Now, tired and happy, we’re cruising the Malacca Straits, ships all around us are moving at 17 knots. The water is calm but full of all sorts of floating crap. I am sitting in a deck chair with my computer trying to write down as much about Singapore as I can before it flies away in the mists of the straits.
Last night I stayed out on deck until after midnight watching Singapore slip away and seeing an incredible number of ships going in both directions. Then we slid into a new time zone and it was an hour earlier. This is our 12th time zone since leaving Fort Lauderdale, halfway around the world but more than halfway through our 114 days. Today is day 71. We spent a lot of time wandering UTC +8:00. We entered this time zone on February 19, today is March 16.
I’ve written probably more about Singapore than you want to read, but unlike radio, I am not only doing this for my audience but for myself, so I remember my thoughts and what I saw. But what I wrote doesn’t quite cover it. There are pictures that do not fit into the narrative, so here they are with some explanation.
In Chinatown there was this display for year of the Dog, my year, and Suzi’s too. There are also some other decorations left over.
We sailed into Singapore at Sunrise.
Sentosa Island is a big amusement park. It’s an island off the southern tip of Singapore and was the British’s impregnable “Gibraltar of the East.” In 1942 it fell to the Japanese because all her guns were facing seaward and the enemy came down the Malay peninsula on bicycles and into Singapore through the back door. It has military sites and when we were there with the kids some amusements and other attractions. Now it has more, including a Universal Studio’s Park.
When we were there it was also a political prison. The government kept one dissident, who would not shut up on the island. He was exiled there. He could roam the island freely but could not leave. O one man gulag in an amusement park. That’s Singapore. This time we decided just to fly over Sentosa taking the cable car from Mt. Faber, a local high spot, to the island, transferring to another car to take us back and forth across the island, and then taking the cable back to the mainland.
A Cruise along the Singapore River
And finally, Singapore at night.
Your Singapore posts have been fantastic. I love Singapore (in spite of the heat!!) and really enjoyed the photos and your informative commentary! The camera episode was interesting, quite a hard situation to decide.
Thanks for taking the time to put out the best WC blog!
Thank you for the compliment. I am enjoying processing all my thoughts and some of my pics before I get to the next port and loose a lot of it. Nice to have sea days to do this.