The Sling in Singapore (aka the day without the camera)
Sunday 10th September
A bit further down the Straits of Malacca and we have arrived at Singapore, this is the furthest South we go on this trip, now we are 214 miles south of Port Kelang and only 85 miles North of the Equator.
We woke at 6.00 with the pilot boat coming aside and the pilot climbing onto the ship, he was arriving on our side, so the noise woke us. We went down to Breakfast at 7.10 and by the time we got back to the cabin we had docked.
Having missed Mass last Sunday I’d tried to find out if it was going to be possible to get to Mass today. The problem with Mangalore last week was that I’d already booked a day trip, plus was not confident to get off the boat and try travelling on my own in a place I’d not visited before. This time I’d used the web to find that the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd was very central to Singapore city centre, and therefore would be easy to get to. Given the mixed population of Singapore most of the Masses in the Cathedral were in English, so having seen there was a Mass at 10.00 a.m. that became my first objective of the day.
Drew stayed on board the ship and did the sunning and gyming thing while I got off at 8.00 a.m. as soon as the gangway had been opened. Having changed Money into Singapore Dollars at the Ferry Terminal I went to look for a detailed map of Singapore. Having found the Map I decided I had enough time to work out the Transport system of Singapore and not just do the tourist thing and get a Taxi back and for to Church. This was well worth doing as it gave me a greater feel for Singapore than I might have got in the back of a cab.
Having bought a underground ticket ($1.40 + $1 deposit, in Stirling that is 47p plus 33p deposit) I boarded the immaculately clean air-conditioned Tube. What a difference from the London system, the carriages are wider, so no one using the straps are close enough to stand on the feet of those sitting. The air-conditioning makes it a much more pleasant experience than any tube in London even the newest ones. Leaving the Harbour Terminal on the North-East line I had to change at Outram Park onto the East-West line and on to City Hall station. Coming up from the underground there was a great local map that made it easy to find out the direction I needed to walk to get to the Cathedral, actually it was just behind the Anglican Cathedral. The temperature at 84 degrees Fahrenheit was joined by 88% humidity, to make a three block walk a rather damp experience. It was lovely to get into the Cathedral, which though not air-conditioned was fitted with effective fans. It meant I’d dried out in the 40 minutes prayer time before Mass started.
I was so pleased I managed to get to Mass, the cultural mix of the people at the Cathedral was like the United Nations, there were Indian, Chinese, Malay, Filipino, Korean, European and African people. It reminds you what Catholic (the Latin for Universal) really means, the mass was celebrated by an elderly Chinese priest with superb English, the choir (made up of 60 people from 5 to 30) made the celebration a real song of praise and joy, just like the best Masses are. All of the hymns were familiar to me, so I had a good sing, as well as a prayerful peace from the experience of the prayers of the Mass. The sermon was reflective and invited us to think about the impact we have on other people and how others might be able to see Jesus in us in the way we live our daily lives. An hour and a half later, yes it was a long mass with almost everything sung and with over 800 people going to communion, Mass ended, and it was hard to drag myself away from this prayerful, peaceful place. But up I got back into the Singapore heat and walked back to the underground station. Unknown to me, as I’d only been looking for directions to the Cathedral I was walking beside the famous Raffles Hotel, but as you’ll see I only realised this when I returned to Raffles in the afternoon.
The City Hall underground station has a large shopping centre above it, given that many people have said how good Singapore was for shopping, and I had time to spare, I walked around. It was definitely the kind of place that Janet and Martin would spend hours in, with famous brands like Timberland, Mount Blanc and even a Marks and Spencers. The boutique style stores were designed for serious shopping and even by Midday I could see some of the Americans from the ship deep in to their shopping tribe with eight or nine bags each!! I did actually do a little shopping, but only for Lithium batteries for the Camera. We had put out latest pair of Batteries in yesterday. The price of the batteries were about half what we had paid in the UK for the same brand.
I then made my return journey on the underground. Incidentally I should mention the reason for the ticket deposit, when you get off the tube you go back and put the ticket in the machine and it gives you the money back, thus avoiding the usual ticket piles on the floors of the underground stations. A clever idea, part of the effort to keep Singapore spick and span, and I have to day I can’t think of a cleaner city in the world. There are even litter cops who can give instant fines for anyone littering the streets!!
Back at the Harbour I waited about 20 minutes for Drew to come ashore, we met at 12.30 p.m. (5.30 a.m. BST). Of course Drew had heard me say I was going to get batteries for the camera and had assumed I had the camera with me. I had assumed he would see the camera on the table in the cabin. So sorry no photos of Singapore, although apart from the high rise buildings and the clean, clean streets, there were less photo opportunities than in other cities.
At 1.00 p.m. we joined our afternoon tour. We went first to China Town in Singapore, the Chinese are more than 50% of the Singapore population giving the town an even more Chinese feel than in KL or Penang which also had a large Chinese community. The China Town Museum provided a real insight into the way that the Chinese community developed in Singapore after the British had arrived. The challenging quality of life, and the way the clan groups worked to keep the traditions of the people from various parts of China was not only fascinating but also helped me understand the importance of the clan houses like the ones we saw in Penang.
After the time in the Museum we walked back through China Town to the large Indian Temple where we met with our guide who took us to the Pewter experience. After a bit of history about the role of Pewter as a product of Singapore and the founding of the Royal Selangor Pottery at the riverside in Singapore. Royal Selangor has stores now in London, Paris, New York and Tokyo as well as across South Asia. We then went on to make our own Pewter. Those of my family who know I was kicked out of Metalwork in School after only two weeks and sent to the Music class instead will know that putting me a hammer and some metal together is not a great idea. I could have easily lived without this part of the tour, but it was worth going for the Chinese Museum and for what follows at Raffles. Suffice it to say that I managed not to maim myself or any of the other people on the tour. I also renewed my promise never to wield a hammer again. At least I provided some entertainment to some of the better Pewter creators.
The next stop on the trip was to the Long Bar at Raffles, yes we had one of the famous Singapore Slings made for us, a pleasant drink. In the humidity it was even more refreshing than it might be in somewhere less warm. Drinking the drink in the place it was invented is really cool!
As we walked out of the Bar it was obvious to me that I had walked down the opposite side of the road this morning on the way back from Mass, so I guess I could easily have got to Raffles under my own steam, but the tour was still a pleasant one.
It was then back to the ship and after a shower and a lovely cup of tea I felt human again. As we headed out of harbour at 6.06 p.m. we looked back on a lovely day.
7.00 p.m. and it was Martini time (see below) then dinner and then more cocktails. It was about 1.00 p.m. when we went to bed, and even then the rest of the people from the table were heading up to the Disco – being the youngest two in the group doesn’t give us more energy than the others, but I guess we are more likely to be up for Breakfast than them!!
Food and Drink
Breakfast – You’ll be used now to the Cranberry and Orange Juice, Orange Segments and half a grapefruit, tea and coffee. Today in addition I had two eggs overhard, bacon and Canadian ham and Drew had scrambled eggs with onions and tomatoes.
Martinis - Our effort to drink all of the martinis in the list was achieved tonight. Drew started with a Mambo Tini (Smirnoff, Dry Vermouth and Kahula) and I a Margaritini (Absolut Orange, Tequila and Orange Juice), then I had a Dean Durty Tini (Gin (there was a choice of Gin or Vodka) Dry Vermouth and Olive Juice with three olives – yum one of my favourites so far. Having completed the list Drew had on I had previously, a SunTini (Absolut, Gran Marnier and Contrieu).
Dinner – Tonight we had a Thai style meal, not with the richness of the Thai flavours, but a nice change having had very American dishes to date. Two of our team mates, Peter and Jean, didn’t like the food – they don’t do spices. But as mentioned before there are so many other alternatives that they had a nice meal anyway.
Drew and I couldn’t decide which of the appetisers to have, so we decided to order the three for the two of us to share. These were Seafood cakes in a light batter (Tempura like) with a rich dipping sauce, second was cucumber, peanut and chilli bites with coriander, garlic and onion in a sharp vinegar dressing, the third was chilled duck strips with pak choi and lychees – super yummy. We both went for the Tom Yam Gung for the soup course, given how much we like this at home, it was a bit disappointing that the soup was no where near as spicy as in the Thai House in Cardiff.
For the main courses Drew had Chiang Mai – Shredded Pork cooked with shallots, chilli and garlic while I had Khai Yang – Barbequed Chicken with lime and red chillies served with a mix of vegetables. Again nice, but not as spicy as I would have liked.
I had cheese for dessert and Drew had a Blueberry sorbet. We had drunk the New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc with this, as one of the wines we knew we would still be able to taste even if it had been spicy.
We then, having gone to bed early last night, went to sit in the Casino Bar with the people from the table. I decided to try a drink I’d heard of but not tired – a Long Island Ice Tea (Vodka, Gin, Rum, Triple Sec, Tequila, sweet and sour mix topped up with Coke) – it tastes a lot, lot nicer than it sounds. Drew was on a Cosmopolitan (details already in the blog) five of these later it was certainly time for bed at 12.30 a.m.
A bit further down the Straits of Malacca and we have arrived at Singapore, this is the furthest South we go on this trip, now we are 214 miles south of Port Kelang and only 85 miles North of the Equator.
We woke at 6.00 with the pilot boat coming aside and the pilot climbing onto the ship, he was arriving on our side, so the noise woke us. We went down to Breakfast at 7.10 and by the time we got back to the cabin we had docked.
Having missed Mass last Sunday I’d tried to find out if it was going to be possible to get to Mass today. The problem with Mangalore last week was that I’d already booked a day trip, plus was not confident to get off the boat and try travelling on my own in a place I’d not visited before. This time I’d used the web to find that the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd was very central to Singapore city centre, and therefore would be easy to get to. Given the mixed population of Singapore most of the Masses in the Cathedral were in English, so having seen there was a Mass at 10.00 a.m. that became my first objective of the day.
Drew stayed on board the ship and did the sunning and gyming thing while I got off at 8.00 a.m. as soon as the gangway had been opened. Having changed Money into Singapore Dollars at the Ferry Terminal I went to look for a detailed map of Singapore. Having found the Map I decided I had enough time to work out the Transport system of Singapore and not just do the tourist thing and get a Taxi back and for to Church. This was well worth doing as it gave me a greater feel for Singapore than I might have got in the back of a cab.
Having bought a underground ticket ($1.40 + $1 deposit, in Stirling that is 47p plus 33p deposit) I boarded the immaculately clean air-conditioned Tube. What a difference from the London system, the carriages are wider, so no one using the straps are close enough to stand on the feet of those sitting. The air-conditioning makes it a much more pleasant experience than any tube in London even the newest ones. Leaving the Harbour Terminal on the North-East line I had to change at Outram Park onto the East-West line and on to City Hall station. Coming up from the underground there was a great local map that made it easy to find out the direction I needed to walk to get to the Cathedral, actually it was just behind the Anglican Cathedral. The temperature at 84 degrees Fahrenheit was joined by 88% humidity, to make a three block walk a rather damp experience. It was lovely to get into the Cathedral, which though not air-conditioned was fitted with effective fans. It meant I’d dried out in the 40 minutes prayer time before Mass started.
I was so pleased I managed to get to Mass, the cultural mix of the people at the Cathedral was like the United Nations, there were Indian, Chinese, Malay, Filipino, Korean, European and African people. It reminds you what Catholic (the Latin for Universal) really means, the mass was celebrated by an elderly Chinese priest with superb English, the choir (made up of 60 people from 5 to 30) made the celebration a real song of praise and joy, just like the best Masses are. All of the hymns were familiar to me, so I had a good sing, as well as a prayerful peace from the experience of the prayers of the Mass. The sermon was reflective and invited us to think about the impact we have on other people and how others might be able to see Jesus in us in the way we live our daily lives. An hour and a half later, yes it was a long mass with almost everything sung and with over 800 people going to communion, Mass ended, and it was hard to drag myself away from this prayerful, peaceful place. But up I got back into the Singapore heat and walked back to the underground station. Unknown to me, as I’d only been looking for directions to the Cathedral I was walking beside the famous Raffles Hotel, but as you’ll see I only realised this when I returned to Raffles in the afternoon.
The City Hall underground station has a large shopping centre above it, given that many people have said how good Singapore was for shopping, and I had time to spare, I walked around. It was definitely the kind of place that Janet and Martin would spend hours in, with famous brands like Timberland, Mount Blanc and even a Marks and Spencers. The boutique style stores were designed for serious shopping and even by Midday I could see some of the Americans from the ship deep in to their shopping tribe with eight or nine bags each!! I did actually do a little shopping, but only for Lithium batteries for the Camera. We had put out latest pair of Batteries in yesterday. The price of the batteries were about half what we had paid in the UK for the same brand.
I then made my return journey on the underground. Incidentally I should mention the reason for the ticket deposit, when you get off the tube you go back and put the ticket in the machine and it gives you the money back, thus avoiding the usual ticket piles on the floors of the underground stations. A clever idea, part of the effort to keep Singapore spick and span, and I have to day I can’t think of a cleaner city in the world. There are even litter cops who can give instant fines for anyone littering the streets!!
Back at the Harbour I waited about 20 minutes for Drew to come ashore, we met at 12.30 p.m. (5.30 a.m. BST). Of course Drew had heard me say I was going to get batteries for the camera and had assumed I had the camera with me. I had assumed he would see the camera on the table in the cabin. So sorry no photos of Singapore, although apart from the high rise buildings and the clean, clean streets, there were less photo opportunities than in other cities.
At 1.00 p.m. we joined our afternoon tour. We went first to China Town in Singapore, the Chinese are more than 50% of the Singapore population giving the town an even more Chinese feel than in KL or Penang which also had a large Chinese community. The China Town Museum provided a real insight into the way that the Chinese community developed in Singapore after the British had arrived. The challenging quality of life, and the way the clan groups worked to keep the traditions of the people from various parts of China was not only fascinating but also helped me understand the importance of the clan houses like the ones we saw in Penang.
After the time in the Museum we walked back through China Town to the large Indian Temple where we met with our guide who took us to the Pewter experience. After a bit of history about the role of Pewter as a product of Singapore and the founding of the Royal Selangor Pottery at the riverside in Singapore. Royal Selangor has stores now in London, Paris, New York and Tokyo as well as across South Asia. We then went on to make our own Pewter. Those of my family who know I was kicked out of Metalwork in School after only two weeks and sent to the Music class instead will know that putting me a hammer and some metal together is not a great idea. I could have easily lived without this part of the tour, but it was worth going for the Chinese Museum and for what follows at Raffles. Suffice it to say that I managed not to maim myself or any of the other people on the tour. I also renewed my promise never to wield a hammer again. At least I provided some entertainment to some of the better Pewter creators.
The next stop on the trip was to the Long Bar at Raffles, yes we had one of the famous Singapore Slings made for us, a pleasant drink. In the humidity it was even more refreshing than it might be in somewhere less warm. Drinking the drink in the place it was invented is really cool!
As we walked out of the Bar it was obvious to me that I had walked down the opposite side of the road this morning on the way back from Mass, so I guess I could easily have got to Raffles under my own steam, but the tour was still a pleasant one.
It was then back to the ship and after a shower and a lovely cup of tea I felt human again. As we headed out of harbour at 6.06 p.m. we looked back on a lovely day.
7.00 p.m. and it was Martini time (see below) then dinner and then more cocktails. It was about 1.00 p.m. when we went to bed, and even then the rest of the people from the table were heading up to the Disco – being the youngest two in the group doesn’t give us more energy than the others, but I guess we are more likely to be up for Breakfast than them!!
Food and Drink
Breakfast – You’ll be used now to the Cranberry and Orange Juice, Orange Segments and half a grapefruit, tea and coffee. Today in addition I had two eggs overhard, bacon and Canadian ham and Drew had scrambled eggs with onions and tomatoes.
Martinis - Our effort to drink all of the martinis in the list was achieved tonight. Drew started with a Mambo Tini (Smirnoff, Dry Vermouth and Kahula) and I a Margaritini (Absolut Orange, Tequila and Orange Juice), then I had a Dean Durty Tini (Gin (there was a choice of Gin or Vodka) Dry Vermouth and Olive Juice with three olives – yum one of my favourites so far. Having completed the list Drew had on I had previously, a SunTini (Absolut, Gran Marnier and Contrieu).
Dinner – Tonight we had a Thai style meal, not with the richness of the Thai flavours, but a nice change having had very American dishes to date. Two of our team mates, Peter and Jean, didn’t like the food – they don’t do spices. But as mentioned before there are so many other alternatives that they had a nice meal anyway.
Drew and I couldn’t decide which of the appetisers to have, so we decided to order the three for the two of us to share. These were Seafood cakes in a light batter (Tempura like) with a rich dipping sauce, second was cucumber, peanut and chilli bites with coriander, garlic and onion in a sharp vinegar dressing, the third was chilled duck strips with pak choi and lychees – super yummy. We both went for the Tom Yam Gung for the soup course, given how much we like this at home, it was a bit disappointing that the soup was no where near as spicy as in the Thai House in Cardiff.
For the main courses Drew had Chiang Mai – Shredded Pork cooked with shallots, chilli and garlic while I had Khai Yang – Barbequed Chicken with lime and red chillies served with a mix of vegetables. Again nice, but not as spicy as I would have liked.
I had cheese for dessert and Drew had a Blueberry sorbet. We had drunk the New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc with this, as one of the wines we knew we would still be able to taste even if it had been spicy.
We then, having gone to bed early last night, went to sit in the Casino Bar with the people from the table. I decided to try a drink I’d heard of but not tired – a Long Island Ice Tea (Vodka, Gin, Rum, Triple Sec, Tequila, sweet and sour mix topped up with Coke) – it tastes a lot, lot nicer than it sounds. Drew was on a Cosmopolitan (details already in the blog) five of these later it was certainly time for bed at 12.30 a.m.
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