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| 'Merlion' fountain in downtown Singapore |
Singapore Primer
travel memoir
by Gregory E. Larson
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| Map of Singapore |
When I shared with
friends that I had just returned from Singapore, the most common reply was, “I
confess I don’t really know much about Singapore.” That was my same thought
before I visited the island nation. Here are some basic facts:
· Singapore
has a population of 5.7 million people.
· The
form of government is listed as “Unitary Multiparty Republic with one
legislative parliament”.
· The
island of Singapore is eighty-five miles north of the equator and located at
the tip of the Malayan peninsula. It is adjacent to some of the islands of
Indonesia. The area of the island is 281 square miles and it is approximately 25
miles long by 12 miles at its widest point.
· The
equatorial climate has daytime high temperature around 90°F and nighttime is
about 80°F. Average annual rainfall is 95 inches per year. During my visit, the
sun was shining about 20% of the time and the rain was constant about 20% of
the time, with the remaining 60% being some form of cloud cover.
· Worldwide
shipping is the economic engine of Singapore. Miles upon miles of gigantic
shipping docks line the shores of the island. The cranes are working 24 hours,
7 days a week, to load and unload the containers. I read one fact while I was
there: During each year, one out of every five shipping containers, worldwide,
goes through Singapore.
· The
island became a British colony in 1867, and gained its independence in 1959.
Today it has a very diverse population made up mainly of these three groups: ethnic
Chinese (74%), Malay (13.4%) and Indian (9%).
· Military
defense of the island is an agreement between the U.K, Australia, New Zealand,
Malaysia and Singapore.
[information source: Britannica.com/place/Singapore]
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| International Shipping is the economic engine of Singapore |
At the time of this
article, Singapore continues to keep a tight COVID policy. I was able to visit
because the U.S. is one of nine countries that have Vaccinated Travel Lane
status with Singapore. I had to apply to Singapore for a Vaccinated Travel
Pass, and was required to prove that I had all three available COVID
vaccinations. A COVID test was required prior to leaving Los Angeles and
another test was needed upon my arrival in Singapore. The U.S. required that I
take a COVID test prior to leaving Singapore. While in Singapore, the
government regulation required everyone to wear a mask in all public spaces and
outdoors (with the exception of swimming, jogging or riding a bike). The
government had signs on public transportation that no talking was allowed while
riding the buses and subways.
On the morning that the
plane approached the island, I looked out the window and saw hundreds of ships
anchored offshore, waiting to load and unload cargo. At the end of a 17-hour
and 50-minute flight from Los Angeles, the plane landed. I quickly went through
customs and boarded a taxi to my daughter’s condominium on the west side of the
island near the National University of Singapore, where she and her husband
have research positions and my four-year-old granddaughter is in daycare.
The humidity hit me like
a wall as I walked between the airport and the taxi. The next impression I had
was the thick jungle growth along the highway as we sped west towards the
downtown. The taxi entered a long tunnel that went under the harbor, so I
wasn’t able to get a good look at the downtown until we came out on the west
side. It was a blur of skyscrapers, condos, ship docks, green parks,
double-decker buses, and fancy cars. I learned from my son-in-law that car
ownership is allowed once a very expensive permit (thousands of dollars) is
obtained from the government.
The tourist venues seemed surreal, since very few tourists were in the country at the time of my trip. I felt like I was in a movie where most of the people had disappeared. The people that I did see were wearing a mask, so there wasn’t much interaction between people in public. The few times I did talk to those around me, it was hard to understand the Asian accents from under the masks.
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| One of the 130 sparkling Metro stations in Singapore |
I developed a routine of
sightseeing on my own during the weekdays in the morning, lunch and early
afternoon. That allowed me to move about, using the extensive and
well-maintained subway and bus system before the afternoon rains came. Once
back at the condo, I swam laps in the pool, making sure I finished before the rain
started. After three or four claps of thunder, I retreated inside for espresso
and a snack.
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| A nice pool for swimming laps. |
On evenings and week-ends
I spent time with my family, either sightseeing or trying out some of the local
Asian food. Western fast-food places abound and sometimes that was the simplest
solution for the granddaughter and for me.
I felt like I was in an architectural candy land with all of the intriguing buildings and landscaping. It seems that all the architects try to outdo each other with eye-catching buildings and details. The landscaping and the trees are everywhere and sometimes they are growing on the buildings.
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| Singapore is an "architectural candy land" |
My favorite tourist
activities were in the downtown area where the main river meets the bay. Skyscrapers
abutted the river and were adjacent to a small area where old shops and
restaurants catered to the business people. The downtown river cruise helped me
get oriented to the dense city area. As I boarded a touring boat that normally
held forty people, I noticed that only eight people had come onboard. There
were rows of tour boats moored on the river, unused during the pandemic. As we
floated towards the inner bay, I was mesmerized by all the buildings; the
skyscrapers, hotels, museums, malls and condominiums.
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| Singapore skyline view from the inner bay. |
Across an inner bay is the famous Marina Bay Sands Hotel (with cantilevered gardens and pool on top) and the Gardens by the Bay with the Super trees, Flower dome, and Cloud Forest building.
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| Marina Bay Sands Hotel |
On a separate outing, I
toured the Cloud Forest, which is climate-controlled to simulate a jungle, with
the sprinklers creating rain every two hours. The man-made mountain has
tropical and jungle plants over the entire surface. As you enter the building
you are confronted with the highest man-made waterfall which cascades from the
mountain – all encased in a massive glass structure. Elevators take the visitors
to the top of the mountain where paths and bridges lead pedestrians to the
bottom. Orchids, foliage plants, Asian pine trees and shrubs all give the moist
air a fresh outdoor fragrance.
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| Man-made waterfall in the Cloud Forest building |
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| One of the many Super Trees in Gardens by the Bay |
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| View of condominium towers from the gondola ride |
Another fun outing was
with my family and granddaughter. We rode on a gondola which was suspended from
the highest point on the island all the way across a bay to the resort island
of Sentosa. The embarking point was on the fifteenth floor of a building at the
mid-point of the ride. We first went out over the bay to Sentosa, and
eventually took the gondola all the way back to the top of Mount Faber (a hill
of 358 feet in altitude). My four-year-old granddaughter was as excited as she
could get as we boarded the gondola for the first time and rode several hundred
feet above the bay. What a memory to see her so full of joy.
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| The gondola ride was a real adventure for my granddaughter. |
I had many other fun
times and places – too many to recall in detail here. The zoo, the botanical
gardens, the linear parks, the harbors with massive container ships, the
rental-bike ride, and the explorations to different parts of the island. It was
sad to say “good-bye” to family as I left in the taxi for the airport.
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| Flowers in the Cloud Forest |
