“Singapore - Huh!!! whats the big deal about it??? Everyone these days travel to Singapore”. This was a comment given to me by some friends when I told them about it. But then I knew my experience would be something different than most of the tourists there. I would travel like a local due to the fact that my cousin stays there and it would help me in understanding the culture and lifestyle of people.
Singapore a small island country whose economy depends only on tourism is a cosmopolitan country with people from different religion & races. A business hub with a equatorial climate, it doesn't have any manufacturing unit and heavily depends upon different countries for the resources. Its currency is Singapore $ and the languages spoken are English, Chinese, Tamil & Malay.
My trip started on 20th October ’12 from Bangalore to Chennai and then from Chennai International Airport at night. I had Singapore dollars in my wallet in form of cash(Its actually stupid idea to carry a traveler card in singapore).It was heavily raining and nothing was visible outside my flight Jet Airways which left on 22 October ’12 at 01:15 hrs. Inside the flight I had my veg breakfast at around 2 IST in night which I would say was awesome and better than the food served in Rajdhani trains in India(I have traveled more in Trains in India). I watched Kahaani Movie and played some games and exactly after 2 hours I saw the Sun rays.It was a different experience because flying 52000 ft above sea level on top of the clouds and watching the sun rise is something a person wouldn’t get to see easily.
Exactly at Singapore time 8:00 AM, I landed at Changi Airport. After Immigration, I came out with my luggage and waited for my cousin to receive me. After Waiting for 15 minutes I was panicking a bit coz I was new to a land far away from home & I dint know anything about this new country.
I knew my Airtel won’t work there but then the inside me said switch on and try and bingo!!!!! It captured Singtel network and I called up My cousin and he confirmed to reach within 15-20 minutes. Meanwhile I went to your Singapore counter to inquire about the tourist places. I reached home with my cousin; my address for time of stay is Anchorvale road, Sengkang in North east.
Once at home I changed, had breakfast and slept only to get up in the evening at 5:30. I got a call from my bhabi from her school(she is a teacher there),then inquired about me and my travel and asked me to go out to a local community center with my Niece, Nephew & the domestic help Yaati as my nephew had fever and the clinic was at the Compass Point Mall.
So we went to the doctor by bus 373 and then went around the mall. [The doctors in singapore are friendly to patients. The medical transaction depends upon the insurance type, a person has taken and the amount is deducted from the medical card. It is advisable to tourists to have an insurance before they leave the country as medical expenses are high there and treatment is done on the basis of insurance only]. While going around I found a Starbucks and had my 1st experience at Starbucks with cafe Latte . We all returned home with the skytrain or the LRT as they say there to our station Tongkang. From LRT station, me and Shruti, my niece went to see Ganesh bhai(her uncle), who was my super senior in Engineering college and met Lipi nani(some distant cousin of mine & his wife) who stayed few blocks away from our house.
That night we returned home at 10 and my bhabi anounced, I was going to UNIVERSAL STUDIOS the next day with clear cut instruction from my cousin on traveling in Singapore. Will update more in my next blog.
TIPS to travel in Singapore: To use public transport in Singapore u need to have a MRT card which is a prepaid one. U can use it in the bus, MRT and the LRT. U need to tap at the point of entry and tap again at the point of exit. U can refill it for a maximum of S$ 100. U can use it as use per go. There are cameras installed in MRT, LRT & buses and u cannot cheat. Eating & drinking inside is also not allowed else a fine upto S $ 15000/-.
My trip started on 20th October ’12 from Bangalore to Chennai and then from Chennai International Airport at night. I had Singapore dollars in my wallet in form of cash(Its actually stupid idea to carry a traveler card in singapore).It was heavily raining and nothing was visible outside my flight Jet Airways which left on 22 October ’12 at 01:15 hrs. Inside the flight I had my veg breakfast at around 2 IST in night which I would say was awesome and better than the food served in Rajdhani trains in India(I have traveled more in Trains in India). I watched Kahaani Movie and played some games and exactly after 2 hours I saw the Sun rays.It was a different experience because flying 52000 ft above sea level on top of the clouds and watching the sun rise is something a person wouldn’t get to see easily.
