World Cruise - Day 77 - Mar 29 - Singapore

We arrived in Singapore early this morning, before 7a (and before sunrise):

That building that appears to be leaning as an optical illusion is no optical illusion—it is actually built that way.

Singapore is home to about 4 million people and (along with Hong Kong) is one of the most densely populated cities in the world.  We are now just 85 miles north of the equator and will be traveling northwest tomorrow on our way to Phuket, so we will not cross the equator again.  Singapore is one of the busiest ports in the world and is known as being a very clean city.  You can get flogged for throwing chewing gum (which isn’t even sold in Singapore) on the sidewalk.  Caught with drugs?  Death penalty.  Littering is a $1000 fine.  Some people compare the city to Disney World due to its cleanliness and squeaky clean image.  Some people like the cleanliness, other people consider it to be too sterile.

We just got back from touring Singapore, we had a great time!

We went first to Singapore Botanic Gardens, a green oasis in the middle of this densely packed city:

It is 74 hectares, which I have no idea how that translates into acres, but it is big, very big.  It has several gardens within the gardens, including the world famous National Orchid Garden:

The National Orchid Garden is the largest display of tropical orchids in the world:

There are orchids of all colors, shapes and sizes all over the National Orchid Garden, including these very small (yet very colorful) orchids:

Krissie posing in front of some of the orchids:

I had my pocket camera today, wishing I had my DSLR for this shot to get better clarity:

Krissie near another clump of orchids:

I saw this bird of paradise, which was very unique in both color and texture:

Waterfalls within the garden:

Close-up of one of the purple varieties of orchids:

This one had a speckled coloring to it:

This one was a combination of blues and browns:

Almost every orchid imaginable was here, over 1,000 species and 2,00 hybrids:

Then we went to Orchard Road, where there was a lot of high-end shopping, including:

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…but we didn’t spend much time shopping there.  We then went to Chinatown, where Krissie and I both found several nice items to purchase.  I took this pic of a cute little girl near one of the markets:

Krissie near the end of the Chinatown market area where we were shopping:

There was a temple nearby that we took a look at from the outside:

Krissie and I found this wonderful restaurant in Chinatown named Eight Treasures Vegetarian:

Krissie had Kung Bao Monkey Head Mushrooms (no kidding, that was the name), I had Honey Lime Chicken (no chicken, made from tofu) and we shared olive fried rice and flower tea:

Caught this pic of a guy riding his tricycle outside the restaurant:

…straight into the traffic (he really did thread in between the oncoming traffic):

We rode the subway today getting to all of our destinations.  I took this pic ostensibly of Krissie just to get the two monks in the picture.  Krissie with monks on the subway.  And you can see my reflection in the window and the guy next to me looking at what I was actually photographing and smiling:

Then we went to Little India where we did some more shopping, then had a cold beer, coconut milk and pineapple juice along with some garlic naan bread:

This is the lady making our garlic naan bread.  That green container on the left was actually her tandoori oven:

This is for my friend Dean:

Krissie at the Tekka market in Little India:

This is for my friend Pete, notice the “No durians” sign (although the fine isn’t listed).  Durians are, as Pete explained, the bad smelling fruit grown in this region:

Then we went to Clarke Quay to walk along the waterfront.  You could see this building in the distance:

Yes, those are trees growing on top of the building and yes, it is three different buildings connected by the ship-like building at the top.  I think this is the Marina Bay Sands Hotel?

Back on the subway on our way back to the ship, I took this pic of four local schoolgirls heading home after school, love the neckties:

Back onboard, we got another view of the “curved building” as we sailed away:

So it wasn’t just one building that is curved, it is all five buildings in that cluster.  Very unique architecture.

Krissie had some fun during dinner as we were eating dessert.  She got up to go use the ladies room and when she went into the stall, the handle came off.  She waited patiently for someone to come into the bathroom, finally someone did.  “Hello, can you please help me?”  No reply.  “Hello, is anyone out there?”  “Yes, but you’ll have to wait for me to finish texting.”  “OK.” (and then some patient waiting from Krissie.  Finally, the lady finished her texting and pulled on the handle from the other side and it came off as well.  Krissie looked up, then down, neither space large enough to fit through.  Finally she was able to get the door open.  And this time I wasn’t to blame for her being locked out (or in).

The entertainment tonight was again Thien Fu, the juggler/comedian from a couple nights ago:

Tomorrow is sea day #1 of 1 on our way to Phuket, Thailand.