Sunday, February 21, 2010
Vietnam - Ha Long Bay, Haiphong and the Airport in Hong Kong
Thursday, February 11th we had a morning at sea. I used some of the time to work on this blog and attended a shore excursion lecture and a cooking demonstration. We arrived at the entrance to Ha Long Bay around noon. Coming into the bay we observed fog wreathed rocks and small islands projecting from the water. It is definitely not somewhere a ship wants to go without a local pilot, good radar and charts. As we got farther into the bay we saw ships anchored among the rocks and islands. The fog gradually lifted. By the time we approached our anchorage, the fog had lifted and we could see a city stretched along the shore.
The Silver Whisper's guests had all been invited to board "junks" for an afternoon "champagne" sail in the bay. The "junks", really motorized replicas of the Chinese style sailing vessels, took thirty passengers each. Staff from the Silver Whisper provided and served the champagne, beer and soft drinks. The afternoon turned sunny and we motored through the peaceful waters looking at the amazing rock formations that made up the myriad islands of Ha Long Bay. The most spectacular portion of the islands has been made a World Heritage Site. Our local guide told us the legend that a thousand years ago a dragon appeared from heaven to help the local people prevail against Chinese invaders. The dragon and its young stayed in the form of rocky islands to protect the people from further foreign invasion. The name Ha Long means dragons descending to the sea. The bay is studded with limestone formations in fantastic shapes, some as much as 900 feet high. There are a few fishing villages and fish farms among the rocky islands. The buildings are built on stilts over the water. We returned to our ship after a relaxing 3 hour cruise.
The quiet seascape contrasted with the new city along the mainland shore. Tall hotels and beachfront development was on one side. Across a brand new suspension bridge, an older town with modest homes and various industries had a small but busy cargo port. Ships were anchored in the bay awaiting their turn to dock. The only other passenger vessel we saw was a Chinese cruise ship with what looked like a mosque on its rear. The ship had rust on its hull and had a noticeable list to port (left.) The Chinese still have something to learn about ship maintenance. When Michael visited this area fourteen years ago he saw only a small town. The area is experiencing tremendous growth. The islands in the bay are a great tourist attraction. The bridge is part of a new roadway connecting Ha Long City with Hanoi and China. It would appear that China is putting a lot of money into the development of northern Vietnam.
Michael and I stayed up until past midnight watching the sail out from Ha Long. The fog closed in again. We could see bright lights here and there in the distance. The small fishing fleet was using very intense lights to attract fish. Passing among the rocks was eerie as well as beautiful. We really couldn't see them until we were very close. I don't know how people sailed here before radar and GPS.
Friday morning dawned gray, overcast and a lot cooler as we docked at Haiphong, the northern Vietnamese city that serves as Hanoi's port. Ha Long Bay had been in the 70s, Haiphong was in the 60s. Michael and I had originally planned to take the all day tour to Hanoi. It would have been a two and a half hour bus ride each way. We would have had only a short time to explore Hanoi as the trip included a long lunch at a western style hotel. We opted instead for the Haiphong Highlights tour of just over three hours in the port city. We later took the ship's contracted shuttle bus back for an additional look in the afternoon.
Tet, the lunar new year holiday, began Saturday. On Friday, most of Haiphong's residents were off work and shopping for the coming five day holiday. The streets were full of motorbikes. Here, unlike Saigon, there were also quite a few bicycles and fewer cars and trucks. Haiphong was heavily bombed during the Vietnam War yet many French Colonial buildings survive. Many have been repaired, some rebuilt from a single wall, others, demolished, rebuilt to the original plan. The city was vibrant with holiday traffic. We saw many people with Kumquat trees on the back of their motor bikes. Tet tradition is to bring live trees into the home to celebrate the holiday. Flowering peach trees and branches were also for sale everywhere.
We visited the Trang Kenh Communal House. This was apparently a Chinese enclave long ago. It is a very old structure filled with intricate carvings and sculptures. It was a peaceful preserve on a small pond in the heart of the city. The compound is not in active use but is preserved as a tourist attraction.
Next we visited a Buddhist pagoda. This was located on a route through narrow streets that our tour bus could not negotiate. Our guided walk through the back streets of Haiphong was perhaps the most interesting part of the tour. The streets were lined with small storefronts. A whole other class of businesses used the space on the sidewalks. Any pedestrians, and there were very few, had to walk in the street dodging the ever present motor bikes. I saw chickens in cages. After making a sale, the seller butchered and plucked the chickens right on the street. The sidewalks were stained with chicken blood. All manner of meats and vegetables were displayed on mats set on the sidewalks. There was even a tradesman running metal cutting machinery using foot power right on the sidewalk. The Haiphong residents seem very entrepreneurial but very poor. They were, however, clean and reasonably well fed.
The Buddhist pagoda, when we finally got there, was clearly in current use. There were monks living there. Signage asked visitors not to go into their living and study areas. The parts of the shrine open to tourists were beautiful. There was also a sculpture garden with statues of famous Buddhist monks. We took lots of pictures. All too soon it was time to wend our way back through the busy streets.
Haiphong is clearly not as wealthy as Saigon. The buildings have a gray, little maintained look. Vietnam just celebrated the 80th birthday of the Communist Party. There were celebratory banners and lots of Vietnamese flags red with a yellow star, and Communist flags, red with a yellow hammer and sickle. Even though it was festive, it was not nearly as bright as Saigon. Our tour guide next took us to the park area in the center of town. For the holiday, there was an immense market set up along the edges of the park. Flowers decorated the streets. We walked, in the street again, past a four block long flower market. There were also displays of handicrafts and booths selling red and gold holiday ornaments. Balloon sellers were doing a brisk business selling large colorful animal shapes to the parents of small children. The most surprising sight in this area was a gas service station. All the cars pulling up to the pumps were luxury vehicles. We had to move out of the way of a young man in a new, shiny red Ferrari. I spotted a diamond encrusted watch on his wrist. I wondered if he was a Party official or a black marketeer.
It is worth mentioning that the only safe way to cross a street in a Vietnamese city is to wait for a small break in the motor bike packs and step out boldly. It's O.K. to stop if you are about to be run over, but never step back or someone will run into you from the rear. The bike riders only loosely follow any traffic rules. They go in any direction that suits them. There are traffic lights only on the main thoroughfares and those imperfectly obeyed.
When we returned on our own to this part of the city after lunch, I didn't feel nearly as safe and secure as I did while with the tourist group. We were the only westerners there. People were friendly and polite even though they spoke little English. There were fewer hawkers although on every block several old ladies tried to sell us trinkets. We walked in the direction opposite to that which we had taken in the formal tour. Within a block we came upon some military troops setting up a fireworks display for the Lunar New Year celebration. They had barricaded the area to keep the public out and were setting out the various pyrotechnics methodically. Not the Grucci Brothers. I hope rain didn't spoil the display on Monday.
It was starting to rain as we returned to the ship. In fact the Silver Whisper's planned poolside barbecue had to be moved indoors because it was pouring by dinner time. It was a metaphor for our whole Vietnam visit. Saigon and the south of Vietnam were hot and sunny. The north was cool and overcast. The south, while loosing the war is making progress and is increasingly prosperous. The north, after 80 years of Communism, is just starting to develop.
Our voyage would be over in another day. We had a sea day en route to Hong Kong. The day was spent packing and saying our goodbyes. Michael and I had dinner with the chief engineer on the last formal night the prior week. We had expressed interest in his job, and were invited to tour the engine room Saturday. The first engineer was delighted to show us the workings of the ship, especially when Michael engaged him in technical speak. See Michael's blog at http://cbu-sin.blogspot.com for a detailed explanation with pictures.
Sunday, February 14th was a VERY long day. It began at dawn with the sail into Hong Kong harbor. I would like to say that I have seen Hong Kong. Unfortunately, it was foggy and drizzly. The famous skyscrapers were visible for only a few stories before they were enveloped by the fog. Michael gave me an entertaining narration of what I would have seen had it been more clear. We disembarked and were bussed to the airport for a 12:40 flight to San Francisco. Following a twelve and a half hour flight we landed in the U.S. at 8:30 a.m. Sunday, February 14. We finally arrived in Boulder around 3:00 p.m.following another time zone change, or two and 20 minutes after we left Hong Kong!
Friday, February 19, 2010
Vietnam - Nha Trang & Chan May
The Highlights of the city and Cham Towers tour that we took was supposedly to visit a thousand year old Cham shrine and a recently built pagoda with a 30 foot high Buddha. Our tour spent about 20 to 30 minutes at each and then took us to a market, an embroidery factory followed by a stop at a brew pub cum souvenir stand for several hours of shopping opportunities.
The beach was beautiful. High rise hotels are going up everywhere, the highest being a half completed Sheraton. A lot of Western money is being put into resort development here.
The Po Nagar Cham Towers are unique relics. Four of eight original towers remain. They were built between the 7th and the 12th centuries. Each is a temple to a Cham god. They resemble Hindu temples. After climbing 70 steps to the temple plaza, we were rewarded with a wonderful view of the surrounding city and bay. A dance troupe was conveniently at hand and souvenir sellers had stalls about the edges of the plaza. The lunar new year, Tet, was the following weekend and lots and lots of pots of yellow chrysanthemums were for sale at the base of the tower property.
The drive to the long Son Pagoda took us through the back side of Nha Trang. Not as beautiful as the road along the beach, not as prosperous looking as downtown Saigon, it was nevertheless buzzing with activity. We even saw an operating passenger train. The tour guide warned us all against trying to climb up to the statue of the sitting Buddha in the near hundred degree heat, so of course, Michael took that as a challenge to make the climb. I followed more slowly. We encountered beggars and postcard sellers asking for "one dolla" all along the way. Halfway up the hill we found a reclining Buddha statue that was made of plaster covered concrete. The Buddha at the top had a steel supporting structure. The whole complex, including the pagoda was beautiful but new. I'm not sure if it is a functioning religious site or if it is, instead, a calculated tourist attraction.
The market was hot and noisy. The inevitable motor bikes were everywhere. There was a covered market building where the shops and stalls sold clothing, shoes, jewelry and watches for the tourist trade. The tented stalls around the outside were more interesting. I saw local produce I have never seen before as well as household furnishings and other items aimed at the locals.
The embroidery workshop was actually fascinating. It specializes in paintings stitched in silk. I had no idea that such skilled work was done in Vietnam. Upstairs we saw young girls learning the art. They were supervised by older women who were apparently teachers. Our tour group did not purchase much. Beautiful as the work was, it was expensive.
We were driven to a brew pub for refreshments. Our tour included a complimentary coconut with a straw and spoon. We were encouraged to have beer and food at our own expense and browse the souvenirs available. The most interesting aspect of all these shopping opportunities is that everything was priced in dollars. The Nha Trang residents seem to regard all tourists as piggy banks from whom they can get "dolla"'s. Other customers at the brew pub appeared to be speaking German. The resort city is attracting an international crowd.
The next day, Wednesday, February 10 we called at the port of Chan May. This is a new shipping port about halfway between the cities of Da Nang and Hue. The cruise line offered full day tours to both. Michael and I chose the "Streets of Hoi An" tour which included a stop in Da Nang to visit the Cham Museum there, a stop at a stone carver's village at Marble Mountain, a tour of Hoi An, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, lunch at an up scale Vietnamese restaurant and a stop at China Beach.
Docking at Chan May we were met with the spectacle of fisherman in coracles tending their nets much as they must have done for centuries. Our large modern cruise ship navigated between them to dock at a cargo port still under construction. After passing the gantlet of the usual dozen or so immigration/security soldiers we all boarded our buses for our respective tours. The road to the port was still under construction. The going was bumpy and we had to avoid cows sitting in the road. This was our first view of rural Vietnam. Lots of rice paddies and fish farms. Vietnam is the second largest exporter of rice after Thailand. There were also tree farms. Our guide told us that the government pays farmers to grow trees as a renewable source of lumber and pulp for paper. After a few miles we came to the main road, two lanes in this area, that runs from Saigon to Hanoi and on to China. We turned south toward Da Nang.
The Chinese recently lent Vietnam funds to build a tunnel under the mountain between Chan May and Da Nang. They hired a US firm to design it and a Japanese firm to build it. They built two tubes but only one is in use. The guide said the other was used for storage. It is a beautiful, modern tunnel through which the authorities do not allow motor bikes; traffic is limited to automobiles, trucks and buses. At either end the bikers ride in minivans and their motor bikes are trucked through. There is one lane in each direction. The traffic is not yet enough for a bigger road.
The Cham museum in Da Nang is larger than the history museum in Saigon. There are more artifacts but mostly in smaller pieces. The collections concentrate on relics from the Cham Civilization that flourished in central Vietnam from the 4th to the 14th centuries. The museum was founded by the French who funded the early excavations in the 1920's. Leaving Da Nang, we drove along historic China Beach. It was here that the French invaded in 1865 and a century later US troops landed in 1965. Ten years later in 1975 the fall of Da Nang was the beginning of the end of the Vietnam War. A number of our group were Vietnam Veterans who had fought here. For them the drive along the beach, and later our stop on the way back, was a very emotional experience. Today, the area is undergoing extensive resort development. Our guide said that many of the developments were for wealthy retired Japanese. The former US base is mostly just a large empty space with the shells of a few helicopter hangars still standing. I would not be surprised if it is also on the developer's agenda. A great deal has changed in forty plus years.
We detoured to a stone carver's village at Marble Mountain. Our guide didn't mention the caves, the religious sanctuaries or the war history of the place. Instead we were taken to a large yard and showroom for marble statues of all kinds. At one time there were 600 families living here involved in stone or marble carving. We passed streets of marble statues filling every yard, shed and shopfront. The government has forbidden marble quarrying in recent years and our guide said the stone now comes from the west of Vietnam. My reactions to this stop were mixed. Vietnam is obviously downplaying the war. Most of our guides were too young to remember it as anything more than history learned in school. They seem more interested in bragging about their industries, crafts and arts. The quality of the work was stunning. Good taste was another matter. For all the guide's expressed pride in the local craftsmen, the place had more of the feel of a museum than of a working enterprise. We saw no one actually carving anything. I suspect that the real carvers have left. We had heard repeatedly during our visit to the south of Vietnam that the Communist government confiscated all personal property when it conquered the south. There would have been no incentive for the carvers to stay during the ten or so years of economic chaos that followed. Private businesses have only been allowed since the 1990's. Today there are nice young ladies manning the showrooms. No one actually made a sales pitch. Some young men were hanging out in a tea room in the back. The didn't have the look of craftsmen. In fact, they didn't look as if they have done any work at all recently except, possibly, to wash and polish their motor bikes.
All this was a prelude to our visit to Hoi An, a beautifully restored, highly commercialized for tourists, historic Vietnamese community. Our tour featured a four hundred year old Japanese covered bridge, a visit to an historic home, a visit to a Chinese temple to the sea goddess, a silk factory tour and demonstration and lots and lots of time for shopping. Most of the old homes had front rooms that had been converted to stores selling clothing, art work, ceramics, restaurants, you name it. Most of the shops were very expensive. There were also many of street peddlers. Silk scarves were hawked at three for five "dolla."
We had a marvelous Vietnamese lunch at an expensive restaurant set on a river and planted with beautiful gardens. I think the staff and our tour guide were amazed when Michael asked for chopsticks for the two of us. He seemed to get a lot of respect after that.
Our bus drove along China Beach for miles and miles on our return to Da Nang. We stopped for a photo opportunity near some fishing boats. We crossed to the mainland over some very modern bridges and went back through the tunnel and on back the the Silver Whisper as the sun was setting. As the ship moved away from the dock, we saw the immigration officials wheel their security shack across the parking lot to a shed. It was probably the most work they had done that day. I much doubt that Chan May will be a sleepy port much longer. With the new roads and access to Da Nang and Hue as well as Hanoi and China it is an area ripe for development.
A note about restroom facilities. Fortunately I have read about travel in third world countries and came prepared. Many of our fellow female tourists did not expect to use holes in the floor, nor were prepared for lack of toilet paper and soap, let alone water for washing hands. Increasingly, in areas frequented by tourists there is at least one western style commode available in ladies toilets. It is a good idea to carry paper and hand sanitizer regardless. Our guide on this tour told us at each stop, "This is a two star restroom" or "This is a four star restroom " so we were forewarned. Most guides never mentioned it so each rest stop had the potential of being a surprise.
The Na Trang tour was something of a disappointment. The Chan May stop had so many interesting sights that I didn't much mind all the emphasis on shopping.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Vietnam Journeys, Saigon
I'm writing this Thursday, February 11 while it is still Wednesday evening in the U.S. One of the strange things we saw in Saigon (no one really calls it Ho Chi Minh City) was the Superbowl being received live on a large screen TV in the Vietnamese equivalent of a sports bar at 9 in the morning on Monday.
Whatever today's Vietnam is, it didn't meet any of my preconceptions. We approached the city from the Mekong Delta, making our way up the Saigon River as the sun rose on Sunday morning. There were mangrove and palmetto forests but there were also a lot of container shipping ports, oil refineries and cement plants. Intermixed with modern development were cobbled together wooden boats that were really motorized barges carrying rice, sand, flowers, melons and other things. The river twisted and turned. The city appeared in the distance to the front, then to the left, to the right and back. We gradually approached a city of older buildings being rapidly replaced with tall modern glass and steel. (We had tours every day - I'm finishing this account after returning home to Colorado.)
The Vietnamese government apparently believes that if one immigration officer can do the job, twelve or thirteen are even better. They have spiffy green uniforms. All appear to have at least four stars on their epaulets - they cant' possibly all be generals, can they? Most of them stood around watching the one officer who was actually doing something. I guess a socialist country has to ensure full employment and this is one of the ways they do. We finally disembarked after the immigration officers decided on a procedure. This entailed lengthy discussion amongst themselves and a cell phone call for guidance. They waited about ten minutes for an answer and then decided on their own to stamp our special visa documents and let us off the ship.
Michael and I had signed up for a basic tour of the city. The tour guide, a local, didn't give us any anti imperialist propaganda. He came across as up-beat and friendly. I had been concerned as Michael said that on his Vietnam visit fourteen years ago the tourists were subjected to incessant anti American speeches.
We visited the Rex Hotel, where western reporters hung out during the war. It's a modern, up-scale hotel today. On the other side of the same square we saw a yellow French Colonial building that our guide identified as the city hall. This is the historic Hotel de Ville, now officially, the People's Committee's Hall. No one ever calls it that. We then drove by the landmark Notre Dame Cathedral to the Post Office. The building is impressive. The Post Office was designed by the same Eiffel who designed the Eiffel Tower in Paris and was erected by the French. It looks something like an elegant train station. It was interesting to note that the phones in the public telephone booths had been replaced with desk set models and two of the phone booths had been converted to ATMs. Not what I expected in a Communist dictatorship. About the only overt signs of the Communist government were banners in all Vietnam's public squares proclaiming the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Vietnamese Communist Party.
Our next stop was the History Museum. On the way we passed by the War Remnants Museum. The guide, born after the Vietnam War, said that it was awaiting a new use as nobody was interested in old tanks any more. We passed the site of the former US embassy. There is a small US Consulate building; the old embassy building has been torn down.
The Museum of Vietnamese History was built in the French era. A beautiful French Colonial building houses exhibitions from the bronze age to the modern day. Our whirlwind tour hinted at the succession of civilizations that have inhabited the area. Michael and I were both impressed by the fact that Vietnam has been an occupied country or countries for most of its history. Our guide seemed most proud that the early Vietnamese defeated the Mongols by sinking the invaders' fleet with stakes below the water in the twelfth century. Other than that it would seem that their history is one of corrupt rulers, civil war and conquest by outsiders until the final victory of Ho Chi Minh in 1975.
Next we experienced a cyclo, also known as a tri-shaw or rickshaw ride to a lacquer factory. We each sat in a seat on the front of a three wheeled cycle. It was something else to be pedaled slowly through congested traffic of motor bikes, cars and trucks. I should have been frightened but I found it exhilarating weaving in and out of traffic. Saigon may have been quiet and sleepy a dozen years ago but it is now bustling with traffic. I had expected bicycles but they were rare. Our guide had mentioned that the cyclos were being phased out as new jobs were found for the men pedaling them. He told us that almost everyone has motor bikes. They are one of the few things that can be purchased on credit. The streets are thick with them. It was Sunday and traffic was a lot less than normal yet there was heavy congestion.
I'm sure the lacquer factory and later the Chinese market were the highlights of the tour from the point of view of the tour operator. A theme of all the tours in Vietnam was to allow multiple shopping opportunities. The lacquer factory produced exquisite work, even if it was a tourist trap. I purchased a small but beautifully made jewelry box. I paid in U.S. dollars. U.S. dollars are readily accepted throughout Vietnam. The inflation of the local currency, the dong, is so bad that hardly anyone uses the banks, there is a tremendous black market and even regular retail is often conducted with dollars. I'm pretty sure that one of the reasons the government is encouraging tourism is to get U.S. dollars, Euros and Chinese currency. Hawkers at all the tourist sites try to sell post cards and trinkets. Their cry is "One dolla, one dolla!"
From the lacquer factory we drove to Reunification Hall, the former presidential palace. It's first floor and basement are now a museum. A quick tour of the conference and dining rooms with a brief description of the events that lead to the end of the war from a decidedly non-western perspective, and we descended to the basement to view the war room and the ancient telecommunications equipment supposedly left by the Americans. Michael, who used 60's era ham equipment and knows this stuff well, said a lot of it was fake. The average age of the Vietnamese population is under 30 and not many are much interested in war relics. This set up was patently for the tourists.
Thien Hau Pagoda and Temple, while getting tourist revenue, is clearly a functioning Chinese temple. We entered the back way, through two adjoining buildings, and viewed this astonishing space filled with figurines and incense, dedicated to the Goddess protector of sailors.
Our tour concluded with a visit to Cholon, or Chinatown, the big market. We walked through a very crowded noisy market selling all manner of things. One thing hard to get used to was motorbikes driving everywhere. They were on the streets, on the sidewalks, even in the narrow passages between market stalls. Chinatown market in Singapore was somewhat similar but very reserved compared to Saigon. Here people haggled exuberantly. There appeared to be little order. Somehow people got where they needed to go and did what needed to be done despite the heat, noise and crowding.
We spent the evening on the ship's deck watching party boats leave and later return. There were a lot of them on Sunday night. Each was lit up fancifully. One was supposed to look like a shark with teeth painted in the front and fins painted on the stern,
They were floating restaurants. Some sailed with full tables, others with only a few patrons.
Monday we went on the shuttle bus by ourselves to downtown Saigon. We walked around a long block featuring an indoor mall and countless small shops. It was interesting to see noodle shops on every corner, sometimes several next to each other; each specializing in a different dish. Some of the shops were in store fronts. Others were ad hoc. The owners set up small plastic tables and stools on the sidewalk where patrons slurped noodles from inexpensive bowls. The meals were served from huge pots on the sidewalk, sometimes warmed by home made stoves made of cans. This occurred in the same block that had the sports bar with the 60 inch flat screen HDTV. There were electronics stores among the clothing boutiques.
I was also surprised by the number of small stores that had been converted into parking garages for motor bikes. The tiny garages were full. Bikes were parked on the sidewalk and into the street. The boulevard side of the block had larger stores and even an inside mall filled with merchandise aimed at tourists. I don't know how many stores sold $10 Rolexes and $7.00 Ralph Lauren Polo shirts. Certainly in the following days many Silver Shadow passengers sported them. A visit to the marble and glass lobby of the Rex hotel completed our trip to the city. I took lots and lots of pictures.
We spent the remainder of the afternoon on the ship watching the river traffic. Lunar New Year, Tet, was the coming Sunday. Small boats laden with fruit or flowers or small trees motored between the rice boats and freighters. Hydrofoil river taxis made their way up and down the river. Two small ferries crossed simultaneously in opposite directions every few minutes. They carried a lot of people with motor bikes. A lot of sand and earth was being moved by small boats. There is a project to build a tunnel under the Saigon River underway with cranes and barges in use.
We sailed out of Saigon just before dark Monday. I have great photos of the city turning into countryside. Again, the Vietnamese river villages were a surprise. Most had the look of small towns complete with streets and church spires. The buildings looked substantial. The population gradually thinned to the point where we saw only fishing shacks among the mangroves.
I have spent a lot of time on this Saigon entry. The city may be more vibrant than those in the north but the contrasts between backward and modern were apparent throughout the whole country. Everywhere the Vietnamese are reasonably well fed and well clothed. Most have cell phones and motor bikes. By any reasonable standards there is a growing middle class. The country is rebuilding, not so much from the war at this point as from the economic disasters of central planning and state confiscation of all private property. Much small business has been privatized. Yet it is still a dictatorship. New development projects are financed by joint ventures between the government and foreign firms. Individuals have no access to credit keeping private ventures small. It is definitely a work in progress.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Crossing the Equator, Singapore and a Happy Cat
The sea day between Java and Singapore was memorable because we crossed the equator just before sunset. I have included a picture of me pointing to where it should be in the water. One of the guests was so naive as to ask, "Is it marked?"
Singapore was hectic. We saw as much as anyone could in the two days we were there. Singapore is a city/state dictatorship where those who follow the rules are allowed to accumulate riches and influence while infractions of the rules are harshly punished. Its multi racial population is incredibly well behaved. We rode subways and buses that were often incredibly crowded. All the faces were young. Everything was unbelievably clean. No one pushed or shoved, lines moved very quickly and surveillance cameras were everywhere. Signs announced that there was a $500 fine for smoking, $1000 for chewing gum and $5000 for eating or drinking in the subway or its stations. Chewing gum can only be purchased in pharmacies by prescription. There are people everywhere, morning and night; on foot, in cars and on motorbikes. I have read science fiction stories set in futures where there are so many people that everyone lives in multistory high rises and there is very little open land. Singapore is getting there fast.
Michael has been to Singapore numerous times. He has noticed that the charming old neighborhoods are being rapidly torn down and replaced with modern concrete and glass buildings or Disneyland like replicas of the old neighborhoods in concrete with modern interiors behind traditional looking walls. We visited one neighborhood, the Gaylang District, where a walk down a side street of colorful old Malay style buildings revealed, when we looked through open doors, interiors gutted and being re purposed as shops with apartments above. When the remodeling is done, only cleaned up exteriors will remain from the original.
Little India was a fascinating mix of color and exotic odors from unfamiliar spices. We walked through neighborhood markets, past shops selling unusual goods and services (i.e. fortunetelling, massage for new mothers and many kinds of icons.) We came across a Hindu temple with rows and rows of shoes by the door. We passed a brightly colored building that was, of all things, a medical clinic. There were restaurants on every street. Michael said that it really looked like India except for the cleanliness, pleasant odors, lack of cows in the street and no beggars.
A few streets away from Little India we visited what Michael remembered as a huge open air food court. The food court had moved inside; it occupied the ground floor of a large new office building. Outside was an open air market filled with lots of trinkets for the upcoming Chinese New Year. The food court featured a hundred or so little food stands, each featuring one type of food item. Noodles were big sellers as was rice. There were shops for roast chicken and duck. Stands sold soft drinks, at least one sold tea from huge brass urns. Numerous varieties of oriental delicacies were for sale. Fish head stew seemed popular. People purchased the various parts of a meal from several stalls and took them to one of the hundreds of tables scattered throughout the area. Signs at each stall read "self service." We interpreted that to mean that a patron needed to make his purchases at each shop and carry them to a table him or herself. There was no wait staff.
Michael craved a bowl of Vietnamese Pho but I was not yet hungry so we pressed on. After an underground/above ground metro trip to Gaylang where the food, undoubtedly authentic, didn't look quite as appetizing, we headed back to the central business district for lunch at the harbor area. There were lots and lots of tents set up along the inner harbor. We walked among them until we found a place that sold authentic Vietnamese food. We each had a bowl of noodles. Mine was a rich soup with wonderful pork dumplings, while Michael's was much more dry, more like a pasta dish with unique oriental spices. They both went well with a cold Tiger beer, the local variety.
After lunch, we walked across a scenic bridge and visited the world famous Raffles Hotel. It appeared to have been entirely turned into an up scale shopping mall. That's in addition to the modern, three story enclosed shopping mall by the name of Raffles Center on the next block. We made the long trek upstairs to the rebuilt "Long Bar," neither long nor original, and headed back to the metro. We made a short stop in Chinatown before returning to our ship to rest before our evening trip to the Night Safari, a zoo seen by night. We later learned that there is still a Raffles Hotel located behind the original. We met a couple who had stayed there and said that their rooms were wonderful.
We headed out again as dusk approached. This was no simple undertaking. A difficulty with Singapore is that we had to present our passports, ship identification cards and transit visas every time we exited or returned to the ship. Plus we had to go through airport type security with backpack, hand bag etc x-rays and walk through metal detectors. At least they did not make us take off our shoes!
The Night Safari at the Singapore zoo is something special. The zoo is dimly lit. Spectators can see and the animals still think it is night. We took a tram through various habitats stocked with animals, many of whom are supposed to be active at night. Animals like the tigers were mostly sleeping, not surprising as cats sleep about 20 hours per day. We did see some hippos and elephants that were awake as well as many kinds of deer. The most active was an anteater mother walking with her baby on her back. There were a few shows at the entrance area and we could have walked around various paths by ourselves. It was getting late so we decided to take a taxi back to the port.
Friday, February 5th, we returned to Chinatown. I purchased some scarves and Michael purchased a solar powered lucky cat. This is a yellow cat statue with Chinese writing on it and an arm that waves back and forth. It is supposed to bring good luck to your home. Chinatown was impressive. It was a little over a week until the Chinese new year celebration. The market was filled with decorations and specialty foods for the occasion. We saw hundreds of preschoolers walking in neat lines through the stalls while their teachers explained the cultural significance of the food and objects displayed. Michael wanted to show me a Hindu temple that he remembered as spectacular. After searching several areas, I suggested that a temple building shrouded in canvas might be the place. We inspected it closely and, sure enough it was the place we had been looking for. One of the worshipers there told us that it was being refurbished in time for a big celebration in April. I will have to look at Michael's pictures when we get home to see what it really looks like.
I got the feeling that I had really seen Singapore after we took a subway/above ground ride around the island. The metro is above ground outside the central business district. We were able to see miles and miles of residential districts, commercial/industrial areas and even got a glimpse into Malaysia as the tram passed close to the border at the northern end of Singapore.
Our visit to Singapore concluded with a visit to the old harbor area. It was a disappointment even though it has been spectacularly redeveloped. The modern glass and steel highrises have entirely replaced what Michael remembered as a beautiful park like area.
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