March 20th & 21st – Culture and Cuisine in Singapore

Singapore is world famous for its legendary money-making abilities, and whilst it has developed lots of mainstream tourist attractions in the last couple of decades (like the zoo, the Singapore Flyer – its version of the London Eye, and plenty of flashy casinos), it's been generally acknowledged that (up to now) the city state is not exactly a cultural centre for the arts. 

However, this is a country with a plan, so if they see that they have something missing in the city's offering, like a world class art gallery, then they're perfectly prepared to spend the money to create it – it helps when you have the 4^th highest GDP per capita in the world.

So, to fill in this gaping hole in the city's art scene, they took two of Singapore's most iconic colonial buildings – the former City Hall and the Supreme Court, overlooking the Padang – and spent S$400 million (£250 million) on converting them into a spectacular new National Gallery. Most of the money was spent on the fabric of the buildings themselves, so they didn't go for any grandstanding purchases of Old European masters, instead they concentrated on Singaporean art, and South East Asian art – much of it modern (by definition, in a young country that's only 50 years old).

For me, the architecture was as interesting as the art it contained, so we went on a tour of the building itself, seeing the innovative solutions they used to convert these 1930s buildings into gallery space. The views from the balcony on the top floor were particularly impressive – looking across the forest of skyscrapers that is the CBD, and across to the amazing modern architecture that surrounds Marina Bay.

That evening, we had another perspective of the Padang, from the terrace of the colonial institution that is the Singapore Cricket Club, where we'd been invited for a wonderful party of fine wine and a mountain of fantastic local food. With a cuisine that boasts the best of Chinese, Indian and Malay food, as you would expect, it was delicious.

On our second and final day, we visited a Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner who pummelled us to within an inch of our lives – if there is any truth in the phrase, "no pain no gain", he must have done us a world of good. After that, we were in a daze for the rest of a day, which combined with the extreme heat, meant that we probably didn't get the most out of our exploration of the Chinatown district.

So, over the last couple of days, we experienced some of the things that Singapore does best – food, traditional Chinese practices, and increasingly these days, a bit of culture.

March 18th – Walking With The Elephants in Ko Samui

A sweltering half day on the beautiful Thai island of Ko Samui isn't really time to do it justice, so today was only a taster of the island's attractions.

This is a place whose beaches are really the reason that so many western tourists are drawn here; but the growing tourist industry on the island has worked hard to add some more attractions beyond sun and sand. So, into the tourist mix, there are plenty of temples to visit, elephant walks to enjoy, and monkey shows to watch. I even saw posters for firing ranges where us tourists can fire off machine guns for their own delight - some of the pictures were of young children firing great big pistols, so I guess that this was not the most upmarket facility.

I joined a tour that was doing an elephant ride around a "safari park". It certainly wasn't the most comfortable ride in the world, as you hang on for grim death as you slide from side to side of your seat. Of course, the park was firmly on the tourist circuit too, and it wasn't exactly getting back to nature, but it was good fun bouncing around on the back of this huge, lumbering beast.

Whilst the elephants are obviously well treated, and seem like willing participants in this walk in the park, you feel a little uneasy about the tricks one had to perform for us – playing football, doing gymnastics, and giving a "massage" to a couple of the audience members who had clearly not read about an incident a couple of weeks ago where an elephant had got spooked and crushed a tourist. As a result, the park were instructed not to pick any of us Silversea-ers for this close encounter with the bottom of an elephant's foot.

It was so incredibly hot, that half a day out in the open was more than enough for most of us – maybe I should have headed to the beach for a cooling dip.

 

March 16th & 17th – 2 Days (and 1 Night) in Bangkok

Bangkok is a city that shows us all the good (and many of the bad) aspects of South East Asia's incredible economic growth and the development of so many mega-cities in this region. In fact, Bangkok is probably the most extreme example of the lot.

Just sailing in, you're greeted by a towering skyline of super-size skyscrapers and you see the succession of massive bridges over the river that show you the billions invested into the infrastructure here. Then, the drive into the centre of town from the port, shows you just how congested and overcrowded the city has become – the more roads that are built, the more cars there are to fill them, and the worse the gridlock becomes.

On our first day, we wanted to leave all the trappings of modern Bangkok behind – to forget the traffic and the glossy shopping malls, and get back to the heart of old Bangkok. That meant visiting a temple or two, exploring its chaotic markets (on foot), and soaking up some traditional Thai culture.

Our first stop was a visit to the excellent National Museum, which showed us how Thai art and religion are inextricably linked, with a fusion of exotic Hindu and Buddhist influences acting upon them. Then, as the mercury hit 100 degrees Fahrenheit, we trudged past the royal palace (which seemed to be drowning under the weight of foreign tourists), and headed down to Chinatown to explore its frenetic markets.

The heat and humidity were totally energy-sapping, but the amount of industrious vigour generated by this heaving market just swept you along. I'm sure that there were loads of bargains to be had (if only we needed any of this stuff), but there did seem to be a huge amount of rubbish on sale here.

That evening, we found a great new restaurant on the edge of Patpong, called Supanniga, which was full of locals. It had a trendy, slightly upscale feel to it, but with very affordable prices. Having some good Thai food is always my personal highlight of any visit to Thailand.

The next day, we decided to sample some of Bangkok's ever-growing consumerist vibe, by visiting a few of the malls and markets where the Shuttle Bus drops you off. If you wanted high-end western goods, you needed look no further than the massive Central World Plaza. But, we headed to the Platinum Mall (ignoring its proud boast that it features in "Bangkok's Top Ten Attractions for Chinese Tourists"), where there was stall after stall of original designs and brands we'd never heard of. The fact that most of the clothes were made from nylon, most of the dresses were super short, and all the stalls had signs up saying "No Try On, No Refund, No Exchange", meant that we kept our Thai Bahts to ourselves.

From there, we went (quite literally) further downmarket to a busy clothes market across the road. This place really took the phrase "cheap and nasty" to new levels – stalls piled high with bad knock-offs and dubious fashions.

Over the Iast couple of days, I got the impression that there are enough clothes in Bangkok's malls and markets to clothe the entire population of the planet. In fact, the levels of consumerism started to get a bit too much. You wonder who really needs these throwaway fashions? How little can people be paid to manufacture stuff as cheap as this? It began to feel like the world has gone slightly mad.

Next year, I'm going to stick to the timeless classics that Thailand still does best – serene temples, proper craftsmanship, and fantastic food.

March 13th & 14th – Soaking Up Saigon’s Energy

With every visit I make here, Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) has never failed to surprise me. Each time I get here, the skyline gets higher, the city gets more developed, and the traffic gets (ever so slightly) more organised. In most places, you'd expect all that change to mean that the city loses a bit of charm in the process, as it gets homogenised into becoming yet another "world city". 

But, that hasn't happened yet to Saigon. It's true that new malls are opening up with all the familiar western brands, but the city's teeming markets are as busy, chaotic, and rammed full with souvenirs and knock-offs as they ever were. There's so many more restaurants and bars here than there used to be, but it seems that greater choice has raised the standards, without raising the prices too high.

There's plenty of cultural things to do here, but given that time was short (we arrived at 1.30pm and left at 1.00pm the next day), we restricted our activities to 3 things that Saigon does best – shopping, eating, and pampering. So, we got some bargains at Saigon Square and the Ben Thanh market – given the cheap prices, we're not expecting our "designer" goods to last long.

Next, we headed up to the Chill Bar, a trendy roof top bar where we witnessed the city lit up beautifully. Tracy and I were the youngest of our group, but even we were still a lot older than the other clientele. Particularly amusing was the reaction of 3 dressed up young western girls as the lift doors opened and they were greeted by our "more mature"/OAP group – they must have thought they'd come to the wrong place!

We then had a wonderful meal at our old favourite, Quan An Ngon – we ordered a mountain of delicious food, and it came out at little more than $10 a head. Amazing value. 

The next morning, Tracy got her hair cut, while I had a massage. Tracy always worries that something will get lost in translation and she'll have a hair disaster; while, I always worry that the masseuse will start to try some funny business. Fortunately, we'd chosen well, and the haircut was good, and reassuringly there were no added extras attempted at the end of my massage.

Walking out onto the streets in a post-massage haze, the relentless Monday morning traffic does take you aback a little, although it was reassuring to see that the much quieter traffic of the previous day was just down to it being a Sunday. If ever Saigon loses its crazy traffic, then the world will have turned upside down!

So, there's a lot of change around the city. But, what is a Saigon constant, is the sheer energy of the city – not many other cities around the world can rival it for its vibrancy and exuberance. I love Saigon!