SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE Feb. 24, 2007

Hello Singapore! The great diversity of lifestyles, cultures and religions thrive within the framework of this well maintined, well-ordered society. Singapore is spotlessly clean, you could lick the curbs here! It has many parks that are manicured like golfcourses. The poulation is over 4 million people! The city is esy to get around. We road a bus, a taxi and you guessed it, a CABLECAR!! I think we have found Birmingham, Alabama's answer to the problem on Hwy 280!! Why not a cablecar system?? We have seen it work in three cities now and we have not been killed yet. Plus, it was really cheap!! The currency in Singapore is the Singapore dollar. The exchange rate was $1.54 to one American dollar. This could be the most forward thinking city, city state, in the world. The crime is low due to extreme measures of intolerance with drugs and the sale of illegal drugs. Poverty is extremely low and the housing provided for low income families is better than in most countries. Singapore has one of the highest standards of living in the world. Many languages are spoken here. There is a mix of societies of Chinese, Maylasians, Indians. You may see a game of cricket being played, a Chinese fortune teller, someone coming out of a Hindu temple or a well dressed businessman all out of the same taxi window at the same time. We needed more time here. We loved our day in Singapore and would love to do it all over again. Happy Chinese New Year everyone! It is the year of the Pig!! I hope you enjoy our pictures. As the saying goes, A picture is worth a thousand words, but it was more fun to see it first hand. Put Singapore on your "to go to" list!

Cable cars again! Who would have thought?

A skyline shot of Singapore as we sailed into the city.

Kathleen settling into ANOTHER cablecar.

This cablecar is the most sophisticated we have seen and we are becoming experts! It goes right into this highrise building and there is a "station" to get on and off in that building!

Here we go! Looking at what we will fall into if we give way!




Nicholas is no dummy, holding on to me as we ride and look DOWN! Does he think I'm not going in as well??

Kathleen heard a BUMP. It was nothing.

A view of our ship from above. Our cablecar went right over it. You can see where we swim, play shuffleboard, hit golf balls and you can't tell it but the walking track is the brownish area on the top deck.



A view of the bay before we head out over the jungle.


Here is the jungle! We got quite so we could hear the sounds of all the birds!

We arrived safely at Sentosa Island! This is the "station".

This is a view from the Sentosa station back toward the city.









Sentosa Island is nothing short of Singapore's version of Disney World! Many things to do and see. A shame we only had a few hours here. We picked the thing to do that you can only do here and nowhere else in the world! You won't believe your eyes!!
This is the way you get around Sentosa! No walking until your feet have blisters like Disney!

Kathleen found a small friend on the bus. She would like to bring this baby back home with her! Charles said he didn't think the baby would fit in the luggage.

OKAY!!! Here it is. Can you guess what it is?? It is not a pig! It is a PINK dolphin! Can you believe it? They only exist here in this lagoon and in the Amazon River. The ones left in the Amazon River are hard to spot so this was a real treat. These are the smartest trained dolphins and maybe any trained animal I have ever seen. These dolphins could pass a volleyball back and forth to each other with their front fins. It was amazing.

They jumped over 16ft in the air! It was crazy and exciting! Really unbelieveable when you think about it. Can you imagine the thrust of their tail that pushes them up and out of the water?

They jumped through hoops and played volleyball with their tails. You'll have to see it to believe it because I don't have pictures of it all!

Kathleen and Nicholas got the opportunity to meet one of the pink dolphins up close. Nicholas said it felt thick and leathery.

Kathleen said that the dolphin had cuts on it like it had been in a fight. You have to think that pink is probably not the best color in the wild. Most wild animals can blend into their surroundings, not these guys! They stick out like a sore thumb, I am sure to anything that might be a predator.

Getting out of the lagoon and managing to rinse off enough to keep on schedule was a little tricky but manageable! Thank goodness Charles always has what we need in his backpack! How many people had handtowels to offer their children?? We did, thanks Charles!!

A sight for sore eyes! A real mall. Not just any mall. Five levels of shopping eveything from puppies to Prada. Amazing.

Our first stop in the mall?? Singapore's version of Home Depot. What was there to greet us?? Not a Christmas tree but a Chinese New Year's tree!! It was decorated with pigs!! Most everything that was standing still in Singapore was decorated with pigs. Remember, the year of the pig!!

No puppies or Prada for us!! We went for the essentials! Fruit Loops, we splurged, two boxes!!

Does anyone know Nicholas' favorite food group? Little Debbie Swiss Rolls!!! He has not had one since Jan. 7th!! Amazing. We saw these, but they were not Little Debbie and they were GREEN!! Should have gotten a box for St. Patrick's Day but Nicholas was looking for the real thing. Not to be had in Singapore. If he was smart, he'd say he gave them up for Lent!!

We left the mall for the real shopping bargains in where else....Chinatown!! The streets were all decorated for Chinese New Year. What a treat for us.



There are many unexpected "finds" on Pagoda street. It is a mix of pedestrian walkways and narrow alleys all in Chinatown. You could get lost VERY easily here. None of us did!!! Many tiny stores full of bargains. You could spend weeks here. Our heads were spinning.

Nicholas called the reception desk before we left the ship to ask what the chance of rain was. He got a 100% no chance of rain answer. It rained much of the day but it did not spoil our fun. These people in Chinatown are well prepared for rain, as you will see.

Kathleen found a lunch spot. It looked like a giant sheet of pork jerky. We passed.

Then she found a nice hanging chicken restaurant! Just been killed chickens,spinning in the window! YUMMY!! We resisted the temptation.

Finding a taxi to get to Chinatown was easy. Finding one to take us back to our ship wasn't! We thought we might have to ask these Chinese guys if we could ride in their well decorated truck for the parade, for a lift!!

We walked many blocks of the narrow streets in the rain, but you can see we hardly could get wet! These people are smart!! A little rain doesn't slow their sales down.

After walking many blocks of shopping and trying ( sort of ) to get a taxi, it was getting to be crunch time. We HAD to get a taxi to get back to the ship or risk being stuck in the Chinese New Year's parade and miss the boat!! How many times have you heard that one?? In this picture, nobody wanted to smile...they wanted to get the taxi!!

We found a McDonald's on a corner but no taxi stand. Buses zoomed by and taxis with passengers but no available ones. The man that dropped us off earlier in the day told me to wave my arm up and down much like toddlers do when they are pretending to fly. With just one arm of course! When I got in panic mode about the taxi, I put his plan into effect. Can you see the column holding up the McDonald's? This is where Kathleen went to hide of embarrassment of me when my arm started going up and down like I was trying to put out an invisible fire! Finally, one nice Chinese man took pity, he told us we had to walk to the next corner and on a side street there would be a place that a taxi would stop. NO taxis stop on the main road!!!

One last photo of a street before we found the sidestreet!











We made it to the side street. Now who looks foolish??? They were doing everything and anything to get a taxi to stop. Funny, I had the camera so no pictures of me looking like a fool. However, we are not halfway through the trip yet. I'm sure my day will come! Finally, a taxi came. We piled in so fast, I did not have time for a picture! We could not let the ship sail without us!

We made it back. This is a goodbye to Singapore harbor as we sailed away. A fun filled and frantic at times, day. Would love to do it all over again and not change a thing!

A shot of some of the ships anchored in the harbor. We are sailing in the South China Sea to Maura, Brunei!