Singapore-April 11

We arrived into port with gray skies. This harbor is the busiest commercial port in the world. A ship arrives every 3 minutes...and what we saw confirmed that- ships of every size and confirguration moving about the harbor.

This is a very small country- 23x48 square kilometers- and it has managed to become stable, safe and prosperous. The three major ethnic groups are Malaysian, Indian and Chinese plus many minority people. The government decided in 1965 when this area separated from Malaysia to change the look of the city by abolishing the slum areas. Many high rise public subsidy apartments were built. Very intentionally racial ethic groups were made to live in the same buildings and on the same floors. The first floor of each was built with open space that could be used by any religion for celebrations, weddings, funerals...and all the people are invited to join the event. They also planned large green spaces so people would feel like they lived in a garden. This decision gives the area a beautiful, lush green look.

Education is compulsary until the age of 15 and school includes many field trips to worship places for different religions and opportunitites to learn about other traditions in hopes of blending this diverse community. Racial harmony is important here.

We rode to the top of Mount Faber for a view but the rain came and the winds blew. There was no view. We went through the town and learned much about its history. The symbol for the city is a lion's head on the body of a fish. Since the old town was a fishing village and the founder of the new city thought he saw a lion, the two experiences were combined into the statue. "Singa" actually means lion and "pore" means city.

The rain began to end and we visited the National Botanical Garden with its incredible display of orchids. There was also a Ginger Garden. We learned that bananas are actually in the ginger family- who would have ever thought that. We also saw some incredible orchids and frangipani blooming everywhere and blooming boldly.

By the way, thanks for the great comments on the blog. It is encouraging to know that someone is reading this stuff. We are having a wonderful time...heading on back to Thailand tomorrow, but not before another day at sea.

We watched the most beautiful sail away from Singapore tonight and went to dinner about 8:30 PM...right now it is 10:15 PM on April 11th and I have no idea what time it is where our friends and family live. We may never be straightened out again! But we ARE having fun!