Singapore

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Backtracking a bit, I want to take us on a trip through Singapore, which I consider to be one of the great cities of the world, chock full of amazing architecture. I read recently that Francis Ford Coppola always takes a city tour when he arrives someplace new just to orient himself. We are beginning to see the wisdom of this plan, especially when you don't have all the time in the world to discover a city.

So we took a half day tour after traveling by bus from Malacca, Malaysia.

Singapore is big, busy and more expensive than places we had recently been in Malaysia, so we had a bit of culture and sticker shock when we arrived, but we have an agreement that when we travel we will do a few activities that are most important to us, and not skimp on fun because we may never pass this way again. So we decided on some things we wanted to see after our city tour and set about to see them. A river cruise in a vintage style bum boat was very informative and fun. 

The Marina Bay Sands resort is an amazing hotel/ casino that is a focal point of the new Singapore. We didn't have the desire or energy to visit it, however. 

Dinner at Gluttons Bay hawker stalls was a high point! 

I had been to Singapore over 20 years ago, and I found myself trying to find a bit of the city I remembered from that time, but it was hard, as it has changed incredibly. Raffles hotel is still there in all its' grandeur , the home of the Singapore sling, but is now dwarfed by towering skyscrapers under construction. We did luck into the beginning of The Road to Mandalay there, however. This is a road rally with participants who are driving vintage vehicles from the early 1900's up to cars from the 70s, starting in Singapore and driving to Mandalay in Burma over the course of a month. That's sort of the same route we plan to take, except we'll be traveling by motor coach!