Kailana

Singapore is an amazing city. It is the city that never sleeps, always something going on with a plethora of places to eat, shop and drink. You can buy a cheap meal in a hawkers food stall for $3-5 (Beef Hor Fun quite a good choice) or you can go to a fine dining establishment and feel the need to either offer up your firstborn or take out a second mortgage on the house. A beer will cost you anywhere between $13-24 for a pint, and if you want a cocktail or glass of wine, well, think of a number and put a dollar sign in front of it. Public transport is excellent and we quickly became experts at navigating our way around the city. Where we were housing Kailana, at the Republic of Singapore Yacht Club (RSYC) was costing about $35/day and it was about 50 minutes door to door to get into the big smoke, taking a bus and then a train, a trip of only a few dollars. All this aside, Singapore is officially the most expensive city in the world!
Singapore has a tropical rainforest climate with no real seasons and no real relief. It is REALLY humid at the moment (80% +) and the temperature seems to hover around 31 degrees. We have been getting torrential rain in the afternoons, so we religiously close all the hatches before heading out to explore. We recently heard of another yachtie that forgot to do this, and the hatch happened to be over all their electrical instruments....well you can guess what happened next.
Firstly a little information on Singpaore itself. Singapore has belonged to a series of local empires, however modern Singapore was founded in 1819 by Sir Stamford Raffles as a trading post of the East India Company. The British obtained sovereignty over the island in 1824. Occupied by the Japanese during WWII, Singapore declared independence from the UK in 1963 and united with other former British territories to form Malaysia, from which it was expelled two years later through a unanimous act of parliament. Since then, Singapore has developed rapidly.
Singapore is one of the world's major commercial hubs, with the fourth-biggest financial centre and one of the busiest ports. Its globalised and diversified economy depends heavily on trade, especially manufacturing. Approximately 5.4 million people live in Singapore, of which approximately two million are foreign-born. Seventy-five percent of the population is Chinese, with other minorities such as Malays and Indians. There are four official languages, English, Malay, Mandarin, and Tamil.
The city is blanketed by towering skyscrapers and has a huge amount of the city sitting on reclaimed land. The city is constantly changing and has a seemingly endless amount of construction taking place. High rise apartment buildings go up in what seems minutes, and a four bedroom condominium in the city might put you back $6 million if you have some spare cash sitting around. Those working up here will have company paid accommodation, with budgets ranging between $9 - $18k/month to rent a place. Most expats will have live in maids that do all the cooking and cleaning, most times living in the bomb shelters which is mandatory in every house in Singapore. There is an exotic array of cars in Singapore, with frequent sightings of Ferraris and Lamborghinis etc.
A friend of ours from Perth came up for a few days so Kev played tour guide, taking us gals all over Singapore to various places of interest. Our feet got a good workout and we trekked across to Chinatown, Little India and the Arab Quarter. These stops were broken up with dashes into shopping malls to get a fix of 'air conditioning'. We sauntered down to Boat Quay and Clarke Quay, and took the lift up to the 'Ku De Tah' bar on top of the new hotel/casino 'Marina Bay Sands'. The hotel has three 55-story towers with 2,561 hotel rooms/suites and is capped by the Sands SkyPark which looks like a boat. You have 360-degree views of Singapore's skyline and if you are staying at the hotel you can go for a dip in the 150-metre infinity pool.
We walked through the lush and tropical Botanical Gardens and then up to Dempsey Hill. Dempsey Hill used to be the Central Manpower Base of Singapore and former British army barracks. The buildings have all been preserved and turned into groovy bars, restaurants, shops and art galleries. There was a new tourist attraction called 'Gardens by the Sea', so we decided to go and have a look. The Gardens is located on 100 hectares of reclaimed land There are two 'biodomes' that contain varius types of vegitation. The 'Cloud Forest' has a 35-metre tall mountain veiled in mist and covered in lush vegetation amidst the world's tallest indoor waterfall. You can see amazing vertical gardens and just chill out from the hustle and bustle of Singapore. For those that have been to the 'Eden Project' in the UK, it is a spin off of that.
If coming to Singapore, you will notice how orderly and efficient it is. Perhaps this is due to all the RULES that you need to abide by. If you don't abide, you may find yourself with a hefty fine for misbehaving., hence why they call it a 'Fine' city. If you get caught littering, there is a fine of $1000, not to mention hours of community service (a rule that has been in place since the 60's). If you decide to jay walk or feed wild birds that will set you back $500, eating or drinking on the train will cost you $1000. First time offenders for using your mobile phone while driving can be either $1000 or a 6 month jail sentence with the fine doubled for repeat offenders. While eating chewing gum is permitted, selling chewing gum is forbidden so stock up before arriving if you are so inclined. If you graffiti anywhere, you will be caned, if you don't flush the toilet after yourself - you can get fined $150. Lastly, all types of pornography are illegal, INCLUDING walking around your house naked! As a result of all this, including very strict drug laws, Singapore hails as one of the safest cities to live in.
Our feet, stomachs, livers and wallets are now ready to leave Singapore and we head out to Malaysia tomorrow. We will motor to the quarantine area, check out, and then go up to place called 'Puteri Marina' which is official starting point of the 'Sail Malaysia' Rally that we are joining.