I've always been confused about Singapore. Is it a city or a country? There's good reason for the confusion. According to Google, Singapore is both a sovereign country and a city. It operates as a "city-state," meaning its territory comprises an entire independent nation that functions as a single metropolitan area without separate states or provinces. Expressing it a different way, Singapore is the capital of Singapore! If you look closely at the map, it is an island, so pretty easy to delineate.
Health Screenings
The ship was docked here for 3 days, giving us time to take care of some health screenings at the Mount Elizabeth Medical Centre. We had previously ruled out coming back to the states for medical checkups due to several factors. Even though our Medicare and supplemental insurance meant that the checkups would be free for us, the travel would probably cost more than the screenings in Singapore. And, we weren't even sure we'd be able to get appointments within a week or even a month back in the states. Here in Singapore we both had full Executive screenings including blood and urine analysis, physical exams, vision test, glucose, kidney and liver functions, colorectal cancer screening, blood tumor markers. Then I also had a mammogram and ultrasound, bone density test, and pelvic exam. Jim had an abdomen ultrasound and an xray of his neck. This was all completed in one half day!! The grand total was about $2500. We received a .pdf report via email a few days later and then a phone call from the Doctor to discuss the results.
We didn't do any sightseeing this time around. We will be back to Singapore a couple of times this summer because it is the one dependable source for fuel these days. We may decide to get some follow up medical procedures done then, or we may wait until we're in Bangkok, where it is less expensive. There is a hospital there, Bumrungrad that is very well known for it's care of an international clientele. We may even be able to get a doctor who will keep in touch thru video calls - that's what I really want. We do have medical facility on board, but that's not the same. Besides the medical staff on board rotates out every few months.
Another Line Dancing Group
There was another gathering with a local line dancing group though! It was held at the Eurasian Community Center. The "Country Line Dance Association of Singapore" (CLDAS.com) has been dancing for more than 25 years!
They are an active bunch of dancers! They prepared a list of 62 😮 dances for us to do together. They were still going strong when I started fading and decided to get a Grab ride back to the ship.
Group shot:
No comments:
Post a Comment