Singapore

                Hello from Singapore! This was a jammed packed 12 hours. The morning started REALLY slow. The alarm went off and I lay back in bed simply to wake up in the warmth because no matter how warm Hannah and I set our room temperature it is always freezing. Well, needless to say I fell back asleep and Hannah and I were abruptly awoken by our P.A. announcer Stewart telling all students to go and get their passports for immigration, and of course the one day I’m not ready to go is the day that our sea is supposed to go get our passports first. So we hurried to get ready and got our passport, ate breakfast, and headed toward the gangway to get off the ship.

                When the ship was finally cleared, all 700 or so of us got off the ship as fast as we could so that we could experience as much of the culture of this wonderful country. We also went through personal immigration in the country, much like you do in an airport. This was the first time we had done immigration like this. Once I had passed through immigration I met my SAS group for a city orientation. On the city orientation we first traveled around the city via bus and saw all of the architecture of Singapore. Oh my goodness, I have never seen so many strange buildings in my life. Everything here looks a little futuristic. The tallest building in Singapore is 73 stories high. While looking at all of these buildings I felt like an ant looking out of an ant hill in a park full of tall slides and children running around playing. The city was incredible! Looking at this city I could see why there were so many strange rules here.

                Speaking of strange rules, I think that was the hardest part of Singapore. There are 6 main laws that were particularly pointed out to us on the ship to ensure that we did not get thrown in jail in the 12 hours we were there. Here are the rules and the price I would have to pay had I broken the law. Just so everyone knows the currency exchange was $1 U.S. to $1.25 Singapore Dollar 

!. No Smoking S$500 Fine

2.  No Littering S$1000 Fine

3.  No Chewing Gum S$1000 Fine

4. No Jaywalking S$500 Fine

5. Do not stand on toilet seat S$5000 Fine

6. Leaving the toilet unflushed S$500Fine

These laws are crazy! Since these laws are rather strange, Singapore becomes known as the ____. Something else that is interesting is that they believe in both Corporal and capital punishment. Their Corporal punishment is by caneing and capital punishment is by hanging. Needless to say, Singapore has one of the lowest crime rates in the world.

                These crazy laws with very overpriced fines actually work. This city is one of the cleanest places I have ever been. The public restrooms are beautiful (honestly I saw marble sinks in restrooms), there is literally no litter, and everyone is very friendly and proud of their country.

                After driving through downtown Singapore, we stopped at Precious Stone Company. Here they take precious stones and gems from all over the world, shapes them, polishes them, and then creates almost anything one could imagine out of the stones. So the tour was of how they make the shape of the stones which reminded me a lot of how they do it in India but here it was all automatic whereas India’s was done by hand more. Then, we got to go upstairs and see their show room. They had literally everything from earrings and pendants to puters to giant pictures all made from precious stones. When I started looking around I was expecting the prices to be outrageous. However, I was pleasantly surprised. I mean there were some things that were like $36,000, but they were 3D pictures of peacocks and such that you could hang on the wall. There were many things (mostly jewelry) that were only $15 or so. Everything in the store was so unique that it was hard not to purchase anything. However, I restrained myself and walked out empty handed like many of us.  

                Back on the bus we headed back towards downtown. The bus made a sharp turn and now the bus was taking me and my fellow voyagers to the Tropical Orchids Garden. There are hundreds of types of orchids, and thousands of blooming orchids. I have never seen so many colors in my life. I had no idea that orchids could look like they had polka dots of a darker shade inside them (like light pink with dark pink polka dots). This garden is a part of the Singapore Botanical Gardens. The group was only allowed to walk through for about 45 minutes before moving on to our next destination, but I could have spent the entire day just there. It was absolutely beautiful! I think my favorite orchid was deep purple with small polka dots of a lighter purple shade. All I wanted to do was cut it off and bring it back with me. Don’t worry I took a picture so I can remember it forever! This was definitely one of my favorite places in all of Singapore. I would go back just to revisit this.

                  Our final stop on the city tour was to Little India. This was where my friend Ada and I decided to sign out of the trip. By signing out of the trip here we did not have to go back to the ship and then come back into the city. Instead we could just wander around from here. So in Little India we walked around and did just a little shopping (Ada forgot a gift for her Mom). Then we ate lunch in Little India at a Hawker Station. A Hawker Station is basically an outdoor food court that is really inexpensive with many different ethnic foods. Ada and I wanted one more authentic Indian meal so we had buttered chicken (which is spicy) and fresh made Nan ( a delicious bread from India). It was so good. It made us both want to go back to India! 

                After Little India we wanted to go to downtown and really get a look from the pedestrian perspective. We took the MRT, which is their form of the subway to get downtown. Holy Cow was this impressive. Their subway is all electronic. They don’t use paper tickets like we do in the states, instead it is a credit card type card that you can refill and once you are done with it you can return it and get a dollar back from the MRT system. So Ada and I navigated the system and made it to downtown! The MRT goes REALLY fast. Way faster than anything we have in the states.

                Downtown is amazing! Everything is super high tech and full of life! I’m not sure how to explain it. It was just incredible to walk in a new downtown. It has been so long since I was in a really big city like Singapore. I enjoyed just wandering around exploring all the technology that Singapore has to offer. All I could think of was how cool it would be if cities in the states were like this. Life in the states would be much more sustainable than they are now. I can only hope that one day in the near future the U.S. can become this efficient.

                Once we were finished being amazed by every turn we took in town we decided to go and find the Merlion. The Merlion is a statue, well fountain that spits water into the ocean. The Merlion is a statue that stands for the name of Singapore because they are the lion city. This statue is so cool! I mean it looks a little strange and when I describe it it sounds even stranger, but it is a really unique statue to visit. When we were visiting the Merlion we were able to also see the hotel that has a ship on the top of it. This hotel is like 50 stories tall. The ship has trees growing out of it, a night club, bar and restaurant in it. I did not go up it but many people say that it has the best view of the city.

                After the Merlion Ada and I got back on the MRT and traveled to China Town as our last stop of the day. China Town was really cool. Not anything like the China Town in New York though, well at least I don’t think so. In China Town we visited a Hindu Temple which was cool to see especially because we just came from India and I saw some Hindu Temples there. The temple was covered in depictions of the Hindu Gods and Goddess, with an area of almost every color known to man. While visiting the temple we were actually able to see a family giving their annual gift to one of the Gods which was a very unique experience to have especially in the heart of Singapore. It was a rare moment to get to experience families giving their gifts in both India and Singapore and then having the opportunity to compare them.  These few streets seemed like a hole in the wall in the city of Singapore. I mean we literally turned the corner and Singapore went from a flourishing stainless steel futuristic place to a back in time small, quaint taste of China. We did some shopping here. There were a lot of cool tourist stuff for Singapore at pretty reasonable price. While in China Town it began to rain. It was supposed to rain all day, but instead waited until almost 5:30 before it poured. Ada and I ran from tent to tent trying to stay dry, but also looking for cool souvenirs.  

                When the rain paused we took that time to run to the MRT station for the last time. We took the MRT back to the harbor front where we wrote our postcards and went back through immigration. I was back on the ship by 8pm and we left by 11pm to begin our journey to Vietnam. In general I would say that I really enjoyed Singapore. I’m not sure where exactly this country would sit on my list to go back to. I would love to come back one day and just see how much more technology they have. I would also really like to go back to the Orchid garden. This country just made me even more excited to see the rest of Asia. So bring it on!!!!!