Singapore, Singapore

Dear lovely reader,

Welcome to Singapore, Singapore! We would have two days in port and I knew I had nothing planned for those two days other than a field lab for Professor Johnson’s Water for the World course on the first day. But I’ve learned that when you have no plans, that’s the best plan. I’ll be blogging about the first and most memorable day of Singapore.

Day 1 of Singapore:

I’ve made it a habit to wake up early to watch the sunrise on the day we dock into a new port. Singapore skies were dark blue at the start, but a few clouds in the sky moved away for the sunlight to shine through. The contrast was absolutely beautiful as you would see more ships in the waters. Singapore is one of the busiest ports in the world. It’s no wonder we were porting into this country. I was a little relieved to have a field lab on my first day in Singapore. It would save me the time of figuring out what I wanted to do. But before our bus left for NeWater Faclity, a group of university students welcomed us voyagers in the front entrance of the port terminal. At that point, there were two options: 1) Listen to the tour agent and do a city bus tour or visit a zoo. 2) Listen to local university students and ask them to map out where they love to go in Singapore. Option 2 was the best option for me. Singapore is a country with such a mixture of cultures, although English is its official language. It reminded me very much of Hong Kong. It was very refreshing to speak English everywhere you would go because it hasn’t felt like that since Hilo, Hawaii. I thanked the students who circled some areas we could venture off to. By that time, our 80-student class hopped on the bus. NeWater demonstrated how the facility reuse and purify drinking water. First by Microfiltration, the removal of larger contaminants. Second by Reverse Osmosis by filtering the finer contaminants. And third by Ultraviolet Disinfection, a safety back-up but by that time the water is already clean. Singapore imports most of its water from Malaysia, it’s an agreement they have. But in the future, Singapore is hoping to not depend on Malaysia for water but by using its three national taps. Singapore had a water ethic. What Singapore has done is guarantee the future of safe drinking water not only for their own children, but the children of the world. This was probably my favorite field lab. I learned a lot about Singapore’s water and loved how it effortlessly tied with topics we were learning in class. We stopped by this water park where we could play through barefoot through the fountains. It was exactly what we needed after a hot food court excursion for lunch. Lunch was wonderful, but getting the table – not so much. I think this was lunch hour for many locals as many were in suit and tie. I forgot to mention how humid it was in Singapore, and the inside food court felt incredibly stuffy and hot. But I guess that’s why Singaporeans conserve and enjoy water so well. That water park exemplified that perfectly. I’ve never seen a beautiful water park open to the public before I came to Singapore.

By the time we got back to the ship, it was time to grab some dinner. Angela and I were on the same field lab and our plan was to just ask around and find the nearest Chili Crab restaurant. Singapore is known for its melting pot of cultures and delicious flavors of food. And every time I asked a local what was recommended to eat, they said Chili Crab. So I had to find out what all the fuss was about. When we got to the entrance of the port terminal, we met a group of local university students mixed with voyagers as they invited us to eat dinner with them. In my head I was like hell yah. These two university girls, Danika and Allison were some of the sweetest girls I’ve ever met. Danika had just turned eighteen, still a youngin’ haha and explaind how she is Filipino and her family is from the Philippines, yet she’s studying in Singapore. I thought that was really cool. And Allison she was born and raised in Singapore. So she’s been here her whole life. They helped lead a huge group to dinner, going through the MRT subway to helping us order chili crab and other great assortments of food. Danika, Allison, Cristobel ordered a lot of food for us, it was one of the best meals ever. The chili crab in particular was perfect. The chili sauce definitely makes the meal. Sweet and sour. It’s hard to believe but you’ll find it amazing how fast you can become friends with someone you’ve never met before. It’s the idea of doing something new, meeting someone new that I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of. One of the beauties of travelling. Doesn’t matter if you speak the same language, if you can smile and breathe, you just might become friends with each other. And these new friends of ours showed us to one of the best clubs I have ever been to, Zuke at The Marquee. T’was ladies’ night and free entrance was all ours. But that wasn’t the best part. The energy was incredible, and everybody just got carried away by the dancing and the music. I’m pretty sure this night in Singapore was one of the best nights I ever spent in port.

Singapore blew my mind straight out of the water. I didn’t have many expectations going into Singapore honestly. But reflecting on it now, Singapore was like a mix between Japan and Hong Kong for me. It was a country that was only 50 years old and it has urbanized and industrialized so much since then. There’s a lot of pride in the country when you see how nice the locals are to tourists, and how hard the locals work every day. I know it’s known as the “Fine” country, but there’s a soft side in Singapore that you will see once you arrive there. I’m really happy that we docked in Singapore, aside from the short time we spent there. I kept thinking to myself what life could be like if I wanted to work here after I finish undergrad. It didn’t take long for me to like the idea, more and more.

Thank you for reading! I’m almost caught up with all my blogging now. Our next port in a few days will be Cochin, India – a port I’ve been waiting to arrive before we had set sail. For now, my next blog series will be stories of Yangon, Myanmar, formerly known as Rangoon, Burma. Please stay tuned, for my time in Myanmar was hands down, the best adventure I ever had in my entire life.

All love and hope,

Kimmy

“Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.”  –Buddha