Sunday, March 13, 2011 we docked at the Jurong Container Terminal at about 7:00am. This pier is a one hour drive away from downtown Singapore. Singapore is just one degree north of the Equator. It was nothing more than a sleepy fishing village in the 14th Century when it got its name from a visiting prince saw who saw an animal he believed to be a lion and he renamed the island Singa Pura (the Lion City). Today it has a population of 4.8 million and is an independent republic. The city is made up of glass and steel high-rises, Chinese shop-houses with red tile roofs, Victorian-style government buildings, Buddhist temples and Arabian bazaars. This makes Singapore the commercial center of Southeast Asia and one of the busiest ports in the world.
For Singapore we decided to take a river cruise and Chinatown walking tour. He headed into Singapore by bus and did a brief city tour going by the famous Raffles Hotel and several colonial government buildings. We started with a leisurely river cruise among the skyscrapers and restored shop-houses lining the Singapore River. We got a great view of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel which has what looks like a large boat on its top. After disembarking our river boat, it was off for our walk to and through Chinatown. We visited Sri Mariamman Temple, the Fu Tak Chi Temple and the Chinatown Heritage Center.
The tour today was good, but the humidity is beginning to take its toll on us. We have really had to watch our intake of liquids.
Next stop tomorrow is Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
