Singapore, Singapore
Mostly Sunny with Showers - Mid 80s
Sunday, December 20th
Happy Birthday Ted!!!
Route of the Ancient Traders
Day 40 - Disembarkation
M/S Nautica
The sun broke through the clouds this morning as M/S Nautica sailed into our final port of call on the Route of the Ancient Traders, Singapore. Before we can say hello to Singapore, we must say goodbye, to this lovely ship and her gracious crew, to the friends we have made from around the world, and to the seafaring journey we began more than a month ago and half a world away in Istanbul.
We bid farewell to our cabin stewards Anastasia and Gedde; our Butler Ray; our favorites among the dining staff, Ana and Salome; the best ShoreEx crew afloat, Nicki, Sarita, Ericka, and Raquel; our friends from Australia John and Kay, John and Margaret, and David and his wife who had lived and worked in Dubai; our esteemed guest lecturer and friend Doug Sturkey; our Canadian friends and librarians Peter and Jean; and our favorite fellow American passengers Wendy from California and Ken from Tennessee. These are the people who added joy and meaning to our travels and we will miss them the rest of the way. We hope to cross paths with each of them again.
Even with all our new friends in mind, old friends are in our thoughts as well as we wish Ted a Happy Birthday!!!
Singapore, an island city-state of more than 4 million people, won its independence from Malaysia in 1965. It is the point of the exclamation that is the Malaysian Peninsula. Singapore is a major international financial center and a world city. It is home to more than 20 banks and offices representing corporations from around the world. The global financial crisis has hit Singapore hard, the rate of unemployment skyrocketing from just 2.5% to a whopping 3.2% Singapore, even reeling, is the envy of the world. The social safety net here is strong. More than 80% of citizens reside in subsidized public housing with subsidized mortgages backed by the government. There are subsidies for having children, for extended families to live near each other, even for live-in nannies. There is also significant government control. The laws are strict and penalties severe. Contrary to popular belief, it is legal to possess, and chew, gum. Just don't sell it, spit it into the street, or stick it to the bottom of a park bench. Singapore is clean, green, orderly, and easy to navigate, the only Asian country with English as its first language.
The name Singapore comes from the Sanskrit Singa Pura, or Lion City, and the distinctive symbol of Singapore is the Merlion statue, the head of a lion on the body of a fish riding a crest of waves. From a park high atop a Northern hill, we enjoyed a panorama of the city.
The jewel in the crown of Singapore is the stunning Botanic Gardens, with a superb collection of tropical plant life. Dedicated in 1859 and spread over 128 acres, the Gardens hold over 4,000 species, including many rare specimens. This lush tropical park houses the world's largest orchid collection, featuring more than 20,000 plants displayed in a natural setting. We covered just a small part of the 7.4 acre National Orchid Garden. Miles of paths winding through meticulously manicured beds, fountains and arches providing refuge from the sun. The orchids are vivid bursts of color popping out from every corner against a backdrop of tropical green, sprays of orchids like fireworks in the night sky. Just incredible!!!
We continued our tour of the city to the famous Grand Dame of Singapore, the Raffles Hotel. Opened in 1887, the Raffles is the ultimate in Colonial Oriental hospitality.
Merlion Park affords a great view of the harbor and the fountain that is the symbol of the city.
Now well acquainted with Singapore, we stepped off our very last tour bus of the trip and checked into the Fairmont Singapore. This modern high-rise hotel was once part of the Raffles complex and is just across the street from the fabled hotel. It is the best of both worlds: great location and the comforts of modern convenience.
We are tired. I am sick. We took a long nap.
Our friend Wendy from the ship was on her own in Singapore and staying at the Fairmont as well. She joined us in the Executive Club Lounge for cocktails. We toasted the end of a great adventure with Champagne.
Tres was horrified, but I wanted a hamburger for dinner. Yes, I know, what a waste. We are in one of the world's great fusion food cities and I was craving the lowest common denominator of American food. Sick with a bad cold and drunk on a cocktail of Airborne and Vodka (it was an accident...don't ever make the mistake of pouring vodka into an empty water bottle when your head isn't clear), all I wanted was some comfort food.
On the advice of the concierge, we crossed the street to the Raffles and the Seah Street Deli. This is a Disneyfied re-creation of a 1950s New York Deli/Diner. We have entered a Bizarro World. You can't point your figure at exactly what is wrong, yet nothing is quite right. The menu and the decor must have been designed by someone who has never been to New York, to a deli or diner, or to the 1950s, yet is generally familiar with the genre from pop culture. We had an OK dinner of burgers, fries, and shakes served by very earnest and eager Singaporeans. As the waitress presented the check, she asked how authentic the experience was. We told her it was spot-on.
Monday, December 21st
Well-rested after a night of luxury at the Fairmont, we were ready to hit the streets of Singapore, but much of the good food has come off the streets and indoors. Singaporeans take good food seriously and they are justifiably proud of their dining culture, but their traditions are rooted in Chinese, Malaysian, and Indian cooking. The city was once dominated by hawker stalls that lined the streets and fed the lines of rich and poor alike with cheap and delicious peasant food. For better or worse, this great tradition of street food has been collectivized and sanitized. The government rounded up the hawker stands and put them into "food centres," food courts of small, independent stands selling the same street food, but in cleaner better controlled settings. The streets aren't even necessary for walking anymore, with a vast underground network connecting most of the city.
We set out from the hotel through a series of underground malls, hotels, office buildings, and transit stations to the Food Republic hawker centre. This may not be the best, most famous, or most authentic of the food centres in Singapore. In fact, it's actually in the convention centre. But, it is the most convenient. After making several tours of the 18 stalls, we started with one of the most traditional of Singapore hawker dishes, Hainanese chicken rice. Derived from the Chinese original, chicken rice is considered by many to be the national dish of Singapore. Whole chickens are boiled in a richly flavored stock, shocked in an ice bath, and served at room temperature. It is ordered either white or dark, which does not refer to the meat, but the skin, the dark variation colored with soy. The chicken is chopped into half-inch sections on the bone, plated with white rice, and kissed with a light sesame dressing and chili sauce on the side. Our dark half-chicken was moist and tender, juices dribbling down our chins. The true flavor of the chicken sings through the simple preparation. The skin was a little off-putting, gelatinous from the water treatment, but we got used to it. We followed with a Chinese roast duck. Also chopped into finger-sized hunks on the bone, the duck was tougher and harder to eat than the chicken, less subtle, but with more flavor. The skin was shellacked crispy sweet, like skin candy. It was served with a vinegar-based ginger dipping sauce. We finished with freshly baked faintly sweet rolls from the Toast Box. Each roll has two halves that pull apart a cleft in the golden crust to reveal a light fluffy fragrant soft crumb. These were my find, and they may have been the best of the day.
Wendy joined us once again for cocktail hour this evening. We crossed to the Raffles and the legendary Long Bar for a Singapore Sling, the fruity tropical signature drink sensation created here in 1915. We enjoyed the conversation, and a round of outstanding shrimp spring rolls, but the Long Bar and Singapore Sling traditions are overrated. The bar itself is a re-creation of the original, tropical tacky with wicker furniture and peanut shells on the floor. They are, by the way, the tiniest peanuts you will ever find, hard, shrivelled, and stale like testicles shrunken by steroids. The Slings were refreshing, if not stiff, but ludicrously expensive. Many thanks to Wendy for treating!!! We wish her well on the journey back to Santa Barbara!!!
The Magnificent Mile of Singapore is Orchard Road, once a country lane flanked by fruit orchards and nutmeg plantations, now vertical malls with high-end boutiques, restaurants, and luxury hotels line the grand boulevard that has become the commercial center of Singapore. Orchard Road is the best place to walk and shop in the city year round, but it is transformed into a magical wonderland at Christmas. Singapore is not a Christian country, but it is an international capital of capitalism with expatriates and tourists from all over the world. They go all out for Christmas. This is the 25th anniversary of the Orchard Road Christmas Light-Up, 5km of lights, garlands, baubles, and decorations, more than 100,000 hours of labor in the making. We took a taxi to the Ion center, one of the premier malls near the top of Orchard Road and took a walk down the boulevard taking in the splendor. It was a spectacular night. The whole city was out. Throngs of people filled the sidewalks and spilled into the streets; young couples on dates; families for a night out, parents finishing their shopping, kids running and jumping through the festivities; and old folks watching the world go by. Stages of carolers lined every block. All of this in a humid 75 degrees. Awesome and inspiring!!!
On our last night in Singapore, we wanted the best of local cuisine, no more convention center food courts or hotel restaurants. OK...one more hotel restaurant. The Grand Hyatt Singapore has taken the hawker centre to the extreme with Straits Kitchen, a multiethnic buffet featuring separate sections representing Chinese, Malaysian, and Indian food. It's got to be legit: Anthony Bourdain went there on "No Reservations." They are famous for juice so Tres ordered green guava, all the tropical love of pink guava juice in the color of kiwi. We started with fresh spring rolls, rolled to order. Then soup, souped to order. Rich broths form the base of six different soups with various proteins, vegetables, and starches. Our wonton and Thai curry soups were outstanding on their own, but customized and transformed by a dizzying array of garnishes. Next, satays: chicken, beef, and lamb. Then, beef rendang, char kuay teow, chicken rice, and chili crabs, the other national dish of Singapore, crab in the shell swimming in garlicky chili sauce. Already full, we made a final pass through the Indian station and then topped it off with fruit and ginger ice creams.
We took a taxi down the length of Orchard Road, under the garlands and lights, and back to the Fairmont.
Singapore is a compromise, a tradeoff of comfort and security for a measure of freedom. It is both familiar and unique, ordinary and exotic. We could be happy here, for a night or a lifetime. For now, just the former.
Tuesday, December 22nd
We woke up this morning to a new reality unique on this journey since we left home almost two months ago: we will travel to our next destination by air instead of by sea, on our own, without a crew of hundreds. We hit the hotel breakfast buffet and returned to the room to pack for airport security and our flight to Hong Kong:
Cathay Pacific Flight 734
Singapore to Hong Kong
Departing 4:25 PM
Arriving 8:10 PM
Flight Time: 3 Hours 45 Minutes
Next Stop, Last Stop: Hong Kong, China
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