SINGAPORE - The 19th Smallest Nation

The World's ONLY Island-City State

We didn't leave Dubai on schedule ...

... and, our arrival in SINGAPORE was delayed 24 Hours

The FLIGHT
CAUTION: Mini-rant follows

There's a 4 hour time difference between Dubai and SINGAPORE and this was to be a 6h 30m flight. We were scheduled to leave Dubai 20:00 Feb 5 and arrive SINGAPORE 07:15 Feb 6. We paid for premium-economy class and boarded on time. Due to a repetative technical fault with the aircraft, we spent 5 hours on the plane; either not moving, being towed or just driving around. We were offered water and a few other non-alcoholic beverages, cupcakes disguised as muffins and some peanuts. 

Eventually our flight was cancelled. Along with first and business classes, we were shuttled to a hotel room in the airport by 2:00 am Feb 6. 

This International Group we waited with (clockwise left to right), included travellers from UAE (Bruce), Canada (Helen), New Zealand (June), Philippines, Malasia, Australia (Brad), England, Singapore (Sandeep) and Korea. 



If our flight had gone as scheduled we should have been arriving in SINGAPORE about an hour later than this. Those in economy class will have an even longer day. They were bused to other hotels throughout the city, arrived there much later than us and will have to be re-processed completely before getting on the replacement flight. Our plane will be re-fitted, we'll get the same crew and we are now scheduled for departure at 20:00 Feb 6 and arrival in SINGAPORE 06:31 Feb 7.  Singapore Air, as expected will cover our overnight costs; the room we have been assigned is $425CDN a night, (we'll be quite comfortable) and we have been given breakfast and lunch vouchers at one of the airport restaurants. A short but good nights sleep. 

Singapore Air (BTW, rated Third in the World for 2016) did not handle this situation well. Whatever back-up plans were in place to handle this type of unexpected travel disruption, ' did not work! ' We were kept waiting for longer than necessary when we should not have been, information was not forthcoming or was incorrect, bus and train transportation arrangements around Dubai airport were poorly organized and slowly executed, schedules were not kept, times were changed at the last minute, not everyone got the same information at the same time, or got it at all.

We did fly out the next day. 

There was some drama, but nothing quite as exciting as yesterday and certainly nothing worth documenting or sharing.

We'll have one less full day than planned in Singapore, so that's a shame ...

~

SINGAPORE

The Worlds' 19th (or 20th depending on the list) smallest nation is located 137 kilometres north of the Equator. It covers an area of 277.6 sq miles, just 34 sq miles larger than the city of Toronto.

If your curious and want to learn more about Singapore,  click here.

 

Our HOTEL

We're staying at the One Farrer Hotel & Spa in the Little India area. In 2016, this hotel won the World's Spa Award for Singapore's Best Hotel. Yay! We got upgraded to the 19th floor, just below the penthouse ... we have some pretty nice views of the city.

We had an early morning arrival & checked-in by 7:30am, then a small breakfast, some catch-up sleep for a few hours, unpacked & refreshed, next - a small lunch, a short walk, relaxed in the room. 

Watched a big storm move in on the horizon; we lived-through our first true sandstorm in Dubia, maybe we'll survive our first monsoon in Singapore ...

               The Little INDIA Precinct

My GAWD! 

It's 35C and VERY humid! 

Worse than Ontario in July! 

We walked most of this. The area is L-shaped and constitutes about 30 city blocks of various sizes; it's not laid out as a symmetrical grid. The route we chose took us past 4 temples; Sri Veerama Kaliamman (Hindu), Sri Srinivasa Perumai (Vishnu), Sakya Muni Buddha Gaya (Buddhist) and Hock Siew Tong (Chinese). The last 3 were just outside Little India.

The Photos: street & temple scenes, bicycles, back-streets, umbrellas, greenery, banners, deities, incense, painted cows & globes, tigers, prayers, Buddhas, gold-painted heads ...

Chinatown 
 

We escaped the heavy humidity and relaxed in our hotel room for a couple of hours, we went back outside in mid-afternoon, took the subway, walked the streets, ate, bought a mask for our collection ... 

Singapore’s fascinating and historic Chinatown is a bustling mix of old and new, filled with traditional shops and markets as well as cool stores and cafes. The cramped five-foot passageways, dingy alleys and raucous street hawkers are relics of Chinatown’s past. Pockets of history remain in Chinatown, along with more modern sights. You could easily spend a few days wandering through these still-narrow streets. Family-run goldsmiths, medicinal halls and tea-houses ply their trades next to sleeker neighbours such as hipster bars and lifestyle shops.

The streets are conjested with all manner of travel and yet pedestrians get along with each other and with the ... bicycles, segways, scooters, motorcycles, cars, vans and trucks ... there's a kind of ' respectful, courteous, permeating busyness about it all. '

The Photos: more street scenes and building facades, mahogany doors and colourful temples, Really Yummy Foods Only A Carnivore Would Eat - like ... Duck flippers, Pig Intestines and some kind of ' meat that you can only touch if you're wearing plastic gloves! '

Lets finish this days photo collection off, with an 'almost' Monsoon from our room on the 19th floor ...

Thaipusam Festival

We were fortunate to be here at the beginning of this festival and even more fortunate to have it start, right around the corner from where we were staying. The festival goes on for much of the day and culminates with the most elaborate traditional dress and dancing displays.

' A large, colourful annual procession, Thaipusam sees Hindu devotees in Singapore seeking blessings, fulfilling vows and offering thanks. The festival is celebrated in honour of Lord Subramaniam, who represents virtue, youth and power, and is the destroyer of evil. The first batch of devotees carry milk pots and wooden kavadis. 

Some pierce their tongues with skewers and carry a wooden kavadi decorated with flowers and peacock feathers balanced on their shoulders. Other devotees carry spiked kavadis that require elaborate preparation. 

They will walk the 4.5 kilometres, along with relatives and friends who chant hymns and prayers to support and encourage them. Once the procession reaches Sri Thendayuthapani Temple, the milk in the pots is poured over the statue of Lord Subramaniam as an act of offering and worship.

'Kavadi' literally means ‘sacrifice at every step’ in Tamil, and indeed, this proves to be the case if you take a closer look. A semi-circular steel or wooden frame, a 'kavadi' is meant to be hoisted by a devotee for the length of the procession. It has bars for support on the shoulders, is decorated with flowers and peacock feathers, and some have spikes that pierce into the body. It can top out at 40 kgs and reach a height of 4 metres. 










The Photos: vibrant colours, mostly gold, creative piercings, pots, Indian music

 

Next stop ... Auckland, NEW ZEALAND.   

Hope To See You There!

 ~ 

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Click on any photo (some stock) in this post to launch a slideshow gallery of all the photos. 

Wikipedia provides some content. 

Wry & Crusty ... earrings are easy!