Arriving in Singapore - A Modern City-State
After leaving Malaysia, Sophie, Memrie, and I flew to Singapore, where we met up with my crew from TV to produce an hour of television about this city-state. Singapore is an island country located off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula and is a melting pot of mostly Chinese, Indian, and Malay people. This modern, cosmopolitan, bustling city-state plays a key role in international trade and finance.
Kim Miller, my Supervising Producer, worked with the Singapore Tourism Board for four months, planning a trip specifically for me and my TV viewers. The Singapore Tourism Board generously hosted the entire trip. I was particularly impressed with the amount of construction going on everywhere. With so much modernization, I was also impressed with how the younger generation is holding fast to traditional culture and heritage, a notion very dear to me. Please enjoy our first day in Singapore and our tour of the extraordinary new Marina Bay Sands.
1 We said goodbye to our travel companions, Jori and Zak, at Kota Kinabalu before setting off for Singapore.
2 The islands surrounding Borneo are incredibly beautiful.
3 Approaching Singapore
4 About to land at Singapore Changi Airport, a major aviation hub in Southeast Asia. The Port of Singapore is the busiest container port in the world!
5 At the Port of Singapore, there are about 1,000 ships at any one time.
6 The airport was about a 25-minute drive to Capella Resort on Sentosa Island. Enroute, we passed by the Singapore Flyer, the world's largest observation wheel, offering breathtaking, panoramic views of the Marina Bay, the city, and beyond.
7 Shortly after checking into Capella, we headed to the new and almost complete Marina Bay Sands building. This is the entrance.
8 Our TV crew met us in the lobby. The first day of the shoot was also director of photography - Gary Nardilla's birthday!
9 An interior shot of the Marina Bay Sands building taken from the lobby of tower one. The elegant hanging sculpture is entitled 'Drift' - it's a gigantic, open, cloudlike frame, created by Antony Gormley.
10 As you can see from this model, the Sands SkyPark is an awe-inspiring engineering wonder. It opened officially on June 22 2010.
11 Here I am with Moshe Safdie, the visionary architect who designed this unique structural masterpiece.
12 Moshe Safdie and I are joined by Thomas Arasi - President and Chief Executive Officer of the Marina Bay Sands building.
13 A close-up of the model
14 The the lotus-shaped structure in the foreground is the Museum at Marina Bay Sands. The lotus-shaped building's innovative roof, channels rainwater through the central atrium as a waterfall.
15 Moshe Safdie and Jaron Lubin - an architect on the team
16 Another look at the magnificent lobby
17 Renowned architectural photographer Timothy Hursley was also there photographing the building.
18 Here I am walking and talking with Tom Arasi.
19 Stay tuned for the tour on my new TV show!
20 Memrie and I had a quick break for an iced cappuccino before heading to the Sands SkyPark, which is still under construction.
21 The views from the SkyPark are fantastic.
22 This will be an iridescent swimming pool linking across the span of the three hotel towers.
23 Luckily, our TV crew was very comfortable working high above the ground.
24 Moshe Safdie graciously showed me various points of interest in Singapore.
25 The elongated shadow of Marina Bay Sands
26 This is the cantilever.
27 On that day, about 100 people were jumping up and down at the end of the cantilever to check its projectile motion.
28 Kohl and Sophie decided to try jumping, as well.
29 The cantilever definitely has projectile motion.
30 Memrie, Moshe, me, and Jaron - I definitely want to visit the SkyPark again when it's complete.
31 After touring the SkyPark, we celebrated Gary's birthday in the lobby with a delicious chocolate cake.
32 Here I am with pastry chef Alejandro Luna.
33 A beautiful tart with meringue edging from the pastry shop
34 And more beautiful pastries
35 And more
36 Leaving Marina Bay Sands, Sophie took a few more shots of the exterior.
37 Light cascades off of this beautiful silver sheet.
38 Next, we boarded a bumboat for a river tour. This is Mary Ann, our coordinating producer.
39 Kim Miller - Supervising Producer - stayed on shore with the film crew.
40 Our friendly and informative captain
41 Kohl - my trip hair and makeup artist - enjoyed the breezy ride.
42 Another view of the Singapore Flyer
43 Passing by the construction at Marina Bay Sands
44 Some of the many bridges in Singapore spanning the Singapore River
45 Memrie absorbing the Singapore skyline
46 Sophie had a great time.
47 There are many busy restaurants along the river's edge.
48 This is the Asian Civilizations Building.
49 And this is Clark Quay.
50 After the boat ride, we drove to East Coast Lagoon Food Village for a hawkers dinner with Willen Low.
51 Again - cameras were rolling.
52 Coconut and sugar cane
53 The chicken looked especially good at this place.
54 I loved the BBQ wings!
55 When we got back to our hotel room, this intricately carved carrot sculpture was waiting for us.
Wow beautiful. It's been a long time since I last visited Singapore.
It's only 15 minutes ride via Causeway from our southern-most city, Johore Bahru.
Its a 35-minute flight from Kuala Lumpur, our capital city..
We have strng links with Singapore, which was once our state.
But we separated in Aug 1965.
Posted by: Idzan, Kuala lumpur | June 29th, 2010 at 12:37 am
My hometown! It's been great seeing your various travel posts and getting glimpses of the amazing areas to which you've been given access. Your thoughtful, concise, and informative posts have encouraged me to start writing again. Thank you!
Posted by: Glen Chua | June 29th, 2010 at 12:40 am
Looks like a fabulous trip. I have never been but dream of visiting. It is wonderful to hear of it's growth and great amount of building and progress. Hope you enjoyed.
Posted by: Adriana | June 29th, 2010 at 1:35 am
Hey martha, it was lovely to see these snaps. Looks like u had an amazing trip.
Posted by: Vidya | June 29th, 2010 at 3:02 am
I have always loved asian culinary arts! Singapore is an international mecca in asia, not to mention breath taking! http://www.meandmartha.net Looks like another great day with Martha Stewart!
Thanks again!
Dan Viger
Hollis Center Maine
Hollis 5 Corner's
Posted by: Daniel Viger | June 29th, 2010 at 5:20 am
Martha, enjoyed this tour of Singapore. Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to more blogs & for this to appear on your TV show.
Posted by: KLBrown | June 29th, 2010 at 9:02 am
Hi Martha,
Another great looking city! I can’t wait to see the footage and hear the commentary on your new show on the Hallmark Channel. I was so in awe of the beauty and size of The Sands Sky Park and I imagine it was a pleasure to meet the architect, Moshe Safdie. What a brilliant person to even envision such a place! I’m sure you asked a thousand questions!
~
Are you saying you went by the Singapore Flyer twice and didn’t take a spin to check out the views? I guess we’ll have to wait and see. Your pictures don’t show anyone on it but I think they would look like dust mites anyway. That thing is huge!
~
Wow, Martha, with all the things you do and the places you visit, I’m not surprised you don’t sleep much. I know I couldn’t just hop into bed and not think about all of this! Your mind has to be filled with a whirl of ideas too. Well, one thing for sure, you are much appreciated by me! Trish
Posted by: Trish | June 29th, 2010 at 9:30 am
Fortunate for us following your trip to be able to compare great architecure and sculpture in building, food, and people. Singapore sling is more than just a potent cocktail..
Posted by: ann | June 29th, 2010 at 9:36 am
Very beautiful photos and everyone looks like they have had an amazing experience!
Posted by: sherey | June 29th, 2010 at 10:33 am
The scenes so far have been so beautiful. I could only hope someday to take this visit, but in the meantime I'll look forward to traveling with you when you present this trip on your show
thanks again!
Posted by: Regina | June 29th, 2010 at 1:20 pm
My friends born in Singapore cook up great food for me...i love the cuisine. I had no idea there were so many high-rise buildings in one spot. I too hope the melding of the old with the new is doable for the long term. Great pictures and of course people of Singapore know how to throw a fab wedding. Here is my Word Press blog post on weddings where Martha is mentioned by a psychic! http://bit.ly/8Iskxs Thanks
Posted by: http://twitter.com/Geotravel | June 29th, 2010 at 1:29 pm
What lovely pictures of everyone!
Posted by: Wendy | June 29th, 2010 at 1:33 pm
My son and I just recently saw this resort being built on "Build It Bigger." I look forward to seeing the progress on your upcoming episode. I don't know how you do all of this traveling! I have jet lag just from reading about your travels in the last few weeks!
Posted by: ryepye | June 29th, 2010 at 3:22 pm
Hi Martha, These photos of your visit to Singapore are absolutely stunning! I love everyone of them! I can hardly wait for your new "Martha Stewart TV Show" to start on the Hallmark Channel so we can see the wonderful videos of all of your summer trips this year! Your great tweet pix from you and Kevin in Turkey, etc. are so much fun to see and your blogs about that trip will be divine! Happy birthday to Gary Nardilla! Thanks again for sharing! Love, Jan
Posted by: Jan Erickson | June 29th, 2010 at 4:57 pm
I'm eagerly checking your photo blog, daily. We are so privileged to see your photos. I would love to continue to view your show, but alas, we still have an antenna for TV reception..... This magnificent building under construction in Singapore takes one's breath away. Being a California native, a scary thought about earthquakes entered my mind. I was imagining what that exquisite pool way up in the air would be like during an earthquake. I regret even thinking about that.
Posted by: Judy Williams | June 29th, 2010 at 7:04 pm
Everyone is wearing fabulous shoes again; especially while having a cocktail in the Marina Bay hotel. Lucky ducks! Here's a link to a great pair of boots Martha is wearing when she visited the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada for the annual Canada Blooms. http://bit.ly/cSX6YP Thanks
Posted by: http://twitter.com/Geotravel | June 29th, 2010 at 7:19 pm
Hi Jan Erickson,
Singapore does not have earthquake. We might feel a bit of tremor if there are huge quakes in Indonesia but Singapore is still quite far from the earthquake zones.
As a matter of fact, there are no natural catastrophe in Singapore either..... No typhoon, no monsoon, no tornado, no dangerous animals.......
Posted by: Lenox | June 30th, 2010 at 3:56 am
Hi Lenox,
Glad to hear that Singapore is "natural catastrophe" free, but you can't count out the epidemic in 2000 and 2003. Masks are often recommended. Singapore's disaster response is impressive and they have the system and the experience of managing the SARS crisis. Singaporeans have recently been dealing with massive flash floods that have caused havoc in the city. Hopefully Martha brought her wading boots!
Posted by: Pete | June 30th, 2010 at 8:30 am
Wow Martha!!! Looks like ya'll had a wonderful trip!!! How do you get to travel all over the world? I love to travel and there are so many places I would love to go to and visit that I've never been to here in the US and overseas but I never have enough time or money to do so. I guess I'll just have to follow you on your blog and look at your pictures!!!
Posted by: Christy, Georgia | June 30th, 2010 at 11:01 am
I believe there is a Michelin star restaurant to be on the top of the Sands, as they say in Singapore it's a "fine city" taxis have to pay extra on registration to be able to take passengers into the main city, but the railway is so clean, no chewing gum or eating or drinking allowed, they are very proud, have some chili mud crab in the park, so many things to do. Don't you love their ability with flower arrangements and the vegetable and fruit carving? Keep safe look forward to more.
Posted by: Aussie gal | June 30th, 2010 at 8:39 pm
i read your updates and look through your photos regularly, but this is my first comment here. Martha (if i may i call you that), you live such a busy life and are always doing such varied and wonderful things all over the world. and yet, when you shared one of your "weekends at home" with us, you took the time to go to the hardware store and find a screw for a stool that was missing one - just like any of us - and you looked for just the right colour of touch-up paint. your work is meticulous! i just wanted to thank you for sharing so much of it with all of us, and inspiring so many of us (no matter where we're from or what we do).
~ana in canada
Posted by: ana @ iMadeItSo.com | June 30th, 2010 at 8:40 pm
I've been following your travel blog...you post many lovely pictures of birds. For any of your readers who may be interested in a lovely lady on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada who takes care of parrots here is a link on my Word Press blog. http://maydelory.wordpress.com/category/nature/ Thanks Martha and gang!
Posted by: http://twitter.com/Geotravel | July 1st, 2010 at 12:35 pm
I only use the internet to communicate with my daughter and son in Tucson or to do billing for my husband (an OB-Gyn MD however, I spent an hour looking at your website the 4th of July. Searching for wedding ideas (I did order your magazine...)I saw a video you have of some frat boys getting their fraternity house improved on with your guidance. Today during my stressful day at the office with difficult people-I have to tell you, I remembered the video clip and it just made me feel better! It was funny. You did,as always, an extraordinary, outstanding jog. Thank you for making my day more enjoyable. 'Hope you really are enjoying your trip. sincerely, Robbin Ann Lampe (in Puerto Rico)
Posted by: Robbin Lampe | July 5th, 2010 at 11:27 pm
Hi Martha, this is the first time I'm visiting your blog and funny how you're actually visiting Singapore (this is where I live). My 5 year old daughter and I have been ill at home these few days so what is there to do but to turn on the TV and I insist on watching your programme which I normally would not get to coz I'll be doing the school run.
Whilst here you may like to visit some real heartland food areas like Chomp-Chomps or even places as like Ang Mo Kio, Bedok or Chong Pang. Here you'll get to see the wet markets and sundry shops selling all sorts of interesting food. Lots of colours and full of life...
Don't forget the durian! LOL
Posted by: Yin Yin Rapkin | July 7th, 2010 at 8:07 am