Well I am not sure how long this blog will run into but you have to bear with me. "If we are always arriving and departing, it is also true that we are eternally anchored. One's destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things." Well this was something i picked from Henry miller's quotes and dedicated to my friend when she was about to travel to Singapore as i was sure i cannot make it to wish her for the bonvoyage. However that quote really intrigues ones self when you are out of the country. Here it goes...I had been to singapore last week on a business visit. I was excited as its the first time i will get to see a different culture altogether which i had always heard of but never felt my presence there. I was mentally prepared to expereince th culture shock ofcourse with help of my dear friend who had been there earlier. Every moment of the trip is amazing.
First things first..I landed up at the airport (after a day long hectic schedule) well in advance so i was the first one lead the crew to board the plane. Though nobody was there to bid farewell for my first international travel i was just waving my hands at the people who turned out for the fellow passengers. Had to go through a long process of secuirity cheque and finished it at reasonable time than expected. Had to kill another 2 hours, called up who can bear me and managed to bore for half an hour. The next 1 hour passed just like this for i met a veteran techie from HP based in US of A..playing the "Gyan Gyan" game. We talked and talked - ofcourse it was all about how technology changed the world , how HP & ORACLE are different. Luckily i finished half the book of "World is Flat" and i gave my gyan from that. Soon it was time to board the flight. All the while i have heard of boeing read abt it and now i am flying on Boeing...The journey was about 4.5 hours. I was a satisfied man with the hospitality of the crew inside the flight. Though had been on a jet lag over the last 2-3 days(For those who thin jet lag is caused only if you travel is sheer misconeption. It can be caused even due to mere physical exhaustion) i was exhausted by the time i reached singapore. But here i go..i was amazed at seeing the Aiport. This is something beyond what i actually heard off. That was an "infrastructure shock" for me having been in blore over the last 4 years. I thought for myself way back i will spend as much time possible in the airport. Though it takes a pretty long time to get out of the airport you will never crib for it since the surroundings are so soothening that you will enjoy every moment spent. Got out of the airport took a taxi to the hotel. I was fasicnated by the skycrapers - if singapore is like this imagine how will the city of skycrapers look like. Passing throught all those huge buildings reached the hotel. Quickly checked into the hotel - my room is in the 27th floor - and very nice view of the city from my room. Had breakfast, took a quick shower and opened my laptop to see what was my plan (courtesy prepared my dear friend). I thought i will have walk around the suntec city where i am put up and then leave to SENTOSA ISLAND. Suntec city is the place where all the BIG corporates are put up..and you have Only the BIIIIIIG MALLS around. It has got 4 towers and each tower is has a mall. Added to this there couple of other Big Malls Around. In between all these towers there is huge fountain called "fountain of wealth" a must see place supposedly the largets fountain in the world. Took a walk around all those big malls,big towers,buildings etc. Landed up at the MRT (Mass Rapid Transport if i remember it correct the automated metro trains).
And the system they have in place to get the tickets is amazing. You need not have to do any preparation in order to get to any place, just look at the map - figure out where you want to go, if no direct train interchange - all is in the map - only thing u need to know whats there in the map. Drop in your coins,key in your destination and thats it you get a card for the day. Swipe it and wait for the train, "Mind the Gap" when the train stops hop on to it and by the time the couple next to you finish smooching you are already at the place you want to be and the door is wide open for you. Reached Harbour front took a bus to Sentosa Island Resort - a major tourist attraction. Has a few beaches, some theme parks,luge.. and lot more exciting stuff including Palawan Beach which lies in the centre of the southern coast of Sentosa. There is a suspension bridge that leads to a small islet off the coast which is said to be the Southernmost Point of Continental Asia, or Asia's closest point to the Equator.. If you want to lighten your wallet and have fun at the same time this is Sentosa is the place. I could just chill around this place for more than 4 hours. Went around the place tried few of the stuff had some exotic food. Everybody who goes there has to wait till 7.45 pm for the fountain show musing the reflection and refraction of the lasers hitting the water particles creatinf a 3-d image is something worth waiting to watch explaining the importance of Sentosa. After an exhaustive day got back to the Hotel preparing for my actuial business. The rest of the three days of my stay was equally good with the majority portion of the day being spent for the purpose and the evenings going around the unexplored parts of singapore like Orachard Road (on parrallel to Brigade Road....wll lit up...since christmas is approaching with good shopping stuff)...marina square...mustafa (one of the largest and cheapest store to do your shopping. You get everything on earth here.). There are couple of pure eloctronic malls like simlin square where you get you can freak out if you are a gadget savvy. Though in the evenings it was raining i could manage to check out everything has been planned except few. The best part of Singapore is the infrastructure, the traffic system - everybody follows the lane disipline so religioulsy you can hardly hear any honkings, every vehicle rips on an average speed of 80-90 kmp and the best part is they give respect to pedestrians (even at no zebra crossings) which is quite amazing. You have digital automated system in place which let you know how much time will it take to reach you if its a peak hour traffic (ofcourse we do have RJ's doing the job in blore..). Truly i was taken back by a surprise with the traffic system in place. Added to this the place is so clean everybody takes that extra step of walking 10 steps to throw the litter which is hard to find in India. Though its quite humid and we do sweat, In the evening when i get back to my room i see that my collars have no shades of dirt at all thats the level of dirt free zone they maintain, also I had polished my shoe only once and it was neat and shining until i reached bangalore. Another quick fact i came to know is that nothing is grown in Singapore even the electricity and water comes from the neigbouring malaysia including the food nad other stuff..no wonder they have such a huge harbour. Though i was feeling lonely (it would have been nice if there was one more atleast to click the snaps for me) the people are very friendly there they smile at you whenever you exchange a glance at them. Needless to say the culture is weseternised with so many pubs and coffee shops openings up the youth spends most of the time either in the malls or at these places.
On the last day of my stay i went to MerLion Park - Statute with Head of a Lion and body of a fish - a strange animal though recalls the story of Sang Nilama Utama who found a Lion while on hunt in this Island and named the place Simhapuri. Probably he has a taste of the Sling which illusionise the body of the lion in resemblance to fish. Anyways its the trademark and awesome place to visit and you can the boat ride around the bay which covers most part of the city. Right opposite is the staute of Stamford Raffles - the founder of Singapore..no wonder all the places predominatnly are suffixed or prefixed with raffles. A nice place to walk around till the Esplanade mall where i came across a bunch little kids spent some time with them finished the last minute shopping checked out of the hotel at 5 pm. Luckliy since it was a business travel i had the chance of travelling in merc and limo around the city on couple of occasions. Reached airport well before time. Checked in my luggage and was just freaking out in the airport for almost more than 2 hours. Took every snap of it browsed internet, tried the Baileys caramelle flavour, had a foot massage covered every angle of Airport. Its just different earth altogether i felt.
I wished the indian government send some of their beuracrats , the politicians to these places learn how the government here works, how they designed the system , how they built the infrastructure etc. I would defintely like to see atleast couple of cities in india having this kind of infrastructure in my life time. Its not a magic that the Singapore has created (if you see the population in singapore is predominantly domindated by tamilians no wonder you have sign boards written in tamil along with english- the entire labour is migrated from india.- they knew how to harness the skill) it all depend on how to tap the exisiting potential and utilise the fullest extent in creating such infrastructure rather than being occupied in filling their pockets. Thats a different topic altogether will key in some other time.
Finally after 30 mins delay the plane took off. The view of the city in the night from the top is simply superb. Soon it was dinner time..I had been asked to try out repeatedly - Singapore Sling so tried this in the craft pretty nice drink. Reached bangalore and finished all the checks but had to wait for an hour to claim my baggage...we defintiely need provision of stress busters in Bangalore Airport. And now in putting down my expereince in brief with the circadain rythm in action, so please bear any typo's. Well as stated initially one's destination is never a place but a new way of looking at things hopefully i see a better infrastructure rich bangalore in near future just to avoid the cribbings by all these foreginers , for when we are foreigners we boast about the place left right center like what i did above but when we are mainlanders we along with foreiners crib, well that should not be the case.
And finally A big Virtual Hug to my friend who took her time out in making a detailed plan, knowledging(plz recommend this word to oxford) me abt the place and the timely help in every possible way right from handing the lock n key in the last moment to the USD's for xcange ( I guess i have to return the equvalent rupees:-) ) without which i would have had to forgo my shopping.
First things first..I landed up at the airport (after a day long hectic schedule) well in advance so i was the first one lead the crew to board the plane. Though nobody was there to bid farewell for my first international travel i was just waving my hands at the people who turned out for the fellow passengers. Had to go through a long process of secuirity cheque and finished it at reasonable time than expected. Had to kill another 2 hours, called up who can bear me and managed to bore for half an hour. The next 1 hour passed just like this for i met a veteran techie from HP based in US of A..playing the "Gyan Gyan" game. We talked and talked - ofcourse it was all about how technology changed the world , how HP & ORACLE are different. Luckily i finished half the book of "World is Flat" and i gave my gyan from that. Soon it was time to board the flight. All the while i have heard of boeing read abt it and now i am flying on Boeing...The journey was about 4.5 hours. I was a satisfied man with the hospitality of the crew inside the flight. Though had been on a jet lag over the last 2-3 days(For those who thin jet lag is caused only if you travel is sheer misconeption. It can be caused even due to mere physical exhaustion) i was exhausted by the time i reached singapore. But here i go..i was amazed at seeing the Aiport. This is something beyond what i actually heard off. That was an "infrastructure shock" for me having been in blore over the last 4 years. I thought for myself way back i will spend as much time possible in the airport. Though it takes a pretty long time to get out of the airport you will never crib for it since the surroundings are so soothening that you will enjoy every moment spent. Got out of the airport took a taxi to the hotel. I was fasicnated by the skycrapers - if singapore is like this imagine how will the city of skycrapers look like. Passing throught all those huge buildings reached the hotel. Quickly checked into the hotel - my room is in the 27th floor - and very nice view of the city from my room. Had breakfast, took a quick shower and opened my laptop to see what was my plan (courtesy prepared my dear friend). I thought i will have walk around the suntec city where i am put up and then leave to SENTOSA ISLAND. Suntec city is the place where all the BIG corporates are put up..and you have Only the BIIIIIIG MALLS around. It has got 4 towers and each tower is has a mall. Added to this there couple of other Big Malls Around. In between all these towers there is huge fountain called "fountain of wealth" a must see place supposedly the largets fountain in the world. Took a walk around all those big malls,big towers,buildings etc. Landed up at the MRT (Mass Rapid Transport if i remember it correct the automated metro trains).
And the system they have in place to get the tickets is amazing. You need not have to do any preparation in order to get to any place, just look at the map - figure out where you want to go, if no direct train interchange - all is in the map - only thing u need to know whats there in the map. Drop in your coins,key in your destination and thats it you get a card for the day. Swipe it and wait for the train, "Mind the Gap" when the train stops hop on to it and by the time the couple next to you finish smooching you are already at the place you want to be and the door is wide open for you. Reached Harbour front took a bus to Sentosa Island Resort - a major tourist attraction. Has a few beaches, some theme parks,luge.. and lot more exciting stuff including Palawan Beach which lies in the centre of the southern coast of Sentosa. There is a suspension bridge that leads to a small islet off the coast which is said to be the Southernmost Point of Continental Asia, or Asia's closest point to the Equator.. If you want to lighten your wallet and have fun at the same time this is Sentosa is the place. I could just chill around this place for more than 4 hours. Went around the place tried few of the stuff had some exotic food. Everybody who goes there has to wait till 7.45 pm for the fountain show musing the reflection and refraction of the lasers hitting the water particles creatinf a 3-d image is something worth waiting to watch explaining the importance of Sentosa. After an exhaustive day got back to the Hotel preparing for my actuial business. The rest of the three days of my stay was equally good with the majority portion of the day being spent for the purpose and the evenings going around the unexplored parts of singapore like Orachard Road (on parrallel to Brigade Road....wll lit up...since christmas is approaching with good shopping stuff)...marina square...mustafa (one of the largest and cheapest store to do your shopping. You get everything on earth here.). There are couple of pure eloctronic malls like simlin square where you get you can freak out if you are a gadget savvy. Though in the evenings it was raining i could manage to check out everything has been planned except few. The best part of Singapore is the infrastructure, the traffic system - everybody follows the lane disipline so religioulsy you can hardly hear any honkings, every vehicle rips on an average speed of 80-90 kmp and the best part is they give respect to pedestrians (even at no zebra crossings) which is quite amazing. You have digital automated system in place which let you know how much time will it take to reach you if its a peak hour traffic (ofcourse we do have RJ's doing the job in blore..). Truly i was taken back by a surprise with the traffic system in place. Added to this the place is so clean everybody takes that extra step of walking 10 steps to throw the litter which is hard to find in India. Though its quite humid and we do sweat, In the evening when i get back to my room i see that my collars have no shades of dirt at all thats the level of dirt free zone they maintain, also I had polished my shoe only once and it was neat and shining until i reached bangalore. Another quick fact i came to know is that nothing is grown in Singapore even the electricity and water comes from the neigbouring malaysia including the food nad other stuff..no wonder they have such a huge harbour. Though i was feeling lonely (it would have been nice if there was one more atleast to click the snaps for me) the people are very friendly there they smile at you whenever you exchange a glance at them. Needless to say the culture is weseternised with so many pubs and coffee shops openings up the youth spends most of the time either in the malls or at these places.
On the last day of my stay i went to MerLion Park - Statute with Head of a Lion and body of a fish - a strange animal though recalls the story of Sang Nilama Utama who found a Lion while on hunt in this Island and named the place Simhapuri. Probably he has a taste of the Sling which illusionise the body of the lion in resemblance to fish. Anyways its the trademark and awesome place to visit and you can the boat ride around the bay which covers most part of the city. Right opposite is the staute of Stamford Raffles - the founder of Singapore..no wonder all the places predominatnly are suffixed or prefixed with raffles. A nice place to walk around till the Esplanade mall where i came across a bunch little kids spent some time with them finished the last minute shopping checked out of the hotel at 5 pm. Luckliy since it was a business travel i had the chance of travelling in merc and limo around the city on couple of occasions. Reached airport well before time. Checked in my luggage and was just freaking out in the airport for almost more than 2 hours. Took every snap of it browsed internet, tried the Baileys caramelle flavour, had a foot massage covered every angle of Airport. Its just different earth altogether i felt.
I wished the indian government send some of their beuracrats , the politicians to these places learn how the government here works, how they designed the system , how they built the infrastructure etc. I would defintely like to see atleast couple of cities in india having this kind of infrastructure in my life time. Its not a magic that the Singapore has created (if you see the population in singapore is predominantly domindated by tamilians no wonder you have sign boards written in tamil along with english- the entire labour is migrated from india.- they knew how to harness the skill) it all depend on how to tap the exisiting potential and utilise the fullest extent in creating such infrastructure rather than being occupied in filling their pockets. Thats a different topic altogether will key in some other time.
Finally after 30 mins delay the plane took off. The view of the city in the night from the top is simply superb. Soon it was dinner time..I had been asked to try out repeatedly - Singapore Sling so tried this in the craft pretty nice drink. Reached bangalore and finished all the checks but had to wait for an hour to claim my baggage...we defintiely need provision of stress busters in Bangalore Airport. And now in putting down my expereince in brief with the circadain rythm in action, so please bear any typo's. Well as stated initially one's destination is never a place but a new way of looking at things hopefully i see a better infrastructure rich bangalore in near future just to avoid the cribbings by all these foreginers , for when we are foreigners we boast about the place left right center like what i did above but when we are mainlanders we along with foreiners crib, well that should not be the case.
And finally A big Virtual Hug to my friend who took her time out in making a detailed plan, knowledging(plz recommend this word to oxford) me abt the place and the timely help in every possible way right from handing the lock n key in the last moment to the USD's for xcange ( I guess i have to return the equvalent rupees:-) ) without which i would have had to forgo my shopping.
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