One Day in Singapore

Visiting (Ni)sid and Melinda in Singapore felt like a real milestone.  When we left home last winter, it was with promises of eventually making our way here.  Also, this is the first time in 7 months that we have stayed with friends, or with anyone for that matter, free of charge.  Should we have been couch surfing all along?

Morning coffee chez Melinda and (Ni)sid

Granted, these guys have a super sweet place.  They live in a renovated shop house in a residential neighborhood with delicious street food nearby.  (Ni)sid showed us his favorite local roti paratha breakfast joint, served with spicy fish curry.  After a relaxing day touring Singapore, we napped, cooled off in their pool, then went out for high end Paranakan food.  The kids stayed in to eat pizza and watch movies.  Our night ended with fancy cocktails on a rooftop bar.

Marina Bay laser show

I know that Singapore has a lot of problems, and life here is complex just like it is everywhere.  But at first blush, this autocratically run city-state is paradise.  Clean, safe, verdant, and culturally mixed. The overriding sensation is, "wow, this is the future."  A future without poverty, gay people, free speech, etc.  Marina Bay, the heart of Singapore, is filled with space age looking structures.  Unlike other Asian cities, Singapore feels relatively empty.  Where are the Chinese group tours?  Where are the pale looking foreigners?  Who can afford all of this high end retail?  Where do real Singaporeans live?  So many questions not answered by the official line.  As Ruby astutely noted during our hop on/hop off city bus ride, as the announcer waxed rhapsodic about Singaporean public housing, "this just sounds like an ad for Singapore."

The huge fake trees of Gardens By the Bay were okay, but the Flower Dome blew us away.  It's an indoor botanical garden full of plants from 5 plant zones -- the Mediterranean (Italy), California (southern coast), Australia (southwestern, I think), Chile (mid-region coast), and South Africa (the southern Cape).  Entering the Flower Dome from the heavy, humid Singapore air, we immediately felt the extreme drop in humidity, the cool a/c, and then breathed in CO2 rich, flower-scented air.  I wish I could transport my Hunan relatives to the Flower Dome.  If I lived in Singapore, I would explore job/volunteer opportunities at the Flower Dome.  Spending time in the Flower Dome would probably add years to your life.

The lovely Flower Dome at Gardens by the Bay

Our over-the-top Flower Dome experience was enhanced by our sheer joy at seeing famed Chilean Monkey Puzzle Trees again, as well as many other familiar plants from our trip.  It was like a review of our trip, in botanical form.