SINGAPORE, Saturday, March 15

Raffles Hotel

Singapore lies at the tip of the Malayan Peninsula, just about 1 degree north of the equator. It's the dynamic trading crossroads of east & west. In the 14th century a visiting prince saw an animal he believed to be a lion and renamed it Singa Pura, the lion city. There is a huge statue of a lion at the port. In 1819 a British East India company official, Sir Stamford Raffles, claimed Singapora as a regional base. After 2 years in the Federation of Malaysia, in 1965 it became an independent republic. Singapore is a cosmopolitan center for commerce & industry bustling with superior communications & transportation, immaculate streets & ultra-modern skyscrapers. The population is about 4 1/2 million of which 76% Chinese, 15% Malay, 6 1/2% Indian & Pakistani & 2% others.

We started our day by taking a cab to Chinatown. A shoppers paradise as the prices were really great on cameras & most electronics. Also, any trinket you can imagine is there. From gorgeous reversible silk kimonos to fans, jewelry cases, purses, silk blouses & pants, jeweled hair clips etc., etc., etc. From there we went to a large 4 story building in Little India that has only electronics (Sim Lin Square). We priced cameras everywhere & got 10 different prices for the same camera. We didn't buy it. From there we went to the famous Raffles Hotel for lunch. Unfortunately, we were too late as they stop serving at 3:00. We walked around there for a short time as it is truly the most elegant facility. It's where the "Singapore Sling" was invented (between 1910 & 1915). Because of it's great history the Raffles has been declared a national monument. Afterwards we took a scenic ride on the cable car that goes across the city. It's a 30 minute ride and gives a wonderful view of the entire city. The station was very close to our boat and, as we ran out of time, we went back to the ship. Singapore is a great city and not to be missed when visiting Asia.