Another noonish start to the day and after breakfast we went straight to the National Museum of Singapore and learned about the creation of Singapora, the region before settlement in 1819 by the British deal with the deceased Sultan’s non-crowned son in order to take control of the island. The rightful heir earned his share of commissions through piracy, though. One can see where Hollywood gets its movie plots. The Island prospered as a trade route as all ships travelling under sail power would arrive here thanks to the Monsoon winds. It prospered until WWII when the British so underestimated the Japanese force that they surrendered the island. And in 1960, under charismatic, energetic and popular leadership, modern Singapore began its rise to its current status among world leaders.
In the late afternoon, we divided to conquer. Joe took the boys to get popsicles, snack and an hour of pool, while Deb went to the travel agency to look at options for our trek to Malacca in a couple of days and then our month in Malaysia and Thailand. She’s already got Vietnam and Cambodia’s month arranged as well as China (our final leg of the jersey). We’ll catch up with her in Little India tonight at 7.
Indeed, we found Deb at the meeting spot. She was a little flustered, though having had her Visa card “eaten” at a local bank (epilogue: card was returned to our hotel the following day). She had booked our trip to Malacca and arranged transfers and hotel.
We toured little India and realized that it was packed with Indians. They come down on Sunday nights to pray and to be with their own. Just men, mind you. When any number of them were asked why there were no women among them, they provided various answers around the theme that only the men work. We ate dinner at a local banana-leaf restaurant and returned to civilization.
In the late afternoon, we divided to conquer. Joe took the boys to get popsicles, snack and an hour of pool, while Deb went to the travel agency to look at options for our trek to Malacca in a couple of days and then our month in Malaysia and Thailand. She’s already got Vietnam and Cambodia’s month arranged as well as China (our final leg of the jersey). We’ll catch up with her in Little India tonight at 7.
Indeed, we found Deb at the meeting spot. She was a little flustered, though having had her Visa card “eaten” at a local bank (epilogue: card was returned to our hotel the following day). She had booked our trip to Malacca and arranged transfers and hotel.
We toured little India and realized that it was packed with Indians. They come down on Sunday nights to pray and to be with their own. Just men, mind you. When any number of them were asked why there were no women among them, they provided various answers around the theme that only the men work. We ate dinner at a local banana-leaf restaurant and returned to civilization.
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