Don & Kully's World Cruise on Viking Neptune

Singapore is the world’s only island city state, spread across 63 islands at the tip of the Malay Peninsula. Established in 1819 for the East India Company by Sir Stamford Raffles who had a vision of establishing a free trade port along the major shipping lane between China and India. The city grew from a secluded backwater into a shabby port city before transforming itself into a sophisticated and one of the wealthiest metropolises in the world. The city’s port remains a free trade zone and is the busiest port in the world. Additionally, the local economy relies heavily on advanced high technology development and production.

Today we took an optional Viking Tour, “Singapore City Tour & National Orchid Garden.” The tour was a bus tour that gave a quick overview of the cultural and natural highlights of the city that is considered “Asia in microcosm”. We were able to see the modern futuristic skyscrapers alongside the Chinese shop houses, mosques and churches, modern shopping centers and clean green parks.

We made a stop at Mount Faber where we had panoramic views of the harbor and city.

After that we drove through the city’s financial district and Merloin park where we had an amazing view of the Marina Bay complex.

In Chinatown we visited the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and saw its impressive exhibit of a hundred Buddha statues in the Dragons Hall. The excursion ended with a stop at the Singapore Botanic Garden and National Orchid Garden. Over 1,000 species of Orchids and 2,000 hybrids are on display.

Prior to returning to the ship we and some friends stopped at Vivo City the largest shopping centers in Singapore located next to the cruise terminal.

Tomorrow we will continue our stay in Singapore.