Singapore was very nice and the most "western" of the ports we visited, probably including Anchorage. Every familiar chain restaurant is represented. McDonald's has a McCafe on the sidewalk open 24 hours, which is very much like a Starbucks. Same baked treats etc.
We could have had a normal meal ashore (at a normal restaurant with a familiar name) but the last bus back to the ship was at 2:30 so we had a pretty short day and decided to have lunch on board. I did find a restaurant serving duck necks, feet, etc. (surely for the locals) and I now believe what I was served in Qingdao which I thought was a chicken leg was really a chicken neck. You can get three duck hearts on a skewer for only 38 cents! Now that's a value. I think they're even cooked. You'll be pleased to know that this restaurant received an award for "The Fine Culinary Skill." You wouldn't want your duck head or pig tail prepared by an amateur.
Another restaurant was serving Japanese Handmade Pizza with mostly civilized ingredients and it looked pretty good.
As for disgusting, cigarettes sell for $8.30 US per pack and the packs feature color photos of cigarette ailments along with messages like "Smoking causes gangrene, Quit. or "Smoking causes 92% of oral cancers, Quit" which makes the Surgeon General's warning seem pretty lame. You have to look at that photo when you open the pack to enjoy your smoke. Kind of takes the glamour out.
Singapore is very clean as you probably have heard. Many things are expensive. To buy a car you need some kind of permit which costs $!0,000 then you can buy your car. (Heard aboard so details may be incorrect.) There are a lot of rules to follow. We were warned on our landing permit "Death to Drug Traffickers" so we did not traffic any drugs. This was the only port where we were required to carry our original passports. Every other port, a photocopy would suffice or some other document which they provided. No thermal scan here.
The shopping is very expensive, or very cheap. We did not stumble upon normal stores. We found movie popcorn at a movie theater (where else?) on the fourth floor of a shopping center but they would not accept American dollars or a credit card. Where is the ATM? In the basement. We eventually got local cash and found another movie theater for a wonderful treat.
Most of our stuff is now packed but it is always that last minute stuff that just keeps coming and puts you over the limit. We can do a final reorganization in Bangkok. It is mostly sunny so Im heading out to the pool for the afternoon. Real high speed internet tomorrow!
Regards,
Steve & Laurie
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