Impressions of Singapore

Republic of Singapore Republik Singapura  (Malay) 新加坡共和国 (Chinese) சிங்கப்பூர் குடியரசு (Tamil)
Flag Coat of arms

 Singapore (ⁱ/ˈsɪŋəpɔər/ or /ˈsɪŋɡəpɔər/), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign city-state and island country in Southeast Asia. It lies off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsulaand is 137 kilometres (85 mi) north of the equator. The country's territory consists of thelozenge-shaped main island, commonly referred to as Singapore Island in English and Pulau Ujong in Malay, and more than 60 significantly smaller islets.^[8] Singapore is separated fromPeninsular Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to the north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by theSingapore Strait to the south. The country is highly urbanised, and little of the original vegetation remains. The country's territory has consistently expanded through land reclamation.

The islands were settled in the second century AD and subsequently belonged to a series of local empires. Modern Singapore was founded in 1819 by Sir Stamford Raffles as a trading post of the East India Company with permission from the Johor Sultanate. The British obtained sovereignty over the island in 1824, and Singapore became one of the British Straits Settlementsin 1826. Occupied by the Japanese during World War II, Singapore declared independence from the United Kingdom 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, earning recognition as one of the Four Asian Tigers.

Singapore is one of the world's major commercial hubs, with the fourth-biggest financial centreand one of the five busiest ports. Its globalised and diversified economy depends heavily on trade, especially manufacturing, which represented 26 percent of Singapore's GDP in 2005. In terms of purchasing power parity, Singapore has the third-highest per capita income in the world. It places highly in international rankings with regard to education, healthcare, government transparency, and economic competitiveness.

Singapore is a unitary multiparty parliamentary republic with a Westminster system of unicameralparliamentary government. The People's Action Party has won every election since self-government began in 1959. Just over five million people live in Singapore and approximately two million are foreign-born. While Singapore is diverse, ethnic Asians predominate: 75 percent of the population is Chinese, with significant minorities of Malays, Indians, and Eurasians. There are four official languages, which include English, Malay, Chinese, and Tamil, and the country promotes multiculturalism through a range of official policies.

Hello My Dear Great Ones,

I started my Easter holidays by going to Singapore with Celia to visit some of her friends and getting some much needed R and R.  Singapore is a very clean, very lush (lots of vegetation), very tropical (HOT), very modern with the Jetsons like buildings, and very efficiently run place.  It has loads of theme parks, restaurants, and shops.  People are polite, and speak English with a gentle, rolling British (England) accent. Poverty seems non existent.   Yet compared to Hong Kong it seemed sterile culture wise.  A little grit, a little local run down culture gives places a real feel.  Singapore seemed a little contrived.  It's so nice, almost perfect.  And clean.  Man!  One of our taxi drivers, after cleaning a seat for us with a tissue, spent a few minutes looking for a "refuse bin" in fact asked a shop owner for one, before transporting us off to our destination.  I would have just thrown the tissue on the ground as would millions of others around the world.  But nope.  Its illegal to spit gum or throw garbage on the ground in Singapore, and it has obviously been instilled in the population to clean up after yourself.  Not bad.

Here are some other impressions:

Good people.  Me and Celia with some friends of hers.  Singapore, like HK is an international city full of people from everywhere.  Most are very polite, soft spoken, and well educated.

Singapore is very lush with trees and plants on the main roads.  The GREEN parties around the world would/should be impressed.

 The Singapore Harbour Front is quite spectacular.

 The building in the front is a store, the one in the background is a museum.

The buildings in the background is the Marina Bay Sands Hotel, which is three towers linked by the same rooftop.  The rooftop has a garden and restaurants on the top.  The building in front is a mall.

 Entrance to a mall.

 Every night there is a light/water show at the harbour.

 Water is shot up into a wall of mist and movies are played on it.  See the lady playing the harp?

 Malls are huge and spectacular.  Prices sadly are Canadian prices.  They even have GST.  Boo.

Singapore's population is 18% Christian, yet they have a huge impact on the culture in Singapore and have influence @the World.  There are a few mega churches in the city including the one above.  Yes, that building is a church!  Its called New Creation Church and has 31 000 members in its congregation.  The church fits "only" 5000 people in this building, but there are several services on a Sunday and there are a few other campuses in the city.  The church auditorium is on the top floor.  Below are several restaurants that cash in on church goers habit to go out after the service for lunch.  Smart.  The church also collects a lot of money through outside acts coming in and renting their auditorium.  It is a well run enterprise.  I wonder what Jesus would think?

 Riding the escalators up to church.

 Everyone got a communion packet before entering church.  Wafer and juice. Very efficient.

 The worship was rocking.  The pastor "Joseph Prince," had been recorded live in the previous service.  So we got the recording after the worship.  It was strange to watch a recording of Joseph Prince on five different screens, three were face shots two were full body shots.  Yet Joseph Prince is brilliant.  He's a Bible scholar, but not boring, and his sermon about Noah was excellent and entertaining.  Yet, Joseph keeps deflecting all praise to him towards Jesus Christ.  It is not about Him.  The congregation was loaded with young people, which was good to see.  Most are well educated and making a great income, yet want to be spiritually educated and rich as well.  That is excellent.  Yet, I firmly believe that faith without action, especially to the less fortunate, is empty and worthless.   New Creation Church is certainly doing its part, helping others, and the messages from Joseph Prince are viewed around the world.

 Another example of how efficient Singapore is.  Bikes at a subway station.

 Singapore has a zoo, a botanical garden, theme parks galore, museums, insect house, butterfly house, you name it, its got it.  This bird park gets its own blog entry next week.  Singapore even has…

 A German pub called starker, "stronger," with Frishes Bier, "fresh beer."  Oh yeah.  Singapore also has an...

 Artificial wave maker where you can learn to surf.  Singapore also has...

 Pristine beaches...

 Universal Studios….and

 A water park with a lazy river that has a tunnel through an aquarium...

 Stingrays swim beside you as you float by...

 Whoa...

 The lazy river also goes through a cave.  The blue Grotto.  Another attraction at the water park is a tank where you can snorkel with 20 000 fish.  And there was a waterslide rollercoaster to boot, along with a few other rides, one of which was like being flushed down into a tube.  Finally…. 

 To dry off there was a blow dry booth.  Singapore is quite amazing.  I only scratched the surface.


Have a great week everyone!

Love adios and ping on!

Dirk