Around the World in 36 Days - Day 1

After we were released from our mission at the St. George FamilySearch Center, we scheduled a 27 day cruise through the middle east, Greece and Italy.  Scott and Marianne Robison, Jackie and Steve Duerden and Carol and John Padilla went with us.  What an adventure, some beautiful experiences and 8000 nautical miles of travel.

The blogs that follow will be about our adventures and where we are in the world.  There is no way I can include all the pictures we took and chronicle all  the adventures we had, but I did keep a little journal that is included.  So let's travel.

March 6, 2019, we left Salt Lake City and flew to Seattle, then on to Tokyo, and arrived around midnight in Singapore.  Flying is almost half the adventure because you don't realize how fast you can travel long distances.  With jet lag plus, we finally arrived at our hotel in Singapore to rest and begin our adventure.

Singapore

March 8

Yum, humid and hot. We bought hop-on hop-off bus tickets and toured Central Mall, had a river tour, walked China Town and took the elevators to floor 57 of the waterfront hotel. A hotel that has three towers connected on top by a cruise ship style building. Wow what a view of the harbor. Then home to the Holiday Inn. In the evening we went to Gardens on the Bay to see the light and music show.  Eight large 60’ trees made of steel and fashioned with orchids danced with lights to music. Much like Theron’s light show. Hot, humid, tired.

 Isn't Theron lovely?

 

March 9

Visited the Flower Dome and Cloud Forest with John and Carol; the others went to other orchid gardens and took a bus ride to different parts of the city. Great day. These were fascinating and air conditioned. Tonight we participated in the Chinese parade right by our hotel. The floats are brought in and parked, then the people go walk up to the floats to see them and the performers. The main float was the one opening the Chinese New Year including fire works.

March 10 - Start of Cruise

We went to one of the Singapore wards, they have a building that is 4 stories high with separate chapels on two floors. At 10, 2 wards meet, one on the second floor the other on the fourth floor. There are 7 wards in Singapore and one stake. We are really in a minority in a country of 5.6 million people.  Returned from Church and traveled to the cruise ship. We had priority boarding and it helped a little, it’s still a process.

This picture is the Singapore skyline from the cruise ship.