At Sea and Singapore

A day of rest.  We explored the ship, ate lots, slept, and generally enjoyed this beautiful vessel.  She is 12 stories, holds 680 passengers, 400 crew.  Registered in Mujura.  Has 2 specialty restaurants, a main dining room, buffet and grill.  Spa, pool, putting greens, shuffle board, walking track, gym and all the usual amenities.  Our room is lovely with a nice teak veranda--though it is often too hot to enjoy.  We watched the mens final four games, ate our first meal in the grand dining room where we met interesting people at dinner.

Arrived in Singapore around 8:00 am.  What a lovely city.  Our boat docked in town so we could walk off the ship and explore town.  We took a morning tour of the city including the Murlion statue, the emblem of Singapore, the Raffles Hotel, floating soccer fields, downtown skyline, incredible architecture, and impeccably manicured city.  It is illegal to chew gum and litter--and they honor that.

At the end of the journey we went to an orchid garden--wow.  Incredible varieties of orchids, all colors and sizes in a beautiful botanical garden.  Wish we could figure out how to share pictures, our next attempt will be flikr or drop box.  Stay tuned.

Returned to the ship to cool off--IT IS HOT AND HUMID here.  In the afternoon we went back to town to adventure by ourselves.  Took a taxi to Orchard Street with all the malls, and made our way to Takashemaya tower mall--every exclusive and expensive brand had a store here.  We were on the hunt for the Harley Davidson store for Sue's brother.  Everyone needs a shirt that says Harley--Singapore.  Success.

Dinner at Toscana, the Italian restaurant on board--hmmm good.  Gnocchi, and fish for dinner.  Watched a thunder storm roll in and out from our window side seats.  Watched ferry boats and commuter boats go in and out of one of the world's busiest ports.  It is quite amazing to see the number of ships, cranes and containers in the harbor.  Across the harbor from us is Universal Studios.  A cable car runs across the port (over our ship) to the island housing the park.

Day two in Singapore was a quiet morning on board.  Then we went to the Jurong Bird Park--quite a place with over 20,000 birds from mainly Southeast Asia, Africa, and Australia.  The highlight was while walking in an aviary a small bird landed on Nancy's head, roamed down her backpack then up her pony tail, before admiring himself in her sunglasses on top of her head.  Spent quit
e a bit of time there and was content staying there as we began to walk around the rest of the aviary.

Tomorrow is Kuala Lumpur.  Cheers.