Friday 4th & Saturday 5th April

Woke early to watch our approach to Singapore and we were not disappointed, I thought we had seen sizable gatherings of ships outside the Panama Canal and ports like Shanghai, but as we sailed up the Singapore straights we saw hundreds of ships anchored waiting their turn to enter Singapore. We were told later that there are more than a thousand ships waiting to load or unload at any one time. This is the second busiest port in the world by tonnage and is the so called crossroads of shipping between Asia, Australia, Europe and America.

There was a strong smell of wood smoke in the air which it turned out was coming from Indonesia where they are burning forests to clear them for other crops. Later a taxi driver told us it could get so bad sometimes that it was impossible to spend any length of time outside. Most (if not all) is illegal deforestation. Singapore itself is not very big. The island is only 30 miles east/west by 16 miles north/south (approx. 227 sq miles) with a population of 3.8 million, so it’s amazing to see what this tiny nation has achieved. The city is very clean, the gardens immaculately kept and not a sign of anything like graffiti of vandalism, the laws are too strict for that. They like to call Singapore the garden city, which is pushing it a bit, but there is a lot of greenery about so I guess there is some justification for that. Apart from all the usual draconian punishments we’ve all heard about, we noticed a sign in the market saying shoplifters will be prosecuted, penalty 7 years imprisonment. Or guide told us proudly that they had a parliamentary democracy with a president as head of state whose role was very much like the Queens. He told us the strictness of the regime was very popular with Singaporeans which was reflected in the way they voted, he said that Lee Quan Yu looked at Britain’s declining standards with sadness.

Our trip was leisurely Singapore which took us round all the highlights of the city. On the way in we passed the Marina Bay Sands Hotel. Three towers with a top deck across all three that resembled a large boat/barge, which has a 150 metre long infinity swimming pool (the world’s longest) and a sky park complete with fully grown palm trees. The hotel has 2,561 rooms of which only two thirds were open, how do I know? Eagle-eyed Carol spotted that there were no lights on in the end tower at night even though all three towers were illuminated externally as part of the night time glamour of the place. Along with all the modern buildings and architecture the older buildings were prominent at various points in the city. They have similar strict rules about protecting old buildings as we have in the UK, in fact they were probably set by the British because when Lee Quan Yu took over he insisted that they would change nothing the British had done unless it was in the interest of the Singaporeans, as they were all only there because of the British. Singapore was uninhabited jungle and marshland when Stamford Raffles saw its potential and claimed it for the British East India Company in 1819. As a result all the street names and places retain the same English names (and the country retains the same old British discipline) that were given originally. This has led to some strange anomalies. We saw a mosque with the Star of David over the door. This building was an original Jewish synagogue which later became a Mosque but the star was part of the façade and as such could not be changed so it remains probably the only mosque in the world with the Star of David over its door. To be fair one of Singapore strong points is the multi ethnicity, multi-cultural makeup of the population and they work hard to ensure that all the religions work together for Singapore rather than as individuals against each other.

After the tour we had a quick lunch and then got a taxi to Chinatown, what a change from other Chinatowns no pestering, no begging, pristine and safe. All food stalls have to carry a food hygiene certificate and are subject to spot checks with the risk of being instantly shut down if they fail. As a result Singapore is one of the safest places to eat in the world. From Chinatown we got a taxi to Bugis Street. This turned out to be a little embarrassing because there was an Indian (Asian?) family at the front of the queue and the driver refused to take them. Drove past them to us, asked where we were going and said OK when we said Bugis Street. I don’t think they are supposed to do that as they are also strictly licenced, but it looks like things are similar around the world. We didn’t just see this once either, as later in the day we had to leave the queue and hail a taxi off the street because so many Asians were in the queue in front of us and no taxi would take any of them when they dropped passengers off.

Anyway we got to Bugis Street and what a change from the days of my youth when we spent many a wasted hour (in both senses of the term) enjoying the bonhomie atmosphere. Our taxi driver said he used to cop off school to go and watch the antics that went on down there. Well they have only gone and put a roof on the whole street and filled it full of ordinary market stalls, sacrilege! Still I suppose it is better that no street at all. We had a browse down the street and then made for little India to wander around the gold soaks before getting lost (Carols map reading, I’d forgotten my glasses) and ending up in another taxi to get back to the ship (just like the old days, except wasn’t drunk). Had a drink in the Commodore Lounge before dinner watching the laser light shows and laid plans for visiting Raffles the following day.

Carol had a disturbed night, I slept through the thunder and lightning, but when we woke there was torrential rain outside. Carol grumbled I thought you said that in Singapore it rained every afternoon at four o’clock and then cleared up and the sun shone again. The sun didn’t shine yesterday it didn’t rain at four o’clock and the sun didn’t shine after four. Global warming must be to blame because that was what used to happen when I was here in the sixties I replied, as we both once more stared out at pouring rain. We had breakfast and I said we can still go to Raffles cos the bar’s indoors and we can pour ourselves into a taxi afterwards. So that was decided upon, on condition we got the shuttle bus into the shopping area first. So shopping it was and we asked the nice young lady at the door to the mall where Raffles was before entering.

When we had done shopping and I had managed to download my photos we headed for Raffles, got lost and got a taxi as it was still pouring down. We wandered around the old hotel looking in every nook and cranny, Carol pointed out some knickknacks in the souvenir shop saying that’s ten times what you pay in the market. I said it’s Raffles everything’s ten times the price, which it was. We got upstairs to the long bar only to find there was a long queue of people waiting to be seated! Waiting to be seated in a bar??? Might suggest that at the Jolly Brewers, I can just see Shaun’s face, “could you just wait there sir while we check we have a place” Anyway as we stood in line, and then we got lucky we spotted a couple from the ship, deep inside the bar gesticulating wildly and pointing to two seats at their table. Ah! I said in a loud voice they’re already here and grabbed Carol by the arm and propelled her past the queue and in towards this couple who it turns out recognised us from the time we had dinner with the doctor (they were on the same table) and they were also at the wine tasting which was where they got the story of the haircut that wasn’t. We sat down and she said they only called us over because they wanted to see what kind of repair job the hair dresser had done on me. So I showed her and thus satisfied she let me stay, which was good, because that queue was the slowest moving queue in Singapore. So I ordered two Singapore Slings at twenty seven Singapore dollars each! (That’s about £14 each) but it had to be done. I went on to pints of Tiger after that, a lot cheaper at £11 a pint but Tiger is a good pint and the only pint that I can drink ice cold. We (I) spent a happy few hours wallowing in nostalgia, those were the days. Carol dragged me back to the present by saying we were not going to spend all day in a bar, even if it is the Long Bar at Raffles with peanut shells on the floor. So having dragged her in, she dragged me out and by now the rain had stopped so we walked back through town to where the shuttle bus was waiting to take us back on board. After clambering back up the gangway we had a quick shower and change then made our way to the Commodore Lounge to watch our departure and have the cocktail of the day, yes you’ve guessed a Singapore Sling (at only £5.00 each). Carol had mine after two or three sips they are a bit too sweet for me, I went back on Boddies. Having exited the Straight of Singapore we turned right and headed North into the Strait of Malacca so we are now officially on our way home. Next stop Port Klang, (sounds like the cell door) Malaysia. Oh! and William (an American guy on our table) is going to tell us about being on the 82 floor in the twin towers on nine eleven, he is an international banker.

Monday 7th April

The alarm got us up at 6:00am this morning as we were on an early trip, Flora, Fauna and Spices. This meant that we were up at breakfast before we were alongside, something we have not done for a while. However it did not reward us as it has so often done previously. The approach was very uninspiring and the only thing of note, sadly was the line of pollution laying above the skyscrapers which was very prominent because it and the buildings were lit up as the sun rose behind us. Georgetown lies on a flat area of land between two ranges of hills and from where we were, it looked like they were at sea level which made them seem vulnerable to rising sea levels and global warming. As we drew closer we noted that they were a few metres higher so no panic yet. Just tsunamis to worry about and we saw a couple of tsunamis warning sites on WiFi when we finally got ashore.

Careena was our guide and for a tiny Malaysian girl, she had a powerfully clear voice and knew her stuff. We went to the botanical gardens first which she proudly told us were natural and had not been created like other botanical gardens. She reeled off facts and figures and descriptions of various plants and trees. One which springs to mind was the cannon ball tree which had seed pods the size of, yes you’ve guessed it, cannon balls. These don’t just look like cannon balls, they explode like them scattering their seeds far and wide. Luckily none exploded while we were there. The gardens were extremely well laid out with formal areas in the centre and less formal on the periphery. One area was a path through typical Borneo jungle, with the bird calls and monkey shrieks you see and hear in the old Tarzan films. We could have spent much longer there as it was so peaceful, but we had to move on to the spice gardens which were just as interesting.

Careena handed us over to a spice expert for this part of the tour and he was also a mine of information. His rapid fire delivery was punctuated by his handing out of various crushed leaves, seeds and stems for us to sniff or sniff and taste. All of these were good for various conditions backed up (he promised us) by scientific research. Up hills and down valleys we trailed marvelling at each new fact he gave us on every plant or tree we passed.

And, finally on to the Butterfly farm which needless to say was just as good. Some trips are poor some are OK and some are great, this time we were on a great one. Entering the main area we were surrounded by hundreds of tropical butterflies of dozens of varieties, their chrysalis hanging and hatching. The only problem was it was extremely difficult to get a decent photograph as they didn’t keep still for long. The farm didn’t just have butterflies, there were spiders, beetles, frogs, cockroaches and other creepy crawlies (unscientifically put, I know) fortunately these were for the most part behind glass. That was it as far as the visits were concerned and we finally boarded our coach for the half hour drive back to the ship. We stopped off there for a bite to eat before heading back ashore for a brief walk around the port area as everyone was due to be back on board by 4.00pm. A good port bearing in mind that the publicity for the port and tours was not very positive.

By the way, if anyone has any ideas what we can do in Haifa that does not involved churches, mosques, or sites with religious overtones can you advise. All the trips that have just been released for this port (in place of Egypt) are to the many religious places in Israel, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth, Galilee etc. Carols seen these and I have no particular interest in seeing them. As this is all that is on offer, we are on our own for these two days, so I thought perhaps we could draw on your collective experience. Fingers crossed.