è Report #10 - March 07 & 08, 2008   -   Singapore

We arrived in Singapore on Friday, March 07 and were immediately impressed with the sparkling-white cleanliness of the port area.  It turned out that no matter where we went over our 2-day stay, everything - people, places and things - was clean and spotless. 

As you may know, Singapore has very strict rules for everyone – citizens, foreign workers (they have many) and tourists (they also have many).  Graffiti is a crime punishable by jail time; litter and you pay; jaywalkers are fined on the spot; and convicted drug traffickers can expect the death penalty.  Media is scanned by the government for content and “inappropriate” websites are blocked. Additionally, as a result of controlling motorized traffic, strict regulations on industrial locations and emissions, and other environmental initiatives, Singapore has controlled its pollution to well within World Health Organization standards.  Also, Singapore has a literacy rate is 93%, is the financial hub of Southeast Asia,  has the highest standard of living in Asia and, measured by GDP per capita, is the 22^nd wealthiest country in the world.  To sum it up, it’s cleaner by far than any major city/country we’ve ever visited, it’s successful and it’s growing!   

Singapore became part of the world scene when Sir Stamford Raffles claimed it for Britain in 1819, after recognizing its potential as a trading route in Southeast Asia.  Occupied and almost reduced to ashes by the Japanese during WWII, Singapore became part of the Malaysian federation in 1963, but left (actually was booted-out) in 1965 and became a democratic republic by the end of that year.  Although Singapore possessed no resources, except for its people, an ambitious industrialization plan was put in place shortly after independence and the rest is, as they say, history. 

Since we had two days, we elected to take a city tour on the first day and a full-day island tour on the second.  Singapore is not only the name of the capital city, it’s the name of the main island the capital city is on and it’s the name of the country, which consists of Singapore Island and about 60 other islets.  Our Singapore city tour took us first by the Raffles Hotel (named after Sir Raffles and home to the Singapore Sling) and then on to see the Merlion, a statue figure (made famous by the tourist board) with the head of a lion and the body of a fish.  Next was Arab Street, in the Kampong Glam or Muslim centre, and the gold-domed Sultan Mosque, originally built in 1825 and named after Raffles’ buddy Sultan Hussein Shah.  The Muslim centre is a few blocks from Little India and a few miles from Chinatown, Singapore’s cherished cultural heart (78% of the 4.3 million people are Chinese).  In Chinatown we visited the Sri Mariamman Temple, the oldest Hindu temple in Singapore, built in 1823.  Our final stop was at the National Orchid Garden, to see the largest orchid display in the world, featuring over 60,000 exquisite natural and hybrid orchid plants.  Again, everything was perfectly groomed and spotless and the weather was perfect (the country is 1° north of the equator, so it’s hot almost all the time).

On the second day, our plan was to get out of the city to see the countryside and several significant WWII related sites.  Our tour guide was well-versed in WWII history and she pulled no punches.  Without getting too graphic, she told us on December 8, 1941, the Japanese bombed British-controlled Singapore and by February 1942, they occupied and had renamed the island Syonan.  She went on to say that the Japanese ran the island with brutal force over their 3 ½ year occupation, resulting in over 140,000 allied troops (British, Australian, New Zealand, Indian, Canadians, and others) either killed or imprisoned at Changi Prison and thousands of Chinese executed.  In addition to her commentary, the tour included stops at the Kranji War Cemetery, where thousands of WWII allied troops are buried, and the Changi Museum & Chapel that commemorates the Allied POWs by use of actual photos and artifacts.  We were sure that our tour guide never takes out a group of Japanese tourist for this tour, or maybe any.

On the way back to the ship, we detoured to visit the gigantic Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery complex, spreading out over 19 acres.  The complex includes the main temple, shrines, pagodas, pavilions, bridges and a crematorium and really would have taken a full day to see.  We had one hour, so we were limited to seeing the main temple with its 55 ton golden Buddha and views of the surrounding dragon-topped buildings. 

We departed Singapore on Saturday night glad to have seen and learned all we had about this tiny, interesting, and thriving country.  The route to our next port of call - Chennai (Madras), India – will take us through the Strait of Malacca (pirate’s alley) and that’s a story for another time. 

Check out Nick’s website - www.nide.smugmug.com - for pictures from Singapore

 è Next - Report #11 (March 09 – 17) – at sea in the Strait of Malacca and 2-stops in India, Chennai (Madras) & Mumbai (Bombay)