Around the World

We rode a Perama bus from Ubud to Sanur, then to the airport. We boarded our airplane and were on our way to Singapore.

The Changi Airport in Singapore was very nice. We sent a package from a post office in the airport. It was a complete contrast to Bali. Everything was so modern and clean. We took a public bus to Stamford and found a place to stay on Beach Rd. Our room was very cramped with 8 beds in a small space. And with one bathroom for us all.

We had dinner at Burger King (a place we haven't seen since USA) then we walked around to look at some other places to stay. We saw the famous Raffles Hotel, a colonial-style hotel in Singapore,dating from 1887, and named after Singapore's founder Sir Stamford Raffles. It is known for its luxurious accommodation and superb restaurants. The hotel houses a tropical garden courtyard, museum, and Victorian-style theatre. Raffles is where the Singapore Sling was invented. The cocktail was invented by bartender Ngiam Tong Boon around 1910.

It was 94 degrees and very humid. It took some time to adjust to the different environment - no noisy traffic, no beggars, no feral dogs, and things don't cost thousands of Rupiahs.

We walked to the national museum and saw the diorama of Singapore history and some exhibits of toys and old stuff. Most of it was closed. The museum focuses on exhibits related to the history of Singapore. We saw the lookout from Fort Canning and the gates to the fort. These imposing and somber gateways in gothic style lead the visitor into Fort Canning Green, where a Christian cemetery used to stand. Built in 1846, these gates have since become a landmark of Fort Canning Hill. The letters above both gates - IHS - standing for Iota Heta Sigm, the first three letters of the Greek word for Jesus. The fort was named Fort Canning after Viscount Charles John Canning, who was then Governor-General and the first Viceroy of India. Government Hill was thus named after the fort, and has remained so ever since even after the end of its military role more than a century later. The sally port is a small hidden door that leads into or out of a fort, allowing occupants to escape from the fort undetected. Fort Canning had at least three sally ports but only one remains today.

After exploring the fort, we went swimming in a public pool. We then explored Clark Quay, walked to the Supreme Court and ending up at the Marine Shopping Center (a huge mall). It had familiar stores and restaurants.

We went back to Clark Quay and looked around the flea market. It rained a little but we kept on going. We rode a "Bum" boat on the Singapore River. It went past many sights, under bridges from different eras, and to the "Merlion", a half lion and half fish statue. After that we saw Raffles statue and rode a double decker bus to Suntec convention center. There was a graphic designer exposition so I had a look around to see what kind of style the designers have there. There were a lot of Japanese style cartoon illustrations. After that I went to an electronics store and saw some CD video players that haven't come out in the USA yet.

We went to the Tanjung Pagar Railway Station to get our tickets in the morning. The walls are paneled with typical Malaysian scenes, such as paddy (rice) planting, rubber tapping, shipping activities, road (bullock) transporting, coconut (copra) growing and tin mining. These panels and the original floor blocks were specially manufactured locally, using rubber product, designed successfully to deaden noise.

Then we rode a bus to "Little India" and looked around the shops. Little India is, as the name promises, the center for the large Indian community in Singapore. While a rather sanitized version of the real thing, Little India retains its distinct identity without degenerating into a mere tourist attraction and is one of the most colorful and attractive places to visit in Singapore. The Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple is dedicated to the Hindu Goddess Kali, fierce embodiment of Shakti and the God Shiva's wife, Parvati. It got too hot so we went into an air-conditioned mall and then saw a movie in a theater. We had some Tiger beers that evening and relaxed.

We went to the zoo by MRT and bus. The zoo was very good. I saw a Komodo dragon. There were many different types of monkeys. The feedings of the different animals were interesting to watch. They were more active and exciting to see when they ate. We saw the White Tigers, African dogs, Rhinos, Monkeys, Malaysian Sun Bears, Pygmy Hippos and some huge fish get fed.

When we were in an animal show they called Donna down to the stage to participate in the snake handling. They had some of the best animal shows I've ever seen. After the zoo, we went back to our room and got our things for our train trip to Malaysia that left at 9:25pm. Our train ride began going across the Johor-Singapore Causeway to reach Kuala Lumpur.