Touchdown and the heat hits you. It may only be 6.30 in the
morning but the 28 degree heat and humidity combo faces you as you exit the air
conditioned airport.
For those of you who have not been to Singapore before, I
have noted a few things. First...you
need to be a night person. If you have 5
hours and it is 6am... don’t bother leaving the airport. The airport has all you need to get through a
few hours. There is free internet,
chairs that you could sit in for hours and cafes or restaurants at every
corner. There is also a few nail (feet and hands not building) places and a
roof top pool so you can lie in the sun.
If you don’t have great advice you may make the same mistake
as I did. I arrived early morning and
had till 11am before I had to be back at the airport. I had a few hours to mull about. I decided to look around Singapore. I was told it took only 20 mins to get into
the city by the metro.. this information was correct. However there is no point
in going into the city when it doesn’t really open till 11am.
The metro was easy to find and easy to figure out. It is also surprisingly safe. Being used to
the chaos that is the London tube I was expecting something similar. I was
pleasantly surprised when it has almost bothing the same. Yes you are in a metro train... that is where
the similarities end. This was clean, on
time, and QUIET. I couldn’t believe it. There were no Chav’s swearing and abusing
people. There were no MP3’s that you could hear half way down the aisle. The people were polite with “excuse me “ and
I saw a stranger give another stranger a tissue as he had the sniffles. When wa s the last time that happened to you
on public transport? There was not one
moment when I thought I was going to be assaulted or mugged or pick pocketed.
Those thoughts were an everyday occurrence on the tube.
Ok so back to what to do and where I went... well as there
were no shops other than the odd cafe open I wandered the streets. I did go to an Indian temple and was surrounded
by statues of cows (I still don’t understand the obsession) and pictures of
people with four arms and three heads.
As a Christian I was surrounded by the things I don’t know much about
and don’t believe in. I took it in as a
tourist does. Confused by the multiple arms and the funny elephant heads I
wondered about the meaning of it all. I liked the incense but was completly
distracted by the intrigue of what went on behind the funny curtain and behind
the scenes. There were big signs saying
that tourist could not go in there or in here.
I don’t know why so many faiths have so many secrets. It just makes me
question them even more than I already did.
So without the famous shopping markets what is there in
Singapore? Singapore seems to me to be a bit of a landmark and attraction in
itself, with the lines and forms of the
buildings, the creativity if the staues and fountains, the roadside decorations
showing you exactly what part of town you are in... it is quite the sight. Oh
and you can’t forget the smell. Its the
same scent that hits you at eery humid location.. the faint smell of sweat and
fried food. While not much is open
untill 10.30am the scent of the night befores delights are still hanging in the
air.
Singapore is clean,
as clean as you expect Singapore to be and so while my time was uneventful
(other than seeing a lady; who was to me the most out of proportion person I
have ever seen) I enjoyed singapore and it lived up to its wonderful transit
reputation.
