Singapore is really amazing! When we got there we took the MRT (like the subway, except cleaner) to Mingdeap’s apartment and met mommy’s cousin Noelle there. She was really nice and she took us on a really long walking tour of the city for the rest of the day. We went to Little India which is really close to the apartment and into the Mustafa Centre. The Mustafa Centre is a gigantic store that has everything imaginable and takes up two giant four story buildings. It is absolutely packed with all sorts of things and is open 24/7. The isles are way too small, to so the whole place is pretty claustrophobic sometimes. After the Mustafa Centre we walked around Little India some more, going to some mosques and just looking at things. We went to a little cupcake shop on Arab street and got a cupcake each. The cupcakes we really, really yummy! After that, we went for drinks before walking into the city.
We went to the oldest hotel in Singapore and looked in the windows because we weren’t allowed inside. It was really expensive and nice looking, and not really that old because Singapore is pretty young anyways. She told us a bunch about the history of Singapore, even though it is only about 50 years old. It used to be part of Malaysia (formerly called Malayia, the ‘s’ comes from Singapore) but there was a bunch of religious trouble so Malaysia kicked them out (and of course they kept the ‘s’…). Then, an English guy bought Singapore and built it all from absolutely nothing. He turned it into the bustling, modern and awesome city/country it is today. Now, of course, Malaysia wants it back!
After visiting the sort of old hotel, we went to see the National Library which was a big high rise with little gardens on the sides with trees and things. It was a really nice building, but we didn’t actually go inside for some reason. Then we kept walking to Marina Bay to watch a really amazing light show at 8pm before dinner in the food court of the mall. The light show was like a projection on mist with awesome lights and music and fountains. It was really pretty, and the pictures we took definitely don’t do it justice. The wind was blowing the mist into the crowd, so I got cold for the first time ever in the tropics! The A/C in the mall didn’t help, but I had yummy food so it was all good.
Because Singapore is so new it is all very modern and has pretty much the latest and greatest of everything. The buildings are all tall and glassy, and there aren’t any that aren’t modern style (except for the mosques which were still built recently and you can totally tell its not old). There is a really amazing building that looks like a giant barge held up in the air by a few big towers. It’s the Singapore Sands (like in Vegas) and it’s really glitzy. The ‘barge’ on top has a giant pool in it and, because the whole thing is curved a bit, you can’t see the end. Everything is really efficient and clean and safe. There is zero graffiti and gum is forbidden (sad, but clean). There are large fines tagged on the all the rules so people actually pay attention to them. Noelle once got fined $50 for crossing the street at the wrong time! In the airport there was a sign that said ‘No Durian’! That was really funny but it totally makes sense because durians smell really bad and could be used as a spiky club.
After dinner, we walked to the MRT station, but on the way we stopped to see the statue of the Merlion. The Merlion is Singapore’s animal (sort of an animal I guess). It is a lion with a mermaid tail and it is way bizarre! We also walked around the little bay and saw whole streets devoted to Christmas trees, which was really nice after Bali. There were Christmas lights everywhere hanging from the trees, too. Singapore is a really awesome city because it is modern, and not overwhelming like some cities!
Mia--you may have already checked out Wiki on the history of Singapore. It's a little different than I understood you to write. It's actually pretty old and the Raffles Hotel was built by the British. Here's the Wiki version. Glad you are loving it!! It is an exciting city--and as you say, manageable. love, bippy
ReplyDeleteThe history of Singapore dates to the 11th century. The island rose in importance during the 14th century under the rule of Srivijayan prince Parameswara and became an important port until it was destroyed by Acehnese raiders in 1613. The modern history of Singapore began in 1819 when Englishman Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles established a British port on the island. Under British colonial rule, it grew in importance as a centre for both the India-China trade and the entrepôt trade in Southeast Asia, rapidly becoming a major port city.
During World War II, Singapore was conquered and occupied by the Japanese Empire from 1942 to 1945. When the war ended, Singapore reverted to British control, with increasing levels of self-government being granted, culminating in Singapore's merger with the Federation of Malaya to form Malaysia in 1963. However, social unrest and disputes between Singapore's ruling People's Action Party and Malaysia's Alliance Party resulted in Singapore's separation from Malaysia. Singapore became an independent republic on 9 August 1965.
Facing severe unemployment and a housing crisis, Singapore embarked on a modernisation programme that focused on establishing a manufacturing industry, developing large public housing estates and investing heavily on public education. Since independence, Singapore's economy has grown by an average of nine percent each year. By the 1990s, the country had become one of the world's most prosperous nations, with a highly developed free market economy, strong international trading links, and the highest per capita gross domestic product in Asia outside of Japan.[1]