Tuesday, May 6

A wonderful experience I call Singapore

In the past week I spent travelling in Singapore, I have had the chance to live my dreams, learn from my mistakes, discover a new place, meet new people and be motivated towards a better future at the same time. Forgive me for I have tried to summarize every memorable experience I had and still the post is quite long.

Day 1 

Changi Airport is incomparable to any Indian airport. I don't say this to put the new T2 airport at Mumbai down, but just because you don't expect a skytrain INSIDE every airport, do you? The best part was the convenience which the airport offered to every person travelling by it, be it the availability of maps, the transportation facilities, the cleanliness, the food choices and the superior toilets (yes, this is important for me too!).

Later that day, my friends and I decided to go to Jurong Bird Park. We did mess up the travel by forgetting to carry the passes to the park which meant that we had to travel all the way back to our house (a friend's house where we were put up). It took us effectively 2.5 hours to reach there and we all recall saying this in our head "The park better be worth it!".

I never thought a bird park would engage me for 5 hours. We lost ourselves while admiring the large hornbills, the scary ass owls, the cute cockatoos, the "sadhu"/ one-legged flamingos and all the other colourful-amazing-birds-I-don't-really-remember-now. There was even a bird show in the evening which brought out the little kids in all of us as we screamed and wowed all the antics of the birds. See a glimpse of it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_Lb9DwZHEk





Day 2:

My experience at Universal Studios is far too difficult to put in words. It's one of the reasons I wanted to visit Singapore. The six zones of awesomeness at USS were:  Madagascar, Far-Far away, the Lost World, Ancient egypt , Sci-fi city, New York City and Hollywood. Kudos to the creators of this amusement park because at no point else in my life have I felt like a dinosaurs was going to gobble me up or a transformer Autobot was indeed going to save me.

Here's a video of the Boogie Dance by much loved creatures from the movie 'Madagascar'- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7crA8X9Ebig. I'm proud to say this, but King Julien actually caressed my hair (true to his character :P :D)

The simulations at "Lights, Camera and Action" were so real that I felt a part of me just died in a Category 5 hurricane. The following is a video is of the Transformers ride.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SQtBh_LCNs

Mind you, we felt the heat when a missile was shot or even the water sprays. We screamed every few seconds and clapped and cheered when the All Spark was restored.

Not to mention the brilliant merchandising at USS. They make you love the attraction so much that you are compelled to buy merchandise you never ever thought you wanted. A minion t-shirt? A transformer bottle? A dinosaur pencil? A Shrek hand glove? Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh.....








Day 3

Our trip to the SEA Aquarium was every bit exciting as the first two days were. Meeting Mr. Sting Ray and Miss Yellow Tang fist up close and personal was delightful. And you know what, jelly fish are amaaaaaazing creatures. I probably learnt more about sea life here than I ever did from my science text books. So for all you people with kids out there, do take a round!



Later that evening, we saw a laser and lights and sound and fire show called "Songs of the Sea". Some interesting technology I don't know about was used to project colorful images of people and creatures in the middle of the sky on a fountain of water! The story line itself was not so good, but still, the setting was exciting. It had to be, as we ran nearly 3-4 kms to make it to the show in time! We also learnt a thing or two about travelling in a new city:

1) Never make an assumption that you know "where" a place is.
2) Don't be shy to ask around.





Day 4: 

We were tired from having walked so much each day but by now we were experts at making our way through the city. You name a mode of transport and we had used it. We made a short trip to the supermarket and temple on this day. We also discovered how many open places Singapore has for all the heath freaks. Even if you are not a health freak, the city could make you want to jog (with pretty gardens), swim (with huge pools) and cycle (with clear tracks).

The Singapore Zoo was amazing because I realized how much the people at Singapore value life- both animal and human! You could live your life in dignity by being a zoo keeper and to tell you the truth, if I were an animal, I'd love to reside at Singapore zoo. I could have sensible visitors who don't throw stuff at me, I could roam about in a huge enclosures without being caged, I could be hale and hearty and taken care of by on-call vets all the time! Singapore is not rich in natural resources yet it bestowed with citizens who have a lot of civic sense and respect for everything around them.











I must recommend the Night Safari to every person who wants to visit Singapore. Seeing all those majestic animals in the open in the dark of the night and hearing interesting trivia about each of them made me as excited as a five year old could be when he goes to a toy store. I'm sure all the other adults on that tram ride would agree with me. The sounds of the wild animals sometimes send a chill down your spine and you truly understand how it would be to be stranded in a jungle. Very exciting, indeed.




I also saw a show called "Creatures of the Night".  It imbibed in me a love for nocturnal animals and also a love for all the trainers at the Night Safari. They are cool and brave people who know how to get their job done. Believe me, making an otter put waste in the designated bins to reflect an awareness message for recycling is NOT SO SIMPLE.

Do see a clip of the show here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tanggsn3Whg (This is not exactly what we saw, but you get the drift)

Day 5

Reserved for shopping primarily. You don't need better company than a bunch of 3 other girls to accomplish "Mission Shopping". I was happy to pick gifts and souvenirs for the ones I love the most and I do hope they like them.

I had a chance to visit Gardens by the Bay on the last day. It is thrilling to see a variety of flowers and vegetation maintained perfectly in a dome in a hot tropical environment! You may have to see these pics to know what I am talking about.








Later that night, I went out for dinner with the friends I had made at Singapore. They were kind to show us around the place after probably a tiresome day at work. We had an interesting conversation about Singapore and India over a bunch of awesome vegetarian dishes. (It was a high for me as good vegetarian food was slightly difficult to find :) )




It's easy to say that I would love to visit the place again for its cleanliness and its hospitable people. There are stark differences between a developed country and a developing one, but then I guess, each place has its pros and cons.



Dedicated to my travel buddies: Saini, Sayali and Jayanthy. Looking forward to many more such trips with you guys no matter which part of the world we may be ;) 





3 comments:

  1. Here is to many more international adventures :) Cheers! Love the background of the blog.

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  2. It was one hell of a trip! Kudos to just pen down ALL the fun, running around and goof-ups we did :D

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  3. Mast likhti hai!!! And that is quite an "international experience"... Just the kind that they look for in an Application... to see your life experiences and how they have shaped up your "career goals", if you know what I mean!! :P Use this for a great story!

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