Travels with Irene

I must admit that I knew very little about Singapore before we docked for a two-day stay.  What I found was a modern city-state that seemed wealthy, progressive, clean, and a desirable place to live and work.   But beneath the surface, I heard about the strict laws, constant monitoring by the government, and difficulty of finding housing.  A city of contrasts – as are most of the ones I have visited on this trip.

I always enjoy when the bow of the ship on the 4^th deck is opened up so we can watch the navigation into the harbor early in the morning.  Crew members set up a station with coffee, tea, orange juice, and rolls, always called affectionately by the name of the port, this time Singapore Rolls, a luscious light roll with cinnamon swirls.  

My niece and I had decided to see Singapore both days via Grab, the Southeast Asian equivalent to Uber.  Throughout both days, we were delighted at the 2-4-minute response time for a car to arrive to drive us to our next destination.  What an easy and economical way to navigate this city which is about the size of Chicago, but with double the population. 

Finding local textiles was our first mission.  My niece is a skilled, avid quilter, and so we had thoroughly checked out where we could find fabric for her next projects.  The answer?   The Kampong Glam neighborhood, a historic Malay-Muslim section of the city, and especially Arab Street filled with textile shops, carpet stores, and Middle Eastern food.  This area had been a hub of trading as far back as the early 1800s with merchants coming to buy and sell from China, India, Indonesia, and the Middle East. 

We strolled along Arab Street, and discovered multiple shops with bolts and rolls of fabric.  It was hard to choose a few colorful meters of batiks when there were so many to pick from, some of which had been printed by hand.  Of course, we visited dozens of other shops, enjoying the displays of clothes, perfumes, chinaware, foods, etc.

Then another Grab ride to Chinatown, over 140 acres of traditional Chinese shop houses (where the owner lives above the shop) as well as modern buildings.  Up and down the streets we walked, seeing Chinese medicine shops, traditional Chinese souvenirs at bargain prices, tea houses, and open-air restaurants with local food.

We finally took a lunch break at a local Chinese restaurant and shared a variety of dishes.

Of course, we had to see the iconic symbols of Singapore, the Merlion and the Marina Bay Sands Resort, which are opposite each other on the Marina Bay waterfront.  The Merlion is a 70-ton statue with a lion’s head and a fish body, symbolizing the city’s origin as a fishing village and the meaning of the word Singapore which is “Lion City.”  This mascot of the city sprays water into the Marina Bay, and is a “must see” tourist destination. 

The Marina Bay Sands Resort has distinctive architecture that can be seen from many vantage points of the city.  There are three towers, 55 stories each,  topped by the Sands Skypark which is a “Skyway” connecting the towers with an infinity swimming pool and park.  The 2,500 guest rooms are only a part of the complex.  The resort showcases an observation deck, restaurants and casinos, a theater, indoor skating rink, a science museum, and convention center.  And would you believe that the indoor exclusive shops are connected by a canal?  We chose not to go visit the resort, but to take an evening tour that included a cruise along the bay and tour tickets to visit two light shows at nighttime. 

The first light show was in the Gardens by the Bay, an urban park a few miles from the downtown which includes 18 “artificial trees”.   For 15 spectacular minutes, we saw a light and sound show entitled “Garden Rhapsody” with lights dancing on the trees in coordination with majestic opera music.  The tour guide had reserved prime seating on a grassy knoll overlooking the show.  I’m glad I was able to video some sections of the performance, which are included in my Singapore video.

The second light show was back at the Marina Bay where we stood on a huge promenade viewing platform to watch the skyline of Singapore lit up by the dancing fountains.  Lasers and  projections and colored lights beamed back and forth in time to an orchestra soundtrack as we watched — mesmerized.   

On our 2^nd day, we decided to see those “artificial trees” in the daylight, and to explore the entire Gardens by the Bay, a 260-acre urban park.  Opened in 2012 to bring green space to the city and to be a major tourist attraction, Gardens by the Bay was built on land reclaimed from the sea.  There are three separate garden areas featuring plants from all over the world, but the main attractions are the world’s largest glass greenhouse, the indoor “Cloud Forest” which includes a waterfall, and the outdoors super forest of 18 artificial trees.  Since Singapore has no natural hills or waterfalls, the plan was to bring those to the city residents and tourists via this park.

After a successful Grab ride to the Gardens by the Bay, we took a tram ride throughout the entire park so we could see where we wanted to focus our time. Acres and acres of greenery surrounded the Flower Dome, a ginormous glass greenhouse filled with plants from the Mediterranean and semi-arid regions.  I’m grateful that the Dome was air-conditioned on this very hot, humid day!  We wandered around, reading the signs and marveling at the beauty of countless varieties of cacti as well as Baobab trees that I had only ever seen in a child’s story book!

The 2^nd huge glass enclosure was the Cloud Forest, which included a massive indoor waterfall, 115’ high!  Much of the Cloud Forest was set up to resemble Jurassic Park and there were animated dinosaurs whose periodic roars punctuated the silence of the jungle-like space.  There was even a walk among the tree-tops which I braved!  Of course, the flowers in bloom were breath-taking, including a surprising display of Dale Chihuly’s glass blooms.

Our final walk was outside the glass domes as we enjoyed the artificial trees up close.  The 18 tree-like structures are each about 160’ tall, and constructed of a reinforced concrete core covered by a steel frame.  Each one is a vertical garden with planting panels that house 165,000 live plants like ferns, vines, and orchids.  They have cells that act as solar panels and collect rainwater which is used to water the plants.  We climbed up inside one of them using a combination of an elevator and stairs so we could walk out onto the observation platform to see the city. 

After seeing all this beauty of both the city and the garden areas, I couldn’t help but reflect on some of the other aspects of Singapore that were hidden below the view of the tourists.  This city-state (a sovereign state that consists of just a city) is considered wealthy, clean, neat, safe, has very little crime, and is the 3^rd largest banking hub of the world (after New York and London). 

But the glitz covers up the fact that there are 90,000 surveillance cameras watched by the police, and there are strict laws with severe penalties.  A person cannot chew gum, jaywalk, litter, or fail to flush a public toilet without being fined if caught.  Drug possession can lead to the death penalty. 

In addition, 80% of the people live in government high-rise housing of 1,000 sq ft including a bomb shelter.  A person must be married in order to enter a lottery to get a place, and it took two years for that process for the guide we talked with.  Then he had to wait 5 years for it to be built, and once in the house, he couldn’t sell it for 5 years.  Over $100,000 must be paid to the government when buying a car for the Certificate of Entitlement, and the car can only be owned for 10 years.  It seemed to me that the government was involved in every aspect of a person’s life. 

Yes, I sure enjoyed the hunt for fabric, the beauty of the colored fountains and the fragrant flowers in Singapore, but the seemingly restrictive government makes me thankful that I live where I do!