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| Building Corner near Chinatown |
We stared the day early, well for me it was early.
We had placed Pancake at the PAWS shelter for the weekend, and the dogs went to stay at a local dog boarding place called Baan Tommy. I put the link here, as it is not easy to find http://baantommy.npage.de/
We felt bad for Pancake, being the free roaming soi cat she is that the only option was to go into a cage for the weekend, and no other cats for social interaction. The dogs on the other had had landed in glory. Baan Tommy is set on a large property with owners who know and love dogs. Over the course of the weekend they would have 18 guests dogs there. It is certainly a business that has major potential here in Phuket as shelters for boarding are few and far between and some of the ones we have heard of did not get very good reviews. And when we went to pick them up they were being checked and cleaned for any possible fleas or ticks, and to have a bath, all included in the boarding.
We flew Tiger Airways at an amazingly cheap price, for the 90 minute flight from Phuket. There are three terminals in Singapore and we landed at terminal 1, known and posted as the Budget terminal. Pretty accurate description.The processing at immigration was smooth as silk, pleasant and efficient. We knew our accommodations were located a few hundred meters from a transit stop on the Singapore transit train, so we opted to use that. You transfer by bus for free from terminal 1 to terminal 2. Frequent, clean and easy to locate. Through the corridors and into the underground, for about three stories and board the train. Similar to my experience in Taipei, they have vending machines, where you follow the easy directions, touch screen the station you want to go to and get issueed a plastic transit card for your destination. The cost was about $4. One transit transfer and ended up in downtown in less than 1/2 hour.
I was impressed that when you buy your card, you need it to get through the turnstiles, and in order to encourage you to turn the card in at the end of your trip, you get a $1 refund from the machine. A day pass to ride the whole system is $18 and you get $10 back at the end of the day. It seems so logical to me, as opposed to generating tons of paper tickets each year, hiring a police force to ride the trains and enforce fare payment. On the Singapore stations, they also have capacity to top up your card, or pay missing fee's, as well as many of them had staffed offices where you could chat with a real person. We did this once and they were so accommodating and friendly. A trait we would experience frequently on this trip with all sorts of people.
The train has an LED map over the doorways that show the station stops so you can chart your trip. There is also an announcer who announces the upcoming station, which is also simultaneously scrolled across an LED screen in the center of the car. It even tells you what stop you need to change trains at.
I must say that the arrival did not start off well, as our accommodations were quite not what we had expected. It is amazing what can be done with a wide angle lens and showcasing a room. It is suffice to say that the least pleasant experience of the whole trip was the accommodations. It is a lesson in due diligence. having heard that Singapore is very expensive, I had thought that the room price was probably reasonable for a hotel there. I am now better informed and more research shows that there is plenty of accommodation in accredited hotels at a lesser price with many more amenities. The lesson is learned and on our return trip I know that will be better.
We checked in and then went on a walk-about. We were located close to China town, but actually the first place of interest we found was a Hindu temple. It was dusk when we had begun to venture out and this temple was a sight to behold. The sidewalk was full of the footwear of the worshipers who were in full service.
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| Little India |
We wandered the beautiful very clean streets. Not a piece of litter to be found anywhere, and no odours of garbage or waste to be sniffed. Despite the fact that there was always a public letter can to be found and people had dumpsters behind their businesses and restaurants. The pavement was all even and the sidewalks clean and level as well. Some of it elevated, which provided some protection in the event of rain, of getting splashed by passing vehicles. I also note that in the full time we were there we did not see a single vehicle that did not look like it had just been washed. We also saw cars that were very expensive from Ferrari, Lamborghini, BMW, Mercedes and Audi, all driving along the roadways; no horns blaring, not speeding, stopping at Stop signs and red lights and giving way to pedestrians!
We ended up at a restaurant called Broth. In my naivety I assumed it was a noodle house. Instead it was a full on restaurant that would surpass some of the better restaurants I had experienced in Vancouver. The prices were compatible, if not actually a little less than some of the 5 star Vancouver places we have been. We ate too much and drank too much, but it was probably one of the best meals and experiences we have had eating out in a very long time.
Saturday morning we were up and out by 9AM. A stop at the concession in our hotel, revealed they had no coffee or tea, so a glass of warm Milo in a styrofoam cup had to do. We ended up on Orchard Road and saw shopping center after shopping center. Typically we go for a coffe the morning we arrive or the next day when we travel, get some guide books and olan out what we will do. Our hotel had no guide books and the advertised wifi service did not exist. But a restaurant in one of the shoppin gmalls where we had a big coffee had great wifi capacity. We wandered over to the downtown Tourist Information offices. There we sat and had a chat with a wonderful young woman, who provided us with a cloth bag, maps and guides to make us more than informed. She helped us plan put our days and suggested things, that were absolutely perfect and met our desires completely. The guest comment card did not have enough stars to record how good she was. And she was a trainee!!
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| Me with the Marina Bay Hotel in the background |
And so we road the rails and walked the streets for two days. We saw Little India, Chinatown, the hawkers food market, Clark Quay, Marina Bay hotel; up to the 56th floor observation deck. Well the deck is actually a replica ship that spans three 54 story high rise hotel units. A mall that is close to the hotel with high end designer stores and an ice skating rink. We managed to eat all sorts of cuisines and see so much marvelous architecture. I even had a 30 minute stint in an flight simulator where I got to pilot an Airbus 320, taking off and landing in Rio! Clive was not convinced that if there were problems on any airbus I was flying on, that I felt qualified to help out in the cockpit.
Overall, being in Singapore felt almost like we had returned to North America with an Asian influence. Everyone we engaged spoke flawless English. The food varieties were great, but there is that distinctive Asian personality. Absolutely every time we made eye contact, or took out a map and looked possibly lost, a complete stranger would always approach us to see if we needed help. Many people talked to us about the slogan "Singapore a Fine City" due to the large number of infractions that can render you to be fined, and possibly caned. I must say that when I filled out our immigration arrival card, I was a bit surprised with the large red letter wording "Warning. Death For Drug Traffickers Under Singapore Law". You would be hard pressed to say you did not know.
We will be back in the fall for a run Clive will do there and we are really looking forward to a return to Singapore. There were many things we did not do, among them to sit at the Raffles Hotel and have the world famous Singapore Sling drink that originated there. We had thought we would go, but the requirement for shoes and long pants stopped us. While we do own a pair of long pants each. We do not own nor have we had a need to wear proper shoes in over a year. Maybe next time we may have to.
The flight back to Phuket left at 8AM so it was a 4AM rise and off to the airport. This time by taxi. In other countries when we took a taxi that was airport bound we would have been prepared for a $40 or $50 ride, and in some places even more. This time our downtown to airport trip cost us $20. Cheaper than a ride back here in Thailand to get to our home from the Phuket airport! The taxi was spotless, the drive engaging in a non intrusive way and most of all no stops along the way! Another short flight and we were back home. The only thing that would have made it slightly better would have been if Tiger airlines could dot something to make their staff smile and engage the passengers on the flight. For a while I almost thought that perhaps they were avatars.
Pancake meowed her way home from the shelter and the dogs went crazy at the sign of Clive and the sidecar. We were all back together, but both still say that Singapore was simply amazing.
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