We arrived at Singapore this morning and docked at about 7:30 AM
Singapore declared itself a self-governing state in 1954. During the 1960s Singapore briefly joined its neighbors Malaya, Sarawak and Sabah in the Federation of Malaysia. Today, Singapore is an independent nation and is known for its high literacy rate, its fine medical care, its transportation system, and its array of international businesses. It is also a place that attracts many tourists.
Singapore is located within ninety miles (one degree) of the Equator. It is not very large and measures only 250 square miles in total. The Singaporean people are mainly Chinese. Others who live in Singapore include Malays, Indians, Eurasians and Europeans. Approximately, 4.4 million people including foreign workers live in Singapore. There are four official languages in Singapore.
Singapore boasts a Chinatown, Little India, a Colonial District and an Arab District. You will find many temples, mosques and churches in this country, representing the different religions/nationalities that have migrated to this area of the world.
Some of the places to visit in this area include the Asian Civilization Museum, the Fort Canning Park, Sentosa Island, the Zoological Gardens and the Raffles Hotel, which is famous for its Singapore Sling.
We awoke early this morning and enjoyed a very nice workout in the Fitness Center. Keith was the first to arrive and was up there before 5:00 AM and worked out on the Elliptical machine for ninety minutes. Anne Marie arrived a little while later and enjoyed a workout on the Treadmill. Although it was initially dark when we arrived we could see lots of lights from the shore. Other regulars were working out such as Mary and John and Keith enjoyed another nice talk with Mary during their workout.
We enjoyed a nice breakfast in our room and as we ate we watched as the ship maneuvered its way into the port.
We took the complimentary shore excursion that Crystal provided to all guest on this segment of the World Cruise. During the World Cruise Crystal provides one complimentary shore excursion on each segment of the World Cruise. The name of today’s excursion was called Spirit of Singapore City Orientation. Since this is our first time to Singapore we thought this would provide a very nice overview to this city, which it did.
By far, this was one of the best highlight tours we have taken and we were very glad that Crystal provided this tour. We had an outstanding tour guide who provided lots of information, in an easy to understand manner, and also had a nice sense of humor.
We boarded our buses and during the course of the tour we drove by several traditional buildings such as the Parliament House and the Singapore Supreme Court and the City Hall.
We had the opportunity to visit Chinatown, where we visited the oldest Chinese temple in this city, which is dedicated to the Goddess of the Sea. It was a very impressive temple with very detailed woodwork.
We also had the chance to visit the world renowned Raffles Hotel where we were served a Singapore Sling. The Raffles Hotel was named after the British founder of modern-day Singapore, Sir Stamford Raffles. The Hotel and its property is quite impressive and very traditional.
Our tour also included a drive up to Mt. Faber, which is located 300 feed above sea level. This provided us with the opportunity to view the city from above and we also could see the Crystal Serenity from there.
The highlight of our tour was our visit to the National Orchid Gardens. The orchids that we saw were breathtaking and this has to rank as one of the top gardens we have visited in all our years of travel. We included a picture of Anne Marie in front of an orchid that is named after an Anne Marie. The gardens are located on 110 acres and offer the largest display of orchids in the entire world.
We learned that the first rubber trees were planted in this region at this specific area after they were smuggled from Brazil in the 19th Century.
The major driver of Singapore’s economy is oil related. Singapore has what is considered the busiest port in the World and one of the drivers are the oil refineries. Many goods are shipped to and from this port where it serves as a transit port.
Singapore has its traditional areas but is also a very modern city. Unlike the last couple of ports of calls that we visited in Thailand, Singapore is a very clean city. As a visitor, it has to rank as one of the nicest cities that we have visited. We think the phrases that applies best is that Singapore is a very nice place to visit but we would not want to live here.
As a tourist, it offers a very safe and clean environment. It has lots of beautiful locations to visit and lots of other amenities from very nice hotels to wonderful restaurants. All of the road signage and most of the signage was in English making it very easy to navigate ourselves around this lovely city. Many of the buildings are beautiful; both modern and traditional buildings. There is lots of greenery throughout this city. The road system is quite good and there are no traffic problems (more on this later on)
It certainly has advantages for those that live there because of the safe and clean environment and some of the other benefits. For example, there are 4.4 million people who are in Singapore of which; approximately 3.4 million are citizens of Singapore. All the citizens have their own home, which is a plus. However, keep in mind that 90% of the citizens live in apartments. The own the apartments because the government believes that with ownership they will keep them in good shape but they are high density units and we could see the wash hanging from the balconies. The lucky 10% live in homes. The other benefit is that they have a compulsory savings program where both the employees and the employers contribute to them. It is similar to Social Security in the United States but the percentage of contributions is quite a bit higher.
With that said, the government does have very tight rules and regulations so it limits certain freedoms that Americans take for granted such as “Freedom of Speech”. It has by far some of the most stringent laws in the world.
It is no exaggeration to say that if one chews gum and should not dispose of the gum properly that they will be fined.
We mentioned that traffic congestion did not seem to be a problem in Singapore. This is because most people do not own a car. Cars are no longer manufactured in Singapore and if you import a car you pay a 110% (yes 110%) tax rate on the car. You also pay a rather large fee to register the car.
The cruise ship terminal is one of the most impressive terminals that we have seen around the world. The security is quite strict. We had to carry our passport with us. After we departed the ship we walked a long way to the terminal and we had to go through security and also through passport control. When we returned to the ship we had to show our passport two times, including one time through passport control and we also went through security. There is are stores and restaurants in the terminal and also attached to the terminal is a very large shopping mall.
When we retuned back to the ship we enjoyed a wonderful lunch.
After lunch, we took the complimentary shuttle provided by Crystal into town and we walked to Orchard Rd. which has an enormous number of stores, shopping malls, hotels and other venues.
We enjoyed another wonderful dinner in the Main Dining Room. It has been a few days since we last dined in this restaurant and enjoyed the cuisine, the wait staff, and being back at our favorite table.
We had a lovely day in Singapore and look forward to another day in this city since we ship will remain docked in this port until we leave tomorrow at 5:00 PM.
Keith & Anne Marie
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