Singapore

No a cruise ship didn't land on those poor buildings - it's actually a hotel

Singapore was a quick two-day journey from Vietnam and the transition was glaring. Saigon was frenetic and busy, with horns blaring and vendors assaulting us on all sides. Singapore, on the other hand was calm and organized. There is a great deal that you can't do in Singapore: chew gum, litter, jaywalk, spit on the sidewalk and many others. Don't even think about doing drugs - the penalty is death. Now I didn't want to do any of this of course, but all of the rules were a bit of a turnoff. Sure the city was clean and orderly, but I found myself missing the chaos of Vietnam. There just seemed to be a lot more life in the city.

We only had two days in the city and I spent the bulk of the first day visiting Singapore's water treatment and containment facilities - a class field trip. Singapore has historically purchased much of the city's water from Malaysia, country with which they have had a lot of rough history. Consequently, Singapore has made a goal for itself of becoming water-independent by 2060 and they are 80% of the way there already. One of the ways they have achieved this impressive result in such a short time is their "New Water" facility that treats all of the city's wastewater and returns it to the water supply. This is not as gross as it sounds - the facility is quite sophisticated and the water that comes out of it is incredibly clean. They have devoted an incredible amount of energy in the technological advancements to treat nearly all of the water in the city. Apparently communities in Texas are looking at the technology for solutions to their own water problems. We're likely to see more and more of this as water resources become more scarce. Pretty soon, "Dune" is going to look like a documentary…

After retuning to the ship, I got the chance to go out to Singapore's "Chinatown" and get a good meal of dumplings and green beens. Then we walked around the area, checking out their night market. The streets were calm and uncrowded and the merchants didn't follow us around trying to bargain for each item that we happened to look at. Much more civilized than Vietnam, but not at all as lively. We had a good time looking at overpriced wooden carvings and cheap clothing. The market started closing down before 11:00 and we were back to the ship by midnight.

The following day we had to be back onboard by 1800, so we set out early and explored the city's subway system. Getting around Singapore is pretty easy as the subway is efficient, clean and best of all in English. Just about every sign in the country has English and Chinese making it very easy to get around. Kind of like a really clean Firefly set…

A group of three of us took the subway across the city (across the Nation!) and got off within walking distance of the Botanical Gardens. The obsessive need for neatness and greenery comes to a glorious combination here. The gardens were extensive and beautiful including sections on rain forests, wetlands and other little sub-themes. There was even an area completely devoted to orchids with a "cold room" which contained carnivorous bog plants. Very cool. We walked around all morning into the afternoon and eventually found a cool little restaurant for a nice lunch. We just had time for a quick trip to the downtown region to see the Raffles Hotel (home of the original Singapore Sling) and then back to stand in line to get back on board the ship.

Next stop… Burma