The Road to Singapore

Bing Crosby's and Bob Hope's first "Road" movie was the Road to Singapore (1940).   In my naive youth (as opposed to my naive middle-age), I thought that these Road movies were filmed on location in exotic places (Singapore, Zanzibar, Morocco, Utopia ... and last but not least Hong Kong!).  Looking at the youtube clip, there is no resemblance between the city that Crosby-Hope-Lamour saw and the Singapore of today.  Then again, there is very little left of the old Singapore - more's the pity.

Singapore is a model of wealthy urban redevelopment.  It is a pristine city-state with strict laws that to many of us seem ridiculous.  It is illegal to chew gum, jaywalk (watch out Montrealers) and spit in the street (i.e. Mainland Chinese are not welcome).  Failure to flush a public toilet after use is also against the law.  When our friends, Janice and Ted, travelled to Singapore in the 70s, it was even illegal for men to have long hair (it was considered a disgrace to society).
I was very impressed with Singapore's wide streets - imagine a city where roads have been built to accommodate future traffic load!  In comparison with Hong Kong, there is no grit and very little atmosphere.  However, it does seem like a nice place to live, provided one has a lot of money.  Taxis are as expensive as in Toronto, car prices and permits are exorbitant (can you imagine paying $140,000CDN for a Volkswagen Passat?)  But there are flowers everywhere, including the elevated footpaths across the main roads, and lots of green space, and the air is pollution-free.

The highlight of our visit was our walk through the Botanic Gardens.   Orchids galore! and so many other exotic, tropical plants.  I will let our photos do the talking.  (There are many more stored on my computer.)

One of my passions (as you all know from my blogs) is architecture.  Singapore has some amazing new buildings.  (Unfortunately, they have torn down old beauties to make room for the new).  My favourite is the Marina Bay Sands hotel/casino complex:  three glass buildings joined at the top by a surf board!  We didn't have time to visit it, but it is a must for next time - there's an infinity pool on top, and the view is said to be spectacular.  We also missed riding the Singapore Flyer (S's equivalent to the London Eye), since it was undergoing maintenance.

The Supreme Court building, next to the plain, Colonial Parliament building, impressed me with its space-age look, and the office tower on the right looked one-dimensional!

I also loved the restored Art Deco Capitol Theatre, but have recently been informed that the city is planning to tear it down.  
A high percentage of Singapore's population live in public housing.  A colleague of Jeff's told us that by law these complexes must contain a mosque, temple, and church, as well as recreational and educational facilities.  The colourful set of buildings on the right are right next to the old Little India neighbourhood.

Speaking of neighbourhoods, Jeff and I were disappointed that Chinatown is mainly a facade - it looks like an Epcot attraction.  The old Arab neighbourhood is semi-authentic.  Some of the streets in Arab Town have been yuppified, but there are still many shops that cater to locals.  I found it interesting that the models in the fabric store on the right had Western faces (is that one way to get around Sharia law?).  Little India is closer to the "real thing" than the other ethnic neighbourhoods.  Its shophouses are cleaner, colourfully painted, versions of its Penang counterpart.  Unfortunately, the Disney effect is creeping in, as you can see in the photo below.

Speaking of Little India, I witnessed an entertaining sight at the side entrance to the Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple.  A half-naked Hindu priest was blessing a brand new car.  He recited some prayers and tossed rose petals on the vehicles.  Then he lit an offering and walked around the cars while chanting some more.

A trip to Singapore is not complete without a visit to the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple.  The sacred relic is on a pedestal behind quadruple-paned glass, in an overly-bright room filled with reflective gold decor (no photographs allowed).  In other words, you have to truly believe that the molar is actually in the room.  The highlight of the Temple is the terrace on the top floor - a beautiful, serene, flowering garden, with a central pagoda housing an enormous prayer wheel.  The woman in the photo was chanting her prayers as she walked round and round the wheel.

Singapore is famous for its food, and we were treated to some memorable meals.  One evening, Jonathan (next to Jeff) took seven of us to Long House food court.  We had so much food (lots of doggy-bags), but the signature dish was Hainanese chicken rice.  In my humble, Jewish opinion, this is a prettier version of boiled chicken - and not nearly as tasty as the recipe in Second Helpings, Please.  Although the presentation is lovely, this dish is hard to eat with chopsticks - the rubbery skin is hard to extricate from the meat, and the meat is hard to extricate from the bones.  The variety of accompanying sauces do make up for the difficulty of this highly-praised dish, but I still feel it's more trouble than it's worth.

Jeff's Singaporean colleague, Ai Ling, and her husband, treated us to a memorable evening.  We were driven to Sentosa Island, where we had drinks on the beach at sunset.  This was followed by Indian food at an outdoor restaurant on Boat Quay, the trendy area on the Singapore River.  I have only recently developed a love for Indian food, and am starting to familiarize myself more with the names of all the dishes.  Before moving to HK, the only dish I would order was tandoori chicken, but I will now eat just about everything Indian.  My only complaint is that it is all orange (as opposed to Passover food which is all beige)!  

And yes, I did have that Singapore Sling at Raffles!  Another item to tick off on the "bucket list".  (Rather overpriced - about $19CDN)