Singapore

 

View of Singapore from where the ship docked

On Friday, we toured the city/state/country of Singapore. Singapore is located at the tip of the Malay peninsula, and is the world’s largest island city-state. It is reminiscent of the ancient city states such as Sparta and Athens.

The country consists of one big major island and 63 smaller islands. Most of the population lives on the big island. Singapore used to be part of Malaysia but separated from Malaysia because of deep political and economic differences, and became an independent country in 1965. So it’s basically what used to be a city that overnight became a country. There was a struggle at first to get on its feet, but eventually Singapore did very well and today is known for its highly advanced technology and economic prowess.

The first stop on our tour was near the Old Parliament building, a few other government buildings, a green park, and a stroll along an esplanade next to the river that runs through Singapore. 

Our tour guide’s name was Jasmeen. 

Jasmeen

In the park, we noticed an unusual tree that we were told is a Rain Tree. On the Rain Tree, there are parasitic leaves that grow on the bark and branches, giving the tree a very green look that is almost wholly covered with leaves. Very unusual looking. Apparently, the government had planted some fruit trees along the walkways in this park, particularly mango and banana trees. But the fruit would fall to the ground, attract flies and insects, create a big mess, and cost the government a lot of money to clean up. So they uprooted all the fruit trees and replaced them with the low maintenance Rain Tree.

 

The walk along the esplanade that runs alongside the river offered some beautiful views, including part of the skyline of Singapore and the unusual looking convention center. 

Convention Center

And speaking of unusual, we viewed the Marina Basin Hotel, which consists of three towers and a boat shaped object that appears to be resting atop the towers. We were told that the hotel restaurant, bar, and swimming pool are located up on the “boat”, which is open to hotel guests only, and there is also a plaza/observation deck which is open to the general public for a fee.

 

We returned to the bus and drove to another part of town, where we were treated to some refreshments at a nice coffee shop. According to Jasmeen, this is an “authentic” coffee shop. I think what she meant by that is that it’s not a Starbucks. It’s a local shop and very unique. When Jasmeen took our orders for coffee or tea, I asked if they had green tea, and she said “No No No!!!” as if it was forbidden. Jasmeen told us that they use Indonesian coffee beans because the European ones are too expensive, probably because of Singapore’s proximity to Indonesia. You can have the coffee black, but it you want it sweet, they don’t use sugar; they used condensed milk. Yeah, that’s right, condensed milk in your coffee. That makes it VERY sweet. I’m not a coffee drinker but I tasted Joe’s coffee with condensed milk in it, and I liked it a lot. Joe didn’t; it was too sweet for him. Most people raved about the coffee and apparently really liked it. We were also treated to some finger sandwiches, which looked like pieces of toast with something like jam and another layer of something white that was undiscernible. Because the sandwich tasted so sweet, I’m thinking that maybe the undiscernible white layer was condensed milk? As Jasmeen said, they do like sweet here.

Authentic coffee shop

Enjoying our coffee, tea, and sweet sandwiches

 

We re-boarded the bus and drove around some more of the country. We saw another nice view of the skyline and a building with very colorful windows. 

We also drove through Little India. This is a cultural section of town with street art and brightly painted houses, shops, cafes, etc. It is particularly lively during the Hindu festival of Deepavali, which happens to be taking place right now. Deepavali means festival of lights. We saw some very colorful “Happy Deepavali” neon signs.

There are four languages spoken in Singapore: Malay, English, Chinese (Mandarin), and Tamil. Most signs were in only one language or two (usually including English), but I saw one sign that apparently had all 4 languages. Could this be the Rosetta stone of Singapore?

 

Our last stop of the day was Chinatown. The first thing we saw here was the richest Buddhist temple in Singapore. According to Jasmeen, there are 108 statues of Buddha inside the temple, each with a different theme, such as chanting Buddha, meditating Buddha, reclining Buddha, etc. 

We walked around Chinatown for a while and enjoyed visiting some of the shops.

 

On the drive back to the ship, we stopped by one last point of interest, the Merlion Statue. According to Jasmeen, the Merlion Statue is as iconic to Singapore as the Statue of Liberty is to New York or the Great Wall is to China. The Merlion Statue is a statue of a lion spouting water. Yeah, that’s right, a lion spouting water – the icon of Singapore. Okay, if you say so.

 

Merlion

That was it for our sightseeing. But our day also included a lot of interesting things we learned about the history and culture of Singapore.

There seems to be some very strict rules here. For one thing, chewing gum is illegal. The story goes, according to Jasmeen, that people, especially children, were not disposing of their gum properly, and it was costly to clean up, so the government just decided to outlaw it. Jasmeen told us that gum was banned in 1990, so there’s a whole generation of young people who do not know what gum is. She said that when she travels to other countries, she buys some gum to bring back and show them. Wonder how she sneaks that through customs. It is said in some places that a whole generation grows up not knowing about something or other, but I don’t see the loss of a generation not knowing what gum is.

Tailgating is a serious offense, where you can get “serious points” on your license if caught. And according to Jasmeen, if you get caught with a DUI, your driver’s license can be suspended for 25 years.

As in many places, jaywalking is illegal. You can be fined $20 on the spot. Or you could be fined up to $1000 and/or jailed up to three months. Repeat offenders could be fined up to $2000 and/or jailed up to six months. Jasmeen told us that they will go easy on you if you are a foreigner and don’t know the rules. She said if you get caught jaywalking, just say “I’m sorry, I didn’t know, I’m not from here.” And they’ll let you go. Hmm, wonder if that works for gum chewing or tailgating also.

Homelessness is illegal in Singapore. Jasmeen said that there are no homeless people here. She said that the government helps with housing. Here’s how it works: There is a housing fund called Central Provision Fund. To contribute to the fund 20% of pay is automatically deducted from paychecks. Employers contribute 70%. After you’ve worked for 5 years, you are eligible to use funds from the CPF for a down payment on a house. The house that you buy is a government-built and owned public house. We passed by some of these houses. They’re not really houses. They are located in high-rise apartment buildings and are more like an apartment than a house. They are very small, about 1100 to 1300 square feet. It takes 30 years to pay off the house. There is private housing, but most of those are condominiums located near the water. Most of them cost more than $2 million and are much smaller than the public houses. Jasmeen said that these private condos are mostly owned by foreigners, especially Indonesians.

According to Jasmeen, there is a population problem in Singapore, but not the kind that you think. Despite the fact that Singapore has the third highest population density of any country, there’s still not enough native people to satisfy the work force. Most of the work force is comprised of Malaysians. In order to alleviate this problem, the government encourages women to have babies by offering a “baby bonus”. Jasmeen said that when her son was born, the baby bonus was $5000, but now is around $3000.

Beer is reasonably priced, but is taxed very highly, so people only usually drink it on Fridays and Saturdays. There was a bar next to the coffee shop we visited, and it had an outdoor menu. The unusual thing about the menu is that it listed the price for 6 Heinekens rather than an individual one. It’s unclear whether you can order less than 6. Some of the other brands were offered in amounts of 4 or 5, but never just one. Also, Jasmeen told us that vegetables are more expensive than meat in Singapore. That’s because growing vegetables are affected by continuous heavy rainfall in neighboring Malaysia, especially during the monsoon seasons.

Singapore is close to the equator and so has a very tropical climate. Jasmeen said that there are three seasons here: hot, hotter, and hottest. Or she said you could say there are two seasons: hot and rainy.

Chinese is Singapore’s largest ethnic group, making up 76% of the population. Next is native Malays at 15% and Indians at 7.5%. The largest religious influence here is Buddhism at 31%. The next largest group is the “nones”, or those who do not profess any religion, at 20%. After that is Christianity at 19%, Islam at 15%, Taoism at 9%, and Hinduism at 5%. We passed by quite a few temples, mosques, and even St. Joseph Catholic Church.

According to Jasmeen, Singapore receives money from the King of Brunei.  She says that the King is very rich, and because Brunei is not a very big country, he needs to give money to other countries. Since there are close ties between Singapore and Brunei, Singapore is the fortunate recipient of the King’s excess. I would imagine there’s more to the story than that, maybe something like “and they all lived happily ever after”.

Singapore is a country of strict rules, excess government, and very strong enforcement of the rules, with even caning being used as a form of punishment. However, the law prevents anyone over 50 from being caned, so I think our group of senior citizens is safe, even if someone does get caught in the act of chewing gum while jaywalking.

We enjoyed visiting Singapore, and especially enjoyed some of the beauty this country has to offer. We are on to our next adventure and last country on our itinerary: Thailand, by way of the South China Sea. And we were treated to this nice view as we sailed away from Singapore.

Sailing off into the sunset