On Sunday, Bill and I took a long MRT trip out to the western side of the island. Our goal was the Singapore Army Museum and Discovery Centre. We got lost multiple times, walking in the hot sun, but eventually found our way to the right place.
The museum attempts to chronicle the progress of founding an army from scratch in 1965. Given the island's history of colonization, invasion and occupation, they have done a remarkable job of planning and training the whole population for mobilization if necessary. They decided on universal conscription, and every male at 18 serves at least two years. Women also serve in the military, but it is not required for them.
Along the path to the Discovery Centre were the following interesting facts on signboards:
Singapore is the second most densely populated country in the world (after Monaco). There are more than 6,500 people per square kilometer. Bill remarked that I probably wouldn't have come here if I had known that beforehand!
In the island's small nature preserve, there are more species of trees than in all of North America.
Every day, more than 975,000 taxi rides are hired.
On our way back into the city, we stopped in the suburbs, to see what life was like outside the tourist areas. The shopping mall was jammed (like the MRT) with families--shopping appears to be the preferred recreational activity. I finally got to taste "Hainnese Chicken Rice" (for $1.50!), one of those dishes that is uniquely Singaporean. Bill had another local dish, Kaya Toast with coconut jam. Prices are cheaper out in the sticks.
On Monday, I got up at 4:30 am without a problem. (My sleeping schedule seems to be asserting itself back to U.S. time again). I met the men from Bill's ship for breakfast (Bill was already aboard working since midnight) and got on the hired van with the Captain, the Chief, and various day workers. We embarked on a half-hour ride through the dark to the northern tip of the island, to the Sembawan Naval Shipyard. Before we entered the base, the Chief Engineer handed me an identity card, told me to hold my thumb over the photo, pull my cap down over my face, and pretend to be sleeping.
The next thing I knew, we were getting off the van and walking across the gangplank to the ship, still in the dry dock. Below us was the gigantic propeller, looking all shiny and new--the shipyard workers had just polished it the day before.
Bill met me on the fantail and took me on a short tour of some of the spaces. Everything is torn apart in the engine room, and with so few people aboard, it was kind of eerie and forlorn. While Bill finished up his work, I sat and watched an Indian soap-opera and knitted in his cabin. Then we walked through the base and caught a cab to the "Terror Club."
Named after the H.M.S. Terror, a WWI British dreadnought, the club put on a breakfast buffet and televised the Super Bowl via the Armed Forces Network. The game was exciting (a good thing, since Bill kept nodding off after working all night), but I missed being able to see the commercials--instead we got "atta-boy" messages from the Secretary of Defense and President Obama during the breaks, and previously taped, endlessly repeating thank you messages from various players from both teams.
As soon as Manning blew the 4th down at the end, we packed up and trudged to the bus stop, caught a bus to the MRT station at Yishun, and took the long ride back into town. Bill went back to the hotel, and I continued on, with the idea of going to the Asian Civilizations Museum.
Unfortunately, my map was faulty, so I ended up at the National Museum and the National Art Gallery instead. I had a good afternoon at both, and will try again for the Asian Civilizations Museum today--I hear it's definitely worth the effort.
This morning, I was up at 5, and spent the early morning packing my bags. I fly out at 5:50 am tomorrow. Bill has a sore throat and is getting a cold, so I guess I'm getting out of town just in time!
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