On the way back to Dubai, we had a stopover trip in Singapore to visit our friend Marichin and her husband Joel who are Derico's and Diego's god parents. They insisted to include in our itinerary to pay " homage" to the Merlion and the Cub ( I didn't know before that there was a smaller one or the cub ). They are located by the Esplanade bridge.The lion head represents the lion spotted by Prince Sang Nila Utama when he rediscovered Singapura in 11 A.D. The fish tail of the Merlion symbolises the ancient city of Temasek ( meaning "sea" in javanese ) by which Singapore was known before the prince named it Singapura ( meaning lion city in sanskrit ) and represents Singapore's humble beginnings as a fishing village.
It has been a sweet pleasure to meet the 8.6 m tall Merlion and the 2 m tall Cub in "real life"...
