One Day in Singapore

A one-day port stop is too short, even in a place that is not that exciting!  But, in the vibrant city/state of Singapore, with its bustling shopping mecca of Orchard Road, ubiquitous food stalls, and glitzy new casinos, one day is barely enough to skim the surface.

So, I did the best I could and attempted all three.  First, I strolled along Orchard Road, briefly visiting a few of the (over 20) malls that dot the landscape there.  Its really interesting to see the locals lined up for blocks for a “special anniversary” sales of one of numerous department stores there.  Even though we chuckled when we read the signs that said 10-20% off.  For department stores with such high markups to begin with, it hardly seemed worth standing in line for hours just to get in the front door for the oft chance at a small bargain.  To make matters worse, not many of the customers we saw leaving the place had purchased much.  Apparently, this is a daily occurrence along this shopping street.

The real draw of the malls for me is their food courts.  Unlike most of the ones we have in America, the foods are normally freshly prepared, healthy, and cheap!  Of course, as my pics show, there is also plenty of “interesting” cuisine such as the Pig Organ Soup shop that I saw there.  I sampled several things until I was ready to burst, then decided it was time to go walk some more, even though the humidity soaked my clothes down to my underwear within minutes.

Singapore has recently legalized gambling to attract tourists.  I was told the new (American-owned) Marina Bay Sands casino, with its amazing infinity pool on the 55^th floor was a “must see”.  From the Skypark there, you could see everything in Singapore, its amazing skyline, the bay with all the merchant ships, and the construction of even more along the way.  The actual casino on the ground floor looked pretty much like casinos everywhere, although in typical Singapore fashion, there were interesting nuances. The most interesting is the fact that although tourists can enter the casino for free, local Singaporeans must pay $100 Singapore dollars to enter (about $75 USD).  The government’s goal is to discourage locals from developing gambling addictions and want to protect their people from potential bad habits!  Now, if they could just get them to stop smoking:>>