Life Is A Road Trip: December 2010

Day 15 - Saturday, December 18th. We took the 40 minute, 200 mile flight this morning on Jetstar from Kaula Lumpur to Singapore. Singapore is an island nation off the tip of the Malay peninsula with a population of 5 million. The city was founded in 1814 by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles and won its independence from Britain in 1965. The population is a blend of Chinese, Indians, Malaysians and Europeans. It is one of the cleanest cities in the world and the third largest business center in the world.

The Pan Pacific Hotel at the marina will be our home for the next four nights. We were treated to amazing views from our 25th floor balcony. In the afternoon, we had high tea at the Raffles Hotel. The tea included a huge selection of deserts - we ate so much that neither one of us felt like dinner. My favorite thing was a gingerbread soup with black cherries. Izzy loved the bread pudding. All the tables had white linens and fresh flowers. There was a harpist playing Christmas music.Raffles is the iconic hotel of Singapore where the rich and famous have been staying for over 130 years. It is the home of the famous Singapore Sling. With nightly rates over $600, it was a little rich for our blood. They had a car rally at the hotel with over 30 Lamborghini cars. Later we took a boat ride on the Singapore River through Chinatown and the downtown area. Singapore is all decked out for Christmas, but the decorations don't match those in Kaula Lumpur.

Raffles Hotel - Singapore

Izzy's new car

Cruise on Singapore River

Night view from our room

View from our room

Day 16 - Sunday, December 19th. We started the day with a city tour highlighted by the National Orchid Gardens. Singapore is a very green city - orchids abound even on the sides of ordinary streets. The city is alive with new buildings while still retaining the historic colonial and Chinese buildings. I love the colorful shutters on the old buildings. We felt like we were actually in India when we had lunch in Little India. Indian music and DVD's of Dollywood movies were in every shop. We ate at the Banana Leaf Cafe where your plate is a banana leaf! I enjoyed an ice cold Tiger Beer with lunch.

It is very HOT and humid here. In the afternoon, we took a three-hour walk around the city and went to the top of the Sands Marina Bay Hotel. This three tower hotel with the banana boat structure on top is owned by the same American company that owns the Sands in Las Vegas. The cost was $8.2 billion! On the 56th floor is an infinity pool and amazing 360 degree views. There is a huge casino and an endless shopping mall with all the very high end shops. They even have the salons where you can soak your feet with little fish who eat off all the dead skin. The marina is filled with large white plastic balls covered in messages and wishes. The balls will all be lit up on New Year's Eve. We couldn't resist adding a message of our own - see photo below. Our next stop was the Singapore Flyer, the largest ferris wheel in the world. The 30 minute ride offered views over the city and the two rivers.

Sands Marina Bay at night from our hotel room balcony

Singapore Flyer at Sunrise from our balcony

Merlion Park at the marina

Orchid Garden

Banana Leaf Cafe with ice cold Tiger Beer

Historic shuttered windows in Little India

Lucky ball thrown in Singapore Marina

Fish pedicure

Infinity Pool at top of Sands Marina Hotel

Top of Singapore Flyer Ferris Wheel

Day 17, Monday, December 20th. We had breakfast this morning with the orangutans at the Singapore Zoo. A family of 10 of these magnificent creatures joined us at breakfast. The babies were swinging and having a grand time. The zoo is very unique, because there are no cages andwith exquisite native trees and flowers. As you can see from the photos below, this zoo has a large collection of unusual monkeys and apes. Be sure to look at the romance we saw at the zoo. After lunch, we treated ourselves to a Singapore Sling at Raffles - $58 for two drinks!

Singapore even rates their restrooms - 5 star is the highest rating!

Breakfast with the Orangutans

Proboscis Monkey -female

Romantic Singapore - Jungle Love

Proboscis Monkey - Male

Singapore Sling at Raffles

In the evening, we went to Chinatown. It was the typical hustle, bustle of a big city Chinatown. Izzy had chili crab, the iconic dish of Singapore, and I had abalone for the first time in over 20 years! There was a very beautiful Confucius temple there along with the historic shuttered windowed buildings.

Temple in Chinatown

Shuttered windows in Chinatown

Chili Crab

Day 18, Tuesday, December 21st. We continued to explore Singapore today on the Hop On Hop Off Bus and on the Duck - the vehicle that is a boat as well as a bus. We discovered that Singapore is one super-gigantic shopping mall connected by tunnels and enclosed bridges. Everything you can ever imagine can be found in these thousands of shops, many of which are very high end. I think the global recession must have bypassed Singapore. In the evening we enjoyed Cantonese food at the fine restaurant on the top of our hotel that juts out over the city.

These are the white wishing balls floating in the Marina in Singapore

Day 19, Tuesday, December 22nd. We traveled 3600 miles on Emirates Airlines for the 7 1/2 hour flight from Singapore to Dubai. The service was five star! There was a selection of at least a hundred movies that you could watch from the moment you sat down in your seat. I watched three movies including Cleopatra (with a very young and slim Elizabeth Taylor) since our adventure will be taking us to Egypt. We sat next to a very nice young man who comes from Dubai but is studying in Brisbane. He made some recommendations on what to do here.

Our hotel arranged for a driver in a BMW to pick us up at the airport. Dubai is filled with spectacular skyscrapers - I think each new building tries to be more unique than previous one. We got our first look at the world's tallest building. When we checked into the Grosvenor House Hotel for our four night stay, we were upgraded to a one bedroom apartment. There is a full kitchen and two bathrooms. The hotel also included afternoon tea filled with wonderful desserts, evening cocktails with remarkable appetizers, a full international champagne breakfast and free internet. It may be hard to leave this place. Some of the staff know our names already. After enjoying the afternoon tea, the evening cocktails and arranging our tours for the next three days we crashed into bed. In addition to the 7 1/2 flight, there is a four hour time difference.

Sunrise from our room in Dubai

Living room of our hotel in Dubai

Day 20, Thursday, December 23rd, Today we took the hop on hop off bus around Dubai. Dubai is one of the 7 emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates. Dubai is the second largest of the emirates. It is a brand new city with most buildings less than 10 years old. There are no old buildings, there is no city history. Before oil, they all lived in tents or mud huts. After oil was discovered in the late 60's everything changes for the citizens of the UAE. Everything seems to be built without regard to cost. They started with the sand as a blank pallet and created a beautiful city in the middle of the second largest desert in the world. Oil paid for everything. Now they are developing tourism and commerce to replace the oil based economy. Highlights of today's tour were the Mall of the Emirates with its ski slopes and huge aquarium, Dubai Mall (which is the largest mall in the world), the aquarium at Dubai Mall, and of course, the endless parade of beautiful buildings.
In the evening, under a full moon, we took a cruise on Dubai Creek to see the spectacular skyline of Dubai at night.

Starbucks at the Mall of the Emirates

Skiing at the Dubai Mall

Skiing at Dubai Mall

Fountain at Dubai Mall

Batmobile at Dubai Mall

Skyline of Dubai

Day 21, Friday, December 24th. This morning we went to the Atlantis, which is one of the most spectacular hotels in Dubai. It has one of the largest aquariums in the world and a water park where you can swim with the dolphins and sharks – well, when you swim with the sharks you are swimming in one glass tube and they are in another tube. This hotel and many others were built on reclaimed land. For about $1 billion, you can even buy your own island off the coast of Dubai. Later in the day, we took a desert safari which involved dune buggy riding on the sand dunes and a Bedouin-style dinner in the desert complete with belly dancers and pipe smoking.

Skyline of beach section of Dubai

Atlantis Hotel

View from inside dune buggy

Sunset on desert

Day 22, Saturday, Christmas Day 2010. Today we ventured to Abu Dhabi which is about 1 ½ hours from Dubai. Abu Dhabi is the richest of the 7 emirates and the fourth largest producer of oil in the world. It is so different from Dubai. Growth in Dubai seems out of control, while growth in Abu Dhabi seems to be following a well-controlled plan. While the population of the UAE is 4.5 million, “native” population is only 1 million. All of the workers you see in the malls and in hospitality are immigrants mainly from Indian, Pakistan and the Philippines. The UAE has the highest water consumption per capita in the world. Virtually all of the water comes from desalination plants. Both Dubai and Abu Dhabi seem to be a little bit Vegas and a little bit Disneyland. All of the malls in both cities were decorated for the Christmas season and you could hear Christmas music everywhere.

We visited the most expensive and one of the largest mosques in the world today – it can accommodate 40,000 worshipers. The Sheikh Zayed Mosque cost $1.3 billion and is named after the founder of the UAE. As we approached the mosque, it reminded me of the Tah Majal. It is a spectacular white structure built without regard to cost. On the building, if it looks like marble or if it looks like gold, it is. The mosque boasts the world’s largest chandelier and the world’s largest carpet. We also drove by The Palace. The Palace is a 7 star hotel that doesn’t like to be called a hotel. The Christmas tree in the lobby was adorned with $11 million of jewels. The hotel is closed to visitors, but you can visit during high tea for about $60. The cappuccinos are even dusted with real gold! In the evening, we went to the top of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. The view at night from the 124th floor was spectacular. The Burj Khalifa opened in January of 2010 and is 2717 feet tall. The Empire State Building is only 1250 feet tall.