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31 hours of traveling, 24 of them in the air, any city would look
beautiful from an airplane window and Singapore was no exception.
The city looked beautiful and, as we would soon find out, it just
didn't look beautiful it was. Changi International Airport was an
excellent prelude to what Singapore would be like: modern, clean and
remarkable. Perhaps what made our impression so memorable was the
beautiful orchids throughout the airport. We cleared immigration and
customs and were soon on our way by taxi to our hotel, the Mandarin
on Singapore's famous Orchard Road. |
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As
we wound our way from Changi Airport to the hotel we were amazed by
the look of the city. It was a brilliant, sunny day with a magnificent
blue sky and everything just seemed so perfect against such a day
even to the two of us who were about to drop dead from the travel.
The first two things that strike you about Singapore are how modern
and clean the city is. The downtown area is populated by modern buildings
with many qualifying as skyscrapers. And, unlike many other cities
we've visited, the streets were clean. Singapore is known worldwide
for its cleanliness.
The next thing that strikes you is the friendliness and courtesy of
its people. Singapore is truly the melting pot of Southeast Asia with
its population being made up of various ethnic and religious backgrounds.
Walking throughout the city one will find this mix of people, races
and religion fascinating and interesting. |
Mandarin
Hotel |
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Our
hotel, the Mandarin, was located on Orchard Road in the center of
Singapore's shopping district. Orchard Road is the equivalent of
New York's 5th Avenue. It is populated with modern buildings most
of which are retail sales establishments. All the better names can
be found on Orchard Road along with a variety of large department
stores. The road is wide with many trees and some statues. We were
fortunate enough to visit just prior to the Chinese New Year and
Orchard Road was decorated and brightly lit at night in preparation
for that.
We
arrived at the hotel about 1:00 p.m. totally exhausted from our
flights. The flights were better than expected, but we still hadn't
slept in almost 48 hours. No, cat naps of a few minutes here and
there do not qualify as sleep! Still we forced ourselves to stay
awake a little longer before collapsing in a good night's rest.
We walked along Orchard Road the better part of the afternoon visiting
some of the shops and just after 6:00 p.m. we decided we'd better
eat something before retiring. I'm not very proud of this, but our
first meal, a sandwich, was at a Denny's restaurant. How low can
you go?
Following our quick sandwich we returned to the hotel where we crashed
by 7:30 p.m. to sleep undisturbed until a little after 7:00 the
next morning. From that point forward we had already adjusted our
internal clocks to the 11 hour difference between New York and Singapore.
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Christian Dior
and Anne |
Brightly
lit buildings |
Decorations
for the Chinese
New Year |
Statue
on
Orchard Rd. |
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Street
scenes along Orchard Road at night
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Awaking
the next morning we were anxious to get out and begin to see some
of the sights of Singapore. With our trusty guidebook in hand we set
out to conqueror the city and what better way to do that than by walking.
Unlike most of the Far East Singapore does not have much of an ancient
history. Relatively speaking it is a modern history that dates from
1819 when Thomas Stamford Raffles, an English representative of the
East India Company, landed on the island of Singa Pura (Sanskrit for
"lion city") to establish a British trading settlement.
Within three years the tiny island with a population of 200 Malays
had grown to an astonishing 10,000. Immigrants came from China, India
and Arabia to fill the growing city. Today, from a tourist viewpoint,
the city is broken into districts: Colonial Singapore, Chinatown,
The Arab and The Indian districts. Each district has its own flavor
and something to offer any tourists. Anne and I would begin by visiting
Chinatown and Merlion Park.
As I mentioned previously, Singapore is an amazingly modern city,
but the surprising thing to me was how well the modern and the old
mixed. You would be walking down a street with modern buildings everywhere
and then nestled between them a old building or temple. It was remarkable
to view the old and the new in such close proximity. |
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