Val here:
Did you know that you cannot purchase chewing gum in Singapore? Not even at the airport?
Why not, you ask? Because Singapore attempts to be the cleanest and best run country in South-East Asia! And, I might add, it succeeds. Granted, perhaps a little colonialism and dictatorship makes it so well run - but it is a city where vision is permitted to flourish. Singapore makes Toronto look pretty unimaginative! The architecture is varied and divine - except for what they call the Sydney Opera House - their theatre centre which looks like a large (and ugly) durian fruit. Otherwise, they've given architects the run of the island - and there are some brilliantly designed buildings. The transport system is also wonderful There is an excellent, clean (no chewing gum under the seats!) metro system and an extensive system of buses. There is not a lot of need to have a car for the 4,000,000 residents - it is quite easy to get around on their very inexpensive public transport.
Our favorite building is the one called the Parkview Place.
It towered across the street from our lovely little budget New Seven Storey Hotel and we saw it daily from our window. It is about 40 storeys and a gorgeous art deco design, inside and out. There are statues of Abraham Lincoln, Chopin, Salvadore Dali and others in the courtyard. Apparently the Parkview is a prestigious office building - you must be invited to visit offices there. We did, however, have a drink in the bar - a remarkable space - totally art deco except, maybe, for the wine bar going up one huge wall. The waitress wears little angel wings and goes up to select your wine from the wine bar by winch and pulley! Quite the thing to see!
Other highlights of Singapore:
Food is everywhere and varied - outside, inside, Indian, Chinese, Malayan, Indonesian, European - and remarkably affordable. Arieh and I could have three filling meals for $15 to $20 a day! (and we did). It is such a modern city - but one's Canadian dollar goes far.
The Bird Park: We loved the bird park in Bali - but the Singapore version had even more species of birds. There were aviaries filled with hornbills, birds of prey, small birds of the African rainforest - and the favorite - an aviary filled with lorikeets - those delightful, friendly parrots of Australia (that my cousin Robyn feeds in her backyard in Sydney). You may feed these sociable little birds if you don't mind them landing on your shoulder, fighting with other birds over your head, and squawking loudly in your ear.
The Night Safari - Singapore Zoo has a night safari. You can walk through or take a tram and see all sorts of species of night animals - lions, leopards, bats, fishing cats, elephants, hyenas, etc. etc. It was a wonderful evening - quite an unusual concept!
The Chengi Museum: this museum is a well-presented collection of memories from the period of time under Japanese occupation from 1942 to 1945. A sad but fascinating place: it shows the depths and heights that people can reach. Chengi is where the political prisoners were kept - it was already a prison complex - so many British as well as Chinese were incarcerated there. It also dealth with the treatment of prisoners of war and the various armies that did their best to protect Singapore - including some from countries we've already visited: New Zealand, Australia.
On the Friday night that we were in Singapore Arieh and I went to the Orthodox Shul. The Progressive (Reform)Shul wanted a scanned copy of our passports. After that was sent, we found that they only met once every 4 weeks and this wasn't the week - so off we went to an Orthodox service. I read shul newsletters as I peered from the balcony above listening to the Sephardic and unfamiliar tunes intoned by the cantor and the 35 odd men and boys below. Not surprisingly there were only about 6 women above - all visitors to Singapore. After services we stayed for a delicious dinner and chatted with an Israeli (formerly American) couple. He was doing business seeking silver mines in China - she had met him for a little travel and r and r. We had a pleasant dinner discussing their travels and hearing bout their move to Hebron (one of the first families, they said) and their leaving Hebron for Ephrat (near Gush Etzion). Another couple from Rochester/Montreal and elsewhere in the States was in Singapore waiting for their cruise in South-East Asia. There were two young men from Chabad New York teaching students and helping with services who were delighted with thier stay in Singapore. They explained how the Orthodox synagogue was very wealthy thanks to donations from a benefactor and were looking forward to moving into the large and beautiful new building which was being constructed on the site.
Singapore is truly a lovely place to visit - a restful well-organized place after the more demanding Indonesia. Come see it!
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