Been long long time, no blogging. Sorry to me, just don’t want to blame time, because if you have ‘will’, you create time. Finally here is it, I am back to India- after a splendid year in Australia. Though did miss India sometimes- but who wanna complain when you have lovely friends & beautiful country.
I would share my experiences / excursions of Aussie life later, but Singapura first! Yeah, this beautiful & amazingly clean city that I stayed on my way back to India. So here it is, My One Night & a Day in Singapore.
28th March: Parting good memories with all my Aussie friends, I boarded Singapore Airlines flight to India via Singapore.
Good Ol Days My favorite Window seat, thinking my whole year in Aussie- & Singapore airlines plane takes off. Unlike some people scared of flying high, or some reasons, I always enjoy air rides. Wines, Nuts & Movies- IN AIR! Top it with extremely friendly beautiful Hostess. Who doesn’t love it? After a long 8 hr journey there I see Singapore & Hold There comes my one day Holiday in Singapore. Excited, bit nervous, I walk down the Changi International airport- Splendid, Grandeur, Superb! After initial wrangling, finally take a cab to my hotel in City.
About Singapore is situated along South East Asia next to Malaysia. ‘Lion City’ as it is known, guarded by Singapore’s mythical icon - Merlion on its front shores. Singapore is multi cultural country with Chinese, Malay, Indians & others calling it their homes. Malay is the national language but most of the population comfortably speaks English.
My taxi driver is Mr. Go- funny as his name is; this chap is jolly & keeps cracking jokes. Roads are seriously butter (like any other developed country); Dry-cleaned & even poles / bridges are decorated with flowers. I reached my hotel 20 minutes drive from Airport, with patches of heavy traffic as it normal for an evening.
My hotel is 81 TriStar situated in a suburb near Malay cultural village. Not much to do over here. So after quick bath, take a taxi to nearest place which is known as ‘Little India’.
Little India is place where most of the Indians have their shops. But there are Chinese shops too. You will truly feel like you are roaming on some local streets of south Indian city here. You can shop Indian goods, visit Temple.
Well, didn’t see much of Night life here as time zone difference played a game. Apparently, Sydney is 2.30 hrs ahead of Singapore & my clock started showing 1am Saturday. Obviously thought I should play safe & return back. I did return, with great difficulty, all taxis were either engaged or returning back to Home.
Next day, I have big plans; have got whole day to explore Singapore while I return for my flight at 8pm. Tring…my alarm went off & I thought ‘O God’ I am already late till 9am. But again I realized it was only 6.30am by then.
I took a cab to ‘Suntec City Mall’- a 5 building complex with major banking offices & shopping malls. From here (Suntec Building# 5) you can take the famous Duck tours- that can either take you on 1hr city sigh seeing on a Amphibious Duck vehicle or you can choose for full day Sight seeing bus service with hop on / off for just 37S$.
So finally, with my tickets I started off- my first place on heritage place like Little India, Chinatown & Malay cultural village. All were good, but I was really waiting for the main city places that offer you the glimpse of Singaporean life style.
- Singapore opera: My first stop is - Singapore’s art centre on lines of Sydney’s Opera house, though not as majestic Opera is!
- War memorial- yes! Singapore did participate in WW 2.
- Raffles building- the famous hotel that World famous celebrities like Michael Jackson, Queen Victoria chose to stay when in Singapore.
- Botanical gardens: This is beautiful garden that I advise you must visit. Even if you do not have much interest in flora, do spend at least 30 minutes – it will be pleasurable to see vast collection of plant species or the pure air around.
- Singapore government’s Housing apartments that house 80% of Singaporeans, These were building to offer affordable housing to common Singaporeans. Beautiful colored buildings, with bamboo hanging out each gallery- are used for drying clothes.
- Orchard road- main shopping center. Final stop was Orchard road or as it is called the main Shopping district. Grand shopping complexes, buzzing wit young people, it is perfect place for a day out if you love shopping. I didn’t have much time, but Singapore offers cheap electronic gadgets you can otherwise only find in US.
- Singapore Supreme court- the old one is beatifull building, & now they have new Supreme court with Greek architecture; was just curious why did they have to build new when they already had amazing supreme court- may be they just got bored with it. LOL.
Day at Suntec: my city tour ended at Orchard road & I am back now to Suntec. Well, unlike morning, it’s full of people having their lunch, young couples shopping. The food court here is beautiful traditional Chinese style joint offering many cuisines- mostly Chinese, Thai, and Malaysian; didn’t see any fast food chain or Indian restaurant though. After some guessing & usual risk assessment, I went for dish called ‘Prada’. It’s I think, normal wheat bread that you have choice to mix with combinations- eggs, onion, cheese, etc with usual Indian Dal, or any of the veg / non veg curries served. Belemme it was delicious & with SG 5D its value for money.
Sentosa Island: Now my last sight point, Sentosa Island is tourist Resort - its land artificially recovered from Sea. There are three Merlion statues in Singapore- the Mother & Baby Merlion in the City. The Father Merlion (& also the biggest statue) is located in Sentosa Island. Its face is toward the Sea, myth logically protecting Singapore from evil forces. Its 20 minutes drive from Suntec city & minimal 3 SGD is charged for entry fee. Over here, you can see inside the brief myth story about Merlion & how Singapore was built. Sentosa also has Sky wheel that gives whole 360d view of Singapore. I could see lot of brown patches indicating large constructions underway. No doubt Singapore has high demand for building & architecture engineers. It also has Toboggan- a sliding mini vehicle that speeds thro’ zig zag track. I didn’t take this as was tired, but I bet its whole fun – we had great time on Toboggan at Coff’s Harbour near Sydney. The day came to end, just how quickly time passes when you do things you love.
Back to Changi Airport: Time to head to final destination- India. The one day I spent was interesting & I knew lot more about Singapore- its history, mythical tales, Multi cosmopolitan Culture & specially its story of Merlion. It was a day well gone & I boarded my Singapore airlines plane to Mumbai from Changi!
