March 1 – At Sea-Flores Sea, Java Sea, and South China Sea. Another ever popular sea day. Not much else to say about it.
March 2 – At Sea- Java Sea, South China Sea and Singapore Strait. Today is an uncommon type, partly a sea day and partly a port day. We will arrive in Singapore at about 4pm and not leave until March 3 at 4pm. We crossed the Equator early this morning as we were in the north latitudes when I got up. We arrived in Singapore about 4pm and it immediately started to rain, then it got serious and poured. We decided to have dinner on the ship and get an early start tomorrow.
It was Big Screen movie night in the Showroom at Sea and I didn't want to see the movie so I tried in vain to get the ship's internet service to run AOL so I could send some email. It was working for a few days and now it's not working again. The ship is standing still so the usual excuse of intermittent satellite connection won't work. Whatever HAL is paying for this new provider, it's not worth it. The previous one was much better. The worst part of it is the staff will lie to you about what's going on when they don't have a clue. Unfortunately I've been doing this for the better part of 25 years and I'm sad to say that this is the worst Internet service provider I've ever encountered. I'm guessing they went cheap on the new contract and didn't really consider the terrible service they were going to give their passengers.
March 3 – Singapore. Last night we got the notice everyone hates, 'Please turn your clocks and watches ahead one hour before retiring tonight." It's doubly offensive when you are sailing west. For some reason Singapore is an hour ahead of Indonesia. Makes no sense at all geographically. They print the time change notes in blue so you are more likely to see what it says. Every night we get a note with the chocolates but they are beige.
We are on our own today. We decided to head to Chinatown on the MRT, Singapore's subway. It's very modern and has the easiest ticket machines to operate. Because most of the ATMs here only issue $50SD and up the machine warns you that it will not give more than $4SD in change. Sadly I only had $50SD bills so I went to the convenience store and bought a couple of waters to get smaller bills. After you press the button to buy a new ticket (the other start up button lets you recharge an existing ticket) a map of the subway system pops up. You press the screen at the station you are going to and tell it if you want a round trip and how many. It computes the fare and you deposit your cash and it prints the ticket(s) and gives you your change. A very logical and simple process. I've never seen one easier.
Since they have a station named 'Chinatown' the process was simplified. The subway had the highest rate of acceleration of any I've ever been on. Thankfully I had ahold of the strap as I was standing. If I hadn't I don't know if I could have remained standing. I can ride the NYC London, Moscow and Paris subways without actually holding on, but not this one.
We popped up in Chinatown on the wrong side of the street to get where we wanted to go. Not usually much of a problem but this street is 6 lanes wide and has a wide median. They've provided pedestrian crossovers to prevent accidents so up and over we went and came down right on the edge of the shopping/restaurant district we were aiming for on Pagoda Street.
Pagoda is lined with shops of all kinds, clothing, technology and souvenirs are interspersed with cafés and restaurants. It's too early for the restaurants to be open so we spent some time shopping. Diana's looking for some shorts and maybe a top. There's certainly a lot to look through. Meanwhile I'm taking some architectural pictures and looking at cameras. I don't know if I mentioned it but I broke my camera our first day in Bali. Totally my fault and there's no way to fix it while traveling. I really like the Canon G series. It has a pro imager but in a smaller metal case you can fit in your pocket when you want to be inconspicuous. I've been using Gs since version 9. The one I broke was a G15. The version they're selling now is the G16. It has a larger imager which is an advantage. When I left home they were selling for about $530US before taxes. I found a guy here who is selling them for $410US. Not too bad so I bought one. Meanwhile Diana has had some luck as well, she bought a pair of shorts and a very nice Chinese brocade top.
The buildings here are mostly colonial, shops on the bottom floor and residences above. The upper floors are often painted in bright and sometimes whimsical colors. One was painted a light blue and sprinkled with various sized yellow hibiscus. All in all, this street is a rather brave splash of color in very conservative Singapore. A group of young school kids in uniform are out for a day in Chinatown. The girls and boys were dressed in the same white t-shirts with a red stripe across each shoulder and blue shorts all topped off with a medium pink baseball cap. Each also wore a blue lanyard with an ID card attached. It looked a bit like a herd of cats going down the street but it was orderly enough.
When we reached the end of Pagoda at South Bridge Street we found Sri Mariamman Temple. It's a Hindu temple of some size and importance. Every time we've gone by it there was a ceremony of some sort going on and we couldn't enter. Today they will have a ceremony later but we are early enough to get inside most of the temple. There was a service being conducted by two bare chested men in one of the side areas. They appeared to be applying a special dot on the foreheads of those worshipers who followed the routines necessary for the occasion.
Hindu temples are colorful affairs and this one is no exception. Every flat area on the entire complex's ceiling is covered with colorful murals from the lives of various gods and incidents in Hindu folklore. Statues and tableaus inhabit every corner of the temple and the roofline is adorned with them as well. At the corners there are onion dome like collections of statues. As we walked around the outside and reached the area where the ceremony was being conducted we could see the two men folding and wrapping up their regalia.
It was getting on to lunch time so we started looking for a place to eat. Since we're in Chinatown it's a bit difficult to avoid Chinese food. We settled on a nice little place at one end of 'Restaurant Row". They had a nice menu and I ordered chili shrimp and Diana ordered lemon chicken. It was a bit of a wait for the food because they cook it to order, there's no steam table in the kitchen. They had a choice between small and large order on the menu and since it was lunch I ordered each as a small. Diana chose mango juice and I stuck with a Diet Coke. The chili shrimp was delicious and very spicy, as it should be. Fortunately Diana likes hot food to so we shared our entrees. That's how they brought them out each with its own serving spoon. The lemon chicken was a flattened chicken breast, breaded and deep fried, with a very nice lemon sauce, partly covered in sliced lemons. The two dishes made a great contrast and with the steamed rice a perfect lunch. I had to check the bill because the lemon chicken was so big I was sure we got a large. No, the bill said it was a small. Diana and I were both very full when we finished. Thankfully, we didn't order large dishes.
On the way back to the subway we stopped and bought the camera I described above. Paul, the salesman, was good at his job. He offered my spare batteries for both my new camera and Diana's camera too. I already have 2 batteries for the G15 and the 16 uses the same one so now I have three. We already had 2 for Diana's camera and she was happy with them.
After a quick ride back to the port we boarded the ship. The ship's cast performed the show Variations again. I like it the first time so I went again. It was better this time. I think the cast is jelling. They got on when we did, fresh from rehearsals on land. Once you work together for a while things go more smoothly and you relax and that allows you to do your best.
No comments:
Post a Comment