Singapore Sling (February 15-18)

After our direct flight to Singapore was canceled, we ended up being rerouted through Kuala Lumpur (known as KL to the locals), Malaysia. We finally made it to Singapore after an exhausting trip that involved a late night flight, a few hours sleep at an airport hotel, and an early train ride. It would have been just bearable given our lack of sleep, but with two crying babies in front of us and the train breaking down, we hobbled into Singapore's train station in the early evening ready to crash.

Luckily our hotel, the New 7th Story Hotel www.nsshotel.com, was nice and within walking distance to Little India. We headed to Little India and got our first taste of Southern Indian cuisine, which is served on a banana leaf and eaten with your hands. The waiter was kind enough to help us order and guide us through the meal. It got messy, but the food was good and spicy. Afterwards, we wandered around Little India's markets with their blaring music and pungent curry smells.

Singapore is located just north of the equator and is hot year round. When we were there, the locals said it was particularly hot with temperatures ranging in the upper 90s with high humidity. The locals have learned to beat the heat by building large air conditioned indoor spaces, mostly in the form of malls. Coming from Southern California, we thought we'd seen a few malls growing up, but there are literally hundreds of malls in this tiny country, all with the latest consumer goods. For example, we went to the Funan IT Mall, which is 7 floors of computer, electronic, audio, and video stores. It is geek heaven. We strolled through it looking at the latest high definition plasma and LCD big screen TVs, as well as the new mini MP3 players and digital cameras.

You can walk for blocks and blocks and never leave a mall or the air conditioning, which is really nice. In addition, all the malls have food courts where everyone eats. The food ranges from Subway sandwiches to Japanese noodles to Indonesian cakes.

We did venture outside to explore Chinatown and Colonial Singapore. We saw an excellent exhibition of Russell Wong's photography at the Singapore Art Museum, and visited the Chinese Heritage Museum which details the Chinese immigrant experience in Singapore. People of Chinese decent make up about 80% of the population in Singapore, with another 11% from India, and 7% from Malaysia and Indonesia. However, the common language is English, which everyone is taught in Singapore schools. It is interesting to see how all these different people and cultures from throughout Asia live with one another. In Chinatown alone, you can visit Chinese and Hindu temples, Christian churches, and Islamic mosques all on the same block.

We spent our second evening in Singapore on Mount Faber watching the sunset and taking in the skyline while sipping overpriced Singapore Sling cocktails, which are the best cocktails ever (think cherry Kool Aid with no alcohol taste). We also enjoyed a bottle of the locally brewed Tiger beer. We rode the cable cars from the the top floor of the World Trade Center near the Singapore port up to Mount Faber, which provides excellent views of Singapore's massive harbor.

Because it was so hot during the day, we visited the world famous Singapore Zoo's Night Safari (www.nightsafari.com.sg). The night safari gives you a chance to see all of the nocturnal animals in the zoo, such as lions, bats, civets (racoon like animals), and rhinos. The highlights for us included having flying squirrels the size of small cats glide right over our heads and watching the creatures of the night show. I was volunteered by a boy in the front row to demonstrate my strength by holding a 15 foot reticulated python, which I did with no problem (the snake was a lot friendlier than I imagined it would be). We also got to see a large African cat which can jump up to ten feet in the air. It uses this skill to catch low flying birds.

We were lucky enough to be in Singapore during their month long Chinese New Year celebration. The city is decorated with banners, displays, and huge roosters, since this is the year of the rooster in the Chinese lunar calendar. There are also dancing and musical performances throughout the city, which we were able to enjoy. We were given mandarin oranges by several people as a symbol of good luck for the new year.

The biggest event is the Chingay parade, billed as Asia's grandest street and floats parade (www.chingay.org.sg). Because it is held at night, the street and all the floats are lit up as they move down Orchard Road, Singapore's posh shopping street. The parade is kind of a mix between the Disneyland electrical light parade and Carnival in Rio. The parade has dancing troupes and elaborately dressed performers who occasionally stop and put on a show for the parade watchers. It also has its share of marching bands and local celebraties riding on the floats.

After four days in Singapore, we had to leave. Singapore is a great place to visit if you can stand the heat, but it is expensive. Everything there is new and modern with clean and immaculate streets and sidewalks. The city is constantly renewing itself, which can be both good and sometimes bad, like turning a historical Anglican church into a shopping mall full of Ann Taylors and the Gap. So, after another Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf ice blended mocha, we found ourselves on a bus headed north to the old colonial city of Malacca in Malaysia.