Wonder of the Seas and Icon of the Seas World's largest cruise ships, with waterparks

Wonder of the Seas

I wonder how deep the sea has to be to park his giant ship. How many places can accoommodate it? How many lifeboats does it have? How many little ferries does it need if it has to park in the deep ocean half a mile from a destination?

More details on pictures from Wiki Commons.

Wonder of the Seas is the easiest of the two names for me to remember. But now there's another one, a sister ship, younger but bigger, called Icon of the Seas. Owned by Royal Caribbean International. 

Icon of the Seas

Seven swimming pools, including an infinity pool, six waterslides, and a waterfall.

Icon of the seas. More details from Wikipedia.

Useful Websites

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/icon-of-the-seas/

 https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12302831/A-true-Icon-Seas-Inside-worlds-largest-cruise-ship.html

Children's Activites At Changi Airport

 

Children's Area in award-winning Changi airport, Singapore, in April 2023. Photo by Trevor Sharot. copyright.

Other free attractions for children in the airport are

The butterfly area

The giant waterfall in Jewel

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What's special about Singapore? Clean, Green, Traditional and Ultra Modern Multilingual

 

 Singapore's Views Of And From Marina Bay Sands

My son and his fiancee (now his wife) went to the Marina bay Sands hotel for a drink with a view from the top. They loved the view so much they checked in for a night and enjoyed hours in and beside the Infinity pool overlooking Singapore. You can admire Marina Bay Sands, like a giant set of three cricket stumps, from the downtown area of the city. 

Or buy a ticket to the top where your voucher buys you most of a cocktail or a pizza per person. We did that one New Year's Day.

Airport Waterfall

The airport, Changi Airport. itself has a giant waterfall in the centre of a mall linked to the terminal buildings by a walkway. When Covid-19 restrictions end, the shops and restaurants and mall and waterfall will be back, re-opened for you to enjoy. 

For gardens which are seasonally decorated and a giant waterfall with zigzagging walkways, go to Gardens By The Bay. 

Gardens By The Bay

For free you can take the waterside walk passing plants with plaques.

Another free place is the Botanical Gardens.

Now the opportunity is to go jogging along trails around the countryside, the beaches, the jungles. Bicycle trails are opening. My husband hired a hybrid bike for on road and off road, and hired a camera.

Useful Websites

https://www.visitsingapore.com/see-do-singapore/nature-wildlife/parks-gardens/gardens-by-the-bay/

https://www.gardensbythebay.com.sg/en.html

wikipedia

wikicommons

wikitravel

wikivoyage

tripadvisor

About the Author

Angela Lansbury teacher of English (advanced and English as a Second Language or English as a Foreign Language, French and other languages, aspiring polyglot.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Member of many toastmasters  speaker training clubs and speaking contest judge.

Angela Lansbury, the author of 20 books including Wedding Speeches & Toasts, and Quick Quotations, has lived in the USA, Spain and Singapore. 

She  has several blogs and writes daily on at least two of the following:

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

 Please share links to your favourite posts.

The Names Hong And Kong, Shanghai And HSBC

Flag of China

Flag of Hong Kong

Hong Kong

You may recall the popular novel The World of Suzie Wong, about a prostitute in Hong Kong. The book was made into a play, film and a ballet. Two unofficial sequels were written.

Wiki gives this wonderful video demo of how to write the letter for king, pronounced as Wong or Wang. A Cantonese speaking friend of mine in Singapore told me: "The base line of a letter in Chinese is always wider, as a support, like the earth."

I replied, "Or a table or support for a candlestick!"

The majority of people in Singapore are ethnic Chinese and speak Chinese (Mandarin).

HONG KONG

Etymology (History of the word or name)

Hong Kong
"Hong Kong" in Chinese characters
Chinese	香港
Cantonese Yale	Hēunggóng or Hèunggóng
Literal meaning	"Fragrant Harbour" [33][34]
showTranscriptions
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
Traditional Chinese	香港特別行政區 (香港特區)
Simplified Chinese	香港特别行政区 (香港特区)
Cantonese Yale	Hēunggóng Dahkbiht Hàhngjingkēui (Hēunggóng Dahkkēui) or Hèunggóng Dahkbiht Hàhngjingkēui (Hèunggóng Dahkkēui)
showTranscriptions

Fragrant/Incense Harbour

From WIki :

The name of the territory, first romanised as "He-Ong-Kong" in 1780, originally referred to a small inlet located between Aberdeen Island and the southern coast of Hong Kong Island. Aberdeen was an initial point of contact between British sailors and local fishermen. Although the source of the romanised name is unknown, it is generally believed to be an early phonetic rendering of the Cantonese pronunciation hēung góng. The name translates as "fragrant harbour" or "incense harbour".

Why Fragrant

"Fragrant" may refer to the sweet taste of the harbour's freshwater influx from the Pearl River.

Or to the odour from incense factories lining the coast of northern Kowloon. The incense was stored near Aberdeen Harbour for export before Victoria Harbour developed. 

Alternatively, red waterfall

Sir John Davis (the second colonial governor) offered an alternative origin; Davis said that the name derived from "Hoong-keang" ("red torrent"), reflecting the colour of soil over which a waterfall on the island flowed.

One Word Or Two? HSBC Bank

The simplified name Hong Kong was frequently used by 1810. 

The name was also commonly written as the single word Hongkong until 1926, when the government officially adopted the two-word name. Some corporations founded during the early colonial era still keep this name, including Hongkong Land, Hongkong Electric Company, Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels and the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC).

So the names of the latter companies are not wrong spelling but old spelling. If you deal with HSBC or see the name, you may recall that the bank dates from a while ago.

HSBC Bank

The HSBC Bank was founded in the 1860s. Wow. Now you know.

Useful Websites

Hong Kong

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong

Shanghai

For more on Tourism see

Wikipedia

Wikitravel

Wikivoyage

tripadvisor

HSBC

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HSBC

About the Author

Angela Lansbury travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Member of five Toastmasters Clubs which train speakers worldwide. Angela's club Braddell Heights Advanced is on the same time zone as China. From London and the UK you area few hours behind, so early lunch enables you to log into a club in Singapore, China and Hong Kong. Another club, Singapore Online meets later, starting at 9 pm Singapore time, so that visitors and members from the USA can join in.

BHA 7 p, first Wednesday, Aug 5th 2020, at 7 pm Singapore time. Use google chrome

bha.learncool.sg/meet

Sheraton Tower Hotel splendours

I love everything about the Sheraton Towers hotel in the centre of Singapore.

 The doormen wear wonderful white uniforms.

You can find your way around. The fountains and waterfall are fabulous

.  The toilets are terrific, always with orchids. The staircase is superb, wide and grand. The food is fabulous, a feast for the eyes.

Websites
https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/sinsi-sheraton-towers-singapore/

About the Author
Angela Lansbury, author of Wedding Speeches & Toasts, Quick Quotations.See Amazon and Lulu.com.

Must See Things To Do In Singapore - 30 favourites

Singapore flag

1 Open top bus tour

You are forbidden to eat or drink on trains. But by a Kit Kat. Watch out for the flavour. Asian KitKats also come in Green Tea flavour.

2 Free waterfall in Jewell at Changi Airport

Waterfall at Jewel has a nightlysound and light show.

Does the sound of running water make you think of going to the toilet.

Look for a bidet style sign on the doors of the ladies toilet in the airport terminal.

At the airport and around town look for a bun filled with been paste.

3 Butterfly Garden in ChangiAirport



4 Fish head curry on banana leaf plate in Little India

5 Mustapha's 24 hours 2 block department store and supermarket and walk along Little India, or back to Farrer Park ecological shopping mall to visit Daeso.

6 Ngee Ann city basement ; walk underground to orchard MRT and above it Ion and end at Daiso bargain shop for shopping where everything costs $2..

7 Gardens by the Bay



8 Revolving Restaurant

9 Big wheel

10 Raffles Hotel

Drink a Singapore Sling in the hotel where it was created.

11 Botanic Gardens free


12  Swim outdoors - in a condo, Country or town club or public pool

Cashew Heights condo.


13 Visit synagogue - must book

14 Visit Toastmasters at Sheraton Hotel

Sheraton Hotel.

15 For photos pass Indian temple, Chinese temple

Indian temple. Toa Payoh South, next to Toa Payoh South Community Club..

16 Green Park hotel at Chinatown MRT

17 Chinatown

18 History Museum

19 Art Museum

20 Clarke Quay and Boat Quay river walk

22 MRT and LRT


23 Night Safari

24 Ford Factory Museum

25 Valu$ at Expo MRT.

26 St Andrews Cathedral, art museum and waterfront, view of Marina Bay Sands triple skyscraper with ininity pool on top, and statue of Raffles.




Pay to go up it to Observation deck, or pay for another deck where the cost is deducted from drinks and food.

28 Claim back Singapore's VAT if you spend more than 100

29 Kaya toast breakfast. Buy a jar to take home.






30 Hawker Centre meal. Chicken rice.


Then durian dessert or milkshake.

Or green pandan cake.



Websites
To learn Chinese

singaporeair.com
https://www.visitsingapore.com/travel-guide-tips/travelling-to-singapore/changi-airport-singapore/

About The Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.