Destinations

Recently I had the opportunity to visit Singapore but stayed like a local. I was visiting family who have been there now for about two years on a work assignment. Although I did some sightseeing, most of the time was spend visiting parts of the this city where the residents live, shop, pay observances to their varied religions, and just ‘get around town.’ I had been to Singapore several times before but since I was staying out in Yishun district (one of the suburbs) getting into and out of central district meant using the Metro, buses walking and “going local.”

Singapore’s government is very involved in the life and comfort of its residents — all apartments subsidized by the government and supplied at good rates of sale to the local residents ensure a balance of races and cultures occupy each apartment block or group of blocks. These blocks are supplied with shopping centers, activities rooms, schools, and nearby houses of worship. One block a Hindu temple, the next a Chinese columbarium, and just across the road from the local grammar school is a large open/covered market with fresh fruits, vegetables, fish, meats for sale and innumerable small shops ringing the market with everything a local householder might require.

The famous Singapore “food courts” range in quality from the fully enclosed, indoor dining cafeterias to the more relaxed semi-open table-strewn dining areas with small family run stalls providing a wide range of foods. Pig-organ soup stands, fresh cane juice and fruit juices dispensaries, vegetarian Chinese/Malay stalls vie for your attention and the difficult decision-making process. Everything is carefully inspected and products fresh and tasty. As there are peoples from all over South East Asia living in Singapore along with a large ex-pat community, dining is never a problem. It seems as if someone is eating something vigorously no matter what time of day or night.

The multi-cultural aspect of life in Singapore and a complex history of colonial, wartime and post-war development means that the government ensures that museums, urban development planning, transportation and varied cultural entertainments address a broad range of topics, cultures and interests. It seems that there are often more things going on than is humanly possible to see. That doesn’t count the local district events, holidays, religious festivals and celebrations either!! If you were to take advantage of the wide range of things to learn, see, do and experience, you would feel as if you were spinning in a whirlwind of learning.

Too many people come to Singapore to see the architecture, the old Malay, Chinese, Indian and Colonial downtown districts and then leave, having seen these parts of town. It is in the living energies of the many peoples who live in Singapore which makes this a much more exciting destination.

My wife and I recently took a 15 day cruise on the Costa Allegra on Costa Cruise Lines. The cruise started in Hong Kong and visited Manila, Kota Kinabalu, Brunei, Singapore, Saigon, Danang, Sanya, and back to Hong Kong. We chose this line because of the expansive itinerary and wanted to celebrate our Christmas and New Year’s at sea. However, the experience left much to be desired.

Port of Call - I would not recommend Sanya, China. It is touted as a beach resort where most of the Chinese locals visit, but when we arrived it was clearly not well maintained and the sidewalks did not look clean.

The Ship - I was told the ship had no stabilizers. I don’t know if this is true or not, but the stretch from Hong Kong to Manila is supposed to be the worst. It was very calm seas and smooth going. All the other times we were at open sea - which was about 5 days - were bad. There was a stretch of about 70+ hours where my wife and I were taking Dramamine every 8 hours. I believe everyone was on Dramamine, so much demand in fact, that by about the 60th hour, the ship ran out of it. I was fortunate I had some extra pills.

For about 3 full days, the ship was moving all over the place. Lying in bed at night was no relief. The ship seemed to be moving in all directions, and, it became worst because the springs in the mattress made you bounce up and down like you were on a trampoline! There was one night at dinner where the ship was moving so bad that dishes, glasses, wine bottles were crashing and falling over.

The Menu - On paper, the menu looked excellent. In reality, it turned out to be rather poor quality and hit or miss on the taste. I had shrimp scampi once and lobster twice. All three times the food tasted like it was previously cooked/frozen/cooked mushy/or powdery. Even their pasta was not consistent in quality and taste.

The only saving grace on food was their pizza bar which served fresh pizza from 10pm to 1am. Costa is an Italian cruise line, so I’m glad they got this one right. In addition, their service from the dining and bar personnel was also to a high standard.