Singapore Day 3: Wacky Duck

I wasn't sure what to do for my final (partial) day in Singapore, so I decided to take a Duck Tour. In Victoria, I would have been on the hippo bus. In Singapore, the hippo bus is the hop on-hop off bus, and the ticket seller recommended against it. Ya gotta wonder when the person who makes his living from something ditzes it.


So I took the noon duck tour (the wifi password for the waiting area is wackyduck), and set sail.  We went by areas that were already familiar to me -- the gardens by the bay, the Marina Bay Sands, the lotus blossom-shaped Museum of Arts and Science, the Merlion -- and one that was not -- the Formula One Building. For the past nine years, there has been a Formula One  race in Singapore. However it's losing money and popularity. Next year will be its last. The tour guide told us this no less than four times.


Another new to me factoid is the source of Singapore’s water. It comes from Malaysia, and that country has announced that it will not renew its agreement. Singapore will continue to collect rainwater, and will be big into desalination plants.


Several years ago, the Singapore government decided to promote gardens and greenery. Studies have shown that rooftop gardens help keep the temperature lower at street level, and Singapore is full of tall buildings. The greenery everywhere is certainly something that attracted me to Singapore, and made me love it so much.


And greenery takes water. So do the 5.7 million people who live there. Water is definitely going to be an issue.


Anita, my travel guide from Langley, recommended that I go to the Park Royal Pickering Hotel for my final outing (www.parkroyalhotels.com). We'd seen it in documentaries -- it has gardens at many levels, so most rooms look out on greenery. The finishing on the building looks like a topographic map, adding even more interest.


To get there, I had to go through the financial district and Chinatown. Singapore is the third largest financial centre in the world, behind London and New York, and ahead of Hong Kong and Tokyo. The tall buildings of the financial district are juxtaposed with colonial-era wooden three storey buildings in Chinatown.


On the way back, less than a kilometre the short way, I passed Parliament and the Supreme Court Building. The courthouse stood out because it is topped with a round disc, much like a rotating restaurant, but the building is less than 10 storeys high. It links squat from a distance.


One thing I've liked about Singapore is the street art. There are a lot of vignette style statues made of brass. For example, today I passed a young woman on a rickshaw, in brass. There was a Salvador Dali statue in the financial district. I didn't take a picture because I couldn't figure out which way front. It was certainly easier to tell with his fox statue in Chicago. The Singapore one had Newton in the title.


Alas, I had to bid farewell to that garden city. I highly recommend it, and had a wonderful break. Tonight I'm in Bali; tomorrow morning, I fly back to Dili. Unfortunately I won't get there early enough to read to the five year olds. Wednesday, we’ll be back to our routine.