Posted under Singapore
The cheapest route to travel between the Philippines and Bali was with two budget airlines and a layover in Singapore. We decided to spend a couple of days exploring this cosmopolitan sovereign state located at the tip of Malaysia, but were unable to find reasonably priced accommodation. To Tina’s delight, we used about half of our precious hotel points and booked two nights at the Hilton Singapore. After flight delays, long lines at Immigration and a short taxi ride, we arrived at our luxurious hotel well after midnight. We are always amazed at how comfortable these international business hotels are in comparison to the many budget hotels and hostels in which we normally sleep. We were warmly greeted at 2:00am by impeccably dressed attendants, fresh flower arrangements, marble-lined corridors, and the rich scents of good living. Sinking into the featherbed and swallowed by the down duvet draped over the bed, we agreed that we could easily spend the next two days in the isolated comfort of our fifteenth-story room.
I awoke early, eager to explore. Whenever we arrive in a new country, or even a different city for the first time, I’m giddy with excitement. It’s one of my favorite parts of our trip; each country is like one of those Choose Your Own Adventure books that I read as a child and every day is a new chapter. But Tina is never enthusiastic about waking up early, so I’ve learned to keep myself busy until the Queen awakens naturally. When her Highness finally arose, we decided to visit Chinatown to have some lunch and to find a travel agent who would help us make some travel arrangements for China – a task laden with headaches thanks to the long list of requirements and restrictions imposed by the Chinese government.
Walking through the Saturday sidewalk crowds on our way to the subway station, I was amazed by the rainbow of colored faces; Chinese, Malay, Japanese, Indian, and Anglo. It reminded us of New York – an ethnic melting pot – but with more Asians. Singapore is considered one of the premier financial and business centers of Asia. Favorable tax and corporate laws, an English-speaking work environment, and the absence of overt government corruption make this city-state attractive to corporations and professionals from around the world. We easily navigated the Singapore subway and arrived in Chinatown. Our search for a competent, English-speaking travel agent in Chinatown was less than fruitful, but we finally ruled out traveling overland to Tibet. Given the current political climate and the Chinese paranoia about the Summer Olympics, travel visas to mainland China are proving difficult to obtain without even mentioning travel to Tibet. We concluded that there are likely to be more headaches before our China travel plans are finalized.
We shared a wonderfully authentic Chinese meal of soup and dumplings before exploring more of Chinatown. We perused the narrow, shop-lined streets selling the same souvenirs that we’ve seen in every major Asian city. Salesmen hawking cameras, tailored suits, watches, sunglasses, and countless other items barked in our direction as we strolled down each street. We concluded our outing with a stop for bubble milk tea for Tina, sweet yam-flavored ice cream for me and headed back to the subway. It was surprisingly difficult to find good wireless internet in Singapore so we bit the bullet and paid the exorbitant $30 fee for internet at the hotel. We spent the rest of the evening wrapped in the lavish ambience of our room, playing online and watching movies in bed.
Our flight to Bali wasn’t until 7pm the next day and we arranged a four o’clock checkout so that we could savor the comfort as long as possible before taking the subway to the airport. We woke early but left the room only for a quick trip to Little India in search of our beloved paneer butter masala. We found a wonderful little Nepalese restaurant which also specialized in northern Indian cuisine and we happily clogged our arteries with Indian cream sauce. Two days was decidedly plenty of time to spend in Singapore and although we spent more time in the hotel than we did exploring, we have no regrets. We’ll do plenty of that in Bali.
Comments Off on Singapore Stopover
