Singapore

Friday, March 22, 2019
Saturday, March 23, 2019

We had an overnighter in Singapore which should have been a chance to get to know the city better, but things did not go as planned. Perhaps because I had no plan.

Where am I?

So, what’s been happening?

Well, before I get started let me provide you with a map of the Singapore harbor area so that you can see the places I’m writing about. This story could get a little complicated. Here’s your map.

Days prior to arriving in Singapore it was time to decide whether to purchase a shore excursion or to just “go it” on my own. I researched Singapore and found where the cruise ships dock. Posts I read indicated that the docking place would be in the Marina district very near the Marina Bay Sands Hotel and the Gardens by the Bay. I truly invite you to check both of those links to see why they are so exciting. I really wanted to visit both of those places.

Marina Bay Sands Hotel – This hotel was prominently featured in the movie Crazy Rich Asians. Atop the three towers is an island of decadent luxury featuring a Wolfgang Puck restaurant, the world’s largest infinity pool, and an amazing view. Rooms in the hotel can be outrageously expensive, but this place is an icon of Singapore, so it’s all worth it. Right?

Gardens by the Bay – This is a futuristic botanical garden, with features that seem to be right out of the movie Avatar. It’s an awe inspiring walk through a lush, tropical environment and, at night, it has a laser and water light show much like the one I shared with you in Lima, Perú.

Since these two attractions were so close to the port, I decided I could just walk there from the ship, and so no paid shore excursion would be necessary.

Upon arrival, a surprise

So, as we entered the harbor at Singapore, I could see these beautiful, if smoggy sights:

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Yes, the air in Singapore was rather dirty for our visit. The combination of the high humidity and the industry to the windward side of the city made it a bit harder to see.

Keep in mind that these photos were taken from my balcony with a telephoto lens. Therefore, those buildings were still quite some distance away. And that was when I started to worry. If we were “parking” close to the Marina Bay Sands, why was it so far away?

The answer was not too long in coming. It turns out that there is a new cruise ship port located on the west side of the city called Harbourfront. (Please refer to the map above.)

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Harbourfront is a nice enough area. It has a large shopping mall adjacent to the docks. It is also close to Sentosa Island which is a family playground. It features resort hotels, golf courses, Universal Studios, shopping, bungee jumping, pristinely combed beaches, and other attractions for vacationers. What it does not feature are the attractions I most wanted to see.

So there I was, in Singapore, on the wrong side of town (for me) with no tours booked and no workable plan. I was on my own. I might have been able to create and carry out some plans, even at that late hour, but the story gets worse.

Immigration

By the time we could disembark, it was after 10am. At that hour I was still in my room, hatching a plan for the day. By 11:30am I was ready to put my plan into action. I left the ship and walked down the gangplank into the cruise ship terminal only to find a line of my fellow passengers standing there, waiting. It seems as though the line to get through immigration was currently 1.5 hours long. Shock!

I was not about to stand there with my thumb up my…with nothing to do but wait, so I decided it would be more comfortable to wait aboard the ship. I returned to the Amsterdam. In the intervening 1.5 hours, I researched how long it would take to get across town and visit the sights I was so anxious to see. I also needed to allocate time to return and be back aboard and ready to go to dinner at 5:30pm when our Table 64 group of friends was about to say goodbye to two of my favorite people aboard. You must remember John, my beer and cigar buddy that I introduced to you earlier. Well, it was John and his wife Patricia who were leaving the ship in Singapore and I wasn’t about to miss the farewell evening.

So, in the end, I surmised that I didn’t have enough time left in the day to do everything, and the farewell party was the most important thing to me. So, I just stayed aboard.

That evening

Well, we had a very nice dinner, all of us regulars at Table 64. Here’s a photo of the whole gang.

John is the fellow to the left and he is standing next to his wife, Patricia. I’m on the right standing next to Beth (who I swear looks like an older Elease Caracci.) Next to Beth is Kathleen, and in front of Beth is her sister, Mary Lee. The elderly lady in front of John is Marge and she just joined our table, so I really don’t know too much about her.

After dinner, John suggested that we go and take a ride on the cable cars. This sounded like a great idea to several of us because: 1) we could walk to the entrance to the cable car just outside the cruise port, and 2) the Amsterdam was positioned directly underneath the cable cars and the “flight” might afford us a nice view of the ship. So, off we went.

The cable cars are nice, comfortable and modern. There are two separate routes and we decided to ride both of them. The initial route we chose would take us from Harbourfront to Sentosa Island, and right over the top of our ship.

As the cable car left the boarding point, we climbed steeply into the air.

Within a couple of minutes we were directly above the Amsterdam. As you know, I am regularly mentioning the Sea View bar on the Lido deck, aft, where John and I have often enjoyed the Cigars and Cognac recurring event. Well, we could see it plainly from the air! Can you make out the pool?

After the cable car ride we returned to the ship and proceeded to the Crow’s Nest bar (deck 9, forward) for one last cocktail. Just when the group announced that they needed to leave, and that John and Patricia needed to do some last minute packing, I bought the group a round of drinks just to stall them a little bit longer. I really was not ready to say goodbye to John and Patricia. Ultimately though, after that last round, the evening was over and everybody returned to their rooms. I suddenly felt quite alone.

The next day

I woke up the next morning telling myself that I needed to get off the ship and go see the sights. Slowly, I came to realize that my energy level was at just about zero and that my internal container of joie de vivre was only about half full. I fought with myself about getting dressed and getting out the door but, in the end, I lost that battle. I had no energy, no appetite, and little desire to do anything except, maybe, work on this blog.

I ran into Table-64-Kathleen later that day. I was sitting alone at a table by the Lido pool, midship, and Kathleen sat down on the chair next to me. We chatted about the night before and I told her I still had not left the ship to go see the sights. When she asked me what was wrong I told her I thought I was experiencing postpartum depression. That statement caused her to raise an eyebrow, but I explained that I thought I was just missing John and Patricia Frank. A lot.

Or, maybe in the wake of John and Patricia’s departure, perhaps I was not only missing them. Maybe I was missing all of my friends, especially those at home whom I love and hadn’t seen in over two months. Maybe it was all of that. In any case, I had missed my last chance to get out and see the city, and yet somehow that didn’t seem all that important to me.

And so it goes.

Departure

We left Singapore at 5:30pm that second day and, appropriately enough, the sky clouded up and almost imperceptibly started to cry. It started out just little misty, with the little drops barely perceivable as they fell. And then, all at once, the sky cried real hard, but only for a little bit.

After a few minutes and almost as if on queue, the sun came out again just as it always does. As the light glinted over the bay, all seemed fine with the world once again as the air filled with excitement for what was waiting just over the horizon.

It seemed like no time at all and we were heading west out of Singapore at a good clip. I set my camera up on my balcony railing to capture my last thoughts of Singapore. Just like me at this moment, the camera looks forward, and not back.

So, I didn’t get to see those sights I’d longed to see. I said goodbye, at least temporarily, to new friends. I lived in a funk for a wasted day. Still, this was a visit I’ll remember for the rest of my life, and I’m glad to have had the experience.

So, what’s coming up?

Three days at sea, and then we arrive in Columbo, the capitol city of Sri Lanka. I wanted to experience new cultures on this trip and I’m getting a full dose of that!