We have heard Singapore referred to as a city/state, although we always thought it was a country. Whatever it is called, it is one of the world's "hot-list" destinations. The capital of Singapore is Singapore, with a total population of 5.8 million people. The size of the island is 697 square kilometers with four main languages of Mandarin (Chinese), English, Malay and Tamil.
You can expect to see a mix of old colonial buildings to modern architecture, billion-dollar gardens, striking new hotels, and modern menus. Good food is top on the list with steaming, sizzling, and simmering everything. A combination of Chinese, Malaysian, and Indian spices top the bill, as well as international types of food everyone likes. One of those items is pizza, of course, with glorified cheeseburgers being a close second.
The best way to describe this city is that it is user-friendly. Getting around to many of the major sights, we have found taking their intricate underground MRT (mass rapid transit) works the best for us. There are other options such as buses, taxis, and Ubers or Grab, or simply taking the ship's tours work OK. The most visited sights in the city are Gardens By The Bay, the National Gallery of Singapore, Sentosa Island, the Night Safari and the Singapore Zoo. On top of our list includes the Botanic Gardens, Raffles Hotel, Clarke Quay, Orchard Road, Marina Sands Hotel, Little India and Chinatown. And that's just naming a few. Shopping malls are so abundant, you could spend days in them and not see it all.
The bow was opened for the early birds among us as we sailed into the harbor of Singapore. The weather was fine (no rain) and they were serving Singapore Rolls (more or less) and coffee on that deck. The treats were also available in the Seaview Pool area, the promenade deck, and the Crow's Nest.
Today happened to be the boarding day for the 5th major segment of this cruise – 21 days from Singapore to Tokyo. The "ferry" boat continues…..When going ashore, we had to bring our room keys, of course, but also our passports. It was not a zero clearance port, so if some guests chose to stay onboard, they were allowed to. Heaven knows, we have filled out so much information to enter here, we are perfectly covered as far as security goes.
There was a major glitch with our bathroom this morning, and that was the toilet stopped working. We reported it to the front desk, who said there were others in our block with the same problem. The promise was that it would be fixed as soon as possible. But would that happen? If you all recall, this was a problem in January, after we boarded. Back then, our carpet was flooding by the bathroom, the jacuzzi tub was not working, and the exhaust fan was inoperable. It took time, but finally they stopped the leak. Until this morning…..It was nice that our veranda was being cleaned this morning, but the commode turned out to be a different story.
It was going to be a very warm and humid day with temps in the low 90's and humidity at 85%. The winds were light at 5.7mph and it was overcast and cloudy. No rain which was good.
So after breakfast, we headed off of the ship by 9:30am, and took the zig-zag gangway to the cruise terminal. Most of the tour groups had gone off, so there was no line. At this point, we had to scan our passport, then have our photo taken for photo recognition. Whatever it was, it worked and we were both given the green light and allowed through the gate. Going out of the terminal, we had to have our stuff x-rayed as well as ourselves. One of us always sets the alarm off, so a quick scanning reveals the titanic knee replacement and any hooks or zippers on your clothing.
There was a port shuttle offered that took the folks to Marina Square, which we understand was close to Marina Bay and the Merlion Statue. It was running every 30 minutes until 9pm. That was not exactly where we needed to go, so we opted to walk the distance to enter the MRT at Marina South Pier, which is the end of the North/South red line. We discovered this connection to the MRT several years ago when this terminal was new, and we were bumped out of the Harborfront Pier.
Adding to the crowd, were the incoming guests of the Genting Dream, a luxury cruise ship of 150,695 gross tons aimed mainly to the Asian market. Launched in 2016, it holds 3300 passengers and a crew of 1700. These new guests came by the hundreds pulling suitcases to check in. We guess that the ship goes from here to Hong Kong and is mainly a gambling ship.
There were some tours here today and tomorrow as well. Gardens By The Bay and Marina Sands was a transfer for 3.5 hours and $50. Singapore highlights was 5 hours and $80. Panoramic Singapore was 3.25 hours for $70 and mostly a ride. The Night Safari was 4.5 hours and $130, while iconic Singapore was 4.5 hours and $140. Two new excursions had been added with Chinatown Tea for 5 hours and $160 and Journey through tea for 4.25 hours and $270. Around the island was 7.25 hours and $170. And finally a transfer to the airport if you were leaving was 4.5 hours for $100. And there was the Big Bus (Ho-ho) to do on your own.
Last year, we had saved the EZ MRT passes that hold enough money to get you to a station that sells the1,2,or3 day MRT cards. These EZ passes were good until 2030 which we found to be true when we used them at the Marina South Pier Station. So the day of heading down long flights of escalators began as we caught the train to Raffles Place. Two 2 day tickets set us back $48 Singapore dollars, which was about $37 USD. That would give us two full days of unlimited rides all over the entire island. This would give us the freedom to go where we wanted and stay as long as we wished. And today there was less pressure to return to the ship since we were staying overnight.
We got back on the train and headed towards Dhoby Ghat where we transferred to another line to Chinatown. We have to add a compliment to the Singaporean people. They will offer you their seat when they see you are a senior. Not only the kids, but also adults who may be close to our ages. Another nice thing is that if you stop to check a map for instance, locals will stop and ask if you need help. Who takes the time to do that these days? That did help when we came out of a station or mall, and forgot which way to turn.
So we toured most all of Chinatown where the food stalls were already serving breakfast and soon lunch. We always are amazed at the number of hawkers there selling everything from ducks, chickens, pork, and all the pieces and parts of the animals as well. And this is not a trendy eatery, but more like fast food Chinese -style. Sure makes for great photos. We believe it is easier for the locals to dine out than cook for themselves. And the prices were very reasonable. Later in the evening, we knew of many guests from the ship that went to Chinatown for dinner to eat at the sidewalk stalls.
Back down like gophers, we caught the train to Little India. You definitely get a workout just by walking and riding escalators from one point to another. Little India is a vibrant marketplace showcasing the Indian culture with many shops selling spices, snacks, saris, jewelry, souvenirs of brass, and many treasures. There are at least two main streets of fun shopping just like being in India. There was one nicer shop where we bought three fringed silky tops over the years. However, it has since shut down and was no longer there. Did I really need any more silky tops? No, but I just like to look….my favorite last words. This is another area where the folks like to dine at night.
We continued to pass through their produce and meat and fish departments. After passing through their dining hall where people were eating hearty lunches of Indian cuisine, we headed for the marketplace. This is a very old market where they sell fresh fish, poultry, pork and lamb. Never did see any beef products. The other half is produce, some of which is imported from Australia and other parts of Asia. One item that is forbidden to bring on the MRT or even back to the ship is durian. It is a particularly smelly fruit, which we are told by the Indonesians that they are good to eat. It is an acquired taste to be certain. Did we try it? Nope and never will. One big whiff of it is enough for us.
Time to head on, we went to the Botanic Gardens, knowing that our time was limited there for two reasons. One was that we were getting tired and the other was the heat. We were not really surprised to see few locals in this park, it was that hot. So we entered and walked for about ½ hour, then headed back down to the coolness of the MRT. It was time for lunch and some much needed drinks. We made a mistake and forgot to take water with us. We did pick up one bottle of tea with lemon in Little India which did help one of us cool down. Something colder, like beer, sounded way better.
We navigated our way with the help of the MRT map to Orchard Road and the familiar Wheelock Place, a huge multi-level shopping mall. From there, we made our way to the Hard Rock Café about a block away from the mall. There is a flight of stairs to climb with no sign of an elevator anywhere, but we made it. By now, it was after 2pm, and the place was not crowded. We ordered one Sapporo draft beer (the second one was free for happy hour) and one Coke Zero. They never tasted so good. Then we had a half-order of nachos with chicken and extra guacamole. It was more than enough because we had to save some room for dessert. This is the only HRC that serves mud pie, which we love. So we shared one huge slice of the ice cream/pie before we checked out their shop on the way out. Most all of the sizes we needed were gone, and they were not due for a new shipment until next week. There were no city t's, but one of us did find a Messi t-shirt that happened to be half off. The new style was arriving next week also. Fine with us, the shirt is very different from their typical ones and still has the HRC logo on it.
Time to move on, we back-tracked, taking note that on the corner by the Wheelock Place there was another Italian restaurant that sold pizza. We may try that place next time we are in the area. From the Orchard MRT we were able to take the NS red line all the way back to the Marina South Pier and the end of the line where our ship awaited. We calculated that we may have worked off a few calories from the mud pie hiking back to the terminal. Wishful thinking…..
We were back on the ship after going through the xray security and the facial recognition on the way back. They really are thorough here with their screening and we are not complaining as it is for all of our safety that they are so strict.
One thing we were not happy about was the fact there was no progress fixing the toilet problem. It still was not working, so we reported it again and they were apologetic and well aware of the situation. But there was no estimated time of the return to normal. As it turned out, the toilet did not flush until 4am the following morning. No kidding. That was almost 24 hours without it working. Our new neighbor that just arrived today also had a problem like us, but their room flooded all the way under their bed. What a way to start a cruise….
Dinner was not well-attended which is usually the case in these overnight ports. We had Caesar salads, a bowl of chicken noodle soup and a Shanghai meatball appetizer. Mains were teriyaki chicken with rice, just the right amount. We were almost too tired to have dessert, but one of us opted for the sliced banana.
There was a local show of Singapore entertainers with a traditional blend of music and modern artistry. And the funny movie, Crazy Rich Asians was in the Wajang. Quite appropriate because some of it was filmed right here in Singapore.
Have to rest up for another day of exploring tomorrow.
Bill & Mary Ann
