Barry & Kung's Home Page
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Singapore Singapore is where Kung and Barry first met in September 2000. Kung was studying English while staying with her oldest sister who lives there, and Barry visited Singapore to visit his oldest brother who also lives and teaches there. We have lived in Singapore on and off for over a year in all since we met.
Singapore became a country when it separated from the Malayan Federation in August 1965, and since then has become one of the most progressive countries in Southeast Asia under a benevolent dictatorship. Today it is perhaps the world's cleanest, safest, and most modern city. Its strategically located port, which ships must pass when traveling between India or eastern Africa and points in Asia or the Americas, is the busiest port in the world. Singapore's climate is mostly unchanging throughout the year, as it is about one degree north of the equator. The coldest it has ever been in Singapore in recorded times is 68 F (20 C) and the hottest around 96 F (36 C). The weather in January and July is similar, as is the length of day and night. Singapore is a great place to sample one of the widest varieties of food from around the world, as so many cultures are represented there. Singapore's population consists of people of ethnic Chinese, Malay, and Indian heritage, and Singapore also has a large expatriate community from Australia, America, and many European countries such as the UK and Germany. In early August 2004 we traveled to Singapore with three of Kung's friends from Thailand: Kim, Pla, and Pook. Pook's husband and son also came along, making us a party of seven. Kung's friends stayed in Singapore with us from a Friday to the following Monday for a long weekend. Here are some of the highlights of the four days of activities we planned for them, covering many of the interesting areas and attractions of Singapore.
Our trip started from Bangkok, Thailand on Friday on a relatively new discount airline, Air Asia. The flight was on time and the service was fine. As we expected, no food or beverage was provided for free and there were no pre-assigned seats, so there was a bit of a push getting on the airplane. We couldn't complain, as the round-trip airfare of 3,850 Thai baht (less than US $100) was half of what it would have cost on other carriers. It would have been even cheaper had we booked more than three weeks in advance, but all the cheaper seats had already been taken. On the flight back home Kung's friends talked to someone who flew round-trip for 499 baht (about US $12.50)!
Each of us shook a can full of sticks
with a gentle repetitive motion until one fell out, then the number on the stick that fell
gave us the answer to our question and a simple fortune. The fortune was
in ancient poetic Chinese and difficult to interpret, but at least we could tell
who would have good luck and bad luck in the coming months! Outside the temple, we
also rubbed the lips and belly of a Fat Buddha (right photo) for good luck, another Chinese
tradition.
In line with Singapore's strict public policies, no eating or drinking was allowed on the trains or buses, or you could be hit with a fine of up to a thousand Singapore dollars (over US $600). Later, on Monday, when Barry without thinking carried an unfinished cup of watermelon juice aboard a city bus, there was a moment of panic until we quickly wrapped it in paper and stuck it in one of Kim's bags before anyone reported us! It is also true that no gum-chewing is allowed in Singapore, making Singaporean sidewalks and table undersides clean and free of those annoying sticky gum spots caused by gum-chewers in most other major cities. Curiously, for all its strict law and order,
Singaporeans generally ignore the signs that tell them which side of the
escalator to stand on as they ride up or down (so that people may walk past if
they so choose), and they also ignore the arrows on the floor telling them
exactly where to stand when the MRT trains stop, to let passengers alight before
new passengers can board the trains. Even Singaporeans have to flaunt the rules
sometimes.
After supper we walked Orchard Road, which was decorated
for Singapore's National Day celebration only a few days away. In addition to the
Singapore flags in the photo to the right (which are somewhat similar to China's flag) you
can see the message "Happy Birthday Singapore." Orchard Road was the last stop for
our first busy and very long day in this orderly city-state.
We set out on a city bus to Singapore's most famous tourist
attraction, Sentosa Island. Sentosa has an aquarium, an insect and butterfly
museum, beaches, resorts, a monorail, a World War II fort, and much more.
At this attraction, we were all especially captivated by the colorful sea
horses, voracious piranhas, eels, and especially the camouflaged fish that
looked just like floating sea plants!
In the evening we had some Thai curries, rice, and noodles at Sentosa's food court, saw an amazing light-and-laser show at Sentosa's huge and majestic fountains, and visited Singapore's icon: the Merlion. The Merlion is a cross between a lion and a mermaid.
Here it is shown by day (left) and by night (right), apparently breathing fire!
The night view was our last impressive sight of Sentosa Island, before running back up the hill
to Cable Car Station to catch a cable-car back to the mainland.
A large refrigerated
building, cooled to a few degrees below freezing, provides an indoor snow play area
complete with a snow-man, igloo, and several snow slides, in addition to a small
indoor hill (right photo) where you can go snow-tubing! This was a lot of fun
for everyone, especially Donut, who found that he liked throwing snowballs just
like most other eight-year-olds. None of Kung's friends had ever seen real snow
before, so this activity was a big hit.
In the afternoon we took a bus to Singapore's East Coast park, a seven-mile (10 km) recreational trail that stretches Singapore's entire east coast from downtown to Changi Airport. After a nice lunch of more Singapore noodles and curry, Donut (left) and Kim (right) tried roller-blading for the first time. Kim was scared and only tried it for a few minutes, but after 45 minutes Donut skated like a professional! On Monday evening, the end of the trip for Kung's
friends was marked by the National Day fireworks display, which we saw by
running upstairs at Kung's sister's house and peering out of a third-storey window. At 9:30 PM, we said
good-bye to Kung's friends when the taxi arrived to pick them up for the
red-eye flight back to Bangkok. A great time was had by all. |
Singapore is a small island nation at the southern tip of Southeast Asia's Malay
Peninsula (left photo). Its total size is similar to the size of the
Clearwater/Saint Petersburg peninsula in central Florida in the USA (see the
to-scale comparison in the right photo).
