The Lion City and Contemplating Continent #2

Decisions decisions

How did we end up in Singapore? The route decision matrix gets complicated! One decision starts the dominoes falling, then we pick up the pieces to solve the rest of the journey puzzle. Like throwing a dart at a map but with slightly more planning. Tanzania for Safari and Zanzibar were pegged early as must dos. We originally thought to end our trip in New Zealand (in June), but wise advice (thanks Susan!) told us to avoid the winter season. Ultimately, we needed to fly from East Africa to New Zealand. Looking at the globe it's easy to see that this is FAR! The two route options go north through the Middle East or go south via South Africa. Our readers now know we opted for the southern route, including a detour in Cape Town. 

Jasper got a gift bag on the plane

Part of Chinese New Year celebration

The best and most economical flight from South Africa to New Zealand was with Singapore Airlines (Bonus: this is one of the best airlines in the world!). Since this voyage traversed 12 time zones, we split the giant flight into two legs and stopped for a few days in Singapore to help our clocks catch up (travel tip: adding extra days in a stopover can often be done for free!).

This city state is so modern!

Singapore is known as the “Lion City” despite there being no lions native to this part of Asia. Its other nicknames, “Garden City” and “Fine City” are easier to understand. The greenery is next level with high rise apartments drenched in flora and a huge boardwalk dedicated to the country's lush and diverse environment. The notoriously quirky laws are on display everywhere with many signs posted that eating and drinking are not allowed with fines of $500+ for disobeying this on the subway (likely the reason it's so clean). The rumour is chewing gum is illegal, although we were able to find it for sale; maybe it's the blackmarket gum dealers? We didn’t want to start an international incident so tried our best to blend in. This was pretty easy since there are A LOT of international tourists here. The city has leaned into its central location and strategic port to make it a popular destination for cruises and fliers alike. 

Birthday celebrations

We found a Tim Hortons

Our stop in Singapore coincided with the boys’ birthdays (Finlay and Jasper have birthdays one day apart). Chinese New Year also lined up which turned out to be a blessing and a curse.  Many shops and restaurants were closed for 2 days, but the trade off was some memorable experiences close at hand, including a traditional dragon dance and acrobat show in our hotel lobby. We found a world class water park on Sentosa Island (Singapore’s island for tourists) that boasts an endless supply of efficient opportunities to separate your money from your wallet. We found enough candy stores to keep Jasper’s sweet tooth happy and a fireworks and water show to help celebrate birthdays. The weather was a little wetter than hoped (but still warm!) but since we were going to a water park it didn’t matter - bonus: there was hardly a line in sight at the waterpark. 

Singapore has a vast array of street food. Organized during covid to bring greater sanitation standards to street vendors, these “hawker stalls” are large open air food courts found in many parts of the city, and provide the best chance for cheap, local fare. We explored a multi-storied one in traditional Chinatown with things like chicken feet, fish head soup on display; we had amazing ramen and duck. For the birthday dinner, the boys opted for sushi; we found a fun restaurant that delivers to your table with an army of sushi robots. The novelty of this kept us entertained throughout!

Cakes, cakes and more cakes!

Singapore is notoriously expensive; we opted to use some of Ian’s many hotel points to stay in style at the Conrad Hilton. We let the concierge know about the birthdays, who were happy to provide a cake to celebrate. We didn’t think much of the request until we arrived and found a cake in EACH of the minibars - yummily received by all! Jasper’s birthday wish was to have ice cream and waffles for breakfast (Thanks McCharles family for this tradition!). We requested further help from the hotel to make this happen but somehow the request went sideways, and the staff team felt bad and made it up to us with another cheesecake to feed about 12 people. To complete the cake superfecta, another cake and cookies somehow magically appeared in one of the minibar fridges one morning.  We left feeling very spoiled after swimming in cake for the entirety of our stay.

We’re now onwards to New Zealand to complete the second half of our long flight, a new continent awaits with many new adventures on the horizon.

---

Continental Contemplations 2.0 - Africa

As part of our blog we wanted to provide some closing reflections each time we left a continent behind. Doing so with Europe helped us gather our thoughts and reflect more comprehensively. 

Our travel through Africa took us to 4 distinct areas of this vast continent: Morocco, Egypt, East Africa (Kenya & Tanzania) and South Africa. With the vast mileage between them came changes in cultures, people, food, sights, geography and overall feel.

The People Make the Experience

We are so lucky to have met old and new friends throughout our African travel. Having a friendly face to help with local tips and tricks - while also providing that much needed feeling of the familiar - cannot be understated for its benefits. The home cooked meals, hugs, laughter and sharing of stories made for some of the sweetest memories for us, and our gratitude abounds for these times. Thanks in particular to Caitlin, Slaters, Julie, Vaishali & John, and the extended McCarthy clan! Having Ann & Miguel join us for the adventure in Egypt was extra special. 

We were also helped along the way by local experts who guided us through experiences and geographies that would have been either less sweet or navigable without them. From the crazy streets of Cairo to the solitude of the savannah, our heartfelt thanks go to Boniface, Hamada, ‘Radu’, James, Mohammed and many others. 

A special shout out to the people of East Africa - who add to the joyfulness of life with their ‘way’ everyday. We were lucky to meet some of the kindest, most welcoming people we’ve ever met. Some just helped us briefly on a quick Tuk-Tuk ride for the afternoon while others we got to build a bit of a relationship with and hope to stay in touch. Everyone we met expressed thankfulness for us coming to their part of the world to support their businesses. 

Water is life

Life is hard in the desert! Where water is scarce, life is more precarious. We saw this in Morocco where places we visited had not seen a drop of rain in 6 months. In Egypt, most of life is lived beside the Nile which snakes its way from Central Africa to the Mediterranean. Within a few miles the vast Sahara swallows up everything. As the wind blows, the sand seeps into everything. To know that many massive temples and tombs are only now being excavated from mountains of sand gives you a sense of the scale. In Tanzania, the Maasai depend heavily on the rains as nomadic people mostly reliant on their cattle for food. If there is no rain, there is no grass, and then there is no food for the cows….nor for the people. Those who live in lusher elevations can subsist, others must herd their very skinny cows for long distances. We could feel our spirits lift on arrival to lush areas and water-forward areas. 

For us, we also became very aware of our own water consumption as it all needed to be purchased or prepared by filtering or boiling; clean water does not flow from the tap in very many parts of Africa. Many still live in homes without running water at all. 

Tourism & Politics

Many parts of Africa are experiencing a tourism explosion. There is good reason, with some of the most stunning sights, cultures and geographies on the planet. We remain in awe of everything we have seen and lived. We first witnessed this phenomenon with the plethora of surf camps and resorts popping up all along Morocco's southern coast. Yet there is rightfully tension about whether the government investing in tourism (like for the world cup) has merit over more foundational investments in schools and hospitals. 

Egypt has always been a hub for tourism as it houses one of humanity's oldest civilizations; the business and growth have come at the cost of people being left behind from the development and growth of the Egyptian economy. We experienced the overcrowding of the industry while on our cruise having to wait a few hours in deadlocked river rush hour to get through the only set of locks on the river. 

Kenya feels as if it has worked hard to overcome its reputation of violence for visitors 15-20 years ago and is amongst the faster developing parts of Africa, and feels very safe. However, problems with corruption are not absent. We witnessed a few times when “police” traffic enforcement was looking for fines to be paid on the spot in cash, effectively making the whole exercise a circle of bribery.

Tanzania is growing fast! The country has increased its population by almost 10 million people in the last decade! The safari business seems to be growing rapidly with many groups crisscrossing the savannahs looking for the big 5. We were glad to support locally run businesses to help grow locally. However, after significant political unrest and violence during their recent election, Tanzanian society and the tourism industry was left reeling and has not yet fully recovered. It reminds us that stability is a very important currency in the world, and feels harder and harder to come by. 

Progress Happens in Pockets

Visitors to Africa will find that modern innovations are everywhere, making travel easier. Ridesharing is available everywhere and allows you to order modern vehicles, true shared rides, or boda-bodas and pay virtually, taking the negotiation and uncertainty out of this equation while adding an extra layer of peace of mind. ‘Mpesa’ or payments via cell phone plans are becoming more common, allowing digital transactions even for those without bank accounts. Some places are still cash based, but moving faster (arguably faster than back home), to digital options.

Infrastructure is slow to be upgraded in many areas and the modernization that comes with it can be hard to see, sometimes arriving in quick large projects that only benefit a few pockets of the continent; stadiums and roads for Morocco and grand museums for Egypt, while other projects seep through the many layers of government often losing much of their full potential. We see the varying degrees of completion on many construction projects with some looking like they have been shuttered completely and others feeling like they were intentionally left half completed, head scratching indeed.

We observed significant and advanced efforts and investment in the preservation and protection of vast swaths of nature in Africa. A focus on this - in both urban and more remote settings offers lessons for the rest of the world. Historical assets are similarly preserved - some with a view (like in Egypt) to ensuring many generations down the road are able to enjoy these treasures.

Cultural Lessons

We heard the many calls to prayer throughout much of our travels on this continent. Religion was a recurrent theme with many Africans (are you Christian or Muslim? It is very uncommon to not identify with any faith). We visited many mosques and churches which were some of the most stunning buildings we’ve come across on our travels thus far reminding us that religion and belief systems run deeply in many of the communities here. We observed that sometimes the churches or mosques were much more affluent than the communities surrounding them, leaving us wondering which was meant to benefit who?

We shared stories by the camp fire with Maasai tribesmen who quizzed us on how many cows we own back home and where the rest of Ian’s wives were. They were surprised to hear that Ian was perfectly happy with just the one. Social progress is not happening everywhere, with the rights of women, girls and gender diverse populations still with much work to be done. 

---

Jasper

In Singapore we stayed at the Conrad Hotel, the fanciest I have ever stayed at. I had 6 cakes, all amazingly made by a 5 star hotel. Robot sushi was amazing, they came and opened their hatch to deliver the food. I think my friend Bob would love the sushi there. My favourite ride at the waterpark was the whirlpool washout, you go around in circles riding a tube. What surprised me was that everyone in Singapore was celebrating my birthday with fireworks (because of Chinese New Year). 

Finlay

Singapore was one of my favourite cities so far. My family is teasing me because I say that about everywhere, so I guess Singapore is my favourite, until I get to the next one. I celebrated my birthday there in a really fancy hotel - the same kind we stayed at in Istanbul - thanks to my Dad’s cool hotel points. This one in my opinion was almost too fancy for me. While we were there they had a big mix up with our birthdays so they gave us about five cakes and embarrassed us, but it was fun. We went to a waterpark that was different than other water parks I have been to because it felt more natury. We had robot sushi where the food came on a conveyor belt. We also saw a really cool fireworks show. The airport is super cool with nets on the ceiling you can bounce on and a crazy waterfall.