A Tour of Singapore

A Malaysian king who came here decided to stay after he saw an animal he declared to be a lion (there are no lions in Malaysia) so he named the village Singa for lion and pora for city hence Singapore. In 1899 the East India Company landed on this island thus began a period of British rule. The city grew but during WWII it was bombed and invaded by Japan. The city had to rise up from the ashes and has done a remarkable job of becoming one of the top financial cities in the world, having the busiest sea port and some of the tallest buildings in Asia.

We learned all this and more as we traveled to the Singapore Botanical Gardens where we walked through a world famous Orchid Garden with more than 1000 different species of orchids.

We had a brief stop on the bay to see the national symbol of Singapore, the Lion headed fish. Across the bay (which is man made and filled with fresh water) is the Marina Bay Sands Hotel. The three towers hold 2561 rooms and support the 'ship' on top where you can dine or swim. The lotus shaped building is the Arts and Science Museum.

In China Town we visited the Temple of Heavenly Peace (Takong Thian Hock Keng). Its main diety is the Hindu god, Matu, Goddess of the Sea and the other smaller temples hold the Buddhist god and a Taoist god.

A short walk took us to the neighboring area of Little India. They were celebrating their new year call Thaipusam. It is a time to make wishes come true and to receive blessings. Men carrying metal milk cans on their heads were taking blessing from one temple to another. The oddest site were men carrying torture like decorations on their heads or pulling one behind them but the common theme was arrows or needles piercing the body. How they could do that we do not know! And why they were doing that we do not understand!

Following a restful afternoon, we had dinner in the Swissotel Hotel at the Equinox Restaurant located on the 70th floor. The restaurant was beautiful, the views from the top were stunning and the food was elegant and wonderfully prepared. It was a delightful way to wind down this vacation.