Singapore April 9 & 10

During the Holy Week holidays of 2006, the Blooms spent a couple of days in Singapore the first part of April. Singapore is a city-state on its own small island at the southern tip of Malaysia. It is just north of the equator. It is known for its cleanliness and orderliness, and this shows. Up until last year it was illegal to chew gum as it was considered a messy habit, both for the packaging and the left over gum. It has been made legal to chew now, but you must take care to properly dispose of the chewed gum. Traffic, although heavy, is very orderly and flows well. Most people live in high-rise flats as land is at a premium

On Sunday, we got up and began a self-guided tour of the city on the Hop-On, Hop-Off tour bus. This allowed us to take some time at any of about 25 tourist stops throughout the city. Our first stop was in Little India. There were many restaurants and souvenir shops in the area. There was a noodle shop along a side street that was making noodles on a long, multi-level continuous conveyor machine. We were invited in and saw the whole process from making the dough, the submersion heating in boiling water, pressing of a 12” wide web of pasta, the slitting of the wide web into strips, the long drying process, and the final cutting and bagging of the noodles.

We stopped by the Raffles Hotel, home of the original Singapore Sling, and then walked over to the harbor side theatre (ala Sydney), and the Merlion statue. The Merlion is Singapore’s symbol. It is a combination of the fish’s fins and body with a lion’s head, similar to a mermaid except being a lion rather than a person. The one at the harbor is also a fountain that spews water back into the bay.

Our next stop was Chinatown, another area of food and souvenirs. As opposed to some markets in other countries, prices are very close to rock bottom to begin with, so the bartering is very minimal. An artist was drawing names in Chinese characters using various local animals and vegetation to form the characters. A walk to Clark Quay and the last leg of our ride was to Sentosa Island, a recreation and resort island just south of the main island of Singapore. At Sentosa Island, we went to the top of a 10 story Merlion Tower to look out over the island and area. There are man-made breakwaters that make well-protected beach areas for swimming. After the bus ride back to Clark Quay, we took the subway home for the evening.

On Monday, we took a bus tour that went up into Malaysia. That meant crossing the border and going through immigration in both countries coming and going. While in Malaysia, we saw a show that demonstrated a customary Malaysian wedding dance, and toured a typical home, decorated for the wedding. We then saw a demonstration on making pewter, went to a large mosque, and then toured a batik (using wax and dies to create patterned clothing) factory.
After returning to the hotel, we walked down the Hard Rock Café for lunch, something we have tried to do in each city we tour that has a Hard Rock. The evening ended with a trip to the Singapore Night Zoo. The zoo has a tram ride through the park and multiple walking trails. The animals are more active since it is their normal eating and activity time. The lighting is a little brighter than a bright moonlit night, so you can see the animals fairly well. The animals are also fed about dusk, and the feeding stations are very close to the paths, making the animals easy to see.