Singapore
Our last port of call on the cruise. We disembarked and went to our hotel, the Novotel at Clarke Quay.
Singapore seems to be a youthful city – multicultural and lots of ex-pats. They have four official languages including English. A young country – just celebrating 50 years.
We took the SMRT (subway) to Marina Bay Area, to Gardens by the Bay to visit the Cloud Forest. An amazing structure with a high waterfall, living walls of plants. There are other outdoor gardens (India. Chinese etc) as well as the world’s largest greenhouse. We didn’t have time to see it all. We also saw the large metal flowers that light up at night. They are much nicer after dark. We also walked across a high bridge through Marina Bay hotel (three split towers with the roof canopy cantilevered out). Lots of locals, families, young people and tourists.
We were amazed how boisterous Clarke Quay was after dark. Bars and restaurants were packed.
This morning we went to the Indian market area and the Chinatown. The Indian market area was crowded with shoppers and vendors. The sidewalk immediately in front of shops was covered to shade from sun and rain. As seems usual in Asia, the shops are clustered by what they sell. All the goldsmiths are together and the silk merchants together on another street or part. We had a snack of samosas in a small restaurant.
Chinatown was very pretty. Sanitized! However they had cleaned up “shophouses” – old buildings with shops on the ground floor and homes above. Lattice shutters (jalousies?)
We had the rest of our late lunch on the food street. Shrimp wonton and three steamer baskets of buns. Plus beer! Food stands in Singapore have their food safety rating on display. Most are A or B but there are other lower ratings – ours were A.
Some traditional clothing (women in saris) but most look the same as downtown Toronto. Some Muslim head coverings but not many in the downtown or harbour front area. Very different from our previous stops. Not as garish but lots of money.
They seem to like their history and full afternoon high teas are held in the big hotels. We enjoyed a visit to the Asian Civilization Museum.
We showered at the pool area of the hotel before heading to the airport for our midnight flight to Amsterdam.