From Hong Kong - we headed to Singapore where we met up with Kaz's parents - and spent the next six days exploring.
Singapore is on the equator - so it's quite hot and humid (very tropical). The weather was sunny for most of the trip with some occasional pop-up storms that would last for an hour at most.
Like Hong Kong, I knew rather little about Singapore before arriving - other than it is said to be the only country in the world that is safer than Japan. I also had heard that Singapore has very strict laws - but truthfully wasn't too sure what that meant. When reading our guidebook - I was shocked to learn that it is still legal to "cane people" as punishment in Singapore. And, possession of any type of drug (even marijuana) can warrant the death penalty. We were also warned about "little" crimes (like littering, chewing gum, and jaywalking) that were punishable by rather steep fines.
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| "Parking Lot" for the Ships |
I found that Singapore's history was similar to Hong Kong's in that it was initially a British Colony. In 1963, Singapore merged with the Federation of Malaya to form Malaysia. Then, due to social unrest and disputes, Singapore separated from Malaysia in 1965 and became an independent republic. Singapore is very proud of their diversity. In fact, they have four national languages (English, Mandarin, Malay, and Tamil) which represent the four major ethnic groups in Singapore. Interestingly, Singapore has a bilingual education policy in which students are taught English as their first language and then are taught a second language (Mandarin, Malay, or Tamil) as their "mother tongue." (
I learned most of this when we visited the National Museum of Singapore - very interesting and informative museum). Singapore is also the epicenter of trade as the Port of Singapore is one of the busiest ports in the world. Whenever I looked at the water - I couldn't help but think it resembled a parking lot of ships...all lined up and waiting to get into the port.
Singapore was easy to navigate - with everything marked in - and almost everyone speaking - English. Everything was very safe, very clean...and had a slightly artificial feel. In general, people seemed a tad rude and slightly artificial. It almost seemed as though they recognized the opportunities they had by living in Singapore and yet they felt a degree of social pressure to conform to the rules and regulations. Singapore was an amazing place to visit...I just wonder if living there would begin to feel a tad "Big Brother-ish" over time.
Due to the length of our trip - instead of taking you step-by-step through everything that we did - I will highlight (possibly lengthily and with lots of pictures) the top sites that we visited. :)
Singapore Botanical Gardens: The Singapore Botanical Gardens were probably some of the best gardens that I've ever seen - and they took about almost a half day to wander through. The highlight was definitely the Orchid Garden, which had orchids of every shape, size, and color. We also saw a fair share of little lizards scurrying across the path.
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| Cloud Forest Waterfall |
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| Walkways in Cloud Forest |
Gardens by the Bay: By day two, we quickly realized just how much Singapore LOVES their flowers and gardens. And, just how creative they are with them. Gardens by the Bay is a huge outdoor garden - similar to the botanical gardens. However, with some VERY interesting added features. Garden by the Bay has two domes, which are basically indoor gardens that can be visited at any time. The first dome is known as Cloud Forest and contains gardens and a waterfall that extend stories into the air. You actually get to take an elevator to the top of the dome and walk along a path all the way back to the bottom. The next dome is known as the Flower Dome and it contains many indoor gardens from all over the world. I believe that the feature gardens change regularly - they were full of colorful tulips when we visited!
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| Flower Dome - Tulips! |
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| Pano-View |
Outside, in the center of the gardens are these very futuristic-looking trees (called the Supertree Grove). We learned that they are actually very "green" and harvest solar energy. You can also take an elevator up one of the trees and walk on a walkway that gives you
AMAZING views of the city!
Marina Bay Sands: Marina Bay Sands is a hotel and casino in Singapore. It contains tons of shops and restaurants that provide some relief from the Singapore heat. The building is very unique and looks sort of like a slice of a cruise ship balancing on three tiers. The very top "deck" of the building allows for a panoramic view of Singapore.
Merlion: All of the brochures, signs, and advertisements that we saw for Singapore contained pictures of a mythical-looking creature whose face resembled that of a lion. We soon learned that the creature was called a Merlion (and there were actually seven large Merlions distributed all around Singapore for visitors to find). On our river cruise, we learned that the Merlion has a head of a lion and the body of a fish. And, it is used widely as the national personification and mascot of Singapore.
The fish body represents Singapore's origin as a fishing village (Temasek, which means "sea town" in Japanese) and the lion head represents Singapore's original name (Singapura, which means "lion city"). We visited the main Merlion which looks over the Harbor - and two others that we just so happened to stumble upon!
Exploring Neighborhoods (Arab Street, Little India, and Chinatown): Singapore has many neighborhoods that give you a feel of "old Singapore" (even though you can see the skyscrapers peeking though). They each have their own unique feel and culture. Arab Street has many middle-eastern shops and restaurants; and, the Sultan Mosque (which is beautiful). Little India also has a lot of shops and restaurants - and smells of Indian foods and fragrances. Chinatown in much bigger and contains shops, restaurants, street markets, Sri Mariamman Temple, and the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple.
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| Little India |
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| Textiles on Arab Street |
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| Sultan Mosque |
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| Inside the Temple |
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| Buddha Tooth Relic Temple |
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| Market in Chinatown |
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| Lizard on a stick...YIKES! |
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| Interestingness... |
Hawker Centers: There are many Hawker Centers in Singapore and we visited/ate at one of the most popular Hawker Centers in Chinatown. Hawkers Centers resembled food courts (
slightly) in that they contain many food vendors in one place. And, the food is
CHEAP! They also have a rather dirty feel in that you do question whether it's safe to eat the food you are being given.
Hawkers Centers started in Singapore as a way for the government to control unhygienic food preparation that was taking place by unlicensed street hawkers...by putting the food all in one place. They also implemented licensing requirements, where a sufficient standard of hygiene is required for the stall to operate.
The Hawker Center was very hot and smelled like a mixture of hundreds of different kinds of food. I have to say that I was initially hesitant to try any food - but I thoroughly enjoyed an amazing fruit smoothie, some dumplings (not entirely sure of the types), and Singapore's famous chicken rice (which Anthony Bourdain raved about).
The Southern Ridges, Henderson Waves & Mt. Faber: Despite the heat, we took a few short hikes to explore the rainforest-like vegetation of Singapore. Just like in Hong Kong, these areas of vegetation were nestled right in the city-landscape. The Southern Ridges are composed of several parks connected by trails/walkways. Within the Southern Ridges are the Henderson Waves, which is a bridge that connects to hilltops (
about 36 meters in the air). The "waves" are really neat - and look almost like a sculpture/art exhibit in the sky. Mt. Faber Park gave us a neat lookout over the city and also allowed us to
very loudly ring the Bell of Happiness (
which sends wishes of happiness to family and friends everywhere).
Bukit Timah Nature Preserve: The highlight of this hike, in addition to feeling like we were movie stars in either Jurassic Park or The Hunger Games, was our random encounter with monkeys! Throughout our entire trip, we had seen signs warning us about the presence of monkeys - but had never seen any. About five minutes into our hike, I was startled by a tree branch that swung into the path in front of me and the monkey who was swinging on it. About twenty monkeys followed and we were able to watch them for about five minutes before they disappeared. We figured that we'd see tons of monkeys the rest of our hike; however, we never did see anymore.
Clarke Quay: Clarke Quay is a historical riverside quay that lines the Singapore River. One side is full of restaurant of all kinds and the other is a tree-lined path that allows you to take in the views. We ate at a seafood restaurant near the quay and tried Singapore's famous chili crab - it was spicy and definitely required the bib they insisted we wore as we ate!
Sentosa Island: There are many islands that surround Singapore and are accessible by boat. The most popular one (which is actually accessible by car, train, or boat) is called Sentosa Island. The island contains Universal Studios - Singapore and many other kid-friendly attractions. It seemed a bit like an amateur (
and poorly executed) Disney World...definitely more geared towards young children. We explored the island a bit and were able to stand on the Southernmost point in Continental Asia.
Singapore was definitely a fun place to visit - and I would recommend visiting if you ever get a chance. While we originally wondered whether there would be enough to do to fill six days - we found that our days were comfortably full and there was still much we didn't explore.
Sunny Moments: Exploring a new place; SO many neat gardens; lots of sunshine; NATURE!; time with family.
Cloudy Moments: Kaz's lost cell phone (though it was returned!)
While in Takayama - we saw these "red dolls" EVERYWHERE! I was curious what they were - so we looked them up (before buying a few as souvenirs). The dolls are called "sarubobos" - which literally means 'baby monkey' in Japanese. Traditionally, sarubobos are made by grandmothers for their grandchildren as dolls, and for their daughters as a charm for good marriage, good children and to ensure a well-rounded couple. The dolls do not have any facial features because they are said to "take on" the emotion that their owner is feeling at any given time. Over time, many other color sarubobos have emerged - each color having their own meaning. (Red: marriage and family; Gold/Yellow: money, success, gambling; Pink: love; Orange: friendship, children, traveling; Blue: study and job; Green: peace and health; Purple: longevity and success; Black: protection from evil).
