Singapore

Singapore, 'The Lion City' is one of three city-states in the world. It's a country, that's a city! The other two are Monaco and Vatican City. Coming in at only 276 square miles but a population nearing 5.5 million, Singapore is densely populated. In fact, it's the second most densely populated country in the world. (See another city-state, Monaco for the most densely populated). 

The country at the tip of peninsular Malaysia, is one of the most popular tourist destinations for a lot of reasons, but partly because of the less stringent entry requirements. United States citizens can visit Singapore for up to 90 days without a Visa. 

Singapore is a melting pot of Chinese, Indian, and Malay influences. Official languages include English, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil. 

Even the largest religion practiced here is a slight majority, with about 33% of the population identifying as Buddhists. But, that isn't to say other religions aren't represented. A colorful  Hindu temple adorned with statues of Hindu deities that was built in 1827 is the epicenter for the Diwali celebration in Singapore. 

It's also one of the busiest metropolises in the world. The skyline of Singapore is full of modern skyscrapers and the popular giant ferris wheel. 

So, it's really no surprise that our landmark goes to one of those buildings: Marina Bay Sands. It was completed in 2011, and only cost 6 BILLION dollars to construct. It's technically three buildings, that together make up on of the most complex buildings ever built. 

In those three buildings you'll find a 2,500 room hotel, a convention center, a mall, a museum, two large theaters, 'celebrity chef' restaurants, a skating rink, two floating crystal pavilions, and the world's largest casino. 

On top of the whole complex is a 1,120 feet long 'Sky Park' on top of the world's largest cantilevered platform (a long projecting beam fixed at only one end), which has you overhanging 600 feet in the air. What's on that platform? Why, an infinity swimming pool of course! It's the world's largest elevated swimming pool (492 feet long and 57 stories high!) 

But, if you prefer hanging out at ground level (like Peyton who freaked out at the thought of swimming up there), there's things to do too. Marina Bay Sands sits alongside the waterfront with a promenade that features artistic sculptures. Along the water you'll often find kite flyers, dragon boat racers, and musical performers. 

Along the water you'll also find the 'Gardens by the Bay', which is a 'super park' home to the giant super trees that light up at night. (Those were featured in our book as the big picture). 

Being such a big city on the water, it's no surprise that Singapore has a serious shipping port. In fact, it is home to the world's busiest transshipment port. On any given day, there will be more than 1,000 cargo ships in port. The world's largest cargo ship (the Emma Maersk) can often be found here. It's able to carry 11,000 cargo containers at once. (Also, did anyone else know 90 percent of the world's shopping is transported by sea?) 

The boys made their Singapore postcards. 

Calib's included the Gardens by the Bay and the Chinese influence. 

Peyton's featured a guy with a Durian, aka 'King of the Fruits'. This thing is round and spikey, and supposedly tastes amazing. One problem though: it smells like sewage. The smell is so off-putting some places like hotels and restaurants have banned it. (This anosmic girl for one, would love to try it!) 

And Hayden made a pretty impressive Singapore skyline! 

So, I don't so much have a recipe for Singapore, and just a few quick notes for you. In Singapore, they love their Kaya toast,  and you can order the Kaya Jam on Amazon. (They're also a fan of Indian, Thai and Chinese food, so we had a few nods to those as well). 

Breakfast in Singapore often consists of a soft boiled eggs with soy sauce and white pepper (we did sunny side up, because soft boiling just didn't appeal to us), and some kaya toast. 

This one was fine. The Kaya Jam had a weird consistancy that I just couldn't quite get over. But, it wasn't terrible. I'm going to try it again next time we do the waffle bar, or maybe even try the French Toast version of it, and see if I like it a bit better. 

We did put Tamari on our eggs instead of Soy sauce, and I was kind of a fan of that. 

This one earned four spoons up- everyone ate their whole breakfast except for Peyton. 

But take that with a grain of salt, because I pretty much never see Peyton eat breakfast. 

We colored Singapore in, or rather made a blue dot at the bottom of pink Malaysia (not to be confused with the blue dot on Malaysia that's for Brunei).  We did blue for Brunei on Borneo Malaysia though, so we have to be careful not to confuse the two! 

That's 143 countries down, 53 to go! 

Next Up: Latvia