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February 18 to March 5, 2011
Sydney to Singapore
Silversea Cruise

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G’day, mates! This was our introduction to Aussie-speak at the beginning of the first half of our trip. If you think there are many idiomatic differences between US and UK English, you should look up the special dictionaries devoted to the idiosyncratic varieties between British and Australian English. As to the Indonesian language, I won’t even attempt similar greeting. All I know is that it’s somewhat similar in sound and spelling to what they speak in Hawaii: lots and lots of strings of two-letter syllables.

Just getting to the embarkation point makes you realize how big our world, our earth are, when you have to fly cross-country (to San Francisco) in the US, then an overnight flight to Sydney (14 hours), losing a day in the process because of crossing the international date line. By the time you return home – after a two-week cruise through three time zones -- neither your stomach or your head knows which time it is, or even which day, time zone… or hemisphere.

In 16 days, we covered 4,367 nautical miles, sailing along the east coast of Australia to its most northern point at Thursday Island, made three stops in Indonesia (Kupang, Komodo – as in the Komodo dragons--, and Bali – the jewel we were so eager to discover), ending in Singapore, from where we flew back to the US via Tokyo (six days before the devastating Japan earthquake). We were, once again, graced with beautiful weather (though hot and humid, but that’s par for the course at this time of year in that hemisphere) throughout the cruise, except for one afternoon and one evening of rain. The latter happened to be exactly the evening planned for a feast on the pool deck. It started pouring rain just as everything was ready for the passengers arriving on the deck in their finery.

Sydney - Our first glance at the famous Sydney Opera House

After landing early morning in Sydney, which 15 hours ahead of our starting point, we were lucky enough to be able to check in our hotel mid-morning. Since, for some strange reason, we weren’t suffering from the expected dreadful jetlag, we were able to drop off our luggage, before heading out to catch a double-decker sightseeing bus – which is what we always do when we visit a new city for the first time. We spent most of the day sightseeing, finally having a drink in the bustling Friday evening crowd along the harbour, in between Sydney’s two icons, the famous Opera House and Harbour Bridge.

We spent the following morning in the Australian Museum, focusing on the Aborigines’ history section. We learned about the shameful way the first settlers (the Dutch in 1608, followed by Captain Cook in 1770, and the arrival of the first colonizing fleet in 1788 in what was Botany Bay) treated the native people they found, despite the fact they had already lived there for 30,000 years, with their own defined culture and thousands of individual languages.

Rather than using slave labor to build the infrastructure necessary for their new settlement, the British decided to use convicted felons from other parts of the British Empire. Most of the convicts being skilled tradesmen, they provided labor needed to build another settlement to replace their North American colonies --, while solving the problem of overcrowded prisons in England.

Sydney - Formal apology of the Australian government to the Aborigines (Feb.13 2008)

The infamous Aborigines Protection Act of 1886 enacted the removal from their families of aboriginal children, and their re-settlement outside of their culture in white families, in an attempt to “save” those children from their own culture, which was arrogantly perceived as sub-human and detrimental to their growth and development. It was only in 2008 that Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd formally apologized, in a Proclamation the text of which is framed in the museum.

Mark Twain said that “Australia’s history is so curious and strange.” Although the size of the US, 70% of Australia is the outback, aka “the bush.” It’s composed of only six states: Western Australia, Northern Territory, South Australia, Queensland (Brisbane), New South Wales (Sydney) and Victoria (Melbourne), the last three being on the east, south east and south coast of the country. They were ruled independently as colonies of the British Empire until 1900, when a draft of their own Constitution was approved by the British Parliament. In 1901, their title of “colonies” was abandoned by its Proclamation of Commonwealth, and Australia became a country and not just a continent. But Australians remained British subjects until 1948.

Trivia: As Churchill said, “Australia and England are separated by a common language.” One of our onboard lecturers, who was American, a retired Foreign Service officer, had lived in Indonesia and Australia, and entertained us with a variety of examples of linguistic quirks which I loved and duly noted: they don’t say Australia but OZ, a mosquito is a “mozzie,” slot machines are “pokies,” a rubber necker is a “sticky beak,” when you buy a drink for a friend, you “shout” him, football (i.e. soccer) is “footy,” the Brits are derogatorily referred to as “Poms,” barbecues are “barbies,” and a food/drink cooler is an “esky” (the Australian equivalent of the US brand Igloo).

Because their own culture (Maori) is very different from Australia’s, New Zealanders chose not to belong to the Commonwealth, lest they become swallowed by their big brother neighbor. Australia is a constitutional monarchy, with three government bodies, federal elections every three years, a Prime Minister, and the Queen as Head of State. Voting is compulsory and not doing so is punishable by fines. Yeah!

The rivalry between the two vital port cities of Melbourne and Sydney, with a population of 4 to 4½ million people each, ended with the creation in 1913 of a brand new inland capital city, named Canberra, 170 miles SW of Sydney, and 410 miles NE of Melbourne. Located in the also created Australian Capital Territory -- the equivalent of the District of Columbia --, its population counts around 400,000 – and its status of national capital went into effect in 1926.

After the morning in the museum, it was time to embark our cruise ship to be in air-conditioned surroundings. We had plenty of time to unpack, look around and get settled in before sailing out of the Harbour after dark, seeing the Opera House gloriously lit up, no doubt in our honor!

Our overall reaction to Sydney was not very different from any other large, American metropolis: modern, young, lively, commercialized and industrialized, busy after dark, cosmopolitan. Its downtown architecture was probably much more impressive than most of ours (see also Singapore), though, but also with great restaurants and public transportation. We felt at home there, especially since the AU$ is just about equal to the US$. However, I had my own difficulty in understanding all “ay” sounds, as in “late”, pronounced like “ie” as in “lie.” Which means that the word “late” was pronounced “light”. So when you heard someone was "light", it only meant that he was not on time, not that he wasn’t heavy. It takes a bit of adjustment with a fast speaker, and can also lead to some hilarious misunderstandings! We had a few laughs in our coach when listening to our Australian guide.

Once the cruise started, we spent the first two days at sea before we reached Brisbane. With two million people, Brisbane is a lively, modern, young city, with sub-tropical climate. It was named in 1821 after the first governor of New South Wales, Sir Thomas Brisbane. It’s the proud host of a beautiful Queensland Cultural and Entertainment Complex, housing several facilities for opera, classical music, stage theaters and various other events; as well as the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art. We visited the latter, learning that it had just reopened after closure due to water damage caused by the recent floods.

Trivia: The highlight there was a “wish wall”: a whole wall covered with holes where were tucked in one end of colored ribbons, on which were written personal secret wishes. When visitors wanted to take one, they had to replace it with one of their own (supplies were at hand). My two favorites were “I wish my Dad would call to ask how I am” and “I wish I could tell my parents.”

Our second port-of-call was Hamilton Island, largest of the 70 Whitsundays Islands, one of the two points to explore the Great Barrier Reef (the other one being the city of Cairns, where we went next.) Its population of 700,000 is mostly rich retirees who enjoy this totally self-contained resort island, with 70% off limits to developers.

The Whitsundays are really drowned mountains which were swallowed by rising seas over the millennia. The Great Barrier Reef, which is bigger than all of England and half the size of Texas, was originally discovered by Captain Cook when he ran the Endeavor aground on his approach to the coast. Originally, all of Australia was covered with rain forest. Corals grow less than 400’ below the surface, and never above it.

The GBR was one of the reasons we took the cruise. Robin chose to walk Hamilton Island, and I took a ½-day tour for a catamaran to take us to the Reef, where we would snorkel. It unfortunately turned out to be quite a disappointment for me, as well as many other people. The glass-bottom boat ride over a part of the reef was good, but the water was murky, no doubt due to the all the sediment recently washed down by the floods. The color of the various fish was rather washed out, but we had an idea of how suddenly the reef wall itself plunged down into unknown abysses between those underwater “mountains.”

The tour I had signed up for also included the opportunity to snorkel over a restricted area of the reef, miles off the shore, contained within rope boundaries, from an independently-run platform with facilities for changing, and donning diving/snorkeling equipment. It would have been great if the ubiquitous presence of deadly jelly fish (an epidemic every summer) hadn’t made mandatory the wearing of bunny-style zippered one-piece cloth suits, covering all but the part of your face with the mask and tube. It was a bit like putting on a one-piece body pantyhose, and a particular challenge for the men, who had never been trained in the art of putting on pantyhose. Altogether a disappointing experience since the GBR and Bali were the two highlights of the cruise.

Trivia: I have to admit it would have been humorous and worth filming if it hadn’t been so frustrating and disappointing. Considering the average age and physical condition of most of Silversea passengers (quite a few in their 50’s, but mostly in their 60’s and 70’s), I wonder how they expected us to sit on the deck -- without making a fool of ourselves, that is --, slither more or less gracefully (?) into those one-piece second skin; and then get up again, before hopping to the gate in flippers and mask cum tube. If you can close your eyes and picture it, you’ll have the laugh of the day.

Outside of its being a departure point for the GBR, Hamilton Island’s claim to fame is getting 300” of rain per summer, and the location for the movie “Muriel’s Wedding.” Its glorious beaches are unusable for swimming in the summer because of the dangerous jellyfish, unless areas surrounding the beach are blocked off with vertical nets to keep them out. So that was a fiasco for beach-bums.

Brisbane - The  Kuranda Scenic Railway tour — Brisbane - The Kuranda Scenic Railway tour

Next, we stopped at Cairns. The closest access to the GBR, Cairns is a smaller town. It was discovered by Captain Cook in 1770, but not settled until the late 1800’s because of the difficulties of this tropical rugged northern area: cyclones, impenetrable vegetation and dangerous animals. It was officially founded in 1876 as a frontier town to support the gold rush, and was named after the State Governor of the day, Sir William Cairns. When the gold rush died out, the people of North Queensland turned to fishing and pearling to earn a living by the sea, and sugar cane plantations inland. It is now a thriving city, with tourism as its main resource as a vacation destination for Australians.

We took a very picturesque Scenic Railroad tour to Kuranda, through the tropical forest that fills the inland part of the area. The tracks were originally built to meet the needs of the logging and mining industries of the late 19th century.

Kuranda - Kangaroos at Wildlife Nasture Park

Next was a ride on an “army duck” amphibious vehicle through the tropical forest and rivers, to enjoy fascinating plants, flowers and birds, followed by a short visit of the adjacent Wild Life Preserve, where we mingled with kangaroos and koalas.

Thursday Island - The northernmost bar-restaurant in Australia

Our last port-of-call in Australia was Thursday Island, the northernmost town in the Australian continent and a very small place on the Torres Straight, the body of water separating Australia from Papua-New Guinea, which is only 100 km away. It is believed to have been named by Captain William Bligh who stopped there on his way from Tahiti after the Bounty mutiny. Today, this very small outpost is the administrative center for the Torres Straight Islanders. The place where many Japanese pearl-divers were buried, the island hosts the Japanese cemetery and a lovely cultural center/museum showing native art.

We just walked around town, and Robin even struck a conversation with two old Aborigines (one of them spoke English) while I had slipped in a gift shop. We had lunch in one of the two pubs in town, with the double-meaning name of “Australia’s Top Pub,” where I had the only real dry cider I’ve ever had outside of England. It was, however, the one half-day of intermittent pouring showers typical of sub-tropical climates. Robin had come prepared, in charge of our umbrella, while I managed the camera.

Before moving on, a word about New Guinea, though we didn’t stop there. We were so close that our lecturer gave us a rundown on that remote and isolated part of the world. New Guinea used to be part of Australia, before the sliding of tectonic plates caused it to break away, along with the general shift of continents. Its terrain is very rugged and mountainous, very dangerous and covered with thick jungle and forests. Its first inhabitants came over 50,000 years ago, in very self-contained and self-sufficient units. Their very isolation is both their doom and their salvation: on the one hand, they had no need to evolve since they were capable to ensure their survival, so they didn’t, and never learned or changed into anything else; on the other, the lack of contact between the individual tribes (with their individual, self-preserved cultures) as well as with the outside world caused their culture to remain alive and well, as it was thousands of years ago. Personally, we would all have loved to get a glimpse of New Guinea, but we were told it was a very difficult and risky thing to do at that time, politically and otherwise, i.e. mountainous, dangerous and unwelcoming.

And it was good-bye to Australia, with two days at sea before we reached Indonesia, a needed rest to digest the sights and facts of the two previous days.

“The most important country the world knows the least about,” is how our lecturer started his lecture on the Republic of Indonesia. It gets its name from a combination of two greek words: indos which means river, and nesos which means island, i.e. an island country made of islands. Composed of over 17,000 islands -- predominantly mountainous with some 400 volcanoes, 100 of which are still active --, it is the largest archipelago in the world, and covers three time zones. Covering an area the size of Australia, Indonesia is the fourth most populous country in the world, with 240 million people, 300 ethnic groups speaking 365 different languages. There are five major islands: Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Salawesi, and Bali, in addition to 30 smaller island groups.

A member of G20, Indonesia is part of the greater area generally called Southeast Asia, the mainland part of which is composed of Burma, Laos, Cambodia, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, and Thailand, in addition to the Philippines. Ethnically speaking, most of its inhabitants emigrated from India and China. Most of Indonesia is Muslim (86%) – containing more Muslims than all of the Arab countries put together --, whereas the Philippines are catholic, and Bali is Hindu. Their common link is the official Indonesian language -- which is why their national motto is “Unity in Diversity.” Its capital is Jakarta, on the largest island of the archipelago, Java, whose population reaches 95 million.

Trivia: The only exception to their similarity is that Thailand was never colonized, therefore leaving its culture untouched and untainted by outside influences.

Since the early 1600’s, Indonesia’s strategic geographic location and importance in the spice trade made it a target for all of the European colonizing powers at one time or another, namely Portuguese, Dutch, Spanish, as well as England and the United States. Which is why the islands were first called the Spice Islands, being on the trade route between Europe and Australia. In 1945, Indonesia got its independence from Japan who had invaded it following Pearl Harbor, and the Netherlands finally recognized its independence in 1949 -- thus ending European colonization. Its historically famous earthquakes, volcanic eruptions (Krakatoa erupted in 1883, making the mountain it was on totally disappear) and tsunamis are due to its position on top of two adjoining tectonic plates in frequent rival activity.

Our first Indonesian port-of-call was in the western half of the easternmost island in Indonesia, or West Timor. Originally, the island of Timor was fought over by the Portuguese as well as the Dutch. In the end, the latter kept the western half, and the former the eastern half as colonies. Eventually, when East Timor -- where Portuguese is still spoken -- obtained its independence in 1999, West Timor became part of Indonesia.

West Timor’s capital is Kupang, which was Captain Bligh’s final destination when he was set adrift by the mutineers of the Bounty. It’s now a popular destination for diving, although I personally would pick another part of the world to explore corals if you want to also enjoy the most basic western amenities. It was also an important landing and refueling place between Europe and Australia at the beginning of the 20th century, as well as an important port and trading point during the Portuguese and Dutch colonial eras. We started feeling really way out of our depth and comfort zone on this island I would qualify as fourth-world. The above view of “downtown” will give you a realistic example of what I mean.

W. Timor, Kupang - The daily open street market

There is little to do for tourists there, except the daily all-purpose street market, which we truly enjoyed. Westerners were definitely taken aback by the many and well-supplied stands and stalls covered with fresh chickens, red meat, fish and eggs, exposed all day (and maybe more) to the 90F temperature with 95% humidity of this area so close to the equator. The stalls and food halls were covered overhead, however, which at least protected them from the direct sun. Since we didn’t hear that the local population regularly succumbs to ugly bacteria and viruses and they feed themselves at those street markets, we have to assume that they don’t get sick from this obvious lack of refrigeration. I very much enjoyed taking pictures of the locals of all ages and all dress – which caused me to nearly get lost in the labyrinth of the market, always behind the group led by our local guide.

Trivia: The smile on a little girl whose close-up I got (with her Mom’s permission, which is common courtesy in that part of the world) when I showed her the photo I had just taken of her was worth having to run to keep up with the group! Altogether a delightful cultural adventure.

Our second Indonesian port-of-call was Komodo Island, of dragon fame. The small island (just over 2,000 habitants) is famous for not only its heritage of convicts, but for its fauna, namely the famous dragons, named after the island. Again, welcome to the fourth world. Our small ship was able to anchor nearby, and a tender took us to shore, where we walked through the Komodo National Park, on specific foot trails, preceded and followed by local rangers, each armed with a large stick, ending in a fork. I was told that the purpose of the latter was to repel the animals, should they decide to investigate more closely the humans whose presence they could detect with their tongues, which are their smelling organ.

Komodos are mean-looking, oversized “monitor lizards,” more reminiscent of crocodiles than lizards. They grow over 50 years up to 200 lbs and over three feet from head to tail tip. Their saliva is lethal to humans, so it’s wise to stay away from them unless they have just been fed – which they are before the tourists come around. They feed on wild deer, pigs, buffaloes and even horses, and employ camouflage and ambush tactics to catch their prey. They can swim from island to island, and the last count shows there are 1,100 left in the park, where they run loose. The one grouping we saw -- whereas other ranger-led groups saw more -- was enough for me, anyway. The park is run very much like the Galàpagos, with the number of visitors strictly controlled by the Park authorities.

Trivia: To get back to the ship, we had to walk through what was obviously the “gift shop” where we were literally assaulted by natives eager to sell us their wares. If you’ve ever been to Egypt’s pyramids or Cairo’s El Kalili’s bazaar, you’ll know what I mean. Our small group was so appalled and repelled by the vendors’ aggressiveness and insistence that most of us didn’t even stop to buy anything, even postcards (which I really wanted to send to my grandchildren). Like most third- or fourth-world people, they don’t realize that we, Westerners, do not respond to that approach, which causes us to refrain from buying what they are so eager to sell.

Bali, Benoa - Local ethnic dancers greeting us at the entry port of Beno

Now we were ready for the highlight of our cruise, and the main reason we took it, which is the island of Bali, the most popular destination in Indonesia. Our ship was greeted at the dock by a group of musicians and dancers, with traditional costumes and music. The latter reflected the Hindu influence and presence, which can be seen and heard in just about everything, from architecture to performing arts.

With three million inhabitants, Bali is renowned for its arts and crafts, and has a significant religious life all of its own. It has been inhabited for over 5,000 years, and the Portuguese were the first to colonize it in the early 1500’s. The Dutch then entered the arena to control it in the late 19th century, and then the Japanese during WWII, until the independence of Indonesia from the Dutch in 1949. Since the 1980’s, tourism has been Bali’s main economic resource. Fifteen hours ahead of the US Eastern time zone, its capital is Denbasar, which we drove through on the way to our planned visits by coach. The Balinese are a gentle people, with gentle beliefs, and, unlike the rest of Indonesia – which is Muslim -- (and the Philippines -- which is catholic), Bali is exclusively Hindu, rooted in ancient animism and Buddhism. Festivals and processions are daily occurrences to celebrate something or other, and life literally stops in cities and towns alike (including traffic) to let them through or join them.

Bali - One of many daily processions through the island of Bali, for a multitude of occasions

We saw two of these processions just during the full-day tour which took us first to an upscale batik specialty shop, where a demonstration of how batik printing is done – using the shorts of tourists – enticed us all to purchase some of the gorgeous fabrics they had for sale. We all enjoyed this valuable shopping opportunity (even the men!) and we only wished we had more time to spend there. Bargaining is expected everywhere in Indonesia, and the savvy of a buyer is judged by his skill at bargaining. Which was quite a challenge for us Westerners who are not culturally conditioned to practice this ancient art. The currency in Indonesia is the rupiah, and it takes 9,000 of them to make… one dollar. They accept US dollars, which made things easier for us.

Bali, Tabanan - Tanah Lot, one of the most famous Hindu temples in Bali

Following was a tour of two famous Hindu temples. One of them, Tanah Lot, was perched on a rock jutting out of the rocky shoreline, and the Royal Temple, where we could visit the inner sanctuary of the compound. Evidence of how basic and fundamental rice is to their diet were the typical terraced rice-paddies. Examples of this famous and highly effective irrigation system kept popping up right and left, all over the landscape.

After the temples, we went to lunch at an estate currently owned by the descendant of the original owner, the head of a former Hindu kingdom. He hosted us royally (pun not intended), starting with a concert by local musicians of traditional music, followed by a demonstration of Balinese dancing (with four 11-year old girls, made-up and dressed accordingly), all before a delicious buffet lunch served in the “backyard”, surrounded by orchids, wild birds and butterflies. The cold beer included in the lunch was a god-send, because we were starting to labor with the humid heat. After lunch, our last stop before returning to the ship, was the Bali Orchid Gardens, where we were treated to dazzling arrays of orchids of all sizes, shapes and colors.

Bali -Stunning elements of the residence interior (accessible to the public)

Trivia: the traffic is so horrendous that, sitting in the first row of our coach, I sometimes had to cover my eyes and hold my breath when I couldn’t imagine what would happen to one or the other of the ubiquitous scooters or motorcycles weaving their way in and out of more or less obvious lanes of traffic, all in a never-ending cacophony of car horns. And I am not faint-hearted when it comes to driving… By the way, policemen – dressed in black-and-white checker uniforms -- were needed in Bali to allow us to cross streets, to force the maniacal traffic to stop long enough to enable our group to make it safely to the other side. They were recruited by our Indonesian tour guide, and we felt very special to be so escorted.

It was the most rewarding day of our entire cruise, and we could hardly go to sleep that night, with our head swimming in an ocean of vivid images in a symphony of colors, swirling with temples, orchids, dancers, batik fabrics, etc. We had time to absorb it all during the next two days at sea before reaching our disembarkation port in Singapore.

Singapore - First look at this amazing city

Even though Robin and I are not fond of large cities to explore, visit or cruise to on vacation, we were both dazzled by Singapore. Robin had been there on business over 20 years ago, but hardly recognized anything at all. A fabulously wealthy mini-state, it’s a fantastic city, very young, very modern, full of energy, life, activity, creativity, and exquisite buildings. It’s a city-state island- country, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula (Malaysia), 85 miles north of the equator, and one of the five busiest ports in the world. There are slightly over five million people in Singapore, of which 2.91 million are born locally, the rest being foreign-born. Three quarters of the diverse population is Chinese, and the rest is made up mainly of Malays, Indians, and Asians of various other descents. Although English is the official language, all public signs are written in four languages: English, Chinese, Tamil and Malay.

Singapore - The Flyer, from the top of the Marina Sands Hote

In 1819, Thomas Stamford Raffles landed on the main island and signed a treaty with Sultan Hussein Shah on behalf of the British East India Company to develop the southern part of Singapore as a British trading post, to compete with the Dutch. By 1825, 10,000 claimed residency there. Its fame and phenomenal growth came from the wisdom of the first Prime Minister, Lee Kwan Yew. An English-educated Chinese, he propelled Singapore, from 1959 to 1990, into the international orbit with five major moves: making it a free-trade port (no fees on goods going through it); adopting English as its official language (but allowing all others as well); fighting corruption head-on (by raising to high levels the salaries of government employees); favoring foreign investments; and solving the housing problem by building many high-rise apartment buildings right in the city, thus getting rid of the slums; in addition to intensive industrialization, all of which is evident in this vibrant, clean, organized, peaceful and wealthy city. Also, reservoirs have been built to reduce Singapore’s dependency on Malaysia for its water supply.

Singapore - Marina Bay Sands Hotel and ArtScience Museum

We disembarked our ship right after breakfast, and, again, were lucky enough to be able to check in at our downtown hotel, i.e. unload our luggage and hop on a double-decker sightseeing bus. We had only that one day to spend in Singapore, and intended to use it the best we could, until leaving for a very early flight the following morning. With a glorious sunshine, we got to see some of the main attractions of this fascinating and mesmerizing city, albeit visiting only one of them, i.e. the three-tower Marina Bay Sands Hotel, built by the same developer/architect as the one who built the Las Vegas Sands. The Singapore skyline is impressive, no matter where your stand or where you look. We didn’t have time to visit the Botanical Gardens, or go on to the Flyer – the equivalent of the London Eye: a huge Ferris wheel moving imperceptibly so people could get off and on without stopping the wheel, where the views of the city and surrounding areas are breathtaking from the individual pods.

Singapore - Infinity pool on the 56th floor of the Marina Sands Hotel

Trivia: To take the photo above right, I had to stop the cab taking us to our hotel from the airport, and ask him to go park somewhere illegal so that I could take a good shot of the Sands Hotel from across the river. He kindly obliged, and I ran, after cajoling a security guard who was guarding the off-limits premises, to finally get the view and angle I wanted.

Finished only a year ago, the Sands Hotel has fast become an icon of Singapore. Its architecture is a sight to behold and a must to see: whether the outside, the lobby, or – its crowning glory -- the gardens and infinity swimming pool occupying the last 56th floor of the building. The public had access to it for a fee, to enjoy the 360-degree view for stunning photography.

In the afternoon, we walked downtown from our hotel, taking in the sights, sounds, and smells. I wanted to visit different shopping malls to get a sense of what people need, cook, use, eat, wear and do in their every-day life. In the morning, we had already seen the upscale one, adjacent to the Sands Hotel: a huge indoor complex (with a floor plan similar to the Mall of America in Minneapolis, minus the amusement park in the middle), with so many ritzy shops that I was dizzy, wondering how the locals can afford to shop there. But it seems that the very self-conscious mainland Chinese love to shop and spend their money there.

So I wanted to see another style of mall. The first was right in front of our hotel, and was much more indicative of every-day needs: a real cultural experience with four small levels of small stores, catering to people’s daily needs, with a flurry of new scents and sights (mostly foods) in the middle of a mixture of familiar ones like flip-flops, cameras (and other electronic paraphernalia, of course), flowers, clothes, gifts, sweets, etc. It was really guesswork sometimes since all the signs were undecipherable.

The second was Raffles City – next to the famed Raffles Hotel --, a whole city block’s worth of indoor mall, not only with four levels with the traditional main store anchor, but with a huge assortment of ethnic restaurants, scattered all over all levels, in the nooks and crannies of what turned out to be a very complex building floor plan. Except for the many restaurants, think of it in terms of one of our large, local indoor malls. Located across the street is the famed Raffles Hotel, it opened in 1887, and was declared a National Monument in 1987. It has evolved into one of the world’s most beloved grand hotels, with only suites available to the famed and wealthy. With its restoration and reopening in 1991, the Raffles Hotel stands as a jewel in the crown of Singapore’s hospitality industry.

We had our last dinner in an exquisite Indian restaurant in Raffles City, during which Robin showed the first signs of the stomach and respiratory virus, which hit him like a ton of bricks overnight and during the next few days. We turned in early for a 4:00AM shuttle pick-up to go catch our pre-dawn 6:00AM flight to Tokyo, with connection to San Francisco (which took the first day of our two-day return trip). Not only were we ready to go home -- feeling privileged and enriched by having learned something about that part of the world – but Robin’s condition made the return trip quite stressful and most uncomfortable for him.

Once more convinced that travel is one of the best ways to learn and grow, we are already planning our next adventure!

Travelogues

Travelogues

AUSTRALIA & INDONESIA CRUISE (Singapore/Thailand/Viet Nam/Hong Kong/S. Korea, China)

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