Day 60

March 23, 2109 – Singapore

We had another surprise last night. Our daily program says all aboard at 4 pm, muster drill at 4:15 pm. Those who do not participate in the drill cannot cruise. Inside the program it says all aboard at 5:30 (the time given yesterday)

I went to see Hamish. He had the same surprised look that he had last time this happened. His response was “haven’t we had this conversation before?”. He wasn’t going any further with the conversation in front of his colleagues.

I was sure the ship would still be here but I didn’t want the hassle of missing another drill. The fine print in the contract gives them rights to do just about anything.

We had breakfast, grabbed our backpacks and headed out to see Danny.

Another beautiful day in Singapore. Hot and humid already. The subway system is extremely clean and air-conditioned. It is all automated. No driver aboard the trains. No one going through the doors at the last minute. A guaranteed fine if one does that. Everyone is very polite and people offer seats to the elderly and gladly stand.

We arrived at the tailor and gave Danny the news. Shipping was not a problem but fitting was. He offered to meet us at the pier and drop off the suits but I still wanted to try them on. I told him I would be back at his shop at 4, Terri would go back aboard and I would at least have some communication with the ship. If I missed the ship, I would have to stay in Singapore for 3 days and then fly to Sri Lanka.

We spent a little more time visiting some nearby shops where Terri bought some of the wildest clothes I have ever seen. Coat, vest and skirt all made in Nepal. I had a great time watching Terri model clothes from this store.

There was a Chinese Heritage Festival in China Town. It didn’t appear to be something we wanted to stand in this heat for so we headed to the subway.

We decided to visit the indoor “Gardens by The Bay”. This photo shows the domes of our destination in the lower right corner.

The Gardens by the Bay was off of a different subway line and we made a change at the Doby Ghat station. We were a bit confused after getting off at one station and a gentlemen from a tourist office offered to help us. He also offered to sell us tickets to the dome. It was Saturday and the queue at the dome to buy tickets would be long. Buy them from him and we would avoid the line. We agreed. It was noon and we decided to have lunch. He pointed out a food court in the station. In Singapore, these are called “Hawker Centres”. Cheap, good food.

Although English is one of the four official languages (English, Malay, Mandarin, Tamil), the folks at this Hawker spoke mainly Mandarin. We had to order by pointing. We had chicken, rice, and a coke to drink. Food was great. No napkins but real plates and silverware. A straw was the only thing to throw away. Here we are, eating in a subway station and the hawker station was as clean as any restaurant above.

Off to the Gardens by the Bay. Walking out of the station was a blast of hot, humid air. We had a bit of a walk to do and it was hot. We knew that the gardens would be cool inside.

The Cherry Blossoms were blooming.

What a great place to spend a hot Saturday afternoon. Many families here. There are two domes, the Flower Dome and Cloud Forest. This is us in the Flower Dome.

Lots to see and quite crowded. People taking multiple takes of themselves in front of flowers was a bit irritating but it was nice and cool and beautiful. About 30 minutes in this dome and on to the next.

In the Cloud Forest, visitors are greeted with this huge waterfall.

The walkway above is where we will start. Elevator up, walkway down.

Out of the windows, the “trees” from last evening’s light show.

A great experience here and a nice way to spend a few hours.

Back to the subway I snapped this photo of the Marina Bay Sands hotel we toured last night. Unbelievable architecture.

We decided to head back to the tailor. Something told me he was going to accelerate the process. We walked in about 2 pm and he said “good news, your suits are done”.

I tried on the shirt first. Perfect fit. Very high quality. 100% Egyptian cotton. Pants next. Fit like a glove. All of the pants were the same so I needed to try on only one pair. Jacket next. It looked and felt great but Terri noticed a that it didn’t hang right on one side. Danny assured us that a pressing would take care of it. I tried on all 3 coats and they hung the same. Danny called in his tailor and he made some markings. Unfortunately the jackets would have to be mailed.

We headed back toward the ship. Last stop was the duty free wine shop. Singapore was one of the stops where we could bring wine aboard without the $18 corkage fee. We made it through the subway station. I took the subway tickets back for our $10 a piece deposit and Terri went to the duty free shop. We met up a bit later and realized that that the shop was a level below and we had already gone through customs. We decided I would take all of the bags, Terri would go back through customs, down to the duty free shop, back through customs, and back to the ship.

We met about 15 mins later and were able to make the mandatory drill. What a day!

The Lido had a special dinner with local food. We enjoyed that and collapsed back in our rooms.