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Wednesday, March 15 – Singapore
We arrived at our dock in Singapore about mid-day. As always it took a while to clear the ship for disembarking. We’ve been warned it is a long walk to customs and then more to the busses for excursions. We’ve also been advised that anything we carry with us off the ship will be inspected (bags, purses, backpacks) then scanned again before coming back through customs to get on the ship.
There were a number of tours departing shortly after arrival, so we all lined up on level 2 (the disembarking level for this port). The line stretched for more than ½ the length of the ship and was doubling back on itself before we got the all clear. Needless to say, the line through immigration was very slow.
Something we have run into in SE Asia is that the locals are very solicitous of Russ with his walking sticks. They offer a wheelchair, or elevators, or want to assist him. It is very nice and he always turns down the assistance. (Almost) This time, one of the customs people who was directing traffic, pulled us out of line and whisked him/us to the front of the line. We weren’t about to turn that down. The lady checking us through was very courteous. We provided thumb prints, they took pictures, and scanned passports. We had completed online cards that they never asked about. Off we went towards our tour.
The tour was a 6 hour journey that was to stop in several different neighborhoods of Singapore. Chinatown, Arab street, Little India and was to include a 7 course lunch at a seafood restaurant. Because this was an afternoon tour, and the other days it will be in the morning, we started off with lunch. Food was excellent! All served family style with a huge lazy-Susan in the middle of the table.
From the restaurant we went to a National History Museum. The guide from the other bus really seemed to know the material, so we all tuned our quietvox into him and he did an excellent job explaining the exhibits as well as a lot of information about Singapore.
After our time there, we headed on to the neighborhoods we were supposed to see. All were developed around the same time based around “shop houses”. Singapore has some very diverse ethnic groups with groups of Chinese; Indians; Malay; Arabs (and others of Muslim faith). All of these neighborhoods (although it segregated the groups a bit) were built to the same standard so no group had more than another or a different quality, they were all equal.
“Shop houses” are houses where the ground floor is a shop and the owner lives above the shop. These are prevalent throughout many neighborhoods in Singapore. Today they have morphed a bit. Still shops, but the upstairs now may be another office for someone else. The owner of the shop has found housing elsewhere.
We skipped over Chinatown and went straight to Arab Street. Things were very active as the community is gearing up for Ramadan which starts on the 22nd. It was just bustling with people. That was fun to see, and the paint schemes of the buildings were also very interesting. We then went to Little India and walked around there for a little while before the obligatory shopping stop. This time it was at the Raffles Hotel. We then returned to the port for the long walk back through immigration and customs to the ship.
Points of interest. (In no particular order) Singapore has a population of about 6 million. They have at least 7 million trees. Even the high-rise apartment buildings had plantings. They manufacture about 70% of the world’s oil rigs. They don’t have oil themselves, but they have one of the largest refineries anywhere in the world. 90% of the people are homeowners. The government has built blocks of apartments and sell the apartments at very reasonable rates. Most of those are very very small but the individual owns it at a price that is affordable. [About 300 square feet is $30 per month.] And they OWN it, they don’t rent, so they keep it up and have pride in ownership.
Singapore has a
LOT of rules. It is illegal to chew gum. It is illegal to litter. And on and
on. Buying a car is a major process. It is VERY expensive. Not only is the
vehicle expensive, but there are additional taxes, and you must have a special
permit to own a car and it is also expensive. Therefore, there weren’t many
cars on the roadways (for 6 million). They also have a very well-developed mass
transit system.
Only a couple
of pictures of interest.
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