This Was a Great First Day in Singapore

Actually it was a half-day, since we docked at noon and didn't get through immigration until 1:30.

What a difference a day and a few hundred nautical miles make! In previous ports of call we saw traffic jams, trash, rubble and poverty — and too many motorcycles, many carrying three or four people (or cargo as big as a refrigerator), but here on an ordinary weekday, we experienced no traffic jams, very few motorcycles (perhaps two dozen spotted by me), but also fewer electric cars and buses (actually almost none).

The reason for almost no EVs is that most of the population lives in apartments and where would you charge it? This country (the smallest island city-state in the world) is on a primary island that measures 30 km by 50 km. They have few bicycles because, our guide explained, there’s no room for bike lanes! I did spot a half dozen bicycles, but no electric bikes. In fact, waiting in the immigration line, we saw a sign stating that the import of electric bicycles or electric personal mobility devices (scooters, hoverboards, etc.) is not allowed.

Immigration is quite strict here, requiring passports, both thumbprints and a facial photograph without glasses. An online declaration was prepared in advance by each passenger (not couples) to show to immigration officers. Among the things we’d have to declare — in other words, not bring onshore — were any plants or organic material, fireworks, firecrackers, crossbows, knuckle dusters, vaporizers, shisha molasses, tobacco products (including cigars and cigarettes), controlled drugs and psychotropic substances, obscene articles, chewing gum (except dental gum), pepper spray, handcuffs, truncheons, firearms and explosives, walkie-talkies, CDs, DVDs, films and video games. Of course, we and our bags were all scanned, and we could face $50,000 or more in fines and jail time if any of those items were found on us or in our bags.

There are no guns whatsoever in Singapore except those carried by police officers — and we didn’t see any. Private security guards cannot be armed, either. Police are only seen when responding to calls. There are zero deaths by firearms in Singapore, and the murder/homicide rate in 2023 was 0.1 per 100,000 population, second only to Bahrain (0.07 per 100,000). In the US it is 6.8 per 100,000 population. Here’s a chart of the last 10 years’ murder/homicide statistics in Singapore:

Asked why there were no traffic jams, our guide, an off-duty math teacher whose nickname is “Tiger” told us that a simple 4-door Japanese import costs $80,000, but first you need to purchase a 10-year permit to own a car which costs $100,000. Tiger uses public transportation. The average salary here is $70,000. His 3-bedroom, 2-bath condo cost him and his wife $320,000 nine years ago and he could now sell it for twice that. Here’s Tiger:

As in Sydney, you don’t have to buy a pass or ticket to use public transport. You “tap on/tap off” with your credit card, and you’re billed for the distance traveled.

Our tour was “Panoramic Singapore.” It got off to a slow and uninteresting start with the drive to our first stop because Tiger used most of the time to take orders from 42 passengers for coffee or tea (6 variations) at the coffee shop we were going to. But after we had our Singapore coffee (which was really yummy), it got very interesting and we peppered him with questions, which he always answered in impeccable English. It turns out that English (mostly American, not British, although they drive on the left) is the primary language. In primary school students study English and one heritage language, which could be Mandarin or Arabic or whatever, but most of the signs, store names, and all of the traffic signs are only in English. The Singapore dollar is worth $1.33 USD. Here’s our group of 42 at the coffee shop:

At the famed Botanic Garden, there’s a VIP corner to the orchid section, where they have orchids named after famous people who visited here, plus one in memory of Princess Diana. There’s a Joe & Jill Biden orchid, a Barack & Michelle Obama orchid, etc., but even though Trump had a famous summit here with Kim Jong-un in 2018, he didn’t have time for niceties, so there’s no Donald Trump orchid, Tiger told us.

From outside the coffee shop we had a good view of the Marina Bay Sands casino with its roof garden and infinity pool, the lotus-flower shaped art museum, a globe-shaped floating Apple Store, and a Helix bridge similar to human DNA:

We could also see a water fountain with a lion’s head and the body of a fish, which relates to the origin of the name “Singapore,” which comes from two Sanskrit words meaning “lion” and “port.” One nickname for Singapore which I spotted on a t-shirt is “Lion City.” Here’s a telephoto picture of that fountain across the fresh water lake which separated us from it and all the above structures.

This entire area, including the fresh-water lake fed by the Singapore River, is on reclaimed land — that is, former ocean — which makes the fresh water lake interesting. They built a dam beyond that helix bridge and it took a couple years to flush out the salt water.

Another unusual architectural site was this collection of buildings which our ship passed as it moved toward our cruise terminal berth:

Singapore prides itself on how “green” it is — more literally than figuratively. As you can see in the above picture, there are a lot of trees on this congested island, and the country is halfway to its goal of planting a million more trees. Where would they put them? If you look closely you can see there are even trees on the sky-walks connecting the skyscrapers! There are 63 islands (most of them not populated) in Singapore, so maybe a lot of them are being planted there. I didn’t ask.

Our next stop was Chinatown, where we spent 45 minutes walking the streets, including Smith Street, and where I found Rita a $10 dress ($7.52 on my Visa card) which she liked, and which she wore to dinner this evening, where she got over a half dozen compliments about it.

The dress went really well with that black pearl and white pearl necklace which I bought RIta in Tahiti. She doesn’t wear dresses, but she told me (and others) she really loves this dress.

Elsewhere in Chinatown, we posed in front of a lifelike mural on a side street.

From Chinatown, we looked up at this example of “public housing” in Singapore, where that term doesn’t carry the stigma usually associated with it in America. There are countless such state-owned buildings, all well-appointed and with numerous amenities. In this photo, you can see laundry hanging off the balconies, marking it as an older building. One next to it had inner laundry areas. Notice that most of the apartments have heat pumps mounted outside windows, which provide air conditioning. Heating is probably never needed. Tiger told us that this city 1.3 degrees north of the equator has three seasons: hot, very hot, and rainy.

Following our 4-hour excursion, it was an emotional farewell dinner for eight of us, as Rita’s close friends and fellow card/game players, Margaret, Linda and Fran are leaving very early Wednesday morning, having taken up Viking’s offer to leave rather than go around Africa. Margaret and Linda are setting off on their own adventure in Europe; Fran and her husband John are going home to Yuma, Arizona, changing planes in snowy Denver late Wednesday or early Thursday. All three of them gifted friends Maggie, Anona and Rita with numerous items they didn’t want to put in their luggage.

Because we didn’t arrive in Singapore until noon, there was a morning lecture, this time about “Diets of Heroes and Heroines” by food lecturer Sharon Giraud, who’s leaving us in Singapore. It was interesting to see how Alexander the Great, the Spartans, Sumo wrestlers, Mark Phillips, Amelia Erhart, and a dozen other groups or individuals ate. Sorry, I didn’t take any pictures of her slides to share with you.

Our stateroom steward, Sugara’s home is a short hop across the strait to the closest Indonesian island, pointed to by Rita in this picture on our stateroom TV;

Instead of going home to see his mother, she came to Singapore for a brief visit with him. We wished him a “happy mother’s day” as we left on our excursion. Most crew members sign 6-month contracts with Viking. The captain works for 8 months and has 4 months off.

The evening entertainment in the Star Theater tonight is the Oscar-nominated “The Holdovers” starring my schoolmate, Paul Giamatti. (I don’t know and never met him.) Tomorrow it will be “Barbie.” Both can be streamed on our stateroom TV, as can Oppenheimer and probably the other Oscar-nominated films. It’s great! The advantage to watching in the Star Theatre is the open bar (bringing drinks to your seat) and bags of fresh-made popcorn, both of which I’ve taken to our stateroom to enjoy there on occasion.

Tomorrow’s another full day in this amazing city, not leaving until midnight. Our plan is to explore the city on our own during the day, and go on a “Singapore After Dark” excursion, if any tickets are available.

Bye for now.