March 14 Singapore
For those of you keeping score at home, we have traveled across 13 time zones since we left Miami. We have moved our clocks forward a total of 13 hours, but since you just initiated DST, we're exactly 12 hours ahead of EDT. There will be some more back and forths in the next couple of weeks, but we won't have any 3 hours in 5 days until we leave Hawaii.
Also, if you're disappointed in the paucity of prose in these blog entries, you can visit http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2295322 where Cynthia has been writing novel length discussions of each of our days ashore. Since that bulletin board is aimed at those interested in cruising, the entries contain lots of information on the ship, the port, the tours and the minutiae of cruising life. So if you want to know how to get from the Singapore Cruise Terminal to the MRT line, definitely read those posts.
Now to Singapore. An overnight stay in one of the jewels of Southeast Asia. And the end of the 39-day segment that began in Cape Town. We have learned that we are getting more than 400 new passengers aboard. And a lot of people that had become friends are departing -- some because they had only booked the Cape Town cruise, others because they were finishing their own Around The World Cruise.
In January 2015 Insignia had been scheduled to begin a World Cruise very similar to the one we're on. But an engine fire in December 2014 laid up the ship for more than 2 months so the world cruise couldn't start. People on that cruise, refugees as we know them, had two choices. 1) Postpone until 2016. We have many friends aboard in that category. 2) Start in Singapore in 2015, cruise to Miami, then resume in Miami in 2016 and finish up in Singapore. We met Linda who was doing (2) along with her mother. She described this 71-day cruise as "starting what she had finished". We'll be sorry to see them go.
For our first day we chose the ship's excursion that offered the greatest WWII content since we're both students of that war. Singapore was to have played an important role in the defense of the British Empire since it sits astride one of the very heavily trafficked sea lanes. But the Japanese outwitted the British and took the island very quickly. So the story isn't a long one, but it is interesting.
First stop was the Tiong Bahru "wet" market. It was Monday and pretty empty. There were some stalls open.
Even early in the morning, a number of vendors were selling breakfast. The entire second floor of the market is one big food court. Looks like a place Tony Bourdain would visit.
We didn't litter. But I'm not sure if we touted or not.
On to a huge Hindu temple in Indiatown.
Cemetery honoring the people who died in the defense of Singapore and in the prisons established by the Japanese.
Lunch was at a country club with a Chinese meal served family style.
The Changi Chapel and Museum, devoted to the Changi prison during the Japanese occupation of Singapore.
Why haven't I seen this in the US?
For those of you keeping score at home, we have traveled across 13 time zones since we left Miami. We have moved our clocks forward a total of 13 hours, but since you just initiated DST, we're exactly 12 hours ahead of EDT. There will be some more back and forths in the next couple of weeks, but we won't have any 3 hours in 5 days until we leave Hawaii.
Also, if you're disappointed in the paucity of prose in these blog entries, you can visit http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2295322 where Cynthia has been writing novel length discussions of each of our days ashore. Since that bulletin board is aimed at those interested in cruising, the entries contain lots of information on the ship, the port, the tours and the minutiae of cruising life. So if you want to know how to get from the Singapore Cruise Terminal to the MRT line, definitely read those posts.
Now to Singapore. An overnight stay in one of the jewels of Southeast Asia. And the end of the 39-day segment that began in Cape Town. We have learned that we are getting more than 400 new passengers aboard. And a lot of people that had become friends are departing -- some because they had only booked the Cape Town cruise, others because they were finishing their own Around The World Cruise.
In January 2015 Insignia had been scheduled to begin a World Cruise very similar to the one we're on. But an engine fire in December 2014 laid up the ship for more than 2 months so the world cruise couldn't start. People on that cruise, refugees as we know them, had two choices. 1) Postpone until 2016. We have many friends aboard in that category. 2) Start in Singapore in 2015, cruise to Miami, then resume in Miami in 2016 and finish up in Singapore. We met Linda who was doing (2) along with her mother. She described this 71-day cruise as "starting what she had finished". We'll be sorry to see them go.
For our first day we chose the ship's excursion that offered the greatest WWII content since we're both students of that war. Singapore was to have played an important role in the defense of the British Empire since it sits astride one of the very heavily trafficked sea lanes. But the Japanese outwitted the British and took the island very quickly. So the story isn't a long one, but it is interesting.
First stop was the Tiong Bahru "wet" market. It was Monday and pretty empty. There were some stalls open.
On to a huge Hindu temple in Indiatown.
Lunch was at a country club with a Chinese meal served family style.
2 comments:
My husband had better not see that 2fer sale ;-) An interesting first day in Singapore such diversity between the modern and the traditional in the three posts about Singapore. Thanks to you both for maintaining the blog and the CC thread ... I am getting all kinds of information for next year.
Erin-
glad you're enjoying the blog and CCthreads. Comments such as yours keep us doing the postings. If there is anything specific you want to know, drop us a line.
We also take pictures of a small stuffed pelican having exciting adventures at the ports of call and send them to our munchkin. It's our way of making travel seem fun for even the smallest person!
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