day 67 – republic of singapore

i loved singapore… bob loved singapore… we loved singapore today!  (did i mention that i loved singapore?)  what a cool place!  i think my favorite thing about it, besides the fact that things were all at bargain prices, was what a truly international place it is.  so many cultures live here in harmony and tolerance of each other, and it is pretty amazing.  it’s also the law!  the laws here are quite rigid and strict, but the plus side of this is that it is one of the safer, larger ports we get to visit (very little crime here) and also one of the cleanest.  chewing gum, littering, spitting are all serious offenses here… you can be fined or caned or imprisoned depending on the seriousness of the incident, and while some people find the corporal punishment a bit barbaric, it seems to be a quite effective deterrent to petty theft and vandalism.  most drug offenses carry the death penalty… as far as the multicultural thing, you are not allowed to harass anyone based on their religion, and tolerance (allowing altars in shop for example, or prayer breaks, not attempting to convert people, etc.) is required by law.  you see beautiful chapels down the street from gorgeous mosques, hindu temples and buddhist temples, and i have never seen so many shops of every variety which sell religious icons, supplies, incense, candles, prayer rugs, flower garlands, prayer books… a very spiritual country for sure!

the other religion here is clearly food.  i have never seen such a foodie nation!  all of the countries which are represented here also have their own food stalls and restaurants… there is such amazing multicultural street food, numerous food courts with every persuasion and also plenty of sit down restaurants… any global cuisine, particularly pan-asian, is well represented, but what better than a real indian curry in the indian market, or singapore chili crab, or persian fare on arab sreet… i think the food network could have an entire series just on the city of singapore alone.  the smells and sights and sounds are amazing… they like color on the plate, in their clothing, in the architecture, it is a very pretty place… riverboats and cable cars, pastel monorail trains, theme parks and grand hotels… bob and i are going to look into trying to get a hotel gig here someday… a day and a half just isn’t quite enough… that’s the drag of cruiseship travel, is the super short stays just when you are getting into the rhythm of a place… it’s a good recon mission to determine where we want to return some other time when we are on our own time! 

had to drag ourselves away from city sights to go to work, and i was awestruck that i had a full house from 9-10… i wanted to say, “what are you people doing here?!?” when they have an overnight in a safe amazing cultural mecca with such awesome dining and nightclubs, etc., but oh well… at least i wasn’t here in vain!  my theme was called “singapore swing” and was basically a bunch of swing tunes played, well, uh, here, in singapore… glad my bartender got the night off and i cut my other bar guys loose a little early so they could go party with their friends shoreside… bob and i thought about going back out, but we were beat from a long day then a long gig, so we crashed… more tomorrow!  cheers!  -di