The Adventure Begins

Thursday, October 17, 2024

The Coral Princess has spent the last three weeks in dry-dock in Singapore. Today she will return to service with around 1970 passengers and 900 crew members.

Boarding our ship, scheduled for this morning, has been delayed until late afternoon to allow food and other cargo to be loaded. Good. We will have time to move slowly today. After one final run to a drugstore, we returned to our hotel and packed our bags. While packing we tried to predict what we might want as soon as we board, in case our luggage is not delivered to our room before dinner. In addition to my electronics, I packed one nice casual outfit in my carry-on. That turned out to be the right move, as our luggage was indeed slow to arrive in our room. What a relief to know that we won’t have to worry about our luggage for quite a while after today.

We were invited to hang out in the executive lounge while we waited until boarding time. We really loved our stay at the Conrad Centennial. They took such good care of us. 

Boarding was relatively painless. The terminal was not crowded at all. Our room was ready for us and we found lots of paper there to go through: changes to tours, changes to ports, welcome letter, port schedule, list of daily specials in the buffet, invitations, and a gift from Debbie, our wonderful travel agent.

We ate dinner at Sabatini’s. It’s the Italian specialty restaurant onboard. It wasn’t very busy. We appreciated the quiet and the good service.

Dessert: A light, fresh zabaglione

We sailed away during dinner.

Goodbye, Singapore

Friday, October 18, 2024

Our first full day was a sea day. We love the sea days. They are so relaxing.

Some of the passengers participated in an online discussion group prior to the cruise through a website called “Cruise Critic.” There was a meeting for the Cruise Critic folks this morning and a number of the senior officers attended. After they introduced themselves and explained their duties, we had a Q & A. There was a lot of interest in the dry-dock. This was not a routine dry-dock and it was longer than most. We learned that the purpose of the dry-dock was to modify the ship to comply with the ADA - Americans with Disabilities Act. I was amazed at thescope of the project. They upgraded several cabins - made the entrances wider, upgraded the bathrooms for wheelchair access, added doorbells and automatic doors, etc. Changes were also made in the public areas. Wheelchair lifts were added in the theater, the gangway, and the pool. The bars were even modified for better wheelchair access.

Tonight was “Formal Night.” Nobody (or very few people) get dressed up on formal nights these days. But it is nice when people make an effort to look nice.  People were less dressed up than we normally see in the Caribbean. Since this cruise involved much longer flights than usual, people tended to bring less in the way of dressy clothing. However, Princess tried to make it nice with a champagne welcome aboard event, a nicer dinner menu, and a production show. The show was called Spectacular, and it was one we had not seen before. It was ok, but not especially spectacular.

Shabbat shalom!

Today’s fabric is bamboo woven upholstery fabric in coral, from FabricGuru.com. In recent years, technologies have been developed that allow bamboo fiber to be used for a wide range of textile applications (Thank you, Wikipedia). Bamboo fabric is soft and absorbent. It is claimed to be eco-friendly, though there is some controversy about this.

Gardenscapes

Wednesday, October 16, 2024

Of course we had to go back and explore Gardens by the Bay and the mysterious, exotic domes looming over the shoreline behind the towers of Marina Bay Sands. Gardens by the Bay is rated #8 among the Top Attractions in the World by Tripadvisor Travellers’ Choice Awards 2024. How could we be here in Singapore without going to see something so special?

There are two domes - the Flower Dome and the Cloud Forest. The Supertrees are also part of the Gardens by the Bay, but the Supertrees are outdoors and you do not have to buy a ticket for them or for any of the outdoor walking paths.

We started in the Flower Dome, as most visitors do. There is so much to look at! Everything was well-tended and clean. A lot of thought had gone into the design of the plant beds, the walking paths, and the embellishments. We started out with a fabulous exhibit of striking, showy succulents. Some were just plain weird.

Sculpture by Yayoi Kusama. We visited her museum in Tokyo in 2023.

Characters from “Alice in Wonderland” could be spotted here and there

Moving into the next zone, we began to descend to the ground level (having entered on an upstairs level).  We passed through areas that suggested Africa and Australia (and the Hundred Acre Wood).       

Gorgeous oversized flowers made of gauze and wire signaled the beginning of the floral zone

More gauze flowers

One more photo of gauze flowers

An immersive Monet exhibit was located in the central core of the Flower Dome. 

Upon entering the Cloud Forest dome we found ourselves surrounded by vibrant orchids and other lush plants from the humid jungle.

The walkways wind around behind the waterfalls, stretch out into the air, and let you lose yourself in this magical cloud forest.

We spent a good part of the day at the domes. It left us in awe of the beauty, variety, and complexity of plant life. It was a delightful escape from the busy life of the city.

Today’s fabric is Caladiums - Dark by Phillip Jacobs for Kaffe Fassett Collective.

Chinatown

Tuesday, October 15, 2024

We will be touring Chinatown this afternoon, but we had free time in the morning, so we went to a mall nearby to buy some toiletries. On the way back we decided to look for a Geocache. We had planned to go yesterday, but it was raining too hard. The cache was located in the vicinity of a Cenotaph commemorating WWI soldiers from Singapore.

The site was blocked off by a construction fence, but we walked around the large tract that was fenced off and saw traffic passing through on the far side, so we went all the way around and were able to access the cenotaph. Unfortunately, I hadn’t taken my phone with me, so I was not able to find the actual cache. Too bad. It was an Earth Cache and it required answers to certain geology questions. I wanted to find it. I even brought a geologist with me. However, the rain and the fence and the other circumstances wore me down. But I was able to find a cache at a nearby church, so I found my first cache after an 11-year caching hiatus.

On the way back to our hotel we passed the historic Raffles hotel, where the cocktail called the Singapore Sling was invented - and where you can have one today for a mere S$37.

Chinatown

Our final Free Walking Tour was with Pamela and her super-friendly smile. She is knowledgable and energetic, and we enjoyed touring with her again.

Singapore’s large Chinatown has its roots in the 1822 decision of Sir Stamford Raffles, the founder of modern Singapore, to create different neighborhoods for various ethnic groups. While Raffles’ plan was probably motivated by racism, it was helpful for recent migrants to be able to live near their own markets and temples and their landsmen (people from the same region).

Within three decades of its founding, Chinatown became known for opium dens, brothels, and gambling. “Coolie houses, ” packed with unskilled laborers newly arrived from other lands, were overcrowded and substandard. 

Today Chinatown is a diverse, somewhat touristy neighborhood with a number of bars and eateries. Let’s take a look.

Thian Hock Keng Temple

Thian Hock Keng, completed in 1842, is the oldest and most important temple of the Hokkien people of Singapore, a subgroup of Chinese people. The shrines and temples of the Hokkien are notable for their tilted sharp eaves, high and slanted top roofs, and finely detailed decorative inlays. (Thanks, Wikipedia.)

Ann Siang Hill

Ann Siang Hill is a small neighborhood in Chinatown where Chinese immigrants once came to send money home to their families in China. Letter writers and calligraphers once had businesses in front of the shophouses here. This area was once the home of clan associations and exclusive social clubs. (No photos)

Maxwell Food Center

One of the most popular hawker centers is the Maxwell Food Center. The “must try” dishes here are chicken rice and dim sum.

This is the most famous spot to buy chicken rice

Sri Mariamman Temple

This is the oldest Hindu temple in Singapore. It serves the Tamil population, who immigrated to SIngapore from South India.

Smith Street

This small street was once packed with hawker stalls. It was also the red-light district. Now it contains cute shops and restaurants and is enclosed in an arcade.

Buddha Tooth Relic Temple

We did not go inside this Buddhist temple, which is said to house a relic of the historical Buddha.

Concluding Thoughts:

• Chinatown turned out to be rather multicultural, much like Singapore itself. I was also surprised to learn how much diversity existed within the term “Chinese” - for example, the Hainanese and Hokkienese.
• A series of outdoor murals located throughout Chinatown illustrated various aspects of life during the colonial period and added  depth to the visit because there doesn’t seem to be a museum where you can learn about what daily life was like for the early Chinese immigrants.
• Chinatown reminded me of the original Jewish ghettos in Italy. It was a very small area which was specifically designated for a great number of desperately poor immigrants. It served to keep the newly arrived Chinese laborers away from the neighborhoods of the ruling classes. I wonder if other Chinatowns have a similar origin.

In honor of our guide, Pamela, today’s fabric is Pamela, by serendipity_textiles for Spoonflower.