October 19th 2009 – Singapore

A long awaited visit with Amanda’s step sister Nevina and her husband Fai made this visit a very memorable one. Our bus dropped us off on Orchard Road which boasts world class shopping against a backdrop of stunning modern architecture. They drove us past the famous Raffles Hotel to our first venue of interest, the Singapore Flyer. This is a very huge ferris wheel, very state of the art and it offers a stunning panoramic view of Singapore Island. It shows where the land has been reclaimed to expand Singapore’s shore line, the confluence of the Singapore and the Kallang Rivers and the new resorts and casinos being built downtown. They then showed us an architectural layout of the city and it’s proposed changes in the urban planning building. This city takes planning to incredible levels.
What a beautiful, pristine city Singapore is. Amanda’s craving for all the hawker style foods took us to one of the many hawker centers where we totally indulged in a variety of Asian dishes that Reg had never tried. Today was Monday so many of the hawker stalls and fresh markets were closed, especially the satay vendors, Nevina had to purchase satay the day before and bring it along. It was all sooooooo good!
Having overindulged more than a little we took a stroll in the Chinatown area taking in the older architecture, streets and alleys, markets and also stopping in at the Sri Mariamman Temple, the oldest Hindu temple in the city. Later Nevina and Fai took us to their lovely home to meet their two daughters Bernadette and Beatrice. Two delightful, very confident and self assured teenagers.
Unfortunately our time in Singapore was all too short (4 hours) and we had to board the bus for our return to the ship @ 2:30 pm. Amanda was still stuffing her face with special sweet dried pork on the trip back to the ship! It’s definitely a place to return to and spend more time in. A wonderful day in such a charming city. Thanks Nevina & Fai!

October 20, 2009

Our last sea day before we disembark at the port of Laem Chabang (Thailand). We say farewell to all our new friends and especially our dinner mates, Lex & Margaret from Glasgow, Gary & Elaine from Calgary, Janet and Ted from New Jersey with whom we shared many laughs at the dinner table. We wish all of them a safe journey home and hope that we will meet up again some day, perhaps on another cruise. It has been a great 16 days and a tremendous experience and insight into the Asian culture. Next off to Ban Krut in Southern Thailand!

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