Singapore, SingaporeToday
was our day visiting with people who are from UCG and similar groups.
We really
enjoyed all the visits with some people that we had known from previous
visits. The people we visited were those
that we had not seen the day previously at our meeting at Rosalind’s home.
The
first stop was Anita’s apartment. We
would have seen Anita yesterday, but she just had surgery on her shoulder and
that’s why missed her. The conversation among
us was very animated with lots of stories and laughter. They had a nice table with snacks and drinks
that we had not seen before. Everything
is so interesting and discovering what people say, do and eat is fascinating—to
me, at least.
We
had seen Arthur 3 and a half years previously. He had gone on our day-long
visit to Malaysia to see members with us.
Another
person that I talked to a lot was Lilly. She has been a member since 1977.
Another person present was Angie who is Anita’s younger sister. Also, there was a young lady from Indonesia
who worked in the home. They lived on
about the 8th floor of a high rise. Lots of high rises here.
From
here we continued our journey, with Rosalind driving, to the home Clement Lim.
At this point Henry Chin picked up the transport. We visited with Clement for an hour in his
garden, so to speak. He is a very
interesting man with a history going back to when he lived in London. He has an interesting history working in
media and news. He actually became a
member while living in London in the mid-sixties.
Singapore
is quite diverse. It is 16% Christian
and about the same Muslim. The Muslim
population is growing faster than the Christian population. Then, it’s about 35% Buddhist and the rest
various. They all seem to get
along. In Henry’s neighborhood, there
were various temples, madrasas and maybe even churches (can’t remember). But it was very diverse. We took a stroll down the street and saw the
various places.
Then
Henry Chin came by and took us around Singapore. I wanted to get a feel of the area and the
scope of the city. We were not expecting
a thorough tour, but Henry had outlined a route that took us from the eastern
side of Singapore to the western coast, then up the coast to the Malaysian
border, then down through the center of town where we saw the American
School.
It was all very remarkable. Singapore is an ultra-clean city. There are no slums. It is illegal to sell gum in the city because
they don’t want people spitting it out on the street. There are harsh penalties (death) for
narcotic possession.
We
stopped for lunch at a shopping mall. There were so many restaurants. They say the most people in Singapore eat out. They say it’s cheaper than eating at
home. The restaurants there ranged from
Subway to McDonald’s, but I wanted to try something Oriental. We finally settled on a Korean place called
Dookies. It was an experience, at least
for me.
You
could have things prepared, or you could cook it yourself. I wanted to do it like the people do it here
and “cook” it myself. I saw people
pouring in vegetables, meats, tofu…all kinds of things into a bowl with
bubbling something or other. Then they watched it cook.
I
went and picked out pieces of chicken that looked like lunch meat and hot
dogs. Poor choice. I put it all into the
bubbling hot liquid.
I also took a piece
of fried chicken separately. I should
have stayed with that. The pot cooked
and cooked. Finally, I felt that it was
time to “eat” it. My cooking was done
wrong, very wrong. Things were bland and half cooked. The chicken tasted terrible and it was my
fault, no one elses. Then on the wall
there was a sign warning about NOT eating what you had on your plate. It was sign
decrying food wastage. A $10 penalty
would be assessed for uneaten food. I was stuck. So, I slowly tried to “savor”
the meal got through it. I went and got
condiments to make it taste better. I
avoided the fine.
There was a drink called "Fun" Cola. Also, a dessert-making machine that created ice shavings that you could add flavors to.
That
was my Korean experience... I don’t do
well with Korean cooking!
We
continued on our journey. I thought that
we had gotten the feeling of Singapore which area-wise is twice the size of Manhattan.
Henry Chin, our driver, is a gracious man who so much wanted us to have a pleasant experience of Singapore. We drove by the
harbor and drove by a huge Chinese cruise ship. Also, we saw a desalinization
plant. Now, Singapore gets a lot of its
water from neighboring Malaysia, but is going to have to develop it’s own water
supplies.
We
drove by American Schools, which was very interesting. I thought we were headed back to the hotel,
but Henry drove us north to the frontier with Malaysia. We finally got back to
our hotel.
This is the jist of our Sunday. The most wonderful part was spending
time with all the people that we visited throughout the day. We thank Henry Chin for taking care of us
today.
Sandy Abell
2019-12-31
Thank you. I am truly e joying all the pictures and your telling us.
Lorraine Barnett
2020-01-11
Wow! I had to look up Jainism...I am sure I studied about that briefly in High School? Thank God for His absolute and wonderful TRUTH!!! Thank you so much for the lovely pictures. I enjoy reading about the travels and hearing about our brothers and sisters in various parts of the world. I know that your trip blessed them so much and vice versa.