Singapore Day 1

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February 2^nd , Singapore     

Never arrived in Singapore by water before but sliding in early the morning the waterfront twinkled.  No pollution or haze here, which has followed us throughout this journey.  The Exxon plant, which takes up an entire island, Jurong Island, which is where Dupont, Oiltanking and Vopak reside, is off in the distance.  We land next to the famous Sentosa Island where the cable cars go directly over the vessel from the main island to Sentosa. 

With a little delay because our car is at another cruise terminal we head off into the muggy morning air of Singapore.  Overcast with spits of rain but the coolest I have ever seen this city.  A pleasant temperature but still muggy and it is only 10 o’clock in the morning.

The Stamford a Swissotel is where we have chosen to stay and they amaze us by having our room waiting on us.  Nice as we had planned to go walking (I know.  No surprise when traveling with Terrie.) But today it would have been with a full backpack.  The luggage we could drop at the holding spot in the hotel but the backpack would have had to stay with us.  So it was a relief that I got to drop valuables and heavies and place them along with the bags safely in the rooms.

This hotel has been a stop of mine before and I love the location.  In walking distance of something no matter which direction to turn.  Immediately across from the famous Raffles Hotel and the main shopping street of Orchard Road.  Out the front and right to Chinatown, Boat Quay and Clarke Quay (both famous eating and partying districts).  Out front and left to little India and straight out to he Singapore Flyer (think the London Eye on steroids) and the new Marina Bay complex with the three towered hotel connected at the top with a huge pool, restaurant and bar shaped like a ship.

With the intermittent little rain we choose to head off to Orchard Street where you can always find a shop or mall to duck into to avoid getting wet.  The prize at the end of the street is the original Hard Rock Café where I have hung out before to avoid the oppressive heat and humidity.  Along the way we encounter those little know places like Prada, Cartier, YSL and Coach.  Terrie soon realizes that they are as many malls here in a short distance as there are in all of Houston.  For me it is all about the food options here.  Some I might choose and others to be avoided but all in a good day of walking.  We buy little but see a lot because the Lunar New Year is just around the corner and do they celebrate here.  Red and gold everywhere as is a Goat. 

After walking part way back from the HRC we catch a cab to avoid the rain and go back from a drop stop and go.  It is lunchtime so we dive into the attached shopping mall and head into the local food court.  Food places here are very clean but carry few if any of our traditional businesses.  You pick by reading the menu at each entrance.  Sushi, French, Japanese, Korean, Thai are all options.  We even find a “Handburger Joint” but Terrie balks at that thought and we settle for Thai food.

Off again this time headed toward the Merlion and hopefully a harbor tour.  To my surprise there is no more harbor tour because big changes have happened.   The Singapore Harbor is no longer a harbor.  Once the landing site of the ships coming in it is now jus the edge of a big pond.  The Singapore River that once emptied into the sea and was a mix of salt water and fresh water is now a reservoir capturing the fresh water.  The River’s access to the sea has been blocked by a dam that hold back the salt water and keeps boats from moving out.  The famous Singapore lightering boats are now electric powered and metal.  Gone are the handmade lightering boats as they have been replaced by the cleaner and newer bumboat look a likes.  We ride anyway and take Merlion photos for the ages.

Cruising the Singapore “River” you find out the old harbor has been filled in to make land for the new Marina Bay Complex that holds the Sands Hotel and Casino, a Mega Shopping Mall and the Gardens by the Bay.  Gardens by the Bay include tall fake trees and an arboretum that grows plants from sea level to mountaintops.  Yes fake mountaintops too.  Just shows you the changes here.  Old harbor gone.  Salt water gone.  Manmade lake now.  Manmade trees and manmade mountains, what will they think of next.  Oh wait a bigger than the London eye, London Eye.  Oh well we sail along the water thinking of the past.

We hop off the water taxi at the Merlion and begin our walk along the banks thinking of my history here.  Somewhere in the maze of tall building are the Stolt and Odjfell offices now lost in a sea of new taller shinier buildings.  Boat Quay begins with an Irish pub serving nice cold Guinness with tables along the way.  Thankfully in all the newness they haven’t torn down the original Chinese merchant homes even though they have long ago converted to restaurants.  A row of these narrow places with a bit of seating in the building’s ground floor and more seating just along the shoreline.  It is like walking through each place so you can read the menu board or picture boards, view their next dish still swimming in their aquariums.  Fish from tiny to huge, crabs the size of hubcaps from Sirlanka or Alaska’s Deadliest Catch, or clams that would make a Stallion blush.  Indian, Italian, French, Local, Chinese, Moroccan and some places I didn’t even know existed.  We just stroll by and get invited in to Happy Hour and discount Tiger Beer a 20 or so places.

As we exit Boat Quay and are about to cross under the road separating Boat from Clarke Quay we both stop in our tracks as music that was constantly changing from one nationality to another catches our attention.  Is it possible that we both hear this?  “Jambalaya, me oh my oh, Have some fun on the bayou”.  We are required to stop and listen and verify that we are now over 10,000 miles away, a few miles away from the equator and we are hearing Cajun Music.  Honest to goodness Cajun music.

Both of us break out laughing and sing right along.

Boat Quay is the original landing spot with many narrow buildings that are now preserved as restaurants.  Clarke Quay is the 20^th century version.  Bigger places, trendy, more cooperate.  Hooters, Chili’s, Harry’s Bar.  Big cooperate places that couldn’t stand the original’s limitation of space so the opened up further up the River in the downstairs of new hotels and shopping malls.  Disco’s as well a bar and a place to eat.  International bar brands just couldn’t stand to be left out when there was a crowd spending money.   Sure more air conditioned and expansive but not near as rustic and individual.  So we walked on stopping only to read the Mexican Food menu that sounded interesting but the timing was bad as we had much more afternoon to go before we stopped.

The rain began to start back up as we crossed the last street next to our hotel.  We jump in the first door we could and found ourselves back in this multistory mall again.  Fine watches, fashion, soup to nuts all under the same roof.  My goal quickly became a big 2 liter of Diet Coke.  It couldn’t be “my” hotel without my favorite brew.

Luckily the basement was the food court and grocery store.  If you have never had the pleasure of travel one highlight is a rainy day to wander the isles and read what they can buy.  Swiss Cheese flavored Lay’s potato chips.  Lichee flavored sodas.  And many things I had no clue what they were.  But they did have my almost 2 liter Diet Coke and I return to rest my tired feet with a well earned bottomless glass.

We were tired and if Terrie’s Fitbit was close to right we were bumping 30,000 steps and maybe over.  My only proof was my tired legs.  We were toast and all the best laid plans of going back out for a meal along the Quay fell to walking across the street to a place I had been to before that housed a variety of international places.  The building started life as a Monastery around a small beautiful Church.  The grounds have survived but also have been repurposed.  The Sanctuary is still in operation but the outer buildings are split into numerous eating places.  Tired and damp we chose an easy Harry’s Bar.  Nachos and Tigers for two with a split Fish and Chips main.  Just what was needed to top off the first day.