Singapore

Reaching Singapore meant that half of our cruise is over. There were more than 300 people that had finished their vacation and left the ship. Only 60 new people boarded.

Singapore is a city and also the smallest country in Southeast Asia. It also is known to have the highest standard of living in Asia. It also has very tough rules. Jaywalkers are fined on the spot. Litter and you pay, and convicted drug traffickers can expect to earn a death sentence. The walls of Singapore's buildings are clean. Media is scanned at the state level for content and "inappropriate" websites are blocked.


We took a half day tour to see some of the highlights of the city. Our first stop was to The National Orchid Garden. We really enjoyed looking at all the different kinds and colors of the orchids.

Next we stopped by the Sultan Mosque.

As I have mentioned before that every country has a Chinatown. Well this was our next stop. The one thing different from other Chinatowns is that along one street there was Sri Mariamman (Hindu temple), Jamae Mosque, and Thian Hock Keng Chinese Temple.

Also known for this part of Chinatown was a street that use to be known to have two death houses. Back in the beginning of the 19th century when many immigrants came from China and India these death houses were used. The people believed that it caused bad luck to die in their own homes. When a person was believed to be dying, he was taken to one of these houses. If he had no money then all he got was a blanket to cover himself. If he had money to pay, then he would get a blanket and two meals a day until he passed away.

We traveled to the Marina Bay to see the Merlion. It was first used by the Singapore Tourism Board as it's logo.

We were running short on time so our bus could not stop at the cable car station. Sharon was happy about that. We headed back to the ship.


Now we have two days at sea to rest!