Singapore

Well, Singapore is an absolutely wonderful place! I am sure my memories of it are exaggeratedly sweet because Michelle was able to be there with me, but even when not considering that fact, it is still a very impressive country. The country of Singapore is made up of a series of islands (more than 60) that lie at the southern tip of the continent Asia, but most of the islands are small and relatively uninhabited. Basically the entire country consists of one city, Singapore City. The culture is split historically and population-wise pretty evenly between a number of countries, including Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, India, and a myriad of Arab countries. In addition Singapore is a post-modern city with a strong international corporate presence so there is a big community of expatriates from all over the European and Western worlds. Australia is very close so the Ausies and Kiwis probably have a bit of an edge in that community. Because of the great cultural diversity, the national language is English which makes it really nice for getting around comfortably. You can imagine how these factors can lead to perhaps the best culinary scene known to mankind! The Asian diversity coupled with the ease of speaking English make going out to eat in Singapore a totally awesome experience. Last week alone I ate the best Chinese, Indian, Turkish, and Malay dishes I have ever eaten in my life, and might reasonably expect to ever eat again! No kidding.

Singapore has about 5 million people in it, and from what I can tell the city is physically about the size of Chicago. Because the country/island/city is so small they can control many factors there that are impossible to regulate in America and most other countries in the world. For example if you are caught trafficking drugs in Singapore you receive an instant death penalty – on the spot of conviction. There are no drugs in the country. There is a $1000 fine for jay walking, a $1000 fine for littering, and you get cained for theft or vandalism. It is even illegal to chew gum in public because of vandalism and litter control! You can not find even a cigarette but in the street or gutters! It is the cleanest, prettiest, safest place I have ever been, and they take great pride in that. A small girl of Aylee’s age can navigate the city and catch a cab all by herself. I saw it more than once. The youth there look wholesome and not scary. Even the subways are immaculate and pleasant. It feels like you are on an expensive train instead of a subway. They have flat screen TV monitors updating you on the train’s movement and there are electronic advertisements illuminated on the walls of the tunnel that show throw the windows. It is really impressive.

The entire city can be navigated underground, through skywalks, and shopping malls. You can walk for miles through the city and never go outside. The city was designed like that because it is can be so uncomfortable to be outside either because it is so hot and humid or because it is raining so hard. So people pretty much transit the city indoors during the day, and come out to the streets at night. At night Singapore is so beautiful because they all the buildings are lit up in different colors, and then many of them change colors every 10 or 15 seconds! If you are not paying attention you don’t really realize they are changing because the fade is pretty subtle.

Singapore lies one degree north of the equator and so it is in a tropical zone. The climate and cleanliness make the city like one big botanical garden interspersed by skyscrapers of post-modern architecture and ethnic neighborhoods with exotic temples of ancient worship. The immediate and almost side by side contrast between old and new, ancient and modern, big and small, famous and obscure, beautiful and plan, and expensive and cheap is fascinating and makes almost every block interesting to walk down.

Michelle beat me to Singapore by a few hours on Wednesday morning. By the time we were able to find each other it was about noon. Wednesday evening we hired out a taxi to take us around the city for a few hours and show us the hot spots and roughly orient us to this new place. I don’t know if it was a productive two hours or not because it was all so new and big and foreign, plus we were more interested in looking at each other that it all seemed pointless. From our hotel we walked down to the Arab Quarter and found some Turkish food for dinner. The Arab Quarter is an area of town packed with Arab textile merchants and strong, flavorful food that seems like you can almost get full just by smelling it. By dinner’s end it was only 9:00 for me, but for Michelle it was somewhere close to 6:00 am and she was starting to feel the effects of traveling half way around the world so we just went back to the hotel.

Thursday was spent climbing through the streets of Chinatown walking through temples and narrow streets of vendors selling mostly Chinatown stuff. Apparently Chinatown vendors are Chinatown vendors in New York, Philly, DC, Chicago…and even Singapore. The sights, sounds, people, and things to by are all the same – even the subway stop name seems to be the same in every Chinatown you visit. That is sort of a let down if you are there for an exotic shopping experience, but at the same time it gives somewhat of a stamp of authenticity on what goes on there – maybe that really is what China is like! This particular Chinatown was much bigger than any other one I had been to and consequently had much more than just the cheap stuff to by and streets of restaurants. Singapore’s Chinatown was full of 19^th century architecture, ancient Buddhist Temples, mosques, and historical Singapore landmarks on almost every street. We found a great place to eat lunch at a place that serves a typical style of Chinese food referred to as “steamboat” cooking. It is very similar to a Chinese version of Michelle’s Thai hotpot. Basically the dish is served in a big octagonal pan about 6 inches deep set down in hole in the table of the same shape so that the top of the pan is flush with the table. The bottom of the hole is lined with a burner that can be controlled on the side of the table. The large pan is divided into halves, in which they pour two soup stocks, one spicy and one mild. Then they bring you a plate of raw food that you order which could a variety of meets and vegetables and noodles. I think we ordered fish, chicken, beef, and even duck gizzard. Then as the stock begins to boil, you place the food in the stock and cook as desired. It is a fun dish to both cook and eat. After lunch and after taking a self-guided walking tour through the 2 or 3 miles of streets, we headed up to the Colonial Loop.

The afternoon was spent looking at the buildings that make up the historical nucleus of Singapore, including many government buildings and old hotels. They are all still functional today. We ended our day by taking a tour of the city up the river in a bum boat and then taking an evening walk down through the Quay’s (Keys) along the River Walk. It is a very romantic and fun part of town to walk through in the evening as it tends to be cooler there with a gauntlet of restaurant vendors that you have to pass by. There is no shopping for a few miles, just pure restaurants.

Friday we got up and went to Sentosa, a small island off the southern tip of the country. We arrived there by a gondola-like cable car with a glass bottom and mostly just walked around the beaches hopping from one 7-11 to the next to buy a Slurpy trying to stay cool! That night we went out for seafood where I had the best pepper crab I have ever eaten, and have reason to believe will ever eat again!

Saturday was went to check out Little India. I half expected to see a Dunkin Donuts, 7-11, or cheap hotel on every corner but it was actually pretty cool! Again, a lot of great food, great smells, great sounds and cheap shopping. I tell you what, shopping in Little India is like shopping at a lawless Walmart except about 10 times as much stuff was crammed into a market space about 10 times smaller than a typical Walmart store! It was total and utter chaos! We found a grocery market where we watched a teller club a fish bigger that my leg to death on the floor as it flopped around the isle. I’m glad we had our seafood experience last night!

A fateful coin toss took us back to Chinatown for our last meal together in Singapore that night. We got in a taxi and told the driver to take us somewhere he would go for the best Chinese food in town (not fancy) if he were not working tonight. He knew exactly where to take us! Again, it was the best Chinese food I have eaten up to this point in my life!

It sure was hard to leave Michelle again, not knowing how long it would be before we were able to be together again. I headed back to the ship a little after midnight to be on board before liberty expired. Michelle still had another day by herself in Singapore before her 20 hour route back home! It’s kind of funny because she left at 8:00 in the morning on Monday and after spending all day traveling, got to Portland at 9:00 in the morning on Monday! Pretty cool trick.