Spring 2015 - Day 43 and 44: Singapore

I met everyone for breakfast right before they started calling seas to go to the Union to pick up their passports. We got off the ship as soon as everyone was ready. There was a lot of us: Me, Jessi, Annie, Jen, Andi, Katelyn, Brittany, Maddie, and Phillip. 

 

The terminal that the ship was in was both connected to the metro and to a huge mall. We made note of the mall for later. 

 

We had gone to the ATM before going to get tickets for the metro. But the ticket machine did not accept large bills. So Phillip and I get in line at one of the counters to have our large bills broken. While standing in line we saw a sign that advertised a one day pass. It was 20 dollars and seemed like it would be worth it. When we got up to the front the guy told us we had to buy the day passes over at another window. So we walked over there. While standing in line at that window I decided that I wasn't going to ride the metro enough to need a day pass so when I got up to the window I just asked her to break my bill and she told me that only the window I had just come from could do that.

 

So I had to go back and stand in the other line again. It was turning out to be a long process to get metro tickets. 

 

That was definitely a sign of what the rest of the morning was going to be like. It ended up taking forever to get to the zoo. Two hours, two metro rides, and one bus ride later, we finally made it. 

 

The zoo was cool. Actually, it was huge. Like, really, really, huge. We saw otters, pigmy hippos, many different kinds of monkeys, a very sad looking polar bear, a white tiger, some warthogs and some meerkats (Timon and Pumbaa!!), asian elephants, lions, giraffes, even more monkeys, a cheetah, and a komodo dragon. They also had the largest colony of captive orangutans in the world. 

 

Now, let me tell you, I love orangutans. Recently they have become my favorite animal. It happened gradually and I couldn't figure out why I liked them so much until I had a flashback. Back on my last voyage Marie, Molly, and I went to the Salvador zoo while we were in Brazil. We walking through the zoo when suddenly Marie goes, "Ooooo look, orangutans!" 

 

She was pointing at some tiny black monkeys with long skinny tails. Molly and I were both like, "Marie! Those are not orangutans!" She had not idea what an orangutan looked like. We nearly died from laughter and as soon as we could we showed her many pictures of orangutans. So that memory coupled with the fact that they are awesome animals had made me love orangutans. Also, their babies are really cute. 

 

But don't everyone go buying me orangutan things, it isn't that serious. I just like to stare at them when I am at the zoo, and take lots of pictures. Which I did with these orangutans, and there were tons of babies. It was my favorite part of the zoo. 

 

My other favorite part of the zoo was that when we went to see the lions they were slingshotting the lions pieces of raw meat. It was ferocious to see them catch it in their mouths and get all worked up. That was pretty cool. 

 

I ate lunch at the zoo and opted just for chicken nuggets because the rest of the food options were extremely weird. I wasn't feeling brave when it came to trying

new foods so I took the easy way out. It was worth it. 

 

We left the zoo around 3 and once we got back to the terminal we went into the mall and shopped for a while. We also got Subway for dinner, which was extremely delicious. 

 

Back on the ship we all took naps and then met at 9 to go out. There is a really fancy hotel called the Marina Bay Sands in the Marina Bay district of the city. A lot of students dropped hundreds of dollars to stay there the one night. We were sleeping on the ship but we wanted to go to the hotel because there was a huge infinity pool on the roof that we wanted to see and a bar we wanted to go to. We got a taxi that would fit all of us and got to the hotel pretty quickly. 

 

The hotel was huge. It's three completely separate towers connected only on very top and very bottom. Once we got there and I saw it I realized that it had been featured in an episode of The Amazing Race that I had watched with my mom. The contestants on the show had to tight rope walk between two towers all the way at the top. Not something I really want to try. 

 

We asked at the concierge desk about the bar were directed down to the very end of the first floor. He also told us that they had a dress code and flip flops or sandals were not allowed. I was the only one not wearing heels and so potentially would be the only one not allowed in. 

 

It ended up not being an issue, I wasn't even stopped. We were given a restaurant pass and then directed up a separate set of elevators. The elevators took us up to the 55th floor, the very top. 

 

The Sky Bar was amazing. Absolutely incredible. It gave us a 360 degree view of the city and the river. The drinks at the bar were expensive, one set me back 24 Singapore dollars, which was about 18 USD. The drink I got was called a Columbus. It had Tahitian limes, Madagascar vanilla, tropical pineapple, Spanish oranges, vodka, and sage. It was absolutely delicious. 

 

I thought it was totally worth the 24 dollars I spent on it. The whole experience of being at the Sky Bar was worth it. 

 

Once we had all finished our drinks we walked down the top floor a little to look at the infinity pool and see what else was up there. The infinity pool was incredible. Someday I need to stay at that hotel just so that I can go in that infinity pool. While we were looking at it I became jealous of the people that paid for a room and were able to go in it. 

 

That jealously did not last long when we couldn't figure out where other SASers were or what was going on. There was apparently a club at the top of the hotel called Pangea but when we asked about it they said it was not open. So we went back down to the lobby and spent way too long trying to reconnect with the part of the group we had lost. 

 

It took so long to figure out where we were going next that the excitement and high of being up at the Sky Bar wore off and we all became irritated and tired. 

 

The concierge, Mike, gave us the name of a good street to go to called Clarke Quay. He also called us a cab. 

 

Clarke Quay was a lively place. One of the clubs must have been new because it was being really heavily promoted. It was good for us because we were able to get in for free but it was annoying because so many people came up to us on the street. Even when we left the club we were asked about the club. It was obnoxious. 

 

Even when we were at Clarke Quay we struggled to meet back up with the other part of our group. When we finally did I took Jen and Maddie to the bathroom and we ended up in another bar talking to some guys from New York and Dubai so we were again separated from the group. Jessi didn't know where I had gone and I had her passport so she spent a while trying to find me. Once she did the night was over. It was time to go home. 

 

We caught a cab back to the terminal. The terminal itself, which was mostly the mall, was all closed down for the night. It was challenging to make our way to back into the terminal and find the correct place to get on the ship. But we managed. 

 

Jessi immediately got back on the ship but the wifi was working really well in the terminal since there was no one there so I sat out there and used my phone for a very long time. I ended up getting back on the ship at 3am. The only thing that pulled me away was that I really had to pee, I wasn't even that tired. 

 

Back in my room Stephanie was already asleep so I just crashed. 

 

The next morning I dragged myself out of bed at 11 and met Jessi, Maddie and Annie for lunch. We then gathered up our computers and went out into the terminal to get wifi. 

 

We sat there until almost 2pm and then walked around the mall. Maddie and I took Jessi and Annie to a store we had been to the day before called Cotton On. We also went into a really cool store called Typo. They had fun stationary, notebooks, journals, greeting cards, and other random cool stuff. I bought a passport holder there! 

 

We went back to the ship around 3. They had changed on ship time from 6pm to 5pm. We were smart to go back when we did because the line was already fairly long.

 

While standing in line we learned that Burma had just entered a state of emergency. Burma is the next place we will be going. Someone posted an article in the voyage Facebook group about it but it wouldn't really load so it wasn't clear what was going on.

 

 Then, during the dinner announcement, they addressed it, telling us that at this time they anticipated no significant changes but would keep us updated.

 

So it looks like there is a chance we wouldn't go to Burma. 

 

Singapore was a short and sweet port but that was all it needed to be. There isn't all that much to do in Singapore besides eat and shop, two things that we did accomplish. I would go back just to stay in the Marina Bay Sands and maybe go to the Universal Studios that is there. Besides that there isn't really much else to do there. But the time that we had there was fun and I am glad that we went.