Singapore – Saturday 24th March

Singapore is at the bottom of the Malay peninsula and lies 85 miles north of the equator.  It is 227 square miles and has a population of 3.8 million.  Its position on the main trade routes from Europe to South Asia and the Far East has enabled it to become the commercial capital of South East Asia and it is one of world’s greatest ports.  Until 1819 it was largely uninhabited and known as Singa Pura or Lion City (apparently a visiting prince thought he saw a lion when he was visiting!).  Sir Stamford Raffles claimed it for the British East India Company and it was run by them until it became a Crown Colony in 1867.  It was Britain’s key defence base in WW2 but fell into Japanese hands when they arrived by land from Malaya (on bicycles) instead of by sea as expected.  It joined the Malay Federation in 1954 and became an independent republic and member of the Commonwealth in 1965.  Since then it has grown continuously and changes are apparent every time you visit.

I have been to Singapore a few times and it is easy to like – everything is neat and tidy and safe – sort of a taste of Asia for wimps!  We docked in the huge container port – it took the bus 10 minutes to get us to the exit and it then drove us to the Harbourfront Centre – a big shopping mall with convenient connections to the  metro and also a cable car and monorail which go to Sentosa Island – this is a leisure resort with beaches, rides, a butterfly park and other attractions.  We didn’t go there though, having decided to venture out to the zoo.  This involved a metro and a bus journey and we were lucky enough to meet three young Malaysians on the bus  who had passes that allowed them to take guests in so we got free entry. It is super, being built in some original jungle, so automatically giving a good backdrop for the animals – even if they don’t actually originate in the jungle.  We loved the orang-utans – they could  walk  on cables about 20 ft. above our heads and I was terrified that a baby was going to let go of its mother, but I guess they are used to it. 

Freeloading Bats at the zoo

We also saw an elephant display and visited other big cats, white tigers, giant tortoises, giraffes and rhinos.  It was fascinating to see colonies of bats who had settled in some of the covered walkways and seemed quite at home  with all the people passing through.

After the zoo we headed for the Raffles Hotel and took out a mortgage on a couple of Singapore Slings (30 pounds for 2 drinks!)  It is an iconic spot though and still conjours up visions of the colonial era – although it has been redeveloped they have managed to keep it looking much the same as it always has done, and there is a very interesting museum packed with memorabilia form the stars of bygone eras..  We then had a look round the Harbour City Mall before heading back to the ship