Singapore

Betsy visited Singapore in the late 90s on business and didn’t recognize several parts of Singapore. The new building activity is amazing, the prosperity obvious and (trumpets sound….) we actually saw some litter on the sidewalk and in the river! We were careful not to spit or chew gum, but we did sweat—a lot!

The ship was docked at Harbor Front—a perfect location with easy access to Sentosa Island and the MRT for getting to other parts of Singapore. Picture 1 shows the view of Sentosa Island from our ship. In the late 90s the island had beaches, some nice walking and Underwater World. Today it is a combination of Disney World and Las Vegas. There are 2 Las Vegas-like hotels (including a Hard Rock) with casinos and many smaller hotels. There’s a Universal Studios and about every type of activity you can think of—water park, bird park, butterflies & insects, Combat Skirmish, an animatronic crane dance, cycles, Segways, zip lines, etc. We took the moving sidewalk over, walked around and left, but it was amazing to see what 16 years can do!

We then took the MRT to Clarke Quay to take a tourist cruise on the Singapore River. It’s an easy way to get a quick overview of Singapore and cooler than extensive walking! A short distance from Clarke Quay you get to Boat Quay, which is shown in Picture 2. The buildings in the forefront were built in the second half of the 19^th century. Boats would sail up the river to this point and unload their cargo. Each building represented a different merchant. You’ll notice that the buildings are different heights, which is how merchants showed their wealth. The taller your building, the wealthier you were.

Sailing along we noticed the scene in picture 3, which looked like a long, skinny cruise ship sailing in the sky. Upon reaching Marina Bay, we saw the Marina Bay Sands project, which is shown in Picture 4. This is on reclaimed land and was not there when Betsy visited in the late 90s. Her hotel was to the right of this new island and there was a clear view of the harbor, with boats waiting to have cargo unloaded. This complex contains hotel, apartments, restaurants, entertainment venues and, at the left side with the spacecraft-like shape, is the Arts and Science Museum. A very amazing sight!

Picture 5 shows the Merlion, the symbol of Singapore. It’s part lion and part mermaid. A copy is also located on Sentosa Island.

Finally, we had lunch on the river. We set out wanting chicken rice and chili crabs, but came upon a restaurant and suddenly got homesick. Hooters with Tiger Beer—great! We will be back here next winter and already have our time planned!