The fabulous East

 

We arrived in Singapore on Friday - August 1, 2014 and stayed at the Ritz Carlton. The room had a great view of the sea and we could see a huge stage where the rehearsal for Singapore’s 49th year celebrations were supposed to take place after a week.

Singapore has a population of 5.4 million, roughly distributed between 60% Chinese, 30% Malaysians and 10% Indians. Surprisingly, Singapore does not have native locals. It was an abandoned island under Malaysia. The main religions are Chinese Hindu, Christians, Muslims and lastly, Indian Hindu.

 

How Singapore got its name has various interpretations but here is a story I heard from a cab driver and some other locals. Singapore was called Temasek when it was under Malaysia. A Sumatran or Indonesian prince (each one has their own version) went to the abandoned island for hunting and when they sat down to rest, he saw a group of lions. Singa means lion and Pora means together. That’s where the name Singapore came from. In the history of Malaysia, there is no record that there were lions in the region, so the animals in the story were probably tigers.

During the World War II, the British occupied Singapore and they stayed on for around five years, after which the country gained independence in 1965.

 

On the second day, we went to have a look around the famous Orchid street which is occupied by many malls and shops. It’s a great place for shopping or even simply walking around, but I think brands are cheaper in Dubai.

After enjoying a hearty lunch, I headed back to the hotel from where we went for a walk straight away to see what’s around the place and we ended up in the Arab town. Apparently there are three towns - Arab, Indian and Chinese. The Arab town has a nice mosque, coffee shops, sheesha and a few restaurants and bars around it.

In 1819 Sir Stamford Raffles was appointed to create a trading hub for Britain as trade was expanding with India. In 1965, full independence granted to Singapore with Yosof bin Ishak swearing in as its first President and Lee Kuan Yu the Prime Minister.

 

The third day, we spent all day at the Zoo and then went for the night safari and contrary to expectations, it was not anything special - just a couple of good shows.

 

On day 4, we started the morning visiting the Marina Bay Sands Hotel for a swim in the hanging pool. After the swim, we visited the huge mall in front of it - a great place to walk around, after which, we visited the gardens where they have two huge green houses. It was nice and cool in the inside, and we saw plants from all over the world, especially the tropical variety. One green house is called the flower dome and the other one, cloud forest. The flower dome had all types of tropical flowers and cloud forest has a man made water fall. We loved every moment inside the green houses. I assume they have sixteen types of huge poles which are called super trees and they have plants planted on them and bridges from one to another which you can walk on.

After that, we moved to Orchid road for a while and then on to Clark Quay, for a walk and dinner.

 

On the fifth day, we explored the Santosa Island where they have Universal Studios, a couple of touristic places and a hotel. The whole day was spent at Universal Studios. The water world was the best, almost like a live movie.

 

On day six, we visited the garden bay again and then Orchid Street.

 

Day 7 we had to catch a flight to Hong Kong.

At Hong Kong, we checked in to the Hotel Intercontinental and the first day was dedicated to complete rest. 

 

On day two, we went to Disney Hong Kong in the morning. It was a pretty hot day. Next time, we will definitely check the weather first.

After we got back from Disney, we had lunch and walked to the night market at  Temple street. After that, we walked to the ladies market - no they don’t sell ladies there – from where we walked for more than an hour back to the hotel. 

The total population of Hong Kong was a bit over 7.2 million in 2013. But in 2008, the population was just around 1.3 million, reflecting a huge increase in numbers. In my opinion, that is overpopulation. Hong Kong is around 7.2 million in 426 sqm. The city consists of over 260 Islands - the three main parts are Hong Kong island, Kowloon and the new territories.

Hong Kong was a British colony from 1842 to 1997. The negatives are a few, for example, it had the worst taxi driving I have ever experienced and to make it worse, the smell around the city was not very pleasant.

 

The next day, we went to the Poline monastery where a huge Buddha is seated. You can either go up hiking or by telefrike. It’s a nice place to go up for a day.

Then we went to Time Square, which is in Hong Kong island, a nice place to go walk around and shop. I think all Hong is just a huge market.

 

On Sunday, checked out the bird market, which turned out to be just a couple of bird shops. Later, went to the plant market –  both of them are not waw but a pleasant place to walk around and explore. Them walked around town and markets for couple of hours.

 

On Monday we took an hour-long ferry to Macau. Big mistake that we had many luggage’s we had to travel light, as there was a couple of stairs and no porters.

Visa is required to travel to Macau. We stayed at the Venetian hotel, a lovely hotel with a mall attached to it. After checking in, we enquired about what all could be done in the city. All we got was casinos - Macau is called Las Vegas of Asia. Unfortunately, the shows were not on as they were on a two day break, which they take every week.

 

On day two, decided to explore Macau thoroughly. The city is actually nice to spend 2 or 3 days. It’s all Chinese with a touch of Portuguese. Although it has been marketed the land of Casinos, there is a lot of history and culture attached to the city.

I visited the Taipa houses museum which is walking distance from the hotel, nice walk and to see around. The Museum showcases the Portuguese life in Macau. Probably it was Gorge Alvares in 1513 who came to Macau first but it was not until 1553 - 1557 that the Portuguese succeeded in setting foot on Macau and established a settlement. China wanted it back in 1999. The Chinese version of the story is that the island was rented out and the Portuguese version is that the Chinese wanted them to protect them front pirates (info from the Museum).

From here, took a cab to Senado square, a nice place to walk around. Walked in to St. Dominic’s church, which was built in 1587 with wood. Afterwards walked to the ruins of St. Paul’s. This church was established in 1580 and suffered two fires in 1595 and 1601 then reconstructed in 1602. In 1835, it suffered its third fire where it almost perished completely. The only remaining structure was the main facade and foundation – hence the name St. Paul’s ruins.

Like I said, the place was very pleasant to walk around, but taxis were impossible to find and the queues were ridiculous. I had to pay a cab extra to take me. People generally were rude and have no sense of a hospitable attitude.

 

Later, past midnight, we headed to Phuket and didn’t do much on the first day. we just stayed in and looked around the Angsana hotel which in around 40 min from Potange beach. It was a nice property and there were a couple of hotels next to each other on the beach.

 

On the second day, we went elephant riding through the jungle, shooting and buggying through the forest all in one place - around 20 minutes from the hotel. Following this adventure, we visited the tiger sanctuary we you enter the tigers enclosures from the youngest to the eldest.

 

On the third day in Phuket we embarked on a private boat journey island hoping  (Phi phi island). The sea was rough, but the beautiful scenery was worth the ride. Later we went to Potang Street to walk around.

Over the next two days, I stayed in the hotel most of the time, recuperating from all the walking, however, I couldn’t resist a walk down again to Potang beach.

 

We booked our trips from a local person - a holiday booth on the beach next to hotel. But the military were taking all local booths down, as it was a new rule, so that the hotels will make more money.

Soon it was time to leave Phuket for Bangkok, a 1.5 hour journey.  

Arriving in Bangkok, we checked in to Kempinski and didn’t do much on the first day and just spent time figuring out what’s what.

 

On the second day in Bangkok, we went to Nana road where there were many cheap articles. But one had to bargain a lot and it was stuffy and smelly. We then went to the night market. The hotel was next door to the Siam center and a walking distance to MBK.

 

On day three, visited the grand palace by boat then went to MBK.

Like Hong Kong, Bangkok is just one big market, but experience was enjoyable nevertheless.