Singapore

We only had one day here in Singapore, so I did a ton of research prior to embarking on our one-day adventure. We pulled up to this port (where most other cruise lines dock), and I immediately couldn’t believe what I saw. There were extremely tall buildings, very close together, some of the tallest buildings I have ever saw. Right above us was a gondola coming out of a building going to an island called, Sentosa Island. All of the cars driving around were brightly colored, and the water was a light blue color. This country felt almost… futuristic. The buildings were so interestingly designed, with some architecture I had never seen before. Also, everything was so expensive! I wasn’t expecting this, but even the smallest things were ridiculously priced!
Getting off the ship, I spotted a Starbucks, and went a little berzerk… you try not having Starbucks in two months! We had heard from many people that the street called, Orchard Road is the Rodeo Drive of Singapore- so we decided to start there. This street was beautiful. Huge Dior, Prada, and Marc Jacobs stores lined the street- everything was so clean and orderly. You had to go under these under paths to cross the street, and jay walking was definitely not allowed. Singapore’s philosophy on laws is very interesting. Their government believes that manners should be laws, so things like spitting out your gum on the street, or eating on the subway are illegal. And they don’t mess around! SAS told us that they do not hesitate to throw foreigners in jail or even cane you, so we were all very careful. After we walked down the street for a while, we went to their “little India”.
Coming from India, it was surreal seeing all of the same relics and souvenirs. Everything was about four times the price, but it was still fun to see saris and their street food again. There was a very famous temple here as well called, The Sri Veramakaliamman Temple. We took some pictures, and decided to book it to Chinatown. Walking down the street, we saw street vendors and a ton of street food. It got me really excited to go to china, and I loved all the red balloons hanging down the middle of the street. We also saw another temple here that was famous to Singapore called the Buddhist Temple.
For lunch we went to one of the oldest and most famous hotels, called Raffles Hotel. This hotel was extremely elaborate, and all in white marble. This hotel is famous for the Singaporean drink called, the “Singapore Sling”. We had a beautiful lunch on the courtyard, bought the sling ($25 by the way!), and enjoyed the posh atmosphere. It was kind of hectic traveling because we were a group of almost 13, so a lot of people were getting frustrated, and wanted to do something all together. Well, in Singapore there is the highest and most famous Ferris wheel in the world called, the Singapore flyer so we decided to go. After our cab driver gave us a pretty extensive tour of the cities sites, we got to the flyer. I ate dragon fruit there (which is a famous Malaysian fruit) from a vendor, and we all entered the flyer. This was more like a gondola (holding 25 people per cart!), and took about 30 minutes. It gave us an amazing view of the city, and it was the first time I saw the most amazing building- the Marino Sans Casino/ Hotel.  This building was actually built recently by a very good family friend named, Moshe Saftie. It was three buildings with what it looked like a boat laying across the top (with an infinity pool lining the top). It is in the top 10 hotels in the world, and you could really tell. I wanted to go so badly but I heard you needed a hotel room ($600 a night) to go to the top. Hmmmm has that ever stopped me?
Back to the flyer- after the ride, we walked around the flyer and saw a health spa, which was famous for these fish pedicures (which are unique to Malaysia). Of course I walked right in, and tried to understand what this was. Well, there were these beautiful pools of these “doctor fish” or kenko, which kind of looked like tadpoles. We decided to do it, and these women cleaned our feet to put them in the water. The fish immediately swarmed our feet, and let me tell you- it was quite possibly the most uncomfortably amazing feeling ever! We all screamed a little, but then got over it, and had this amazing foot spa experience.
So afterward, we decided to go to the Marino Sans Hotel. Being a pro-hotel-sneaker-iner I told everyone to follow me, and not to talk. I walked right into the hotel asked for a little red slip (which residents got to access the sky bar), and went right up. At the top, I walked right past the security, and into the infinity pool. It is quite funny that this was the second time I had snuck into one of Moche’s hotels (other one was the Ben Guriyum Hotel in Israel). Well, this hotel was nothing like I had seen before. Since the building was so tall, the view from the top was one of the best in the whole city, and probably better than the Ferris wheel’s view. The pool lined the whole top the hotel, and was so chic and beautiful. There were white beds in the pool, and water fountains everywhere. We literally felt like kings here, and decided to stay here for a while. After watching the sunset over the city, we realized we didn’t have that much time left until we had to be back on the ship. We went to this row of bars and restaurants along the river called Quay Four. While everyone ordered, I walked along the river and saw all of these decorative restaurants and bars. There was this one bar called, Clinic where they served shots in syringes and gave you IV’s to drink from. Some of the places here were so elaborate and sophisticated- it felt like a nicer LA and Paris put together. We tried some local food again, and definitely cut it close getting back to the ship. 150 people got “dock time” here because they were late so we were extremely happy we cut so many lines getting back ;)
* If you come back late to the ship, you receive “dock time” in the next port.
All in all, this country was so sophisticated and futuristic. Singapore felt like what a lot of other countries strive to be like, and I absolutely loved it. I would love to go back there when I have a lot more money, because you definitely need money there! I can’t believe I'm going to be in Vietnam in two days! This trip is going by way to quickly. ...
Oh and just to let you know we are not going to Japan anymore. Everyone is very upset about this and really disappointed. The three countries that we had as backups were South Korea, Philippines, and Taiwan. They decided to go to Taiwan for four days. I personally don’t care because I feel like Japan is a country that I will hopefully return to, and I am excited to experience Taiwan! More to come soon!