Singapore

[TaoJones]

In the recurring piece "36 Hours in . . ." published regularly in the New York Times, today's edition contains "36 Hours in Singapore." Here's how it starts:

~ ~ ~

"36 Hours in Singapore

"East Coast Lagoon Food Village, a place to sample food hawkers' wares.

By JOSHUA KURLANTZICK
Published: December 23, 2007

"SINGAPORE may be clean, efficient and manicured, but the prosperous island-state knows how to get down and dirty, too. . . "

~ ~ ~

For the entire article, go to:

36 Hours in Singapore - New York Times

With Dan (Ex Calif) and Warren (micoverde) already embedded in the culture, first-hand verification of the story's details should come soon.

TaoJones

[Ex-Calif]

Singapore definitely has it all. From "Mall of America" shopping experiences replete with Tony Roma's, Black Angus, a Dan Ryan's and the requisite fast foods to Changi village where you can eat "hawker" food at reasonable prices ad stroll the boardwalk.

Singapore definitely has it's dirty underbelly. After all since Sir Raffles landed it has been a trading and sailor's port. And we all know what sailors are after when they get to port. There is a seedy side and there is definitely the young upwardly mobile club scene.

Singapore is about 45 kilometers across and about 25 kilometers north to south and is roughly crab shaped. With a population of 3 million and an additional 1 million foreign workers, it is definitely a high density, high rise city state. They have done a marvelous job maintaining greenspace as they have developed. Actually there seems to be a spot for everything. Kinda like disneyland we have Hiking Land, sailing land, kayaking land, water skiing land, shopping land and Sentosa Land. Sentosa is a fun place to go but I find it pretty touristy.

As a resident, I like to hang out at Changi sailing club where life is slow. Tip beers with friends both local and foreign. It is easy for a foreigner here to hang out with their own kind. I am very thankful for sailing which brings us all together regardess of home country.

Anyone visiting Singapore is encouraged to look me up and visit us at teh club.

[Microship]

Always found it intriguing... and I still chuckle at the title of the article about Singapore in Wired Magazine a long time ago: "Disneyland with the Death Penalty."

I'll look you up someday!

Steve

[delmarrey]

I really enjoyed the art work of the Tiger Gardens.

[Boracay]

Do they accept riff raff?

Since Singapore is in the middle of everywhere I'll probably cruise through again someday.

Does the Changi Sailing Club accept casual visitors?

[Ex-Calif]

Yes we have visiting yachts all the time and I believe at presetn we have at least 3 visitors. We are not a marina (i.e. finger piers and shore power) but we are friendly and I presume relatively inexpensive compared to RSYC, Raffles and the new ultra chic one-fifteen. Warren of Mico Verde can probably attest that Raffles is a great place for a boat but there is not much around the marina.

We are a 6 minute walk to Changi village with sundry stores, restaurants, a hardware store and a couple of bars.

In fact judging by the Satruday crowd at the bar overlooking the moorings at CSC we probably prefer riff raff - LOL...

[ughmo2000]

Yeah! Thanks alot guys!

Now I've another place I wanna visit!

[c_a_otoole]

I had a great time the few times I visited Changi Yacht Club. Definitly a place to just hang out and enjoy the secnery. They have a web page that I looked at awhile ago when I was thinking about sailing back there.

[psteele235]

And we all know what sailors are after when they get to port. There is a seedy side

You should have been there when Bugis Stret was going - that was a sight late at night!

[Pelagic]

In 2004, Raffles Marina had a promo for their month long Western Circuit Regatta, held around August. If you joined the Regatta and raced every Sunday, your moorage was free for a month.
I am not sure if this is still valid, but it was great fun and a large savings.

[Triton318]

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

And we all know what sailors are after when they get to port.

I was a sailor in the U.S. Navy and served aboard the USS Stein (FF-1065) from 1982 to 1985. I made two Western Pacific deployments, and yes, usually when making port, I was after "that" too. But during our second deployment, we were following a Soviet sub through the Strait of Malacca and came upon a sinking vessel crammed full of Vietnamese refugees. We took them aboard, sank their vessel (to keep it from becoming a hazard to navigation), and took them to Singapore. They were taken to a refugee camp. The second (and last) night we were there, I had liberty. Instead of going out after the usual, I decided to go to the camp to visit the people we had picked up. I never saw the seedy underbelly of Singapore. Instead, I spent the evening with some wonderful people with whom I could not communicate verbally with. It didn't matter--I could tell they were very grateful to the U.S. Navy. We left the next day in search of that Soviet sub.