OFF THE EXPLORER AND ARRIVAL IN SINGAPORE

 I'll later provide a review of our Regent Seven Seas cruise from Dubai.  After 21 days, we arrived in Singapore.

In most ways, the end of being at sea was a pleasure.  No seasickness as such, but I'm a landlubber.  After a light breakfast we had to vacate our cabin.  After waiting, and waiting and waiting, our Orange 1 number was called.  Immigration/customs was easy, except we had to pay nearly $100 for duty on three bottles of scotch we borrowed from the Explorer.

Baggage went straight to the Fairmont, and we boarded a bus for our all-day tour.  Another Blue-Bar Pigeons welcome.

As we were so late, we first went to lunch at Jumbo Seafood.  

To say this was my worst lunch of my life might be an exaggeration, but consider the following:

• I'm allergic to crustaceans. 
• The first three dishes were of shrimp and crab.  Couldn't touch them.
• All the while, they poured water, 7-up and Coke.  As I needed some calories, I drank soda for the first time in three years.
• Then came some fried rice which supposedly had no shrimp, but was tasteless.  Anyway, I essentially had stopped eating rice during my 2-year pandemic diet.

• 
  The broccoli and tofu dish was okay,
• The next three were crustacean-based.  But I ate what looked like a toast with bread.
• That was my lunch.
• The dessert miraculously had no shrimp, but was mango based, and I can only remember worms in ripe mangos, so that did not go so well.
• Note, no photos of food.

Next, a river boat tour.  Notice how dirty the water looks.  I asked, and our guide indicated that this was the rainy season.  In other times of the year, the water is clearer.

As our final stop today will be a drink in Lado's, which is located on the 57th floor of the Marina Bay Sands, here are some photos of this iconic hotel, casino and restaurant center.

A few more photos from the river cruise.

We then went to the National Museum of Singapore, a relatively new building with a lot of high tech presentations about the their history.  Much of this was prosaic, so here is just one photo, with a street scene.

While most people in Singapore wear masks outdoors, the city is not teeming with people like in India and Malaysia.  Then up to the 57th floor of the Marina Bay Sands.  I've been to Singapore maybe a dozen times.  Here is my blog of 11 years ago about my stay at the Marina Bay Sands.  I arrived via the Eastern and Oriental Express from Bangkok.  Another posting MY BEST CHINESE LUNCH, EVER.  If you can remember back that far, the next day, 11March2011, I returned to Bangkok...which led me to my most adventurous travel period dealing with the Great Tohoku Earthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear Cataclysm.  So anyway, scenes from the check-in lobby of the Marina Bay Sands, then Lado on the 57th floor.

We are staying at the Fairmont in Raffles City, located adjacent to the Raffles Hotel, which is where Singapore Sling is served in their Long Bar.  Went there once.  In fact, I think I stayed at this hotel when it was a Sheraton.  Kind of confusing here for there is also a Swiss Hotel and North/South Towers.

The views from our room.

We have six days here, so I'll later write about what is happening in Singapore today.

I close with something sent to me.

After suffering these past few weeks with hardly functional wi-fi, Singapore is fabulous, better than Honolulu.  In fact:

Top 10 Countries with the Fastest Broadband Internet Speeds (Mbps) - 2021

1. Monaco - 261.82
2. Singapore - 255.83
3. Hong Kong (China) - 254.70
4. Romania - 232.17
5. Switzerland - 229.96
6. Denmark - 227.91
7. Thailand - 225.17
8. Chile - 217.60
9. France - 214.04
10. South Korea - 212.57

Notice the absence of the USA.

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