Day 97: Singapore, Singapore

Thursday, 13 April 2017
Overnight @ the Singapore Cruise Centre

Stats @ Ship’s Time 9:45p (SST) … UTC 2:45p (13 April)
Temp:79.5F (26.4C)
Position: 1.15.74N / 103.49.15E

Do not follow where the path may lead.
Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson on ~

Singapore is a swelteringly hot city state, with very high humidity that had us sweating profusely whenever we were outdoors today.  No surprise there I guess.  After all, it is only 88 miles (140 km) from the Equator.   The thing is, it’s like this year round, so it wouldn’t matter when one visits.  Our only saving grace today — even if it didn’t help with the sweating part — was that the sun was behind the clouds for most of the time that we were wandering outdoors.  And that’s the weather report.  Moving on.

We woke up to find Insignia slowly approaching its berth at the Singapore Cruise Center.  Getting ready for the day ahead, we were all set to leave the ship after breakfast, but Mother Nature decided to play a trick on us.  It started pouring soon after we sat down to our meal at the Terrace Café … with thunder and lightning, no less.  We’d been told there would be rain at some point during the day … so we got our liquid sunshine early.  With no tour to worry about, we simply delayed our disembarkation until 8:15a.

Singapore is often referred to as a “fine” city — but not in the sense of being nice.  Not that it isn’t fine, it is more than fine.  Rather the reference is to all the fines that are levied for “misdeeds” … and strictly enforced.  Some examples that don’t include caning, which is another form of punishment for breaking some of the rules … all are in Singapore dollars (USD ~1.4 is the conversion for those curious enough to do the math): vandalism of public areas — $5000; spitting in public — $5000; importing chewing gum — $1000 … I think this is more about chewing gum in public, but I didn’t check, so maybe they don’t even sell gum in Singapore; smoking anywhere but where designated — $500; picking flowers in public areas — $500; forgetting to flush public toilets — $500 … this fine should be instituted around the world IMHO … and even here on the ship.  The strongest punishment we saw listed was on the back of our landing card — death for bringing in drugs.  We obeyed the rules — as we always do — and got off scot-free today.

Today, we had to go through immigration in Singapore … not once, but twice.  And I don’t mean the face-to-face meetings we’ve had with authorities who have come aboard in some of our ports.  No, this was honest-to-goodness immigration formalities … including getting fingerprinted at the checkpoint.  We knew to expect this as we’d received a letter to pick up our passports and landing cards from the purser after the ship was cleared by the authorities today.  The good news, we were directed to a separate line and didn’t have to queue up with all the passengers arriving by ferry from nearby countries.  With the tours off the ship shortly after the Insignia tied up at 7:00a, we didn’t have a long wait … and the same when we returned to the ship around 9:00p.

Our first stop once we were through immigration was to visit the concierge desk to ask about taxi prices to the Botanic Garden.  The woman suggested we take the MRT instead — cheaper … SGD 4.20 for both of us vs approx SGD 30 for a taxi … with a stop right at the gates to the garden.  Perfect.  Next, we stopped at the ATM to pick up some SGD to add to what we bought from Bank of America before leaving the US.  Now we were ready to start sightseeing.

Finding the MRT station was easy as the terminus for the Circle Line is at Harbourfront, the mall to which the Cruise Center is attached.  So we simply followed the signs.  At the easy-to-use ticket machine, we bought two one-trip tickets … turns out they were reusable by topping off … an incentive to re-use being that with the third use, one gets back the SGD .10 deposit added to the fare at the point of initial purchase.  We were debating adding the return fare when an attendant approached to help us.  Since we didn’t know if we’d be going directly to our next destination or returning to the ship to rest, he suggested we hold off until we were ready to leave.  Plus, he told us that if we lost the card in the interim, we would not lose the value we had added for the return.  Smart.

Mom, who visited Singapore in 1975, had told me what a clean place it was.  And that was certainly true … in spades.  Organized too.  At the entry to the MRT cars arrows painted on the floor showed where embarking passengers should stand and where disembarking passengers should walk off.  The thing is that people actually followed directions.  Not surprising I guess since there are heavy fines levied for so many misdemeanors … people have been trained to follow the rules.

The train ride was less than 30 minutes, and by 9:30a we were at the Bukit Timah entrance to the Singapore Botanic Gardens.  Established in 1860, this place is truly a wonderland, with lakes, rolling hills, lush greenery, and themed gardens.  The grounds are pristine, with excellent care being taken due to the gardens being listed as a UNESCO WHS for a rare patch of dense primeval forest within.  This forest is home to over 300 species of vegetation … more than half of which is considered rare in Singapore.  And surprisingly, admission is free … except for the National Orchid Garden (NOG) … SGD 5/person … though Mui got in for SGD 1 for being over 60!

After wandering around the grounds and taking a meandering path with lots of stops to photograph the beautiful plants, we arrived at the orchid garden around 11:00a.  The NOG is the result of an orchid breeding program.  I read that there are over 1,000 species and 2,000 hybrids … with only about 600 of them exhibited.  It is considered the largest display of tropical orchids anywhere in the world.

Paying the admission, we went inside to a wonderland of orchids.  Most had identifying tags or signs.  Again, following a meandering path, we explored the various exhibits, ending up at the VIP Orchid Garden, which features varieties named for heads of state and other dignitaries … from Barack and Michele Obama, to Princess Di, to William and Catherine … and more.  Then, through a few other exhibits, including the Mist House — which had a breathtakingly beautiful variety of colorful orchids — and we were done.

It was 1:00p when we finally left the NOG … we’re slow, what can I say?  We would have left immediately to seek out some food, but we were distracted by a free-ranging long-tailed macaque that stole a container of Pringles potato chips from a family enjoying a picnic.  Practiced at opening anything containing food, the monkey had no trouble getting the lid off and was crunching away in short order.

For our own meal, we chose to return to the visitor services area and get lunch at Casa Verde.  The menu offered western style foods — pizza, burgers, pasta — but also had a section titled “A Taste of Singapore Heritage.”  I ordered the Fried Hokkien Mee … though what was fried about it I don’t know.  The dish was made with white and yellow noodles in a prawn stock, with seafood — including prawns and calamari — and garnished with bean sprouts and local chives.  Mui was in the mood for Nasi Goring Kampong — Malay-style fried rice with shrimp and chicken wings, topped with a sunny side up egg, and served with samba chili, achar, and prawn crackers.  We washed it all down with an isotonic drink to replace some of the electrolytes we had lost throughout the morning; and Mui ordered a Singapore coffee … which he said was weaker than the ones he’d enjoyed in Vietnam and Thailand.  The only negative I have to say about the place — the portions … one dish could have fed both of us easily.

We made our way back through the grounds by way of the Evolution Garden, which takes visitors through time, explaining the vital part plants have played in shaping the natural world.  We started before the evolution of life and moved forward to the time when rain forests came into existence to house the most diverse community of plants that has ever existed in the years and years of life on Earth.

It was almost 3:00p when we boarded the MRT’s Downtown Line to head to our next destination.  Originally we had planned to return to the ship to rest before tackling the Gardens by the Bay (GbtB).  But we had hydrated well, and despite being soaked by sweat throughout most of our day, we were in good shape to continue sightseeing.  We might have felt differently had the sun been out, but it had remained behinds clouds, so we pressed on.  Getting off the MRT at Bayfront Station we walked the short distance to the park.

What is the GbtB one might ask.  And why would we want to go there after having spent so much time at the Botanic Gardens already.  This is a 21st century fantasy park — 101 hectares of space with biodomes reminiscent of ones featured in sci-fi movies, high tech supertrees, and sculptures that add whimsy.  All for free — as long as you stay outside the conservatories and don’t do the OCBC walkway.  We wanted to do it all, so we paid the admission (SGD 28/person), but the OCBC skyway, which required a separate ticket, was closed due to the threat of afternoon thunderstorms.  We also bought shuttle tickets for SGD 3/person for unlimited rides to give our weary feet a break.

The shuttle, as the sign at the stop indicated, is not a tour of the grounds, but we saw quite a bit of it during the ride to the terminus near the conservatories.  Here, we decided to get out of the heat for a bit by exploring the Flower Dome, which the Lonely Planet guidebook describes as replicating “the dry, Mediterranean climates found across the world.”  Inside we were amazed by the variety of plants and flowers we found, the displays including interesting sculptures.  The featured exhibit was entitled Tulipmania … tulips shipped here from the Netherlands … some of them displayed in color collections inspired by the paintings of Vincent Van Gogh.

We spent 1½ hours inside the dome … could have easily spent much longer.  But we wanted to stroll the grounds outside before dusk fell and it got much darker.  Back outside, we took a moment to photograph the famous Singapore Eye before moving on.  Insignia was to have had a special RTW dinner event on this gigantic ferris wheel, but it didn’t work out.  Nor will we have time to check it out on this trip, so the photo op was our only way to include it in our memories of today.

Using the map to find our way, next we headed to the Supertree Grove, which features 12 of the 18 “vertical gardens” at the GbtB.  They range in height between 82-164 feet (25-50 m) and are covered with live plants.  The canopy is said to provide shade, but how that’s even possible with no vegetation covering them, I am not sure.  Not that we needed the shade today since the sun remained in hiding.

The grove is a great place to see these futuristic looking supertrees up close, but it isn’t great for photo ops because one has to angle the camera up, thus skewing the image — a pet peeve of mine.  So, we took a stroll over to the shuttle stop by way of the Planet … a 7-ton sculpture of an infant seemingly floating on a grassy knoll, with the Singapore skyline and the Marina Bay Sands Hotel in the background.  Continuing on, we found Dragonfly Lake, which we had passed with the shuttle earlier.  This spot affords, IMHO, the best photo op of the distant supertrees.  One doesn’t see the trees in their entirety, but the vantage point is lovely with a lake in the foreground and a fountain gushing to one side.

The Supertree Grove and OCBC Walkway from Dragonfly Lake.

Hearing distant thunder, we decided to hop on the shuttle and return to the conservatories again.  This time we went into the dome housing the Cloud Forest.  And found ourselves staring at a waterfall gushing down from a 115-foot (35m) tall man-made mountain covered with plants from tropical highlands.  We arrived just as they started misting the plants — something that occurs multiple times daily — but the mist was fine and served to cool us, so no complaints.  Besides, it added to the ambiance of being in a cloud forest.

Strolling around the base of the mountain, we found the elevator that whisked us up to the Lost World at the very top.  From here, we meandered over to the Cloud Walk, an elevated walkway that eventually dropped us down to Crystal Mountain — an exhibit of crystals.  Along the way, we got to enjoy all the foliage planted into what is essentially another vertical garden.

By the time we went outside again, the rain was over.  We still had about 45 minutes before the light show, but our feet resisted our urging to walk around.  So, we found an ice cream shop, got a couple of sweet treats to serve as dinner, and sat down to watch the people action all around us.

Our final activity at the GbtB was the nightly light show at the Supertree Grove.  By the time we arrived at the base of the trees, the place was packed.  People were sitting on benches and chairs, and a good number of them were lying on the ground … face up to watch the show.  I knew this would not be a good spot to photograph the show unless we laid down as well.  So, I did a little reconnoiter and found an elevated spot from which to enjoy the show of dancing lights set to a Viennese Waltz.  It was lovely and an excellent way to cap the day.

We debated walking over to the Merlion, the symbol of Singapore, to see another light show over the bay, but it was 8:30p by this time … and we were totally drained.  The line to take the shuttle back to the entrance was way too long, so we retraced our earlier stroll and walked to the Bayfront MRT station.  The queue at the ticket machine was long, but moved at a good pace, so we joined it instead of walking the length of the station to the machine at the far end.  This being our third trip of the day, we got our SGD .10 deposit returned to us as a deduction from the total fare to Harbourfront.  Hopping on the Downtown Line again we went to the Chinatown station, where we switched to the North-East Line for a short ride back to the Cruise Center.  Easy peasy.

A walk through the Harbourfront Mall took us back to the immigration checkpoint, where luckily there was no one in line.  Although the free wi-fi sign at the gangway invited us to dally a bit, we were done and headed straight back to our cabin.  A refreshing shower did little to restore our flagging energy.  With an early wake up call for tomorrow beckoning, an early night was definitely in order.

P.S.  I am writing this on the sea day following our second day in Singapore … should anyone wonder how I managed to write about our day before falling into bed after an exhausting day ;-)

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