I am back. In one piece. Tired and jet lagged. Yet after having added a couple more countries to my roster of places I have been to. Singapore was the first stop.
I am not sure how I would describe this place. It is a city, country, megapolis, metropolis, cosmopolitan melting pot (talk about the humidity and heat) all in one.
It is mostly clean - I mean you can drop your egg on the boardwalk and can proceed to eat it type of clean - although I assume you would pay a hefty fine to drop said egg on boardwalk in the first place. Not that I experimented but I did fall asleep on one whilst waiting for a technological marvel in the form of a laser light show on water, outside an expensive hotel.
The trip was part of a quickie two country visit that also incuded the adjacent nation of Malaysia. Hectic in many aspects 10 days is barely the vacation time we could squeeze but it was very enjoyable and I highly recommend a visit for the unvisited.
What strikes one from a background in growing up in the chaos of India is that nations with similarly inclined populations and per capita space availability seem to have figured out a process to get their populations moving around in comfort and relatively low cost without feeling vulnerable to elements (both human or non). As an example Singapore has a very efficient metro rail that is cost eff and safe with easy to understand English instructions for the newbie. There is also a staff available to assist the reading challenged as sometimes I was - bleary eyed to boot. As for dealing with the elements all major connectors to and from transit to buildings are Air Con walkways so one does not have to exit the controlled space. Security cameras track your move and you do not feel insecure a bit even with baggage at an odd hour.
Earlier we had spent the wee hours at Changi airport after our inbound flight left us there at midnight. We were on another timezone and made the most of it. Watched an oldie English flick at the cinema on site then strolled through very humid orchid gardens and then ate some spicy fish at a Malaysian food court all within the confines of their airport. Very comfortable. At the early hour of six am we took a train to town and rolled our way into our hotel. With certain privileges that come with precious metallic equivalents of status at a hotel we were ushered to breakfast while our room got made for arrival at the early hour.
After feasting on poori bhaji and tom yum soup in the same session along with a dashing cup of cafe au lait we headed up to freshen up. Then later that day traveled on a hop on hop off version of visit Singapore to take in the summary version of what the city has to offer.
India town - China town - Japan town its all here in this 200 year old former British colony cum trading post of 5 or so million. We did the eat, see, sleep routine for a couple of days before getting on a very comfortable bus ride over the border into Malaysia - to head to their capital of Kuala Lumpur.
That and more in the next travelogue.
Singing in Singapore?
ReplyDelete