We spent three nights in Singapore, where it was hot and humid – temperatures in the 30s C (90s F). Singapore is a small country attached to Malaysia and it is ~42 Km wide (E-W) and 23 Km long (N-S). They grow by reclaiming land from the ocean. It has a population of ~5.45 million of which ~3.5 million are original Singaporeans (born in Singapore) and permanent residents, and ~1.95 million are foreign workers on visas.
Singapore has four official languages – English, Mandarin, Malay and Tamil. The different ‘nationalities’ are:
➢ Chinese – 74%
➢ Malay – 14%
➢ Indian – 9%
➢ Other – 3% (this category consists of 95 different groups of people).
We arrived to a city covered by a thick haze and it lasted for the duration of our visit (and then some). This was the result of Indonesia burning off their crop fields so that they didn’t have to clear them. Consequently, my outdoor pictures show the effects of this haze so apologies up front for what may appear to be 'fuzziness'.
Because Singapore is such a small country, the government limits the number of privately owned vehicles on the road by imposing duties of 1 1/2 times the market cost of the vehicle. This also helps to reduce pollution.
We took a guided tour (Metro, walking and boat cruise) which gave us a good snapshot of the multiculturalism and we certainly enjoyed the food. Our first stop was in the China Town market and this is a picture of one of the aisles.
The Chinese love to dry stuff. The first picture is dried mussels and the second one is dried scallops (some other type of fish is in the background).
They were preparing for their mid-autumn festival. These are are a few of the decorations that were up. The SG 50 is celebrating Singapore's 50th anniversary as a nation.
According to our guide, Buddhism is their largest religion, followed by Islam, then ‘free thinkers’ (atheists, agnostics, etc.). This is the Buddha of wealth.
Although we were born in different years, according to the Chinese tradition, we were both born in the year of the tiger. This Buddah is for both of those years so we took a picture for posterity's sake. My arms had to be covered as I was wearing a sleeveless top.
This is a picture of the oldest Hindu temple in Singapore and it is located in Chinatown. The Indians first came to Singapore as labourers and they worked primarily in the Chinese district so I guess it was inevitable that a Hindu temple would be built there.
This is the Majid Sultan mosque - the largest in Singapore and can accommodate up to 5,000 people. It was built by donations primarily from well-to-do people. The poor people wanted to contribute as well so they collected bottles to be sold and have the money donated. Instead of selling the bottles, the builders decided to include the bottles in the building. The dark brown just under the gold is the bottom of the (many thousands of) bottles. Unfortunately, it doesn't show up well in the picture but when looking at it in person, you can see the round bottoms.
More than 80% of Singaporeans live in government built housing which is as good as, or better than private. These are not government handouts; they can buy or rent and sizes would be similar to condo sizes. A 3-room flat in a government building would cost around $180,000 vs a studio on the private market of about $750,000. Of course, there are rules surrounding who can buy; e.g. maximum income can be no more than $12,000/mth; there is a limit of buying twice from the government; singles can only buy a government apartment on the open market or they can buy a maximum of a 2-room flat from the government at age 35. The first picture is the first set of government buildings erected and the second picture is the more modern buildings being built now.
There are many sky-scrapers in Singapore. This picture is of the Marina Bay Sands twin tower hotel built to look like a ship. (It's owned by the same company that owns the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas....if it still exists). It was designed by Moshe Savid, a Canadian American Israeli. There are high end stores in the concourse at ground level.
This is one of those high end stores (Louis Vuitton) which has its own little island.
This is the Science Centre on the waterfront.
This is called the Merlion. The name combines 'mer' meaning sea and 'lion'. The fish body represents Singapore's origin as a fishing village.
This is the Convention Centre.
A view of the financial district from the bay.
The Elgin Bridge, one of several spanning the bay.
This is Clarke Quay, one of about six quays in the Bay. In the early years, the quay handled more than 2/3 of imports into the country.
These two pictures are of a 'statuette' representing the early years when boys used to jump into the bay to swim.
This is the Cavenagh bridge which was built in Scotland and was supposed to be a suspension bridge. The sign from the old days is still there.
The next four pictures are of the Fullerton Hotel which is now in the building that used to be the post office. I'm not sure what percentage of the inside is renovation but much of it is still from the original building.
The government is trying to encourage 'green thinking' in Singapore and buildings are starting to incorporate walls of green plant coverings. This is from one of the large office buildings in the financial district.
The tower on the left is the tallest tower in Singapore. I thought these two buildings were interesting because the top of the buildings look like birds with beaks....or if you're into superheroes, maybe one of your superheroes.
They don't just show ticker tapes in the financial district; this guy was actually 'broadcasting' business news.
Our tour guide, Anna, who was extremely knowledgeable, brought us back to our hotel on the metro.
These are two of the many signs in the metro cars and stations which encourage people to be considerate of others and to employ basic health principles (the second one). A good way to get the message across if only people would read them.
So ends day one of our Singapore visit which also included a visit to Little India. I did not take any pictures since it was much like China Town. For a small country, they are extremely organized. A lot of this is likely due to the fact that the government creates 50-year strategic plans. It's interesting to note that the populate does not elect the Prime Minister. The people who make up the government elect the Prime Minister by consensus; i.e. they select someone who has strong leadership skills and who was in the 'grooming process' for a few years. This is because their first Prime Minister was one such person and it was him who started the creation of a 50-year strategic plan. Talk about being a visionary!
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