Singapore for a day

I spent a little over 24 hours in Singapore on my way home to Texas.  My friend Amy greeted me at the airport and walked me around a lot of this Disneyland of a country.  Amy is warm, smart and active, and has been living in Singapore for about a year.  So her guided walking tour of this island city was right up my alley!

Singapore is known for it's shopping, food and planned society.  The shopping and commerciality was on display everywhere.  The streets and numerous shopping malls were decked out for Christmas, even though the locals don't celebrate the holiday.  The food was all great.  (It helps that Amy took me to her favorite dumpling and Indonesian food places :)

Christmas decorations everywhere
They have no idea what they're for
but it's an excuse for pictures

Crab dumplings - yum!

You don't get these kinds of buildings just anywhere
The casino int he back is big enough to hold air craft carriers
Note the white globes on the right.

The city itself is almost unreal.  It is absolutely pristine, with huge structures dotting the landscape.  Singapore is famous for controlling everything, down to spitting and gum chewing.  The penalty for drug trafficking is death. These strict rules yield a pristine and safe country, where people can leave their purses out on tables to reserve them as they go order food.  The same folks creating the personal behavior rules have delivered mightily on their economic vision for the country.  The standard of living in Singapore is so much better because it is much more successful economically than any of its larger neighbors.  And that's largely due to the vision and determination of the prime minister and government.  Their controlling hand is visible as you walk around staring at the strange but beautiful buildings, wide boulevards and concert venues intertwined with public spaces along the water, and the never-ending construction.  We were sipping beverages at the top of the Marina Bay Hotel when Amy mentioned the government announced they will move the Port of Singapore because it is unsightly in it's current location.  Who just decides to move a port?!

From the top of Marina Sands Hotel
A view of the flower dome, the cloud dome,
the grove of "super trees", and the many ships waiting
to participate in the economic miracle of Singapore,

We did luck out and stumbled our way into a local celebration.  Initially, we couldn't figure out why they were filling the bay with this ~2ft diameter white floating globes.  Serendipity led us to where they were signing them.  We scribbled our wishes for the New Year on a globe the last day they were allowing folks sign them, and our globe is probably floating in the water right now.


Thanks to Amy for all her hospitality.  It was great to see my friend and she gave a wonderful tour.




Next Stop:  Home Sweet Home.  I can't wait to see my family for Christmas!