|
Post by tod2 on Dec 21, 2022 9:31:29 GMT
Please don't end this photo-essay just yet Kerouac! I love all of it. I'm sure you will agree Singapore is totally unique and has something for everyone. You have covered a lot but there is more still to see. Each time I have been I do a repeat of certain areas as places never stay exactly as one last visited them. Your Tiger Balm Gardens for instance. After a short meander to stretch the old legs after that long flight the heat starts to take its toll and instead of ducking in and out of those beautiful malls - Is Ngee Ann City still there?, I hop down the nearest MRT station and take a complete tour of the whole island. It is possible to make it long or take a short cut but the passing through various districts and a lot of residential places with their own food courts, has me savouring the Singapore feeling once again.
My Singapore guide gave me lots of historic places to see if you like history. I even made a trip to Kranji Cemetery to see war graves. It is , on the north side of Singapore Island overlooking the Straits of Johore. I am wondering if you will have any photos of Sentosa.....A place worth visiting with numerous entertainment and places like the butterfly Farm to interest the kids. During a long stay in Singapore one trip we caught a bus and travelled over the bridge to Johore Bahru in Malaysia for a day visit. There are lots of options to travel to neighboring islands for a day trip. Glad you missed the tourist bumboat - that was a waste of time for me. I found Clarke Quay the worst place to eat and a huge tourist trap. It is very pretty at night but expensive.
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Dec 21, 2022 12:37:14 GMT
|
|
|
Post by tod2 on Dec 21, 2022 14:48:27 GMT
Thank you so much for showing what I enjoy about Singapore in the out-lying areas where millions of people stay in small apartments.....Well our friends apartment had its own maids quarters and enough space for his wife to have a statue of the Virgin Mary and alter, and her husband to have his alter and effigy of Buddha. Her being Roman Catholic and he Buddhist. It was one of the most surreal Xmas dinners I have ever attended. I love the egg selection. I bet it went beyond chicken and duck eggs!
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Dec 21, 2022 15:24:59 GMT
The HDB (= Housing Development Board) flats of Singapore both appeal to me and repel me. Whenever one goes to Singapore, it is the first thing that one notices, even before the cluster of skyscrapers in the CBD. The HDB flats are everywhere. The older ones are 31 to 40 storeys tall. There are 151 of those. In the new generation, they are 41 to 50 storeys tall. There are about 40 of those. The tallest HDB flats are The Pinnacle at 50 storeys, a set of 7 connected towers. not my photo All of the older ones have identical designs, and I doubt that anybody complained about that. These places were magnificent compared to where people were living before, often shacks built over swamps. But by the 1990s people wanted more choice. Even though it is a totalitarian society, the government does listen a little bit, so designs have evolved and there are BTO (build to order) flats in the new buildings. Anyway, 75% of the population lives in these buildings. Unfortunately (in my opinion), the only time I stayed with friends in Singapore, it was on a street of individual houses, a rare bourgeois treat. My friend, who worked for British Airways, was still living with his parents. After all, he must have been only about 25 years old then and not yet married, so of course he was living with his parents. (A couple of years later, I was invited to his wedding, the full blown Chinese version, and that was incredible. Wow.) If you want to see what individual residences look like in Singapore, take a look at Jalan Pari Dedap on Street View. (I even know what the name means -- "Sting Ray Street")
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Dec 21, 2022 16:10:53 GMT
I really love modern high-rise architecture, but felt the buildings & sculpture shown in #47 to be more trying-too-hard than inspired. Shame on you, SunTec City! What does that mean? Quoting all of this because it's easier and more eloquent than my trying to say essentially the same thing: There's obviously tons of money there but to me it has a sterile, Potemkin village vibe. I'd like to see some unsanctioned street art or overt political dissent to make it seem less creepy. It is a 1st world quirk to start craving the sight of dirt and grime. Yes, it happens to me, too. This low colonial building stuck out like a sore thumb, especially when you think of the 500 million dollar tower that could be built there. Wow! All of the (almost) black and white photos you show after this quote are truly magnificent! And then I was out the other side...
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Dec 21, 2022 16:16:26 GMT
In such a lush tropical climate, how can they justify the use of plastic poinsettias?
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Dec 21, 2022 16:22:02 GMT
Ha! Because people like me don't realize that they're plastic?
I honestly didn't notice.
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Dec 22, 2022 3:36:22 GMT
Since I had no specific destination, I went to the end of the line, which is clearly destined to be a new major hub before long. But my next discovery was the LRT instead of the MRT. There are several lines of this light rail system to serve specific outlying housing estates. It passes very close to the windows of certain buildings, so the train windows have a liquid crystal system to become instantly opaque. They underestimated the traffic on this line because it is really very busy. too late to make it bigger... I transferred back to the MRT. These were the outer suburbs, but it didn't look like it. The next morning, I finally took a couple of photos out of my hotel window because it was time to leave. one last MRT ride to Changi airport And then the trip was finished.
|
|
|
Post by bjd on Dec 22, 2022 7:07:59 GMT
n such a lush tropical climate, how can they justify the use of plastic poinsettias? Maybe they don't grow in tropical climates? I remember seeing small trees of poinsettias in Ecuador -- at about 2500 m altitude.
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Dec 22, 2022 7:31:48 GMT
Well in that case, they shouldn't use poinsettias at all. It's not as though other decorative flowers are not available.
|
|
|
Post by tod2 on Dec 22, 2022 12:57:34 GMT
That was a wonderful photo/trip report Kerouac - so sad its over. The photos are brilliant. Even Mr.Tod remarked on them. The vibrant colours of the old buildings did a lot to make some photos worth a study in detail. Can I ask for a few details of your stay - Was it The Ibis? Did you select your hotel on price or area? And was it a special deal linked to Air France? Was there a big difference in the airfare between Air France and Singapore Airlines? You can tell I'm angling to make trip rather sooner than later......
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Dec 22, 2022 13:42:57 GMT
I did stay at the Ibis although I didn't want to -- too big and overpriced, especially during this season. But since the trip was a last minute decision, I really didn't have the time or the energy to hunt around much, and I do like the Bencoolen area. Of course I racked up a large quantity of loyalty points, so that will compensate part of the cost.
I can't help you with air fare, because this time I decided to use airline employee standby tickets, which have no relation to commercial fares. (Okay -- I paid 260 euros return between Paris and Singapore.)
|
|
|
Post by lugg on Dec 22, 2022 19:47:37 GMT
I really enjoyed this report - a really fascinating city thank you K2 and will send a link to my sister as I think she will enjoy viewing it before her up-coming trip. Your photos are fab, well done for coping with the temperature contrasts. And finally 260 euros return between Paris and Singapore. Wow a bargain. Safe journey home.
|
|
|
Post by tod2 on Dec 26, 2022 10:04:42 GMT
Oh groan....How can I get those standby tickets?
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Dec 26, 2022 11:14:47 GMT
You have to work for an airline for at least 20 years. In yesterday's paper, there was an article about Singapore which mentioned that Singapore Airlines has return fares from Paris at 816€ which isn't too bad at this thie of year.
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Dec 26, 2022 15:19:08 GMT
Maybe they [poinsettias] don't grow in tropical climates? Oh, but they do. They're native to Mexico, where they're called "noche buena" because of their association with Christmas. Right now every market here has a few acres of potted ones for sale. I don't know how far north they will grow outside, but certainly have seen them in all their annoying lankiness growing up against the sides of houses in New Orleans.
|
|