The Flight
After Thai Air, Singapore Airlines was like paradise. The seats were spacious enough and the entire ambience was conducive to comfort flying. Once we were airborne, the stream of food and drinks started flowing. The food and wine were excellent by any standards. Although they did not serve Dom Perignon, their La Vieille Ferme Rouge was just as good. The in-flight entertainment also was a class apart. Latest movies and music albums filled the system and we were soon absolutely comfortable in our seats. An hour into the flight, air disturbances took over. From then on, till we touched down at Changi, the plane rattled like a, …well, rattle. I did not catch a wink of sleep on the flight primarily because I was loaded with too much entertainment and secondarily because the weather was unruly.
Changi – The Airport
The name ‘Changi’ is derived from the Changi tree that finds pride of place in Singapore. The Changi tree is protected by law and the airport is an outstanding tribute to it. Okay, I admit that I have not been to many international airports but it is difficult for me to imagine an airport better managed and facilitated than Changi. The airport was absolutely spic and span with travellators and escalators in almost all places. The most amazing characteristic of the airport was its deathly silence. In fact, this was exactly the case with all of Singapore. The people were absolutely quiet as if under some oath of silence. The immigration officials in Singapore were lightening fast and very friendly. It took all of 10 minutes for us to leave aircraft and get onto the streets of Singapore. This too after several lingering moments watching the different airport sights.
While returning to New Delhi we spent three hours at the Changi airport and still managed to be just in time for the boarding. Why? We were just taken in by the amount of shopping that was possible at the airport. Enormous duty free shops held center stage and they were offering everything from imported chocolates to imported wine at reduced prices. The airport had centers in the lounges that offered free Internet access and no one was seen hogging the terminals. Hello Indira Gandhi International Airport! Anybody listening?
Singapore City
The entrance to the arrival gate of Changi airport was decorated with stunted palm trees and the drive to the city only demonstrated why Singapore was probably the cleanest city in the world. There are probably more dustbins than there are people in Singapore! Jokes apart, I doff my imaginary hat to all the citizens of Singapore for keeping their country so beautifully clean.
The transport system in Singapore was really admirable. Although the teksis (taxis) were very expensive, buses and the MRT (Mass Rail Transport) were very affordable means of travelling. The frequency of the MRT and the bus service was definitely above par. We practically never had to wait more than a minute or so for transport.
Singapore gave me an impression of a flourishing Asian city albeit with a strong European flavour. Expensive tastes, fast cars, quiet people, business and more business. The people are very dignified and helpful. In fact, there was never a moment during my trip when I felt like an outsider amongst them.
Jurong Bird Park
You need to see this to believe it. If you love birds, don’t pass u
p this experience for anything. Although the price of the ticket was cutthroat, Jurong Bird Park was ceaselessly amazing every second of the time spent there. Every kind of bird that we ever studied or dreamt about was present there. The true beauty of the park was the proximity with the birds sans cages. The pelicans, swans, flamingos were all beautiful. My favourite experience was feeding the lories. As the picture would probably tell you, I was delirious with joy! The Bird Amphitheater was also great with the macaws, toucans, hornbills and parrots doing their histrionics with extreme dignity.The birds of prey looked out of sorts in their enclosures. These birds belonged to the free skies and even their large cages looked small compared to the skies. The enclosure of the hornbills was
excellent. We ‘met’ many different types of hornbills and 'spoke' with some of them. We also saw the world’s largest species of pigeon. This pigeon would easily weigh about 8-10 pounds each and stretched to at least 2 feet from beak to tail. JBP also boasts of the world’s highest man-made waterfall. This waterfall, at the waterfall aviary stands at 30 meters and is a majestic sight to behold surrounded by the mist of the rainforest.The ostrich, emu, cassowary, penguins…I could just go on. If I start to completely describe the JBP, it would take me all of 2 hours and loads of writing space. So I’ll just say this much, whatever you do in Singapore, for your own sake, please do go to the JBP.
Night Safari
Those of you who are from India, please don’t waste your precious dough on this. It is simply not worth it. Somehow all the animals looked drugged to me. They were unbelievably stationary for wild animals. The leopard trail, however, was the only notable exception. We walked through an enclosure with king size bats in its. You could touch the bats for all anyone cared. The leopard was only a 6-inch fiberglass wall away from us. That was all that was between the king of the night and us. The tram that took us through the safari showed us more cattle and deer than we had ever dreamt possible. One animal that was a genuine surprise package was the tapir. Well, that’s about it!
Sentosa Island
The meeting schedule was too tight…still we accommodated the Sentosa trip and we would have been silly to miss it. After our entry, we took the free bus to the underwater world. This cost us a fortune compared to the
fares it had to offer us. We saw some fantastic sharks, dugongs, sea-dragons etc but nothing worth the money spent in gaining admission. Also, the souvenir shop in its premises was incredibly expensive. In short – no fire, only smoke. After having spent 40 minutes underwater (we had to recompense for the dollars spent there!) we took another bus and headed out for the musical fountains. These fountains were some of the most amazing that I had ever seen. It came packaged with a complete hologram show. The entire musical extravaganza was held under the auspices of the 23-meter tall merlion that stood towering over everything else.The show went on for all of 15 minutes. Thereafter, we went to the Siloso beach and ate at the Seven Eleven store there. By the time we had completed our rambles on the beach, we were close to 10:30 p.m. A helpful bar owner arranged taxis for us. The taxi that arrived to pick me up was a Mercedes Benz - C class. Admitted, that was a first and special too!
Malls
Singapore has malls that are really worth visiting…unfortunately I am not too much of a shopping person. However, I still managed to go to Suntec City Mall. There was an ongoing electronics exhibition that allowed us to get away with great prices. We even bought a Sony digital camera and saved at least INR 7000 on the bargain. The Suntec City mall had 5 ‘towers’, each for a different commercial purpose. It was wonderfully organized.
I also visited the Raffles City Mall. This was actually more amazing than the Suntec mall. It had a fountain that danced (not to our tunes though) and had almost all the major international fashion and food chains possible in it. The entrance to the mall had tall artificial palm trees that looked like sentries.
Clarke Quay
All I can say is that this could easily be called the Venice of Singapore. A beautiful riverside with eateries and shops on both sides, this is the source of eventful walks and beautiful sights. The riverbank was lined with barges that were excellent places for eating. The opposite side of the road had numerous pubs, ice-cream parlours and small shops selling dandy items. There was also a spot where you could do partake of reverse bungee jumping and get your horrified face taped for S$45. Worthwhile?Little India
You’ll know when you get there. As soon as I got out of the MRT, the first wall to my right had the words "Fu** Co**" sprayed in large black letters. Absolutely aghast, I turned away only to see walls stained with betel juice. This had better be India…little or not. The first time I went to Little India, it was after the Night Safari and almost 11:00 p.m. The restaurants were shutting down and I just about
managed to get some food from an Andhra food joint. The biryani was as sumptuous as that made in a Shiraz or a Karims. After dinner, I had to nearly wait for 10 minutes to get a taxi. The taxi drivers wanted to hurry away from Little India as fast as their wheels could take them (which was about 80 km/hr).The second time that I went to Little India (Actually the MRT stop before it) was to visit the Mustafa shopping center (Serangoon Road). Be forewarned, if you are from a developing nation, (where a S$ would mean 28 bucks) don’t try to buy clothing from Singapore (Mustafa or not). Only the toiletries are a little cheaper than India. You get a lot of original Gillette, Nike and Adidas products for much cheaper than you can imagine - Bigger the brand, more the margin.
Food
Good food… that is the key to a satisfying trip anywhere – at least that is what I believe…and good food we did have. Lets start with Indonesian. Kintamani, the Indonesian restaurant in Hotel Furama Riverfront was an excellent choice. The food was almost Indian except that it was much sweeter. Even the meat items were far sweeter than admissible to the Indian palate. We had different preparations of fowl, and red meat, each matching up to the other. Finally the dessert arrived – a dish called Tjendol (Bride’s tears). It is a sweet drink with milk & some jelly things in it.
Chinese food was unimaginably different from our usual Chinatown fare. We had steamed rice, beef steak, fish and chicken in soya sauce. Dessert was a sweet drink made of dates, something that looked like seaweed and some other ingredients (I’m sorry I could not catch anything the bearer said about the dishes).
Water was ably substituted by green tea. Although it looked very simple, it was delicious and very satisfying.For our timely dose of Indian masala we went to Muthu’s Curry. My, my…what amazing curries. Apart from home, I have never ever tasted such classic recipes. The ambience was very calming and conducive to good eating. The bearers were very friendly and eagerly showed us what we were going to eat. My eyes sought out and zeroed in on a large flower crab. Ten minutes later I began to deflower the crab that was done rare in an explosive curry. Niju had the famous meen thala (fish head) curry. It was definitely the best food that we had in Singapore.
Seafood was at its best at Shangrila, one of the most posh hotels in Singapore. Here I had some fabulous stuff. The chef in charge of cold seafood helped me in my selection of the choicest items. I had live oysters with Tabasco sauce and lime (mind blowing). This really pepped me up and I went ahead and had octopus tentacles with some weird sauce (I had lost count of new sauces by then). This was also marvelous. Apart from this I had plenty of squid, lobsters and crabs. The crowning dish was a bowl of shark fin soup. Although I partook of the dish, the story behind procurement of the shark fins was very painful and I silently vowed to never consume that dish again. Dessert also had unbelievable variety. I had tepanyaki ice cream and strawberries dipped in molten chocolate. The height of bourgeoisie was the existence of a chocolate fountain. People could simply collect some of this molten chocolate and dip their candies or fruits in it to enjoy a delicious bite.My tight business schedule disabled me from going out to try ethnic Singaporean dishes but I did try the various satay (Although all the Southeast Asian countries will lay claim to it). Other joints that I visited were KFC, McDonalds and Burger King. Most of these international food chains are available only in select cities in India. The food was simply amazing and it is a pity that most people in India do not get to taste the crispy fried chicken of KFC or the celebrated beef burger of McDonalds or the turkey bacon burger of Burger King.
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