Three days in Singapore

It was an inviting call for me. It was mid December 2016, when I had this call from my husband one night. Viju, he said, I have four days holidays for the Chinese New Year here in Vietnam, there is no time to pay a visit to India and back, why not you join me in Singapore for a short visit?

I was excited to pay a visit to such an exotic place like Singapore that I immediately grabbed at the opportunity. Sure, I’ll come. Ok, I’ll try to arrange for the visa.

After the initial excitement, things began to sink in my mind, what if there is some problem with the visa formalities, I was travelling to a foreign country alone for the first time, my phone was not roaming and what if I fail to see my husband at all, what if I got lost in this foreign country, all sorts of fear overcame me.

I confided in a close friend my fears and was assured that nothing of the sort would happen. My husband too assured me that he would be there in Singapore airport to receive me. Slowly my worst fears began to slowly subside.

Finally, on the appointed day, my son drove me to the airport. We were there quite early. Hence the counter of Tigerair had not opened yet. While waiting for the counter to open, I watched the cute little toddler, Madhav, running about the space. There were a lot of CISF jawans moving about in this Bangalore airport in starched uniforms.

I purchased my dinner from the aircraft which comprised of rice and some veggies and an orange juice. And after a journey of four and a half hours, we could see the lights of Singapore far below, amidst a wailing Madhav, complaining of ear pain.

True to his words, my husband was waiting for me at the Changi airport. I had filled the form for the visa in the aircraft itself. I had some experience filling the form for the Vietnam visa, so there was not much trouble. We cleared the immigration smoothly.

Our taxi driver was an old man with practically no teeth and whose driving was a bit reckless. The streets near the airport had flyovers for aircrafts. Sitting in the taxi, I got my first taste of this exquisite land. There was a profusion of greenery. The streets were all lined with trees and plants and were remarkably clean. It was a well-planned city with beautiful buildings.

We arrived at Park hotel Clarke Quay around 9.00 am. As room was available only at 11.00am, we freshened up at a temporary room and went to have breakfast at a nearby joint. Breakfast was complimentary only the rest of the days.

This small super market cum eatery had a lot of items. We had to take the various microwavable food items and heat them ourselves in the ovens. The shop assistant, a Tamil girl, good looking and friendly, helped us. We had Macaroni and cheese and chicken biriyani and coffee.

We decided to take some rest till noon that day. We had the hotel concierge book for an afternoon tour to the Jurong Bird Park and Night Safari. The hotel attendant who took our baggage accepted the 1 dollar 5 cents that my husband gave him with a wink.

At 1.30 pm we left for Jurong Bird Park. We boarded a tempo traveller from our first halt at Chinatown along with our driver, white-haired, Mr. Arjun and guide, Mr. Siwa. Siwa had cleft lip and it surprised me to see that he was a successful guide, in spite of his infirmity. Siwa gave us a quick description of the various aspects of the park in a humorous manner.

Jurong Park houses 5000birds of 400 species and is the largest bird park in terms of the number of birds.

First we took a quick ride around the park in an open tram, seeing different aviaries housing various species of birds.

Next we went to the Lory Loft, the world’s largest walk-in flight aviary for lories and lorikeets with over 1000 free flying lories. It is about nine storeys high and covering 3000square metres. Lori is a colourful bird belonging to the parrot family. Visitors can offer the Lories a special nectar mix. One Rainbow lorikeet sat on my husband’s shoulders and later pecked on his hand. He said it was painful.

We then went to the Penguin coast, where there are five species of penguins in a climate –controlled den.

World of Darkness features a system of reverse lighting converting day to night and vice versa. On display are birds like Night herons, different varieties of owls etc.

We caught a glimpse of all seven species of pelicans in the Pelican Cove.

The High Flyers Show has the world’s largest number of performing birds in a single act. We watch the antics of talented birds like mimicking cuckatoos, pelicans, hornbills and flamingos.

In King of the Skies Show, visitors watch birds of prey like, eagles, vultures etc. in action. The stout and tough looking policewoman smiled at me and asked me if I were from India. She told me her grandfather was from the same place.

By 5.30pm we reached our hotel, ready to embark on yet another trip, the Night Safari.

The Night Safari is the world’s first nocturnal zoo housing 2500 animals of 130 species. It is an open air zoo set in a humid tropical forest open only at night. The zoo can be explored on foot or by tram. Animals ranging from the Indian rhinoceros to lions and antelopes to the Asian elephants are made visible by lights resembling moonlight. The naturalistic enclosures simulate the animals’ native habitat. Animals are separated from visitors with natural barriers like moats, cattle grids etc.

We went by tram around the zoo taking care not to make much noise. Some animals like the deer ,Tapir etc. were not separated from the humans. The tapir came so close to me that I, who was sitting at the side seat was afraid if it might bite off my hand.

In Creatures of the night show, various animals performed different tricks. A smart young girl compered the show. There was a cheetah who could jump 7-8 feet high, a weasel who differentiated paper cups and bottles and put them both in the trash etc. Then there was this huge python brought in front of the audience by two attenders and two volunteers.

After a sumptuous meal of muttor paneer and nan, at the Indian restaurant, we reached our hotel by 10.30pm.

Sentosa is a popular island resort in Singapore, visited by twenty million people a year. Attractions include 2kms of sheltered beach, Fort Siloso, two golf courses, the Merlion, 14 hotels and the Resorts World Sentosa featuring the theme park, Universal Studios Singapore.

Early next morning, we proceeded to Sentosa in a taxi. First we watched the S.E.A. Aquarium at Resorts World sentosa.It was a large world of aquariums containing sharks, dolphins, a lot of other fishes and other aquatic creatures.

We took the mono rail to the next station and watched the Butterfly Park and insect kingdom. We saw the huge Merlion statue here. Next came Madame Tussaud’s Wax museum were there were lot of celebrities. I took snaps with Aishwarya Rai, Oprah Winfrey, Marlyn Monroe and Narendra Modi.

We next visited the Trick Eye Museum, were there are huge pictures and models of which you can be a part. For example, I looked through a square hole in the wall and found myself to be part of a framed picture in the wall.

The 4D Adventureland show, The mysterious island was a thrilling experience. We could smell the scents of the island, it was as though giant centipedes crawled through your legs and spray of water fell upon you. During earthquakes, your chair tumbled as though everything was going to pieces.

The ride in the cable car was awe inspiring. We got a nice view of the beach and of Setosa as well.

The remaining time was spent in the beach, my husband indulging in adventure games like Megazip drive and Para jump.

There was a slight drizzle at Sentosa during the afternoon and returning to our hotel, we saw a wonderful rainbow through our window.

In the evening, we got to have dinner at a nice Mexican hotel with some family friends. This hotel it seems was a church turned into a hotel. The ambience was good.

Your Narendra Modi seems to be learning a thing or two from us, said Ronald Toh, the friendly taxi driver who drove us to Gardens by the bay, the third day.

We Singaporeans are much disciplined, here police travel in mufti and question people now and then, Toh said.

Bhayisab, ours is a large country and very thickly populated, that is the problem, said my husband.

The conservatory complex at the garden comprises two cooled conservatories, the flower dome and the cloud forest.

The Flower Dome is the lower but larger of the two at 1.2 hectares. It is 38 mts high and maintains a temperature between 23 and 25 degree centigrades. The Flower Dome features seven different gardens.

The Cloud Forest is higher but slightly smaller at 0.8 hectares (2.0 acres). It replicates the cool moist conditions found in tropical mountain regions between 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) and 3,000 metres (9,800 ft) above sea level, found in South-East Asia, Middle- and South America. It features a 42-metre (138 ft) "Cloud Mountain", accessible by an elevator, and visitors will be able to descend the mountain via a circular path where a 35-metre (115 ft) waterfall provides visitors with refreshing cool air.

The "Cloud mountain" itself is an intricate structure completely clad in epiphytes such as orchids, ferns, peacock ferns, spike- and clubmosses, bromeliads and anthuriums. It consists of a number of levels, each with a different theme.

We saw some egg painting competition going on at the Flower Dome for children.

After a hectic three day tour, we proceeded to the airport by 6.00 pm. I bought some trinkets from the duty free shop for friends back at home.

Reclining in my seat, I felt a sense of fulfilment overcome me.Truly, this was a memorable trip.