A Visit to Singapore: Our last stop tonight was downtown and across the bay from yesterday’s picture. Tonight we walked along the bayfront promenade and visited the famous Merlion statue. It has the head of a lion and body of a fish and is Singapore’s “mascot.” It was first created in 1964 for the tourism board. The lion head represents Singapore’s original name “Singapura” and the fish body and tail represent Singapore’s beginnings as a fishing village. The name Singapura means “Lion City” and was given by a Malay Prince who discovered the fishing village on the island and thought he saw a lion. There are actually five official Merlions in Singapore. I’ll tie this in with China by saying the Merlion reminded me of the many types of Lion statues in China.
