SINGAPORE

SINGAPORE   March 13/14, 2011

Civilized, motorized, amortized and homogenized, Singapore has it all. And it has it all with a classy façade which, perhaps, hides the really strict nature of their criminal laws and their real lack of democracy in the 21^st century.  Lovely to look at, delightful to know, a real cosmopolitan city.

Day one began with me trying to figure out how to send a text message on my international phone.  We have a friend here named Wui.  He was a shipmate on Amazing Adventure 6 (?) in March 2010.  We’ve kept in touch via facebook and when I let him know we would be in Singapore, he made sure he was available to see us and asked that we text him when we were ready to leave the ship.  Well, at least I was able to figure out how to call his cell phone.  Wui introduced us to the fantastic subway system of Singapore.  He had to attend his brother’s engagement party, so we went to Chinatown, an area of Singapore we hadn’t seen before.  We shopped for two hours, total purchases were $S15 for a beaded necklace.  Wui owns a bar on the riverfront, so we wandered the streets until 3 PM, having a lovely lunch on the riverfront until Wui opened his bar.  We spent some time with Wui, but it being St. Patrick’s weekend, it was really getting busy, so we found our way back to the ship.

After a well deserved rest and dinner in the Lido, we decided to go to the brand new Marina Bay Casino.  Set atop three skyscrapers and molded in the shape of a boat, the architecture really intrigued us more than the idea of going to a casino.  Well, the best laid plans, etc.  It took us 30 minutes to get through customs and immigration (required every time you leave the ship).  A day gambling ship, which just happened to be the old Song of Norway, had just let out and we were in the middle of a swarm of highrollers who, by their general demeanor, did not come home winners.  Finally getting to the street level we found the cab line with about 25 people in it and not a cab in sight.  At this point we decided to put the kybosh on our venture and just go veg out on the ship.  However, we did make one stop on the way back at a shop in the attached mall called “Massage Today”.  We each opted for a package called the Fish Spa.  Take off shoes and sox, wash feet in a ground level sink, roll up pants and sit around what could be described as a hot tub filled with ravenous little black fish.  Insert feet in said hot tub for 10 minutes and emerge with all the dead skin on your feet completely devoured by the denizens of the hot tub.  Oh that you could be here to run your fingers over my heels and feel the soft bottoms of my now tingling feet.  The evening saved by www.massagetoday.com.sg. 

Day two was a short one due to foolish Singapore immigration crap, so we basically wandered the new mall attached to the pier. Singapore prices appear to be somewhat lower than Hong Kong, with a lot of knockoff stuff including, seen here for the first time, Longchamp bags.  Many changes here since our last visit.  Will have to come back again.