Day 46, part 2

Chris - "Foot loose and fancy free in Singapore" - Paul left this morning on a 3 day land excursion to Cambodia, which he will tell you about. I stayed on the ship and spent the day in Singapore. He will relate to you below about his impressions of Singapore and it's importance as a container port harbor. I will fill in some about the city. I know a number of you have been here as I was there with you...and I missed you all today!! Strategically poised at the tip of the Malayan peninsula, Singapore is an independent country which is made up of one land island and 63 other smaller islands, most of them not inhabited. It has one state, named Singapore...one city...named Singapore and a river...named Singapore. With that creative grasp of the English language...I knew I'd feel right at home! Once a sleepy fishing village known as Temasek, the island got its name in the 14th-century when a visiting Srivijayan prince saw an animal believed to be a lion and renamed the island Singa Pura, the Lion City. In 1819 a British East India Company official, Sir Stamford Raffles, claimed Singapore as a regional base. It remained under British rule until WWII when it was under Japanese occupation. Post war it progressed from a Crown Colony to self government in 1955. After years in the Federation of Malaysia, it emerged in 1965 as an independent republic. Singapore's population is about 5 million which is 77% Chinese, 14% Malays, 8 % Indian and 1 % others. Although there are 4 official languages (Malay, Mandarin, Tamil and English), English is the most widely used and the official language taught in their schools. Singapore enjoys multi-racial harmony, both in it's people and in it's environment. Mosques, temples, and churches co-exist in a climate of complete freedom of worship. Architecturally the skyline is rich with colonial buildings, contemporary highrises, rehabed warehouses and the previously mentioned religious structures that make Singapore an exciting, diverse slice of heaven. (Well heaven if you like hot and humid like I do! )
More tomorrow on the part of Singapore I visited today.