On the same day that we took the tour of the bird park, we also signed up to take a tour of the city of Singapore.  We began with a boat ride up and down the Singapore River.  This is where the city of Singapore all began, with its shipping and importing and exporting of goods back in the late 1800's. 






 The city skyline is quite an awesome sight.  The skyscrapers are everywhere and just behind this scene, there are hundreds of old "shop lots" from years ago.  Steps lead right up to the side of the shop lots and people would pull their ships right up to the steps and drop off their goods.  Our tour guide told us that the only thing that Singapore can claim that they actually make is "babies".  They have no other natural resources and Singapore exists through its shipping.  It is the largest shipping capital in Southeast Asia.

 At this point on our tour, my camera ran out of battery power and I had to begin using my cell phone to take the pictures.  They still turned out just fine.  The first picture above is the world famous "Singapore Flyer"  Each of the sections holds 28 people and we never got around to getting on it and taking the ride.  They say you have to see Singapore at night on this giant ferris wheel.  The other picture above is the unique architecture all around Singapore.

 This is the famous "Merlion".  It is the symbol of Singapore and you see it on all the TV shows and logos and everywhere.  The Merlion has the head of a lion, which symbolizes the strength and courage of Singaporeans, and the body of a mermaid, because they began as a shipping port and always remember their history and roots.  It is quite a large statue that shoots water out of its mouth 24/7.  The second picture is another skyline picture of Singapore.

 This final picture of our boat tour is a famous hotel with three separate towers.  The unique part of the hotel is a giant ship that the owner built on the top of the three towers.  You can pay $25 sing dollars and go up and take a tour of the ship, which we did not do.  We are told that the ship has all kinds of gardens and trees and swimming pools and luxury resort items for those that can afford such things.  The second picture, on the right, is a wall hanging in a "gem" and precious stone factory that we visited next, after the boat tour.  They had hundreds of jade and diamond and all kinds of valuable stones that were carved by hand into amazing pictures and figurines.  Everything had a price on it, from thousands and thousands of Sing Dollars to the tiniest little figurine of little animals for only S$25.  Everything in this picture is made out of various precious stones that were carved to create the picture.

 As we ended our afternoon tour, we were taken to an Indian Temple.  It was so gorgeous and ornamented with animals and life size figures all around the various roofs of the temple.  At this point on our tour, our feet were killing us and couldn't wait to get back into the tour bus with the air conditioning and the soft seats.  The tour driver told us all sorts of interesting stories.  Just 12 years ago, the government decided to help their people have more children, so they took all singles names and placed them in a computer program.  Then they matched people up and offered them the opportunity to marry, if they chose.  If they married and had a child within the first year, they were given S$18,000 sing dollars.  Needless to say, lots of kids came into the world during this period of time.

This is a sign in all the elevators in our hotel.  We thought it was so funny to see that "durian" is not allowed in the hotel.  The durian fruit, which we tried a few months ago, tastes terrible, but many people love it.  It has a very bad smell to it and I thought it tasted and smelled like "an oil change".  Whenever we walk into the front of all the stores, during the durian season which happens to be right now, you get that strong gross smell of the fruit.  I have to actually hold my nose as I walk by.  Everyone tells us that you have to try eating durian about 3 times and then you'll like it.  One was enough for me and I'll have to get up the nerve to try number two.
The amazing part of our 6 days in Singapore happened as we went back into Malaysia.  Last time, 3 months ago, we were detained and had a very difficult time getting back into Malaysia.  This time, Linda and I fasted on Wednesday and we have prayed, over the past few weeks, that the Lord would allow us to come back through immigration, into Malaysia, "without incident".  Those were the exact words that we used in our prayers.  As we came up to the window and the taxi driver handed our passports to the sweet Muslim sister, she stamped them without ever even looking up at us and passed the passports back to the driver and we continued on to our apartment.  Heavenly Father and His Holy Son, Jesus Christ, answered our prayers with exactness and love.  We passed through the borders "without incident" and we are ever grateful for His "tender mercies".  We love serving the good people of Malaysia and know we must "trust in the Lord with all our hearts" and "He shall direct our paths".  We know this to be true.
We just got word that one of our sweet elders in Kuching (East Malaysia) was hit by a car and died. His name is Elder Wiberg from Roy, Utah.  He was hit on Friday, after flying back from Zone Conference, while riding his bike.  He broke his leg, shoulder and wrist and was in a coma.  He passed away on Sunday evening.  Everyone here is so saddened and pray for his family.  We know that he was just transferred again to another assignment on the other side of the veil.