Singapore, Singapore
Buongiorno. Yes, a second day in Singapore. Our excursion today is much shorter than yesterday. Probably a good thing as the heat and humidity do tend to wear us out. The excursion today is entitled Singapore by River Boat and Flyer.
We will start with a motor coach to historic Clarke Quay. Singapore was founded as a trading port at the mouth of the Singapore River in 1819 by the British. Although, as our guide is pointing out, it had been a trading port between in indigenous people long before that. Boat Quay was a little more towards the bay, but inside the outer shoal, where the larger European boats anchored or docked. A flat-bottomed barge, often called a lighter, was used to transfer goods and passengers to and from the moored ships.
Lighters were traditionally unpowered and were moved and steered using long oars called "sweeps" and the motive power of water currents. They were operated by skilled workers called lightermen and were a characteristic sight here is Singapore and even in London's docks until about the 1960s. Technological changes eventually made this form of lightering largely redundant. The lighters would transport goods upstream to warehouses at Clarke Quay.
At the height of its prosperity, dozens of bumboats jostled for mooring space beside Clarke Quay. From either the shops along the quay, or from the bumboats, people would sell the goods. The could be locally made items for export, or the imports brought to Singapore. This continued well into the later half of the 20th century.
By the 1970s the Singapore River was terribly polluted. The government decided to relocate cargo services to a new modern facility in Pasir Panjang. The bumboats and the lorries (trucks for you Americans) departed, and Clarke Quay fell silent. The government then decided to clean up Clarke Quay. It took a decade from 1977 to 1987.
The clean up plans for the Clarke Quay included turning it into a flourishing commercial, residential and entertainment precinct. From the looks of it, these plans took into serious consideration the historical value of Clarke Quay. It was mandatory that new buildings had to complement the historical character of the area and, where possible, the exterior of the old buildings be restored.
In 2003, British architectural firm Alsop Architects was hired to revamp Clarke Quay, again. The firm was commissioned to redesign the shophouse facades, streetscapes and riverfront dining areas in two development phases. Currently Clarke Quay attracts over 2 million visitors a year and is a major social and tourist component of brand Singapore. Crucial to its success is the ingenious moderation of the micro-climate through the design of sophisticated shading and cooling systems which reduce the ambient temperature by 4 degrees Celsius while enhancing the riverfront and streets with tremendous visual interests.
At present, five blocks of restored warehouses house various restaurants and nightclubs. Oh, one of which is Hooters! Why does American export the worst of what is has? Although we are here after dark, when most things take place in Singapore because of the heat and humidity in the day time, one can easily imagine it is a thriving hot spot (no pun intended).
We are loaded into a small boat, twenty five of us filled the boat, a we are cruising towards the former mouth of the river. The guide may have said it was very similar to r the bum boat but this one is motorized. As we are sailing down the river are passing under several historical bridges and both colonial era buildings and more modern buildings. We are passing by the Fullerton Hotel, which looks gorgeous!
We are entering the large “bay” and coming around the corner can see the famous Singapore Merlion. Now the guide has a very nice back story about the Merlion, but let’s be realistic. Having done a little research before going on the excursion, it turns out back in the 1960's the Singapore Tourism Board were looking for an icon that would brand Singapore. The called in a designer namedFraser Brunner. In 1964 he merged the tale of a fish and the head of a lion, to market Singapore. The idea was to combine Singapore's humble fishing village beginnings with its modern economic revival. And hence the Singapore Merlion was born.
The guide’s story kind-of-goes like this: The Merlion is a mythical creature. So, let’s start with the Lion part. There is an old tale a Malay prince was shipwrecked on the island known as Temasek (now Singapore). He and his crew saw what they believed was a lion and aptly named the island Singapura which is sanskrit for Lion City. Whether the animal was a lion or not remains a point of contention. No lion has ever been reported on the island, apart from in the zoo. The Mer part isn’t so fantastic. It simply comes from Singapore’s history as a fishing village. Some versions we have heard differ from this guide. It really doesn’t matter. They are very proud of their marketing symbol, and they should be it is one of the most recognizable marketing ploys similar to Coke a Cola.
We are getting off the boat and making our way back to the motor coach. Apparently, the tour has changed a little. We were supposed to go for a trishaw ride through Little India. A trishaw is a bicycle with the carriage for two on the back half. It is the modern version of the rickshaw. But alas it changed. The guide could not explain why.
So, the guide says we are going to the Marina Barrage. It is a dam! The guide is going on how important it is. How it gave Singapore greater water self-sufficiency. It is Singapore’s fifteenth reservoir. It provides water shortage, flood control and recreation. How it provides a barrier between the salt water of the sea and the fresh water of the river. Blah, blah, blah. It’s a friggin dam.
Ah yes, but when we arrive it still looks like a friggin dam. There are several groups of school age children walking about. They are obviously on a school tour. The guide starts to explain how this is not a major attraction for Singaporeans. As we look around we begin to get it. There are public restrooms and showers, places to get food and several lawn areas.
It isn’t just a dam. It isn’t just here for boating, windsurfing, kayaking and dragonboating. It is here for flying kites, having evening picnics, providing a place for kids to run around. During the day maybe not so much, it is too hot. But after work at five or six in the evening, the guide says, the place is hopping.
There are two couples taking prewedding(?) photographs. Even a couple elderly people enjoying a picnic in the shade. There is a cool playground. That is a playground with a couple water features for the children to play in. It is easy to see why in 2009, a year after it opened, it won the top prize for the best project organized by the American Academy of Environmental Engineers. It is extremely well thought out and not just some utilitarian dam for blocking water.
Back on the bus and the guide begins his next spiel. We are now off to the Marina Bay Sands. Hey, that is where we had dinner last night at Ruths Chris! He goes on, it is the world’s most expensive standalone casino property. 2,561 rooms, 1,300,000 square foot convention center, 800,000 square foot shopping center, a museum, a large theatre, "celebrity chef" restaurants, two floating crystal pavilions, art-science exhibits, and the world's largest atrium casino with 500 tables and 1,600 slot machines. The complex includes three towers topped by the Sands Skypark, a skyway, which looks speciously like an ironing board, connecting 1,120 feet long, with a capacity of 3,902 people and a 490 foot infinity swimming pool, set on top of the world's largest public cantilevered platform, which overhangs the north tower by 218 ft.
We exit the bus in front of the convention center. The nicely air-conditioned convention center. At least I had enough sense to stand in the convention center, inside the air-conditioned convention center, while everyone got off the bus into the hot outside. The guide leads us across the street, and down the sidewalk to the entrance for the SkyPark Observation Deck, which is atop the Marina Bay Sands, on the surface of the ironing board.
Into the elevator and up 57 stories to the Obervation deck. We are able to walk around but a small part of the ironing board, the rest is for guests. The views of Singapore are amazing. Even though we are 57 stories off the ground there isn’t much wind here. Mostly just heat and humidity, oh a great views if I didn’t mention that. We look around and can’t find our guide or other people from our bus, so we hurry our way down to the lobby. No one here either. We talk to the guards. They inform us that everyone is still on the top. So we sit and wait for them to come down. At least one other couple had the same impression and came down as well.
The guide walks us back arcoss the street to our waiting bus. We load in and head to the Singapore Flyer. The Singapore Flyer is an observation wheel, think of the London Eye, in the downtown central business district. When it opened in 2008 of was the world’s tallest Ferris wheel at 550 feet. It held this title until 2013 when the High Roller in Las Vegas open, which is nine feet taller. Again, great aerial views of Singapore. Yes we are getting tired of great aerial views. Need more historical things to see.
Back down on the ground and the guide tells us it is back to the ship. More importantly it is back to the mall. It was time for some Indian Food. So off we go to the Vivo Mall next to the cruise terminal. We search for and are rewarded with one of the three large food courts in the mall. This is the one that has an Indian food stand. It isn’t bad, it isn’t great, but it has flavor.
Time to get going the ship will pull out of Singapore in an hour or so. It is a good walk back to the ship. A good day. Saw lots of Singapore. Got 12,000 +/- steps in. Survived the heat and humidity. There were things we didn’t see in Singapore. It will possibly be worthy of a stop if we are ever in the area.
Off to Port Klang, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia tonight. Will arrive first thing in the morning. Another country under our belt. The trip is officially more than half over. Hard to believe. In sixty days we’ll be in Lisboa boarding a flight to Kansas City. So much more adventure ahead it almost seems impossible we are now more than half way.
Buonanotte e Ciao, Enrico e Maria.
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