After the so short but wonderful visit in Lombok, Indonesia we sailed further on the Java Sea. After crossing the Strait of Malacca and the Equator, we arrived in Singapore, Malaysia. It is such a beautiful and interesting City. Unfortunately I not had lots of time to visit, because I had a meeting with business associates whom I met at the Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas, Nevada in January 2013. It was a sizzling hot and humid day and I was dripping wet as I finally found their office. Even that I just had to go few steps from the bus station I honestly burned to crisp! I thought that I will just melt as my business friends welcomed me properly dressed in dark suits I felt a bit ashamed, because even I tried to dress nice, I looked like a vet rug doll thrown into the trash. Speaking of trash in Singapore, it is ca 1000 US Dollar fine for littering! The next offense costs 2000 US and for the third time the punishment is jail!!! Singapore has maybe the strictest rules of the World. Also please don't even try to smoke in public, it costs you 500 US!!! Unfortunately I not saw a lot of Singapore, which is a breathtaking cosmopolitan City with an incredible modern and beautiful architecture.
I truly admire the cultural and religious freedom of. Singapore. Mosques, Temples and Christian Churches co- exist in perfect harmony. I never experienced any place with so much cultural diversity and extraordinary tolerance of each other cultural and racial backgrounds. The population of Singapore is almost 5 million of which is 77% Chinese.
The City is also immaculate clean. I never saw in any city including cities in Switzerland so much cleanness! About every ten steps somebody is cleaning something, the street, the railings, windows, just everything! It is such a wonderful City to visit, but maybe not in the hottest times of the year. It is located just one degree North from the Equator!
So I just went after the meeting to a very fashionable shopping Center where I also visited a Starbuck Coffee. Maybe a good espresso is what I am most missing on my long journey on sea! I so much wish that I could go to the so interesting Chinatown with its buzzing life and beautiful Temples, but I just run out of time and I had to rush back to the ship. I took a cab this time and I was again amazed about its - you guessed - cleanness. This multi faceted City is truly a jewel of Malaysia. Also Singapore reinvents itself constantly and it is so many interesting things to see and enjoy, like the extraordinary Zoo of Singapore where they even organize night excursions. Nevertheless I would love to see also the Botanical Garden with its astonishing Orchid Exhibition and the so unique "Bird Park" of Singapore. It really needs about three to five days to explore all the wonderful places which this so great and modern City has to offer. I so much hope that somehow I can visit it again Thank You; PuakeaJutka
Photos by Jutka T. Emoke Barabas
Camera Panasonic Lumix FZ35
This blog is a part of my long journey "Destination Life" from Hawaii to Europe as I am woking on ships.
I do these blogs under very hard circumstances in high and sometimes extremely rough seas on my iPad and with a painfully slow satellite wi fi. Even I have an app that permits me upload files to the iReport site, it takes too long to upload 10 pictures, so I have to use the iMove app to able to show all the ten photos. I apologize for this, but during the ship travel to upload more as 2 pictures at the time is a "mission" impossible!
I WOULD LIKE TO PLACE THIS REPORT IN THE CATEGORY "PHOTO ESSAYS; YOUR STORIES IN PICTURES" (I am not able to place a report in the iMove app.)
Please visit my previous blogs, especially the first one, where I explain why I am sailing around the World.
ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1015352
ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1016002