Singapore is a really nice city - way different from the rest of Southeast Asia. I think it's pretty unique in that things run very smoothly and the city is extremely clean and safe. On just about every road, you can see skyscrapers in all directions, but there are also trees and small, aesthetically pleasing buildings. In other words, it's a huge city without the claustrophobic feel of NYC or the sickening smells of Bangkok. Sounds pretty good to me!
We stayed at a neat hostel in Little India and had some great food there. Activities included...
- Crazy shopping street and malls - basically all we could afford were Starbucks and McDonalds sundaes
- Temples in Chinatown
- Asian Civilizations Museum: a really cool museum with all things Asian, including drums/gamelan, old Quran scripts, Buddha statues, and a whole lot that I can't remember.
- Singapore Art Museum, where, by the way, we were interviewed by a television station. I had to comment on art. No comment on that.
- Incubus concert, of course
- Singapore Zoo & Night Safari (super cool! and world famous, I think)
- Esplanade: a huge performing arts center which was holding a music festival
Here's a view from the river area on a lovely overcast day. Also notice Singapore's trademark symbol, the Merlion, in statue form (no clue where that originates):
The Incubus concert was absolutely crazy. It was all general admission, and we pushed our way to almost the very front-center by the time Incubus started. However, all hell broke loose when they started playing, and everyone rushed the stage. Basically everyone in the front was crushed and packed so tightly that we didn't even have our feet on the ground half the time. It was not a fun experience, so we headed for the side and wound up having a nice time and a great view. But I can say I was front and center for two songs, even if I was too busy trying to stay vertical to even pay attention to the music.
Here's one of my better pictures from the concert:
The Singapore Zoo is great as far as zoos go. It's located on a peninsula and part of a natural jungle, so a lot of the animals are free ranging, and those that aren't are very comfortable (except perhaps the polar bears, but they get a plush underground area). Plus, basically the entire island is environmentally friendly. The animals were all very close to us, and I got some really great pictures of all the big cats, all the typical safari animals, and just about every primate imagniable.
And the only animal pictures I'm able to upload at the moment... the orangutans were free-ranging and directly above us:
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