Singapore - Part 1

The Hong Kong Temple was closed for maintenance in November so we took the opportunity to go to Singapore with Elder and Sister Chiu who also serve as missionaries in the temple and live in Singapore.  We had a wonderful experience in Singapore and seeing another part of the world.  Singapore (the main Island) is a small Island on the southern tip of Malaysia.  It is only about 25 kilometers wide and 45 kilometers long.  We found it to be a very modern city with more green areas and cleaner air than Hong Kong.  There were lots of places to visit but since we were there only one week we only saw part of it.  Below are a few facts about Singapore.

·         Singapore is made up of one main island and 63 other tiny islands. Most of the islands of the country are uninhabited.  ·The main religions of Singapore are Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, Taoism and Hindusim.  ·Singapore's residents are mainly descendants of immigrants from the Malay Peninsula, China and the Indian sub-continent.   ·The symbol of Singapore is ‘The Merlion’, half-fish and half-lion beast.   ·English is the official working language as well as the most widely spoken language of Singapore. Malay, Mandarin (Chinese) and Tamil form the other official languages of the country.  ·Bukit Timah Hill, 164 meters (538 feet) high, forms the highest natural point in Singapore.   ·Singapore is counted amongst the 20 smallest countries of the world. However, it is the second most densely populated country in the world, after Monaco.   ·         Around 90 percent of the people in Singapore live in public housing flats.

   Sitting in Hong Kong International Airport getting ready for our flight.  From left to right, Josephine (Chiu's daughter), Joann (granddaughter), Elder Chiu (Sister Chiu took the photo) and Elder & Sister Sorensen.  Josephine and Joann came to visit Elder & Sister Chiu for awhile and are currently living in Orem, Utah.

Sister & Elder Chiu & Sister & Elder Sorensen.  Food was a big part of the trip.

   More of Chiu's family.  The boy on the left in red is Hyrum, Chiu's oldest grandson, and was baptized while we were there.  We enjoyed attending his baptism and joining the family after for a special meal at the Mariott.

The Merlion is the national personification of Singapore.

Its name combines "mer", meaning the sea, and "lion". The fish body represents Singapore's origin as a fishing village when it was called Temasek, which means "sea town" in Javanese. The lion head represents Singapore's original name—Singapura—meaning "lion city" or "kota singa".

  We are standing in front of the gate to the residence of the President of Singapore.  We were not invited in.

       Sister Sorensen can make friends with anyone in the universe.  (These were part of the advertising campaign for the release of the new Star Wars Movie in Singapore).

   Trying different foods was a big part of the adventure and Chius knew the best places to go.  This small cafe was very popular for Chinese food.  The pot in the middle has charcoal under it to keep the soup warm.  It was all really good.  Notice Sister Sorensen's hand on the left of the picture with chopsticks.

This was an Indian meal with rice, meat, bread and curry.

  We tried a bite of this stingray.  The stingray wasn't bad but the spice on top was way to hot.

We didn't try this but thought it was an interesting food for sale.  There were several other flavors of fish skin available.

    Young coconut.  You get to drink the water and eat the coconut flesh which is lots better than the old coconuts you buy in the states.  The green drink is made from raw sugar cane and very good.

   This is Durian fruit which some people call the king of fruits.  People either hate it or love it.  It has a very strong odor and has been described as rotten onions, turpentine and raw sewage.  The odor can last quite awhile and you are not allowed to take durian on public transportation such as trains or buses.

    Members in the Philippines had tried to get us to try Durian but we always declined but since Sister Chiu had been so good as our guide we gave in and tried it.  She told us that after the third bite we would be hooked.  My impression was that it got worse with each bite.  All Sister Sorensen would say was "mmmmmmmmm".  When asked if that meant good or bad all she would say was "mmmmmmmmm".

   Singapore is very multicultural.  This was a group of Muslim school children.  The girls are wearing a Hijab on their heads.  The minority groups seem to fit into Singapore's society quite well.  In Hong Kong if we saw a woman wearing a Hijab she would only be a domestic worker (maid) but in Singapore we saw them working in a wide variety of jobs.

The food street in Little China.

This is in Little India.  There were more elephants than these.

We visited an Indian temple.

A part of the Indian Temple where marriages take place.

A sign in the train station indicating which stop we are at in both English and Chinese.

Same train stop only with English and Tamil (Indian).

This is how far south Singapore is in Asia.

Loved being on the beach, we didn't get to go snorkeling though.

A view of the ocean showing lots of ships.

This is the vehicle that we rode in during our Duck Tour, so named because we toured on land and water.  It is actually an American Amphibious vehicle that was used during the Vietnam War.  We rode down the roads of Singapore then right into a reservoir where we saw some of the sights from the water.  We then drove back onto the land and saw more sights.  It was a fun tour.   Below is a video of a Duck Boat going into the water right after we did.

   This is the Marina Bay Sands Casino.  There are only two Casinos in Singapore but they are still third in the world for gambling.  It was interesting to find out that if you live in Singapore you have to pay S$100 per day to gamble but there is no charge if you live outside Singapore.  Almost like the government is discouraging people from Singapore against gambling.

  All of these buildings are government housing.  As mentioned before close to 90% of the people in Singapore live in government housing.  New buildings are under construction in the center of this picture.  When buildings are 30 to 40 years old they are torn down and new ones built so about the only old buildings we saw were historical buildings that had been preserved.

This is a park we walked through on our way to church.  Even with the dense population there were plenty of green spaces and parks interspersed between buildings. 

One view of night lights over the water.