In the planning for this trip, my son Neal put me in contact with his friend, Andrew -- also a philosophy professor. Andrew's career path had brought him to be on the faculty of the new Yale-NUS (National University of Singapore) here in Singapore. Andrew's initial email of Singapore travel suggestions provided my "goto" planning guide as he distinguished between the touristy activities and emersion exploration (my word choice). I could tell he understood and was recommending the kind of travel that I prefer.
Allow me to divert for a moment -- when I read tour books -- even Lonely Planet -- I often reflect on how they necessarily have to write for everyone -- for Americans who travel decked out in bling with large suitcases that they can't handle themselves and who are fearful of anything new -- to the wreckless youth who may be tempted to explore drugs in countries that have the death penalty for drug offenses. Even US State Department travel advisories mostly serve to scare one into knowing exactly how most Americans die in each country and from what! So, I always have to slog through and cherry pick the guidance to find what fits me. I could tell from Andrew's email guidance that he was a seasoned traveler and knew this process -- and outlined things I would enjoy.
So this morning was my opportunity to meet Andrew -- and a plan was hatched to meet him at a Hawker Food Center (West Coast Market) not far Yale-NUS and his apartment. Getting to this Food Center required that I use the Singapore bus system -- and once again Google Maps Transit served me well. The 50 minute bus ride was super comfortable/air conditioned and gave me the opportunity to people watch the morning commuters.
Meeting up with Andrew gave me an opportunity to not only begin to get to know him but also to get his insights into lots of what I had seen but didn't fully understand (my visit to Lucky Plaza yesterday, for example). It was truly a delightful morning that included a tour of the beautiful, new Yale-NUS campus....
...and a stop by his office where he served my "proud dad" feelings by instantly finding Neal's book among his huge library (he did say that his student assistants had recently organized his library).
Another delightful, personal contact added to my life and travels. As we parted, he again suggested that I visit what he had called: "one of the strangest amusement parks known to humankind!" So, another short bus ride and MRT ride and I was there: Haw Par Villa (tripadvisor ranks it 65 of 655 things to do in Singapore).
Originally built in 1937, this free amusement park was/is intended to teach Chinese values -- and its "best known attraction" (to use Wikipedia's phrase) is the "Ten Courts of Hell."
To be sure, the guidance is accurate because this is not "your-nose-will-grow" Pinocchio lesson on morals -- these graphic depictions are much more intense. I'll let a few photos give a sampling:
"Delightful" is probably not the correct word to use to describe my visit -- but the entire park (and there was much more) was intensely interesting and with excellent English translations of most everything. The visit was also somewhat eerie as I was often the only person in the park and it had that kind of run-down look as if from the set of a horror movie. I could tell it was once a bustling theme park with wonderful water features -- now dried -- with now-closed concessions and room for now-missing trams. Among the statues of the gods of longevity, happiness and prosperity, I found my look-a-like:
A few MRT stops away and I was once again thrust into Singapore's tourist central -- the Singapore Island of Sentosa . Hosting 20 million visitors every year, this sleek and modern destination island includes massive attractions including Universal Studios, restaurants and accommodations.
I had an interesting time walking around and people watching the upper-crust tourists spend their money -- but the only money I left there was for a delicious vegetarian Indian sampler plate in one of the many nice food courts. Wait for it....
wait for it...
here it comes, another foodie photo:
Another interesting and fun day in Singapore -- my last full day until my next trip. Tomorrow I'm headed to Shenzhen, China. If you've never heard of it -- I hadn't either until 2009 even though it is home to 18 million people and your iPhone's and iPads all come from there.
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