Singapore

Our first night we came across a “city” of fishing vessels and carefully made our way over long lines of bouys marking nets. We had no option other than to go over them but they seemed to be weighted allowing us to safely motor through. We continued with Green Ghost and Caminta, the Canadian boats who were coming to One 15 Marina with us up the eastern side of Batam. We anchored that night in a small bay and would cross the notorious Singapore Strait the next day. The monsoons are setting in and we are now getting showers and spotted a water spout not far from the boat—time to move on!!! We left again at dawn making our way past Batam. It looked very industrial and although when we googled it they promoted their thriving tourist market and great snorkeling. After where we had been in Indonesia I think I would pass on Batam. We approached the Strait with trepidation, it is the busiest Strait in the world and unlike Panama where we would be going with the traffic we needed to cross the 1.7 miles perpendicular to the traffic. There is a boat at least every 12 minutes and there are two lanes of traffic in opposite directions. It is impossible to convey the size of these massive boats which were as far as we could see in all directions. Our radar had so many purple lines—detected objects—it was mind boggling. We had been listening to the radio and realized that unlike our perception of tankers all knowing what they were doing in an orderly manner, it is chaotic. Vessels were calling each other saying they were on a collision course, others arguing whether they should go port to port or starboard to starboard as they passed. Others were complaining that vessels were anchoring too close and they should pull up their anchors and move. It is a huge effort to pull and reset their anchors and there was much arguing about this. Some colourful language on the radio can not even be repeated on this blog!!! One vessel having been requested for a port to port passing said that he was anchored and the other vessel said OK but let’s pass port to port and hold your course—the response was “I am anchored”. Almost all of the captains on the radio were Asians or Indians who generally seem to be excitable so it was pretty crazy. We need to keep our radio on in case we are being hailed but the constant chatter was tiring. We no longer think that as we are passed by a huge tanker they know what they are doing. We intended crossing at the narrowest spot and as we approached Green Ghost and Caminata threw up their sails and with their motors going took off after one huge tanker had gone past. We decided against the sails as we may have to stop or change course once we had passed through the first lane. We followed after the next boat and were able to go straight across without stopping. As we passed behind the huge tanker the wake from the engines tossed us around—although you want to pass close to the stern of the passing ship you have to be clear of the turbulence made by these huge vessels. Meanwhile we watched as Green Ghost went into irons (stalled their sails) in the middle but Caminata thought he could make it—wrong!!!!! He got the 5 toots from a huge LPG tanker he was intending going in front of telling him to stop!! He did this quickly and soon we were all safely across. The skyline of Singapore had become clear and it was very exciting to think we had finally sailed as far as and into Singapore—how cool is that!!!! We now entered the immigration anchorage where you need to take your boat and sit until the boat comes out and passes a fish net for you to put your passports in. They take them to their boat, process them and pass them back to you in the fish net. It is all very exciting and now that we are safely across the Strait we can relax and enjoy our entry. We went the short distance to the marina on the fancy Sentosa Island which has an MGM studio and other “American style” tourist attractions. The marina is very fancy and surrounded by high rises and many multi million dollar boats. There are restaurant, bars, a great pool, gym and a shuttle bus every 30 minutes to the MRT—underground to town. It is 7 minutes in the bus and the same in the train so we are close to everything. We celebrated with the other boats with cappuccinos, gelatos and other high class fare. The following morning we set off to become tourists in this great city. Like Hong Kong we bought a card with credit to use on the buses and MRT and picked Chinatown as our first stop. As we came up from the underground intending to pick a restaurant for lunch the skies opened and torrential rain poured down—as only tropical rain can do!!!! We rethought our plan of finding a good restaurant and escaped into the nearest one. In reviewing the menu we thought the $5 price tag on most items would mean they would be fairly small—wrong!! As we waited out the rain we slowly waded through the huge amount of delicious food we had ordered. The skies cleared and we walked to the huge Buddhist temple which has a tooth relic reputed to be the tooth of a Buddha. People have donated 450kg of gold to surround it. In Asia and India real gold is highly valued so when they decorate it is all solid and no plating is used. In other areas of the temple incense was burning, and chanting and praying was happening all around us. I was struck once again with the similarities of human religions—the Muslim call to prayer, the Gregorian Chants and now this Buddhist chanting all resonate with the same sounds. Hands in prayer are all common and prostrating oneself also. We wandered through Chinatown stopping to watch a Chinese play in a nearby park. We could not understand the words but it appeared to be the Chinese adaptation of a Romeo and Juliet story and was to end in tragedy. Men were gathered playing a type of checkers with money passing hands after each game. Our next stop was the Asian Civilization Museum where we intended a short stop. This turned out to be an amazing museum covering firstly, the history of Singapore, and then most neighbouring Asian countries. We were impressed by the carvings, weavings, ceramics and other artistic endeavors practiced in Asia for many centuries. You quickly come to the realisation that our claims of discovering the eastern world are very far off the mark---they were very sophisticated and trading was happening long before we even dreamt they existed. As the day closed the lights came on and this vibrant city continued to thrive into the night. Next day we met Barry and Ann from Cats Paw IV and wandered around Little India. This is one of the areas in Singapore which has not been “renewed” as much of Singapore has. It was at the height of festivities for Deepavali, Festival of Lights. This is the equivalent in the Hindu religion to Xmas and the manic shopping for brightly coloured decorations attested to this. The air was fragrant with brightly coloured garlands of flowers perfuming the air. Added to this was the noise and chaos expected in Calcutta and it was quite an overwhelming place. Gold jewellery was in high demand, this is kept as a sign of wealth and worn and passed on through generations. The noon downpour once again forced us into a restaurant nearby. This was “The Banana Leaf” where we were given a portion of a banana leaf which we took to be our place mat but subsequently found it was our plate. The food was great and cheap but we are reminded that beer doubles the price of your lunch. After lunch the rain abated and we ventured further into Little India stopping at a tailor where Ann got a great top and Ken resisted a tailored shirt—casual t-shirts are more out lifestyle now!! Next stop was at the Long Bar in the infamous Raffles Hotel to enjoy the $26 Singapore Slings which were invented here. Ken, Ann and I ordered an original Sling but Barry went for a beer, when we got the bill he realized he had been charged for the atmosphere as it was $20!! As Barry was still suffering from his infection in his foot they returned to their boat and Ken and I continued to wander the modern area along the river banks nearby. They had been holding the Asia canoe championships and it was lovely to see these great athletes effortlessly glide through the water. We made our way to the helix bridge which led to yet one more massive shopping mall—Singapore has more of these than one could ever imagine. This one had an ice skating rink where for $10 you could rent skates and join the Asians teetering about on the ice for an hour. The mall was one of the most opulent with mannequins wearing gorgeous dresses which had been worn by movie actresses at various film festivals. Most famous “house brands” were here and the windows were resplendent in glitz and glitter. As we neared the huge structure of three separate tall towers linked together on top with a boat like object which apparently has gardens, parks, restaurants and bars on it. We were too late to go up but will at a later date. We spent several days doing necessary chores and taking advantage of the pool and nearby supermarket where we were able to get whole wheat bread, fresh milk and healthy cereal—what a treat after Indonesia!! A day was spent looking at electronics at the Sim Lim Centre and Sim Lim Square—each building having 5 stories of overwhelming amounts of all things electronic!! We bought a camera which will go to 12 metres underwater so will double as an extra camera and also a snorkeling camera. We bought a 5 metre ribbon of LED lights which we can attach to our existing light in the cockpit to “brighten our lives”. When we hooked it up it was so bright that we felt we could be running a disco—or as the Asians do buy one of the many microphones there for sale and have a karaoke bar!! We may cut some off and dull it down a bit. We got an extra metre to add to my galley lights so will see if it helps there as well. We had priced similar light strips in NZ but it was a lot more expensive than the $40 for 5 metres we paid here. We joined Green Ghost and another British boat and went down to Little India to see the lights for the last day of Deepavali and eat Indian food. The streets were lit with decorative lights and as we wandered around were told of a great restaurant by a local Indian couple. This turned out to be great advice and we had a wonderful meal. Afterwards we wandered the busy street life enjoying the “life after dark”. You can buy almost anything here and one of the men who had a broken sandal paid $3 for a new pair—even if it only lasts till dawn it is a deal!! I went into a Hindu temple where people were praying, making offerings and involved in other rituals which I did not understand. It felt typically Indian, in which order did not seem the priority and different things were happening in various areas but I was impressed by the obvious faith of the people. The next day was to be our last in Singapore so we took our paperwork to customs to clear out, went back to Sim Lim square where Ken bought a clamp multi metre to test batteries, our old one was not working any longer. Early next morning we ventured out to the immigration anchorage again where our passports were stamped with exit stamps. We had waited for a “round the world” racing super yacht to clear in and were amused as they took off at a fast pace after clearance heading in to the marina. They obviously did not check the sand bar on their charts and suddenly they were aground tilted over at an odd angle!!! They were able to slowly work themselves off but it was a lesson that you do not become complacent until you are actually tied alongside!! Our 30 mile trip around the west coast of Singapore, did not involve crossing the Strait, and we would end up at Danga Bay on the Malaysian side of the river which separates the two countries. The Singapore side was lined with border patrol boats and signs advising to keep clear of the “live fire” areas. Malaysia, on the other hand does not seem to have the same concerns as there were no signs on their side. I assume the illegal immigration only goes one way!! We caught a favourable current and arrived in Malaysia at noon ready for the next chapter in our ongoing adventure.