Singapore: World in Melting Pot - Enormous Wealth at one spot - ARTificial Island

Our stop in Singapore
(31/03/2016 - 03/04/2016)

We are ready for a new adventure! With an aching heart we leave Emma behind, put the backpacks on our shoulders and take the next metro to the bus station. We want to catch a bus to Singapore. And our first attempt of living as backpackers almost goes wrong.

We arrive at the place we think is the bus station, half an hour before the bus is about to leave. And we realize that we are at the wrong place, totally at the wrong place. We have no idea how this could happen, after having rechecked three times for the right bus station. But I guess that is what can happen when getting used to a new modus of travelling. We manage to get a taxi and the taxi driver is so friendly to speed the seven kilometer through Kuala Lumpur's south, where we get onto the bus literally in the last second. Our shoulders hurt terrible from running with backpacks and carrying Pauli at the same time. But, we are off and going and it feels good to rely on a driver and not having to drive ourselves.

After a four hour drive and a short stop we reach the border to Singapore. We all get off the bus to walk through immigration and customs of Malaysia, but we leave all our backs in the bus. When we reach the Singaporean border signs telling us about death penalty in case of smuggling drugs into the city await us. For a moment I think of our bags being unattended in the bus at the Malaysian border and the unfriendly bus driver in our bus. We get our stamps, friendly smiles and here we are, at the most southern part of our trip, at 3 degrees north, almost at the equator and the heat and humidity don't let us hesitate one moment.

We are dropped off at the Golden Miles Tower down south, after crossing the whole island on highways. Singapore is an amazing place. As the worlds only island city-state it is home for almost six million people and actually consists of 63 islands. It is a wonderfully green place, they even have managed to preserve a million year old rain forest in the middle of the island! The average temperature for every single month of the year is 30 degrees with a humidity of around 80 percent, tropical rain-forest-climate.

Everything seems to reach out for being perfect here. Public transport is perfect, traffic is organised perfectly on many highways and streets, the school system is one of the best in the world, with hundreds of international schools on high level, healthcare is one of the best in the world and Singapore ranks as having one of the highest per capita incomes in the world. All very impressing. And we like the place, people are very friendly and discrete, very relaxing. Ask our kids, of all places we have seen so far they would like to live here the most.... It is an expensive place for travelers though, the next couple of days using fifty dollar bills like ten dollar bills will become a normal feeling...

English is the common language here, though the different cultural groups also speak their own language, so most people living here are bilingual. Like in Malaysia there are different people living together: Malay, Chinese, Indian and all the rest that are called "Westerners" here: Americans, Australians, New Zealanders, Europeans etc. Interestingly, different to Malaysia where racism towards other cultural and religious groups were visible in public ("Muslim only hotels", "no pork wanted in our kitchen" etc) in Singapore there is a tight tabu against any racism, this line is supported by strict laws and control. I think life is not always easy between the different cultures here also, but there is this official line of "every culture has its place". Politicians using racism to manipulate public opinion don't seem to exist in Singapore.

Times of prosecution of huge fines for any minor infraction seem to be over. We don't see any police or other control. I see chewing gum on the floor at some places...;-)

We will stay at Heather, Mia and Geoffrey's place, a wonderful American family, whom we have met in Bangkok. Mia is seven years old and our kids are very happy to have a companion. And apparently they don't need our help with English, we are asked to leave them alone playing and crafting in their room. The family lives in a condominium north of downtown Singapore and we enjoy wonderful talks and get a great impression on what life is like in Singapore. Heather and Geoffrey are teachers at the American school in Singapore and we are very lucky: Geoffrey has time to show us around. And we get a school visit that is very special, no one of us has every seen a school like this.

SAS: "Singapore American School" is located in the north of the main islands, is home to around 4000 students and the largest single-campus international school in the world. Which we see: we walk forever and there are still new buildings, stadiums, swimming pools, ateliers, etc. But is not only the top facilities and infrastructure that impresses us, but also the spirit of the people in the school: all teachers we meet are very welcoming, we have wonderful little chats and learn a lot about the curriculum and projects going on. We visit Mia in her class and she shows us around in the classroom. Torsten and me we have this feeling of a time machine, we feel being back in the US at a high school and really like this place.

Singapore kids are usually not allowed to enter international schools, they are supposed to attend local schools (that also have a very high standard of education...) What a great visit, we are all very impressed and happy to have had the occasion to get to see this school. Thanks a million!!!

Singapore: Visiting the Singapore American School (SAS).

Singapore American School (SAS)@Singapore:
Johann & Antonia like the place. Having visited schools
which are not so well off in other countries, SAS is an
exceptional example of the other extreme.

Singapore American School (SAS)@Singapore:
Next to English the kids learn
either Chinese or Spanish.

Singapore American School (SAS)@Singapore:
Mia shows us around in ...

... her class room of 1st grade.

Singapore American School (SAS)@Singapore:
Pauli impressed by the huge fan in the cafeteria.

Singapore American School (SAS)@Singapore:
Visiting the practice room for learning the
Indonesian Gamelan Music.

Singapore American School (SAS)@Singapore:
Students can choose of a wide variety of sports for their
curriculum.

Singapore American School (SAS)@Singapore:
Picture taking with Geoffrey who showed us around.
Thank you so much!

Downtown Singapore we decide to have lunch at a food court in one of the malls and here it is again this feeling of: "why don't we have something like that at home"? All Asian cuisines are lined up in little counters with kitchens behind, seating in the middle of the court and we enjoy great food. The food courts in Singapore are a bit different to others we have seen, that were much more basic, but the food is as fantastic as everywhere in Asia.

Singapore: Enjoying the treasures of a food court.
Even reasonable priced.

The Museum of Singapore tells us more about the history of this little state. How it had been a rain forest island belonging to some kings of Indonesia, before it was "discovered" by Sir Stamford Raffles, who founded the modern Singapore in 1819. It used to be a trading post of the East Indian Company and eventually became British. During World War II the island was occupied by the Japanese. And there it is again, the connection to things we have seen before. Singaporean prisoners of war were sent north to build the railway line and the bridge over the river Kwai, that we had seen already in Thailand. And what makes us most happy: the kids remember these stories they have learned about already and connect their knowledge. These are moments when I feel like a happy teacher. :-)))

A bit strange is the part of the museum when it comes to more recent history. In 1963 Singapore became independent as part of Malaysia. In 1962 there had even been a referendum in Singapore in favor of joining Malaysia. But then it went wrong somehow and a very strange thing happened: In 1965 Malaysia threw Singapore out of the federation. The Malaysian parliament voted 126 to 0 votes to expel Singapore, while the Singaporean delegates were absent. What a strange thing, regarding all these movements around the world where regions want to become independent from a mother state and them being very unfavorable of that idea. Here it was the other way around... And all this is missing in the museum of Singapore, no word about the vote, no word about the reasons why and almost nothing about Singapore's first prime minister who has started to lift Singapore on the fast lane as we see it today... In one room they talk about the referendum in 1962 and the next we see is the task of "nation building and finding an identity" of an independent Singapore. Who knows what is still lying underneath a veil and can't be talked about, it probably needs some more time, before history books can be opened and things can be spoken out on.

Singapore: Visiting the Museum of Singapore.

Museum of Singapore: Kids chill after an interesting
but long tour through the expositions halls.

Museum of Singapore: The weather dashboard visualizes
one of the challenges, which  South-East-Asia provided for us.
Heat and Humidity. (BTW: It's beginning April.)

We want to see the impressive skyline of Singapore from above. Our travel book tells us that we should best take the 50th floor of the Pinnacle@Duxton building. This building is a social housing consisting of seven towers, with the worlds largest sky garden on top, housing 1848 apartments. We rub our eyes when we see the building. Social housing surely does look different in Brussels. After paying 5 Dollars each, we take a small elevator up and are all alone on the top sky bridge. The view on the harbour and sky line is spectacular. If you come to Singapore, go here to see the city from above, all other hotels or towers charge a lot of money for taking you up.

Singapore: The Pinnacle@Duxton. The worldwide largest
social housing complex.

The Pinnacle@Duxton@Singapore: View from the
ground floor through the staircase up to the sky.

The Pinnacle@Duxton@Singapore: Surround-View
over the harbor ...

... and sky scrapers.

The Pinnacle@Duxton@Singapore: Feeling like birds.

The Pinnacle@Duxton@Singapore: What a scenery! Old Downtown (center) vs. Modern City.

The Pinnacle@Duxton@Singapore:
Surprise! In the bushes on the rooftops at the 50th floor Johann discovers
a giant grasshopper.

It takes a while by metro to get to Heathers and Geoff's apartment, they live far north from down town. But metro is quick and well organised, no stress at all. Screens in the metro show all kinds of advertisements, but also warnings to be vigilant of unattended bags or strange looking people (!) and one film even shows in 30 seconds the radicalization of a young Arab (!) looking man, walking in the metro with his head hidden underneath a hat, his worried mother watching him building a bomb in his room at home and then the call to report anything suspicious. "If it's suspicious report it. And no one gets hurt." I wonder for a moment what would happen if we would show such videos in the metro in Brussels... There are strict laws against racism in Singapore, but it seems they are only meant for the cultural groups living here.

Around metro stations we see a lot of construction works going on, one sky scraper next to the other, one condominium next to the other. A flat in a tower seems to be the major form of housing in Singapore.

We have a great evening at the pool with Pizza. The kids are happy and after a hot day a little swim feels perfect. Paul tries swimming on a pool noodle and is very happy that he can move himself in the water. We also meet some neighbors and we learn about a funny coincidence. The Canadian family we had met in Georgetown having done the tour from London to Singapore in a Landrover stay at the same condominium as we do. The old lady car parked next door... It's a small world. :-)

After a great breakfast we want to visit the famous Aquarium on Sentosa Island. The island is not far from down town and converted into an amusement park with tons of attractions. If all of them are as good as the aquarium we could spend weeks here...

A big hall receives us with a replica of a big ship of Zhen He. We have already had the pleasure to meet the Chinese sailor and his adventures earlier on our journey in Malacca. In a little theatre we witness an made up story of an old Chinese sailing ship sinking in a tai fun. The kids find the show very impressive and then we enter the magic underwater world of the aquarium. And it is really spectacular!

Singapore: At the Maritime Experiential Museum
an animation about Zheng He expeditions is presented, 

as well as huge model of a ship used at  that times.

Reminds us our first 'contact' with Zhen He
in Malacca (Malaysia).

It is one of the worlds largest aquariums and houses one of the biggest oceanariums, which is breathtaking. We have already seen a bit of tropic underwater sea world and know how impressive it is, but to see all these colors makes us discuss the diving lessons again... :-)

Most impressive are the huge manta rays in the oceanarium, the way they swim is something I could watch for hours. What a great visit and our final one in Singapore.

Singapore: Visiting the S.E.A Aquarium.

S.E.A Aquarium@Singapore:
Fantastic insights into an amazing world.

S.E.A Aquarium@Singapore: We have a lot of fun and tell
the kids ...

... of what it reminds us of: Legendary Ad of Dutch Yellow Pages.

S.E.A Aquarium@Singapore: Beautiful, ...

colorful world. We just started to discover this part
of our planet, ...

... with all its miracles.

For a drink we stop in Little India on our way back home, but even here everything is much cleaner than anywhere we have been in Asia... :-))

Singapore: Little India. A place to regain some grounding ;)
I love this place.

We loved to be in Singapore, people are very friendly and open. Though sometimes things can feel a bit artificial here, sometimes things are a bit too perfect...

We have to say good by to Heather, Mia and Geoff and next day we take a flight to Hanoi in Vietnam. A new and totally different adventure can start.

Airport@Singapore: All what's left to continue by backpacking.

Airport@Singapore: Pauli likes the soft carpet.