An Afternoon in Singapore

Steven and I arrived in Singapore early on the morning of the 19th. From my window in the plane as we neared the airport, I was surprised to note that Singapore looked quite similar to my childhood home in South Florida. Wide paved streets lined with palm trees led to small clusters of bright, shiny buildings reflecting the clear blue sky and incoming rays of the sun. Coming from the crowded, dirty, jam-packed streets of Saigon, I could almost imagine myself descending into Palm Beach International airport.

While I was looking forward to finding the first passably comfortable spot in the airport to sleep until our 8 o'clock flight to Bali, Steven was intent on using the long layover to get out and see the city and, if possible, to arrange a hotel stay for the evening of our late night/early morning arrival back in Singapore on the 31st of December.

I had heard that Singapore's airport was in a class unto itself, but I was still quite impressed with the wide open spaces, modern facade, free internet and multitude of things to do while away your time between flights. I was even more impressed by the fact that you could easily board Singapore's metro system from the airport and be in downtown Singapore in less than 20 minutes for under $5. I was liking Singapore already.

We made our way to the train station and figured out how to buy a one way ticket to our desired stop without too much trouble. After pushing our recently acquired Singaporean dollars into the machine, we were rewarded with a plastic card that was to be our ticket, until we returned it for a one dollar refund, at the end of our trip. Fancy stuff.

We spent the afternoon rushing quickly through Singapore's Little India, following our Lonely Planet map from hostel (Closed), to hostel (no rooms available), to hostel ($60 US a night), to hostel before finally settling on a room in the Hawaii Hostel near Bugis, a somewhat dilapidated looking place in one of the many hearts, of Singapore's many upscale shopping districts.

Finally set with a hotel, we wandered back to little India where we had lunch for under $3 US in one of Little India's many authentically Indian restaurants filled with Indian men sopping up food with rice and their bare hands

With full stomachs and a reservation for New Year's Eve, we hoped back on the metro and headed East to the airport.