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Singapura
Posted by anjalipsharmaJan 14, 2008 | 310 views
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For the love of singapurra
So here I am, finally at peace to jot down at least half of what I remember when I decided to write this travelogue. The lack of decent technology coupled with the lack of wanting to literally pen the thoughts down are the prime reasons in the delay of this long awaited literary piece that is sure to bore quite a few of you to death.
But wishing all of you a very healthy and a long life, I hereby start my sadistically long write-ups.
15th night – Most of you’ll called me to wish me an advance b’day – thanks again J. Slept till it was time to be woken up (wah wah) – that is around 2.45 am. Headed for the airport in a half sleepy state. Reached there to be encountered by an entourage of weeping sardars and their counterparts who were gathered there to bid their daughter goodbye as the son-in-law had managed a job in foren. After much lachrymose and adieus, we managed to get in and voila stood in one labyrinthine line after another – for a good two and a half hours we were standing. Neend now had to take a back seat.
Welcome to Air India. Six kids and their respective parents made sleep a distant dream. One picked his nose and pasted the rarity that came out on another kid’s face. Obviously I hadn’t seen this but how could Akshay spare me the agony.
5 and a half long hours. Mummy daddy’s first international flight that remotely had no international feel to it – food was as sad, no alcohol and pesky kids around.
16th afternoon – We land in Singapore. A kind, middle-aged gentleman is standing holding a placard with my husband’s name etched on it. I felt very important and unusually warm (I was still in my sweatshirt!!!). Man got an eight-seater van to drop us to the hotel. Four people – eight seats – badi na-insaafi hai so each one took one seat each. The man dropped us to our hotel. Bang in THE address of Singapore – Orchard road, opposite Park Hotel, opposite a super huge mall – Takashimaya – the good old man told us we would require one whole day to scan the place. So hope is lost for the evening that Takashimaya has managed to escape from the chungool of Indians wanting to letch at brands that hasn’t managed to find place in to be superpower India.
We get our cards for the rooms. There are 38 floors in the hotel and the last one houses a revolving restaurant. Below the revolving restaurant is a French restaurant (that we’ll discover much later). We get to our rooms, I check out the bathtub and gloat. My trip is already successful. My energy levels soared and I wanted to see all of Singapore at once. The morning ablutions taken care of in the evening, all of us got out of the hotel.
Streets shimmering away with bright sliver and golden lights (a little more sophisticated than the lights used in our baraats) – everyone in a festive mood coz of Christmas. There were girls and men painted (come on guys with their dresses on) who stood by the roadside in a still pause position with their daan-peti in front of them. Generous souls dropped pennies into them. But they were amazingly still – we had to go close to them to figure out that they were actually human.
Christmas trees lined the roads. Sea of humanity emerged (I would like to believe – to welcome us – unfortunately not the case) on the streets. People selling wares, stores offering humongous discounts (after discount agar 2 timberland ki jackets lete ko gaadi ke tyres bechne padte India aa ke).
We entered malls, saw stuff, kept them back and saw some more stuff. Took cab from Orchard Road, went to Mustafa in Little India (Akshay if I’m missing something, please add on the missing pieces).
Waha log ek doosre pe chadh ke saamaan khareed rahe the. Itna footfall to big bazaar main Wednesday ko bhi nahi hota hai. By god ki kasam, samajh nahi aa raha tha kis lane main chhupe ki pair bach jaye.
Then started conversions of singa dollar to INR and then started picking and keeping things back (yet again). By this time, the women of the family had developed a bad headache and were aching to be back to sane ambience. After a little shopping of this, that and the other, we headed towards this super sad place called Anand Bhavan (no relation with Nehru’s birth).
Ate some and left some (thoda khao, thoda pheko), food bad and crowd around worse. Laga Ghaziabad main hi khade hai hum log. They made sure we didn’t miss India at all – at least on the day we landed.
Tried in vain to show Indianness and hail cabs from wherever we were standing. Yeh nahi pata tha ki cab stands jaana padega. Ultimately managed to get a taxi and get to the hotel intact.
Bathed again (tub tha bhai – aise kaise chhod dete)! And slept before 12 – so that no one could bother me at the beginning of my big three O.
17th – We were supposed to be out on a half day city tour. Indians that we are – we got delayed by 15 minutes as we were whole heartedly into the act of devouring breakfast. Travel guy came, saw and left us where we were – in the hotel restaurant.
Said we were late so we’d be able to go only in the afternoon. Couldn’t waste the whole morning, could we so out we stepped again – with a rucksack that held all our passports, currency and a dark chocolate bar. Daddy was burdened with another bag full of goodies (remember I’d mentioned mathri, namkeen and barfi in some obscure mail before). We went to a mall yet again – a new one this time obviously. This was called Paragon (no connection with hawai chappal company of India). Voila, the mall wasn’t open. It would open at 10 and it was just 9 then. So we loitered around, looked at stuff, saw women and their kids in the play area, took photos of toys and admired the length and breadth of the mall. And this was nothing compared to that Giant opposite our hotel.
Mall opened, we went to all shops, brands that I’d just seen in ads, I felt and touched them and man did they feel good! Mall main hi kaafi der tak bicharte rahe, then came back to the street, ghoomoed some more and then back to the hotel lobby where this time our travel guy couldn’t complain. Our bus took us to a meeting point where we changed buses to go for an orientation tour. We were supposed to see five places in 3 hours!!! Man is definitely in a hurry these days.
- Raffle Square, Merlon park – the famous half man half lion statue. It was raining, very pleasant weather and better still very nice place.
- Chinese temple – Our tour guide gave us gyaan about how the Chinese built the temple so many years ago - there were Buddhist statues, Confucius’s statue and another one I can’t remember – shall refer to pics taken by spouse or his memory.
- We then saw glimpses of Chinatown as we travelled along. We saw colourful tent like structures by the roadside and were informed that this was for the funeral of a very monied gentleman – the more the tents, the richer he is and also the member of many clubs in Singapore.
- We were then taken to the gems and jewels factory of the country!!! And our tour guide jested – get ready to sell your kidneys to buy these. Some works were very neat, but the prices were obviously neater!!!
- Then we went to an Orchard garden – man what a sight – when Akshay posts the pictures, you guys will understand. Greenery all around, mist and moisture, a slight drizzle and millions of colourful orchards – of varying shapes and sizes. Awesome place and an awesome way to spend one’s mourning diwas ( I had turned 30 rmrbr – kitni baar bolna padega aap logo ko). Fish shaped orchards, weeping willows and so much more.
- The trip ended with a whirlwind tour of Little India (yes – the same drat place again). Thankfully we got only 20 minutes there as instructed by the tour guide so were saved from the teeming millions. (In India away from India)
The tour ended, we were back in the hotel by around 7. Went for dinner to another sad Indian place – this time it was called Gayathri Restaurant. Hospitality door se usko chhoo ke nahi gaya tha. The goddamn manager made faces for everything. I told him my roti was half cooked – he made a face, I asked for tissues, he made a face. Even when Akshay was paying the bill, he made a face. Think he was cursed by some South Indian rishi-muni.
Day ended.
18th – Jurong bird park.
Took a cab (am I permitted to say that it was C class Mercedes???), reached Jurong Bird park in some 20 mins and saw birds and birds and birds. Even took the tram that passes all the bird cages in a perfunctory fashion. To see all and experience even more, it’s a lot better to walk. Akshay and I got stuck under the shade of a hooded piegon’s cage as it suddenly started to rain. Were stuck for a good hour with another family from Delhi. Bone-chilled, shivering, looking at the pigeons prune themselves, it was an astounding feeling. Managed to run into a café after the rains sort of slowed down. Went back to the entrance and bought two plastic sheets that were pretending to be raincoats, walked and saw some more exotic birds in covered in the same plastic as the rag picker in Delhi. Only we paid a dollar each for ours. Saw bird shows – where a parakeet sang – happy birthday to you for a lady and stole $10 from a gentleman and gave it to her trainer. She even sang a song in Cantonese!!!
Post this we saw Birds of prey show – owls, vultures, eagles and dangerous looking species I can’t recall the name of. Good fun, splendid place, remarkable experience.
Got back to the hotel, chillaxed a little and then walked to another Indian Restaurant this time named “Maharaja”. Food was fortunately more than edible and we were wondering why we tortured ourselves the day before and the one before that.
Photos of birds to be posted by ‘mera pati sirf mera hai’. There were around 107 species of parrots alone. Whew, the camera got tired too.
19th – Singapore Zoo and Night Safari
After making an ISD to our travel agent in India as to why Sentosa tour had not been taken care of, we left for the zoo. The cab this time around was alas just a Corolla. Some 25 minutes again and we were there. Took a combined pass for both the zoo and the safari though the travel desk at our hotel had said – what to do in safari – you see animals in morning, then animals in night, no need for safari. Go for zoo only.
But we are Indians – we are like this only – tell us what to do, we do just the opposite and are glad that we don’t pay heed to stupid advice.
The zoo again was simply superb (you can see I’m running out of adjectives), took a lot of pictures of jaguars eating meat, of polar bear with green and brown patches coz of fungal growth due to sunshine in Singapore, watched the antics of a sea lion, wanted so much to get a photo with his head on top of mine but the very thought of the handsome male having eaten fish before that sort of helped me change my decision. Saw a monkey with a blue and pink butt, and an orangutan sucking his thumb. Walked walked walked but lost no weight, in fact the pictures show that I’m at least 4 kgs more!!!
Before the night safari, saw an African tribal dance that really pepped up everyone – loads of noise, drum beats, dancing and jumping around and hoarse voices singing to wake up the Gods. Then trams came and off we went for the safari. Except the leopard that was separated by a thick glass, all the other animals were just separated from the viewers by a moat, nothing more. The grassy fields looked awesome in the dark of the night. Eyes of the animals shining in the dark, their hides looking glossy, their tails gleaming in the dim light, it was just overwhelming.
We weren’t allowed to use flash so safari ke jyada photos nahi hai. Ha zoo ke bahut saare hai. So get ready to be bored yet again.
That day, gave shit to spouse and forced him to go to Clarke Quay ( had read a lot about it, saw the place on the net and after Nikhil’s mail was adamant not to leave Singapore without having visited it)
Exquisite place – by the riverside, serene and calm despite office buildings and loads of pubs around. The crowd was mind blowing – men and women alike. The place was buzzing with activity at 11.30 at night, very neat concepts of pubs – one was called CLINIC and had wheelchairs for seats (God save them from Disability rights people!!!), there were proper ward looking seating arrangements – beautifully done up.
Ok then Akshay and I went for this super awesome bungy ride – a swing kind of a thing that shot up 300 ft in the air tied to two poles on each side, upturned at that height twice or thrice and then dropped us to terra firma…. Whew ….zinda hai ab tak – kaafi acchi baat hai – can give up my right arm to do it again. What an experience, burnt a huge hole in the pocket but every cent worth it.
Had food at Clarke Quay itself – a fourth Indian place called Ras – the Indian flavour. Very expensive food but very good indeed. Spoiled the evening by fighting with husband there who decided to open his mouth after I’d tormented him for a good 3 days already. (Sachmuch kaafi sehensheel hai – why do u think I married him, rather how do you think the marriage is still surviving)
Went back at around 12, apologized to husband who curtly told me to sleep. Followed instructions, slept!!!
The last day in Singapore (technically the last night!!!) After a couple of expensive ISD calls to the travel agent in India, we actually managed to go to Sentosa Island. Only that the place deserves two whole days and we were devoting 5 hours (including travel time) left us distraught. Nevertheless, at least we were gracing the island!
The bus took almost 40 minutes or so to reach the cable car station. Before that our tour guide, the reincarnation of a baby elephant told us a lot about what to do, how to do and when to do. A cute looking fourth generation Singaporean, she just had a generous helping of adipose all over the body. She refused to be clicked till she had lost some weight (some being highly subjective)
So we reach the cable car station and down below we see an awesome looking Singapore – green amidst concrete, meticulously planned, beautiful and dotted with colourful umbrellas. We also see a lot of land being reclaimed below us and as the earlier tourist guide had told us – by this rate, Singapore would reach Australia in 20 years!!! So I guess I can wait for another two decades and then go to Singa again to go to the kangaroo land. (Right now Ricky Ponting has pissed us all off to even think of the island country)
We were taken to “Images of Singapore” – where we saw the origin of the Singapore to the present day country all through wax images, Audio-Visuals and life like mannequins. The AV actually showed the founders talking to each other and telling the audience how Singapore was found. The wax dolls were battery operated and danced and played drums and whatever … incredible.
Then came the under water world – pics will prove that better half was enchanted by shark teeth!!! And couple of jelly fish pictures he’s taken – an artist friend and photographer couple friend said were fit for national geographic – man is grinning ever since. Couple of pics were really well taken. You’ll have to wait till ultra busy, ultra powered husband of mine will upload them. They are in his laptop (at least out of the camera – so don’t make that face), will do it over the weekend if auto expo leaves any trace of life in him.
I actually touched a mini-shark and couple of other fish. Didn’t want to try the stingray (the sting had been taken out nonetheless)
Post under water world, we were again transported in a yellow line (enough of the killer blue lines – man needs a change of colour even in death). Reached the “Songs of the Sea” venue. Before that did a lot of polite conversation with the haathi tolne ka baatt. She’d been to India to visit Rajasthan and got baked in the temperature. Silly woman came to the north of India in April – what did she expect – snowstorm???
Now ‘Songs of the Sea’ was a fountain show – laser show on water – immaculately timed, it was just magnificent. There was a hutment created and from behind that different coloured fountains spurted to life with images talking to each other. The photos will help you understand this lunatic raving like expression. But it was simply breathtaking. Pyrotechnics, water works, animation, colour all around – everything in the duration of 25 minutes!!!
Sadly left the venue thinking that the visit was too short. So decided to ask the guide (see no euphemisms this time!!!) what were the show timings for the dolphin show and what were the other things we’d missed.
She pointed towards the pamphlet we were holding and said – you’ll find it there. Ok so snubbed, we sulked some more. Then again Akshay asked stuff about the best season in Singa or some stuff like that – she said – refer to the internet.
Akshay to me, “Koi fayeda hua kya PC karne ka, huh!!!”
Bus dropped us to hotel. From hotel we asked for directions for ‘tasty’ Indian food joint. Got them, got into a cab, moved towards the same. Reached the wrong place!!! (maybe God’s way of saying – morons – try a new cuisine), walked to the place, food was good sans onion garlic! All of us different things so could bite into each other’s dinner.
Walked a little and discovered that Hard Rock Café was just behind our hotel! Mummy daddy retired for the day and husband wife plonked on HRC seats. Two super horny individuals kept us entertained for the better part of our stay. And there weren’t too many people in the café so it was almost like that the live performers were playing for us. We requested for songs, they played them. Walked back to the hotel, on the way stopped at an open bar where another live performance was happening. The night was so deliciously pleasant, and with people in the festive spirit, the walk back was one of the best.
Went back, slept. Got up in the morning (most normal people behave in the same fashion), got ready, had breakfast (be glad I’m sparing you the ablutions details) and then out we stepped to explore Singa for the last day. Walked into some more malls, had super scrumptious gelato, managed to laugh at some more prices and then came back.
A mini-van picked us from our hotel and dropped us to the airport (and unlike the Bangkok cabbie, did not ask for a tip – proves that the economy of Singapore is booming and will continue to).
So that’s the end of my long story.
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