SEVENTH MOVEMENT: SINGAPORE
Singapore, Singapore
I woke up today . . . eventually . . . after a long night. I made my way to the National Museum of Singapore via the MRT. Inside the museum, I witnessed the various displays on the local islands, food, fashion, film, photography, nature-study paintings, and Singapore history. The musem had a lot to offer, unfortunately I declined the free audio guide issued for the portion on Singapore history – I expected displays explaining each artifact and diorama, but there were no displays to be found; the audio guide is a must in this museum (I found this out the hard way; let this be a lesson to the few who find my website and actually read this shit that I type). I still did enjoy the exhibits – especially the one on fashion in the 1960s, which had locally-produced rock/pop tunes available for listening to; the film section also had snippets of music and film available for visitors to listen to and watch. Also, on the basement floor, there was an exhibit entitled “Genesis”, which had 245 photographs from Sebastião Salgado showing the Earth and man in their natural, beautiful state. Overall, it was a well designed museum with much to see and do.
After finishing with the National Museum, I walked to the nearby Canning Park, where Government Hill is located. I walked around its gardens and found my way to the tomb of Sultan Iskandar Shah (apparently local kings used to be buried on this hill); at the tomb a man waiting there asked me if I had a wife or girlfriend and I replied truthfully, “no”, so he took me up to the tomb and had me pray to the deceased king to give me a girlfriend; he then requested I contribute money to add more flowers to the tomb, I reluctantly paid the man for his one minute of generous hospitality (I would prefer not to pay these touts, but if he really was going to use the money to buy more flowers – which I doubt – then I could not help but lend some coins to his cause – even the coins I lent was not enough for the man, but I declined to lend anymore). I then walked to Raffles Terrace in the park where I encountered an amateur photographer taking erotic photos of a scantily clad woman; I could not help but wonder what state of dress she would’ve been in if I came ten minutes later. After that, I walked back to the MRT station to take the transit system to the Merlion park.
I exited the station at Raffles Place MRT station and then walked along the Singapore River, across Cavenagh Bridge, to the Victoria Theater and Asian Civilizations Museum. After admiring the British colonial architecture of those two, and the surrounding, buildings, I walked over to the famous Merlion, Singapore’s signature sculpture, spewing water, ceaselessly, in to the bay in front of him. I then walked counter-clockwise around the bay to the Marina Bay Sands Hotel and Casino. I entered the line for the casino, and after waiting about fifteen minutes for the stagnant line to move (the computers must’ve been down or updating their software) I soon presented my passport for entry. My plan was to find and sit at a bar, just as I had done in Macau, and then enjoy the atmosphere while drinking some beers. Unfortunately, as I found out, no alcohol is served in the casino; furthermore, they did not even have showgirls performing on a stage like I witnessed in Macau; they did however have free water and coffee/tea (dispensed from machines that allowed you to choose your beverage). So i had a coffee while I walked around the casino, observing all the patrons that were free from drunken or sexual distractions – talk about all business and no play; where is the fun in that? After sizing up the casino, I then left and walked through all the shops in the Marina Bay Sands Hotel before arriving at the MRT station located in its sub-basement floor. I then took the MRT back to my hotel. After dropping off my camera, I the made some calls back to the United States, thus making this another long night for me. I did notice, during the night, all the local restaurants were still busy serving patrons; evidently, this area – and perhaps all of Singapore – stays open until the sun breaks the dawn; I, however, did not stay up that late to find out, and eventually I went to sleep.