Singapore, The Fine City

My favorite sail-in photo for Singapore is the cruise terminal.  I thought it did a great job of looking like a ship being launched out to sea.  As streamlined as it looks on the outside, it held the most controlling immigration process that we have yet encountered.  We have had to go through a "face-to-face" passport check on arrival in several other countries on this trip, but not like here.  Our first time through included getting both thumb-prints taken electronically.  But that wasn't enough!  We had to go through a passport check as we headed into the city, AND when we came back to the ship--each time!  Over two days that meant six visits with immigration officials.  The experience was just the beginning of being in the most futuristic, beautifully clean and green, and restrictive city I have ever visited.  

The Republic of Singapore lies 1 degree north of the equator.  Founded in 1819 by Stamford Raffles for the British East India Company,  it gained independence from the UK in 1963 by federating with 13 other British colonies to form Malaysia.  Two years later, it broke away and became a sovereign nation.  Though its only natural resource is its workforce, it has become a global commerce, finance, and transport hub.  That being said, the ruling party has won every election since they became self-governing.  Society is ordered and controlled because of strict laws with swift and heavy punishment for disobedience.  The back of our immigration landing card stated, "Warning, Death for Drug Traffickers Under Singapore Law".  Execution day is every Friday.  The locals have a nickname for their city--"The Fine City", because there are heavy fines levied for a number of infractions.  For example, our guide told us about her 12,000 SGD fine for trying to use an expired $20 certificate to drive her "off hours" car during the work week.  If our driver left the bus idling for more than five minutes, he could be fined $3000.  Selling gum is prohibited, as well as spitting on the sidewalk, or feeding pigeons.  Flying a kite that interferes with public traffic, annoying someone with a musical instrument, connecting to another user's WiFi, forgetting to flush the toilet, littering, painting graffiti, or jaywalking can result in heavy fines and or jail sentences.  Criticism of the government is illegal.  David and I sat at breakfast a few weeks ago with two Singaporean brothers and their wives.  One of them had emigrated to the US 30 years ago.  We listened while they debated the virtues of a clean and orderly society vs. individual freedom.  After seeing this immaculate city, I think the debate continues. 

We were able to go to church on our first morning here.  We stayed for all three hours plus their "Linger Longer" afterwards.  Both David and I had interesting conversations with ex-pats from Utah and Canada about their choice to move to Singapore.  They felt that the opportunities for financial success were great and they didn't seem to find fault with all the restrictions.  We came away realizing that most people who try to conduct themselves as good members of society wouldn't run into problems.  Even our guide who had been fined $12,000 said that she is much more "compliant" now.   Oh, the elders--on the left is Elder Tennent from Sacramento, and Elder Allred is from Vernal, UT.  They are in the Malaysia and Singapore mission.  

In order to attend church in the morning, we chose the "Singapore After Dark" excursion for our first day in the city.  We didn't do a very good job of interpreting the information about the excursions for Singapore, because we chose one for the next day that duplicated two out of three attractions.  David opted to pass on going back out in the heat of the second day, so I did the picture taking for both of us.  I've combined some of the day and night duplicate pictures to show the contrast. 

We started both tours at Clarke Quay (pronounced "key").  The area was an important part of historical Singapore surrounding the river.  As part of the city's plan to clean up the Singapore River in the 1970s, consideration was given to conservation of the historic character of the buildings.  The warehouses, or "godowns", of the quay were restored and now house shops and restaurants on the right of the photo. Across the river, the Riverside Point (with the three sunrise windows under triangular peaks) contains even more shopping, restaurants, and commercial offices in restored warehouses.  Water taxis which take tourists on a scenic ride along the river are modeled after the "bumboats" of old, which ferried goods from ships at anchor to the shore.  The new versions of these boats are electric powered.

Farther downstream on the Singapore River is a long row of refurbished Chinese shophouses.   Characteristics of the shophouse is a building of two or three stories.  The ground level commercial area is set back from the road and the upper residential floors extend over by about 5 feet and are supported by columns.  

Among the many sculptures in Singapore depicting scenes of early city life is this one called, "First Generation".  It shows five naked boys jumping into the river to cool off.  In the past, young children  were unafraid of the bumboat traffic and polluted waters of the river as they played.  As work to clean up the river began, the days of swimming in it ended.

The Merlion is the national personification of Singapore.  It has the head of a lion and the body of a fish.  It is located in Merlion Park and can be seen from the top of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel.

As the Singapore River opens up into the Marina Bay, the Esplanade--Theatres on the Bay comes into view.  From this angle, only the concert hall is visible.  (The knobby looking thing on the top is a building behind it.)  These theaters are positioned side by side like those in Sydney, Australia.  The spiky covering is made up of sun shades to help reduce air-conditioning costs, and give these buildings the nickname, "the two durians" (more about durians in a blog post to come).

The Financial District forms the west part of Marina Bay which was built on reclaimed land.  The Singapore River now empties into the bay and not directly into the sea.  

On the reclaimed land now sits the Marina Bay Sands Hotel and Casino.  Built by the Las Vegas Sands group it opened in 2010.  It is called an "integrated resort".  The hotel consists of three 55-story towers which contain 2,561 rooms.  The complex also has a convention center, two theaters, a museum, the Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands mall, an arts and sciences exhibit, and the largest atrium casino in the world with 500 tables and 1,600 slot machines.  Our guide told us that foreigners can enter the casino free of charge and play as long as they wish.  Singaporeans, however, have to pay 100 SGD for every 24 hours they play.  What's more, a spouse can sign a form prohibiting the other partner from entering a casino.  The watchful eye of the government encourages foreigners to drop as much money as they will, but it protects the natives from their weaknesses. 

The Singapore Flyer is a giant "observation wheel" that isn't part of the Marina Bay Sands complex, but sits on a corner of the bay.  Our night-time excursion was supposed to include a ride on it, but it has been closed for maintenance since Jan. 2018.  The visit to the top of the Marina Bay Sands was substituted for that part of the excursion.  The 1,120 ft. long SkyPark at the top is in the shape of a giant ship.  It includes a 490 ft. infinity pool.  

The view from the SkyPark is amazingly beautiful both by day and by night.  You can see the green spaces in the day-time shot.  One of the things that impressed me the most about Singapore is the amount of land devoted to green spaces and the manicured look of them.  This is a result of the desire to create a "city within a garden".

Of course, the most amazing green space of them all is the Garden by the Bay.  This is the location of the iconic metal supertrees.  Because Singapore is a country without "hinterlands", many apartment dwellers have very little exposure to vegetation around their home.  The Gardens and the conservatories provide a welcoming opportunity to be surrounded by growing things.  We had a chance to visit the Gardens during our day-time tour, so I'll get to that soon, meanwhile I want to finish telling about the rest of our night tour.  

A light and water show is put on in the Marina Bay every night at 8:00 pm.  We had a great vantage point to watch it.

Our last stop for the evening was the Bugis Street Market.  It is a giant covered market with stall after stall of inexpensive clothes, souvenirs, housewares, electronics, and cosmetics.  In the center of it all are the stands offering snacks of all kinds.  I saw many offerings that I couldn't identify, but thought this was one of the more interesting.  I was attracted by the stacked sugarcane logs which are put through a juicer.  The juice can be augmented with other flavorings.  

Paying for your juice or other items is done with Singapore Dollars.  The first president of Singapore, Yusof bin Ishak, is featured on every denomination.  1 SGD = $.76 US

Our daytime "Iconic Singapore" tour took us to the Gardens by the Bay.  The supertrees range from 82-160 ft. tall.  They mimic the photosynthetic properties of trees with photovoltaic cells which harness energy used for lighting.  They also collect rainwater for irrigation and fountain displays and serve air intake and exhaust functions as part of the conservatories' cooling systems.  There is a restaurant at the top of the largest tree in the center of the grove. 

 The Flower Dome and the Cloud Forest are the two conservatories in the Gardens.  The Flower Dome is the world's largest columnless glass house.  The dome stays at a comfortable 72 degrees using rainwater which is collected and circulated in the cooling system.  There are several semi-tropical garden areas with plants from Australia, South America, an South Africa.  Whimsical "yard art" adds to each planting.

The center of the dome is reserved for a rotating seasonal display.  Currently the theme is Japan's iconic cherry blossoms.

Our visit to the Flower Dome was much too short and we didn't get to go into the Cloud Forest.  The whole area was a wonderful oasis in the midst of this metropolis.  

All too soon it was time to leave Singapore.  I think it is the most "Sing-ular" city I've ever visited.