When I first set foot in Singapore on Nov 4th 2009, I was very very happy, for it was a dream come true for me. Had never been to any other place other than India. So, it was an excellent experience for me.
The airport was one of the best - there was no queuing or waiting around. We found our bags quickly, and found an information centre. The info centre in Singapore airport was top notch.
In a continent where most of it's countries are struggling to survive, Singapore bucks the trend and appears to be an oasis in the desert. Sparkling highrises, savvy metropolitan citizens, high-tech mass transit, it's just too perfect. Though this perfection has been imposed on them with a lot of fines for every wrong they do, I think it still is worth its penny... Amazing country with a gr8 neatness....my daughter ( 3 yrs old) was singing the bits of paper rhyme and I was telling her this is not the place to sing this...hahaha....
Every single sign, ad, map, menu in Singapore is in English, and the locals all speak english, every single one of them. Most people here speak a combination of mandarin and english called Singlish (no Joke) and I can obviously understand about half.
The public transport system was great. We bought a 2 day pass that allowed us to travel all over the city on any bus or train. Their trains are clean and air conditioned. The best part of it which impressed me was that no-one should eat anything inside the train, be it a kid or an elderly person... why eat?you should not drink even water inside the train and also inside the MRT station...that makes these places the perfect clean place...talking with a typical indian mind, i would have actually shifted my bed to the train/station...haha...amazing neatness!
The next impressing mention would goto Merlion, a statue of the symbol of Singapore that is half lion and half fish spurting water into the river. We then wandered around the Colonial District past several of the attractive colonial buildings in the area and along the river. My daughter enjoyed a lot at this Merlion park. We had an excellent ride in the Singapore river cruise.
Not forgetting the marina bay...the Kusu Island...it was a typical river cruise...we met a localite there and had excellent fun!
Next to get a mention here would be the snow-city... Snow city was awesome, though I have heard of better ones...this definitely impressed me...we had gr8 fun! This was the first time myself and my daughter were experiencing such a cold weather and it definitely was a gr8 place!
I have heard that Singapore Tourism is actually synonymous with the Sentosa Island...no one going for a visit to Singapore would come back without going to Sentosa... And so we did ! But unfortunately the nature had a different say... there was a heavy downpour on that day unexpectedly.... However, that didnt stop our bundle of joy... we enjoyed even better spending most of our times indoors... Underwater world was gr8 excitement because just then my daughter has started learning about birds, fishes and animals and when she saw them in reality there, she had a gr8 fun! Dolphin's show is no less in fun... Though it was slightly drizzling, it was satisfactory to watch...Song of the Sea...does this require a separate mention.. no words to express my joy when i was seeing this... gr8 show!
My daughter again related all her studies to reality in the Jurong Bird Park... no doubt it was amazing... the new African waterfall is a perfect romantic place! Not forgetting my daughter's first stage talk during the Parrot show here in this Bird Park...!
We met an American lady aged about 70 yrs here who became a very good friend of ours....we are still in touch with each other...
Hey! wait... did i miss some place where we had gone so many times when in singapore? We are Indians and you would have rightly guessed by now... yes its Little India and the Mustafa Centre... had a homely feeling in these places and I am sure we would have gone there atleast once in every single day during our entire stay in Singapore... :-))
Then there was this night safari, the first one in the world... oh! my gosh... hyenas, lions, tigers, and some wild animals whose names i have never heard of, but who looked so scary were all standing almost 5 to 7 feet away from me...."oush! will it eat me?" was running behind me throughout the tram ride... i was holding my husband's hands so firmly that he almost got a scare... Thank God! My daughter slept during the tram ride, otherwise I am sure I would have rather scared her as well... hehe...
Though the Orchard Road has its own significance, being a home to many huge malls full of shops over many floors....the time played its own part and didnt let us enjoy the full beauty .
Do you think an Indian who is an electronics engineer would come back from singapore without gazing at the electronics goods? We were no exceptions in that and Sim Lim Towers were the ones where we spent almost 1/2 a day looking amazed at all those different and unique ideas...!
All these days, we were involved in exploring India...and travellers, pls wait, you have a gr8 competitor in us... we are now all set to explore the world....!!!!!!!!!!!
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