happy to get another chance to see it. Their show was very unusual and impressive and we enjoyed it.
And after the show, we returned to the cabin where G was asleep in less than a minute. It’s easy to be discouraged by our lack of stamina, but we find the intense heat and humidity of these Southeast Asia ports to be draining. We walked over 18000 steps today, most of them in that heat, and it takes a toll.
But we have another sea day tomorrow, and I will have a laser-like focus on just two things: rest and reading.