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Oriana continues to creak with age, several people have again spent a relatively sleepless night because of the vibration caused by the engines. Captain Bob has again taken to the airways to assure us all that it is a temporary problem caused by the pitch of the propellers. Dead unlucky how many temporary problems the engines keep on having. Significantly the high presence of officer types around the ship only seems to happen after the event, never when it is taking place. If only Cap'n Bob could bottle his annoying, over the top, enthusiasm and pour it over the engines they would surely run soooo smoothly. However -Singapore lies 88 miles north of the Equator and has a population of 3.8 million. Singapore was basically a swamp till a Sumatran prince took it over. That all changed when Sir Stamford Raffles recognised it as a potential port and claimed it for the British East India Company in 1857. It became a Crown colony in 1867 and by the start of the 20th century many people came from China, Indonesia, Malaya and India. It was Britain's key defence base in the Far East but was occupied by the Japanese during WW2. On April 1st 1946 it became a separate colony and was granted self government in June 1954. It left the Malayan Federation in 1965 and became an independent republic and a member of the Commonwealth. Anyway, we docked in Singapore this morning, at the container port that is. Apparently the Singaporeans have built this cable car thingy across the entrance to the cruise terminal to Sentosa Island such that vessels like Oriana can't get in. Well they can, but it would involve snagging the cable car line and catapulting the odd holidaymaker into the sea; not good for the corporate image. It also b*****s up the funnel and makes the engine vibrate!!! The container port is massive, makes Grimsby and Immingham look like Lego toys. Unfortunately it is several miles from the cruise terminal involving a shuttle transfer of over 30 minutes. We are due to leave late in the evening, everybody back onboard by 8.30pm, last shuttle leaves the terminal at 6.00pm! Once again P & O, thinking of what is best for the customer. After a brief exchange of views they grudgingly delay the last bus to 7.00; we are overwhelmed with gratitude. Singapore is out of this world. An amazing mixture: - on the one hand Raffles Hotel and the Cricket Club relive the old colonial past, on the other hand the startling modern architecture and impressive Rapid Transit subway. Add clean open highways but contrast the ethnic charm and appeal of Little India and Chinatown. We caught the subway from the Harbour Front cruise terminal shortly after 9am. A charming young lady in the ticket office explaining the best option to buy a day pass, you rent the plastic pass for a 10 dollar refundable fee and load it with the pass fee; what could be simpler. The stations are spotless, no litter, no chewing gum, no beggars, no buskers, wonderful what you can achieve if you lock up or fine all offenders on the spot, it appeals wonderfully to the little lurking fascist in us. Straight off to Raffles Hotel, a real throwback to colonial times, a perfect marketing opportunity exploited in the best possible taste. Makes you proud to be British. God, we didn't half know how to run colonies; bet they were nearly as proud to be colonised. We resisted the temptation to buy the obligatory Singapore Sling and settled instead for two pre-stamped Raffles postcards we could post in the old style red post box and thus avoid wasting time seeking out the Post Office. Next the delightful anachronism of the Cricket Club, a city block of green with sight screens, rugby posts and pavilion; you could transplant it to any village in UK, although here it is in tip top condition. The wealth and vibrancy of this city is apparent everywhere. There are so many shopping malls, as ever though, all very similar, a long way to come to go to the same shops. The great joy here is that they are all, necessarily, efficiently airconditioned, an absolute must in this heat and humidity, which by days end has become quite debilitating. Back to the Subway we then head off to Little India where it is a joy to record that there is a much more relaxed attitude to life, the traffic, pedestrians and refuse collection showing a distinct leaning towards the priorities of Mumbai than elsewhere in Singapore. A hive of small local entrepreneurs rather than the corporate glitz elsewhere in this city. Having explored the Hawkers food stalls we opt for balti chicken, curry sauce and biriyani rice with poppadums served tastefully on a plastic tray! But unbelievably tasty at $4.50 each, about £2.40 each in old money. We would strongly recommend this, a real insight into local life. We appeared to be the only Europeans there and enjoyed it immensely, along with the company of two elderly Asian gentlemen who quite probably understood about as much of what we said to them as they to us, but we all seemed to enjoy the occasion. Our readers will not be surprised to hear that we spent more in the emporia of Little India and subsequently Chinatown than we did in all the Malls put together such was the choice, value, quality but above all the pleasure of the exercise. Chinatown was, perhaps, slightly disappointing by contrast. Much more tat on display, but still good value to be had in places. One gentleman was most disappointed that one of our number was no longer a businessman, not that he ever was I fear, as he could have run up a quite impressive two piece suit in no time at all, at an equally impressive price. We had managed to get to most of the places on our 'to do' list, but it is always good to leave a little bit left over we reckon, just in case you decide to come back some time in the future, and I have to tell you that there is a list taking shape of places we would like to revisit. Singapore is high on it, along with Muscat and Dubai. So it looks like the family's inheritance fund might be in for another hammering. Sorry guys, but there is only so much down sizing you can do. Anybody know of a good residential caravan site, or possibly a quiet lay-by, with friends nearby for the monthly bath! Always thought this cruise would cure us of the wanderlust! Anyway, I digress, as so often is the case, I hear Claire say. We were by now beginning to feel a tad weary, so after loitering with intent outside various Starbucks and McDonalds in a vain attempt to get free wi-fi connection we headed back towards the Cruise Terminal, where we wandered through yet another shopping mall and got wi-fi just outside a children's clothes shop . See, you don't get this sort of quality, detailed info in your average tour guide. You'll have every hairy backpacker in Christendom squatting outside Dong's Kiddies Fashions from now on; that is till they get arrested for making Singapore look untidy. We headed off to the bus bays at about 6.30, told you so. 6.00 was far too early. We sailed at about 9.30, after a slight delay because somebody had forgotten to hand in their landing cards to "the Authorities", and cruised gently past the centre of Singapore at nearly 11.30, so Lord only knows how far out we had been berthed, a sort of marine park-and-ride really, glossed over a bit in P&O presentations! Quite a lot of folk got off in Singapore, upwards of 400 rumour has it, to be replaced largely by Australians it would seem. Such an understated race.
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