It took us less than 15 minutes from the moment we disembarked the plane to the moment we were sitting on the MRT(subway) to our guesthouse. Another 20 minutes saw us to the door of our guesthouse. The floor of the train was clean enough to eat from. The order in which passengers boarded and alighted was robotic. Everything was so clearly signposted that one would find it difficult to get lost if one tried. We arrived at our accommodation, a monument to hygiene, where we were greeted with a welcome note containing foolproof instructions on the workings of just about everything...Welcome to Singapore.
Eager to learn a little more of this seemingly utopian city, we jumped back on the MRT and headed in the direction of Chinatown. It was the eve of the Chinese New Year and an ocean of people flooded every corner of every street in a shopping frenzy that made our christmas rush look positively amateur. This must be Singapore at it's most chaotic.
Expecting more of the same the following day, we got off our train at Little India, probably in an effort to return to our comfort zone, at least we knew how India worked. We had some breakfast, dosa for me and uttapam for Przem, and braved the spotless Singaporean streets once more. We made our way towards Chinatown but instead of the throngs of people we had prepared ourselves for, we found relatively empty streets with just a sprinkling of tourists here and there. Evidently Chinese New Year is a family time and is spent mainly indoors. As a result most of Singapore's shops and many of it's restaurants close down for a few days, which doesn't leave very much to do for thrill-seeking backpackers like ourselves. We sorted out our hungry bellies with some, nearly impossible to find, vegetarian street food, then, having spent the day meandering around the deserted streets we found some much needed refreshment in the 'Backstage Bar' in Chinatown. We then had some more refreshment, followed closely by more again until we were so refreshed that we could hardly walk!
A walk down the normally very busy Orchard Road the next day proved another futile expedition as much of the street had it's large shutters down, probably just as well as we had spent about two days budget on refreshments the previous evening. Not giving up we MRTd it to the esplanades for a walk along the promenade as the sun set. The place was alive! Loads of couples, families, and tourists crowded the sea shore. The views made for a few good photos too. Singapore is at it's most beautiful as it begins to light up.
If you do decide to go shopping in Singapore, just make sure it's not Chinese New Year.
3 comments:
Aaaaaa!:)
Czytam Was dosyć nieregularnie, niestety...
Ale...
Mam nadzieję, że zbieracie też przepisy na te pyszności i wróciwszy do Europy (a najlepiej do Krakowa) coś nam zaserwujecie. Prawda? Nasza mała kuchenka stoi przed Wami otworem:)
U nas śniegu po pachy (dosłownie niemalże).
No i co jeszcze...
Oglądam fotki i "zazdraszczam":)
Pozdrawiam z Matyldą i Askaniuszem
.::brefka::.
Had a dosa for breakfast myselp this morn...or was i a dosa after breakfast!!
Ah! Singapore! It's pretty amaizing how accualy organized those people are. The place is spotless. You can even get arrested for chewing gum on the street. Comparing to India especially it amaizingly clean and organized. Well I think you guys needed a break from all the noise and germs and you get to celebrate Chinese New Year. Even though I'm not eager to comeback there just yet, I'll probably go there to do some shopping oneday.
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