Tickets were pretty cheap, thanks to the Swine flu scare and my father and I boarded the Tiger Airway’s flight on Janmashtami (thus ensuring that all sweets and savouries were packed for my sister). The aircraft that we flew by can actually be called an Airbus, for it was nothing but a bus that could fly. The only thing they did not do, was let additional passengers stand in the passage-way. But then, they did mention on their website that theirs was a low-cost airline (i.e., uncomfortable). Thankfully the flight was only 4 hours long and the torture ended soon. Like good Indian passengers, my dad and I waited for exactly 2 minutes after the take-off and promptly opened our packed dinners (it was almost 11:30 pm IST then, but then when you have a responsibility at hand, who cares about the time?). With our handkerchief’s doubling as masks (cheaper than the 300 bucks one and just as ineffective!!), we tried to make ourselves less uncomfortable.
My boss and a lot of others here had told me how strict the checks were at the Sg airport and had warned me that getting out of the airport would take longer than usual because of the thermal scanning process that had been put into place. But all the warnings were unnecessary. The government of Sg strongly believes that people coming by budget airlines did not deserve to be checked for flu etc and that using a thermal scanning machine on these people was a waste of time (Tiger airways was definitely not going to pay for it!!), so we got out fairly soon. Singapore welcomed us in tamizh, (Tamizh being one of the official languages of the country), the weather was sultry (just like Chennai) and we felt at home immediately.
My sister had been given expert instructions to blend in with the general public and one of the lessons she had received was to call cab drivers ‘uncle’. So we had a barely-out-of-teens cab driver, who became our adopted uncle for the duration of the trip home from the airport and I was already feeling younger by a decade at least. I liked the place !!
The 12 days went by like 12 minutes. I hardly remember what we did each day. Most of what I remember is about my niece, who is now learning to speak and was hence a constant source of entertainment and delight for our entire stay. I would beg my sister to leave me alone at home with my niece, but she was bent upon showing us different tourist attractions.
I will list out some of these places, simply for the fact that I have many photographs that I will be uploading at the end and this list may give some context.
a. Sentosa Island and the underwater world - This was not as big as I had imagined it to be, but was still quite good. My sister refused to come in and waited outside, while my dad and I conned my niece and took her inside. The poor thing had all along thought that ‘incy-wincy spider’ is a small thing and was really scared when she saw huge spiders in cages. She kept saying ‘Don’t come here, stay there’ to all the fishes (the sizes of which, had again exceeded her imagination) to all of them. It was really funny and cute!!
A casino is supposedly getting built here to improve tourism. There is a model of the tourism icon, the Merlion here and since it was night and I was tired, I got some not-so-good pictures of this one.
b. Jurong Bird park - A wonderful tourist attraction. There was a great show called Birds and Buddies show, which we arrived late for. The park is a bird-lover’s paradise and is constructed on the slope of the Jurong hill and houses thousands of birds. I did not know what to do - look at the birds or capture them on my camera, so that I could look back again and again. The only hindrance was the weather. It was extremely hot and we grew tired very soon. A superb exhibit is the Lory loft which is a 9 story loft with free-flying birds like Lories, parakeets etc. We were totally exhausted by the time we reached this place and spent very little time here.
c. Night safari - Now this was the best part of the trip. I don’t want to write much about this. There is a very detailed article in Wikipedia. But this was one of the best tourist attractions that I had ever seen. We chose to take the tram, since the zoo was pretty big. But mid-way, we were given an option to get down and take the trail to see some animals like the snow-leopard etc which could not be spotted from the tram and then return to the station and take the next available tram. This was a spell-binding experience, and since the guide had requested us to refrain from using flash photography, which would disturb the animals there, I did not take a single picture and instead enjoyed the entire safari. An unforgettable experience was a small trail where there were some fruit bats. I entered this one alone, since my father and sister were not very keen (i.e., a little scared) of entering this trail. After I checked it out, they went later and found that it was a completely new experience.
d. Merlion park - We visited this one purely because otherwise our Singapore trip would be considered incomplete.
Some things to note about the country:
a.Connectivity - This reminded me of UK. The whole city is very well connected by trains and buses and it is easy for a newcomer to settle down very quickly. Unlike the US, where it is difficult to survive without a car (except NYC, SFO etc), Singapore has a great public transport system (I guess that is the main criterion for me to like any place!!). The trains and buses are air-conditioned and a single pass works for both. Eating/drinking is not allowed in trains, buses or train stations. Of course, there are a few law-breakers, but the number is quite low. The government encourages the use of buses and trains instead of cars, to keep the pollution low.
b. Cleanliness - I used to hear about how clean Singapore was, that you didn’t need a plate and could eat directly from the road. I guess that is a thing of the past. Sure, it is way more clean than Chennai or any part of India, but not quite what I had expected. It is sad that the learning has happened in the opposite direction. People stash away trash in nooks and corners when no one is looking.
c. Green - In spite of the population and the industrialization, I found a lot of trees and plants everywhere. Many places resembled some of the posh areas of Chennai.
d. Food - Another thing in common with Chennai. People seem to be food lovers and every other shop is a restaurant (selling interesting things like Octopus etc). I loved the fresh soymilk that they sold in most places. The coffee there is very strong and is close to the south-Indian filter coffee, only stronger. It is called Kopi and instead of milk, condensed milk is used. Another great thing was the Thai tender coconuts sold in the beaches and other stores. I really thought they had injected some sugar solution into the coconut.
e. Tourism - for the size of the country, the number of places to visit is quite high. In spite of going out almost every day, we still missed a few like the Singapore zoo, the orchid gardens etc.
A good blend of eastern and western culture, my 12 days in Singapore, made me very depressed, in a manner that a couple of years in the US or a few weeks in the UK had failed to do. I never compared India with the other countries, because we were so different. But Singapore was definitely something that Chennai, India could be.
And now for some pics:
a. Some of the smaller fish
b. The Merlion in Sentosa
c. An orchid in the Bird park
d. Another beautiful flower in the bird park.
e. Birds (!??!) in the bird park
f. The glorious Flamingos
g. Their fairer cousins
h. Reminded me of the Liril Ad
i. On the Lory Loft
j. Didn't note the name of the birds, but look at their colour!!
k. The real Merlion
l. The Esplanade
