It is past midnight – into Day +1.. Tasting Singapore Sling at the cruising altitude is quite an experience.. a signature drink of the country created in 1915 at the Long Bar of the Singapore Raffles Hotel.. a bit different but wonderful concoction of dry gin, Dom Benedictine, Cointreau and cherry brandy, shaken up with lime and pineapple juices, with a dash of Angostura bitters and Grenadine. It was a new taste, rather a mix of distinct hints of various ingredients.. neither strong, nor faint.. a good blend indeed.. though it did not strike a chord with her. She likes drinks to be more subtle, usually single flavored, perhaps little tangy. Anyways.. the other most obvious thing on the Singapore Airlines is the elegant look of the crew, neat and crisp, warm smiles and the hospitality. If not the best, certainly among the best I have come across so far..
We are flying somewhere over Thailand now.. directly below Phuket, in between Pekanbaru and Kuantan island.. with 1 hour of flight time still to go, cruising at around 11000 meters above sea level with average speed little over 850kmph and quivering -47°C outside.. It would be early morning at Singapore.. and we plan to freshen up at the airport, deposit our luggage at the left-baggage counters, and head straight into the city! Shopping, roaming, clicking and fun is all that is on our minds at the moment.. almost done with our quick round of in-flight snacks, drinks and the power-naps, we are counting minutes to land.. :)
The Changi Airport is very well designed, organized and maintained.. lots of information displays to guide you around. We had no difficulty in clearing the immigration and retrieving the baggage. YourSingapore counter is what you need if you have any questions about Singapore on your mind, and that’s exactly the one we consulted to plan out our day trip. A courteous and eager staff, with promise to attend to you within 5 minutes latest, made sure that we knew our way around the town - at least for the places that we planned to visit – including the shuttles that we are going to take. We had around 6 hours on hand before we need to be back at the airport for the connection to Bali. The Flyer was on top with Bugis Street and Orchard Road on our mind, while others preferred IKEA over the later.
The Singapore Flyer stands at 165m at its highest point which makes it the world's highest flyer. A 40 minute ride for SGD15 (Singapore Airlines have 15% discount on standard rates) doing one round is a wonderful experience and provides a scenic view of the Singapore landscape - skyline, sea shore, stadium, F1 street-track, and other impressive buildings. All passengers are provided with radio sets which feed constant information about the landmarks in view according to the location of each flyer capsule. The ride is good and well timed making sure you do not miss out anything while enjoying the view, clicking your cameras or listening to the information through the radios. We did it in the day light as the first thing in the morning to align with our flight timings, but believe the view would be spectacular towards the evening when the city lights up for the night. Though not a must, but a ride is definitely recommended.
Next on the agenda was the Orchard Road and Bugis – the later being the largest street shopping in Singapore. A quick assistance from the Tourist Information center at the flyer, and we were on the Green Hopper Bus to take us to our destination with an all day pass costing around SG6$. If you are visiting first time, running around in taxis may be more convenient, but would make you miss out on the beauty of the city. The bus takes a fixed and longer path to the destination but makes you feel the city – passing through various zones – some green, some commercial, other residential – Chinatown area – Little India – Botanical Gardens – and many more. You are free to hop-off and hop-on at any stop you want, and catch the same bus again to continue your exploration. The bus runs every half an hour except for lunch time when its once an hour.
Orchard Road is one of the main commercial areas with various malls and shopping centers on both sides of the road. All the major brands are very visible occupying huge floor areas and endless collections, latest trends, mostly fashion and lifestyle.. Well, as we get all these back in Bangalore, we decided to stay off these malls given the time constraints we had. Another short ride in a local bus at less than SG1$ per head to the Victoria Street junction and we were at the much-heard-about Bugis. By this time the hunger pangs had a tight grip on our minds and we were not able to focus on anything else. With Burger King refusing to serve anything vegetarian, we went off to McDonalds in the hope of some good news. I won’t say that they gave us the good news, nor did they disappoint us – they offered to serve us with any burger of our choice and will take off the non-vegetarian patty from it – rending it completely vegetarian! Our hunger drove us to take the offer without a second thought and trust me, it was a very satisfying meal we had since the day break.
At the first look, Bugis looks like a larger version of Commercial Street in Bangalore, the missing branded stores being the only difference. You can find almost anything to everything here – dresses, tops, t-shirts, shorts, scarves, hats n’ caps, footwear, accessories, bags, local restaurants, snacks stalls, fresh juices, vegetables and fruits, groceries, you name it – it is there. You may bargain – may be up to 10% or slightly more – but the prices are already quite low. If you are expecting a good long lasting branded stuff, please return to the Orchard Road. Not to forget, the place is crowded – very crowded, and alive. We managed to grab a couple of items, and fresh juices to quench our thirsts before headed back to flyer in the local bus from where we had the pickup point for the airport shuttle.
A very hectic, short and amazing experience of the city.. very careful, well thought of and substantial amount of planning must have been put in setting up the city infrastructure – be it the tourist spots, shopping or commercial areas, residential blocks, sports and amusement premises, public transport and connectivity, or simply the landscaping – everything is fascinating to see, feel and live through. We realized that with just a short bus ride through the city and visiting two regular spots; we still have not visited the recommended tourist places and the amusement zones. Imagine if we had enough time on our charts to be here to live a couple of days and experience more?!!
In no time we collected our luggage and caught up with the rest of the gang who had loads of stuff shopped from IKEA. A little relief from the Starbucks chillers, and we headed straight to the check-in counters for Bali – the last leg of our onwards journey. One side is the feeling of having had more time at Singapore, and the other side is the anxiousness to be on the beaches of Bali! We are in the plane and waiting for it to take off.. all set, let’s go!
Landing was pretty exciting as till the last second we were flying over the sea as if gearing up for a water landing.. The touch-down is almost at the same time as you start seeing the runway appearing out of nowhere in the middle of the sea. The first feel of the Denpasar airport is somewhere lesser than the even the small airports in India.. but that notion soon gives way.. This time to a little better organized one.. There are proper signs and officials to guide you.. Yes, straight to the payment counter for the Visa On Arrival.. At US$25 per head with 30-day validity, the Indonesian Visa is quite a deal - at least they have a well printed VISA sticker to paste on the passport than the stapled plain A4 printed sheet for Singapore! A couple of minutes through the queue for the VISA, bought some local currency and we are off to the five star Aston Bali in a pre-paid taxi..
Nice roads greeted us, much better than Bangalore, making us feel that the place is much better. And before we could realize, a two wheeler appears from nowhere and zooms past our cab zigzagging its way through the low traffic at that hour. Boys, will always be boys! It is a good feeling to see all those resorts and places that you researched over the net for days, went through the profile snaps, now looking right at you as your drive through. It is around an hour or so since we landed in Indonesia. Finally we arrived at Aston Bali.. Greeted with courtesy, welcome drinks, and the bell boys guiding us to our rooms after check-in. Heaven, is what you call it when you get what you want the most in your life - a good bed, to stretch your legs and straighten your backs.
Room is quite spacious, well equipped, clean and tidy, and so is the restroom. Though our bodies did not want to get up, the minds were wondering about the private beach and the sound of the sea, eventually dragging us to the beach side open bar, and treating ourselves with some chilled beer. The lounging for the bed came over pretty strong in no time and our feet dragged us to the beds again. Getting up ever, ever, was never on our minds! A good night's sleep is all you need to be fresh and shining the next morning.. but for some, it takes a little more.. Adieus Amigos! :)
We are flying somewhere over Thailand now.. directly below Phuket, in between Pekanbaru and Kuantan island.. with 1 hour of flight time still to go, cruising at around 11000 meters above sea level with average speed little over 850kmph and quivering -47°C outside.. It would be early morning at Singapore.. and we plan to freshen up at the airport, deposit our luggage at the left-baggage counters, and head straight into the city! Shopping, roaming, clicking and fun is all that is on our minds at the moment.. almost done with our quick round of in-flight snacks, drinks and the power-naps, we are counting minutes to land.. :)
Next on the agenda was the Orchard Road and Bugis – the later being the largest street shopping in Singapore. A quick assistance from the Tourist Information center at the flyer, and we were on the Green Hopper Bus to take us to our destination with an all day pass costing around SG6$. If you are visiting first time, running around in taxis may be more convenient, but would make you miss out on the beauty of the city. The bus takes a fixed and longer path to the destination but makes you feel the city – passing through various zones – some green, some commercial, other residential – Chinatown area – Little India – Botanical Gardens – and many more. You are free to hop-off and hop-on at any stop you want, and catch the same bus again to continue your exploration. The bus runs every half an hour except for lunch time when its once an hour.
Orchard Road is one of the main commercial areas with various malls and shopping centers on both sides of the road. All the major brands are very visible occupying huge floor areas and endless collections, latest trends, mostly fashion and lifestyle.. Well, as we get all these back in Bangalore, we decided to stay off these malls given the time constraints we had. Another short ride in a local bus at less than SG1$ per head to the Victoria Street junction and we were at the much-heard-about Bugis. By this time the hunger pangs had a tight grip on our minds and we were not able to focus on anything else. With Burger King refusing to serve anything vegetarian, we went off to McDonalds in the hope of some good news. I won’t say that they gave us the good news, nor did they disappoint us – they offered to serve us with any burger of our choice and will take off the non-vegetarian patty from it – rending it completely vegetarian! Our hunger drove us to take the offer without a second thought and trust me, it was a very satisfying meal we had since the day break.
At the first look, Bugis looks like a larger version of Commercial Street in Bangalore, the missing branded stores being the only difference. You can find almost anything to everything here – dresses, tops, t-shirts, shorts, scarves, hats n’ caps, footwear, accessories, bags, local restaurants, snacks stalls, fresh juices, vegetables and fruits, groceries, you name it – it is there. You may bargain – may be up to 10% or slightly more – but the prices are already quite low. If you are expecting a good long lasting branded stuff, please return to the Orchard Road. Not to forget, the place is crowded – very crowded, and alive. We managed to grab a couple of items, and fresh juices to quench our thirsts before headed back to flyer in the local bus from where we had the pickup point for the airport shuttle.
A very hectic, short and amazing experience of the city.. very careful, well thought of and substantial amount of planning must have been put in setting up the city infrastructure – be it the tourist spots, shopping or commercial areas, residential blocks, sports and amusement premises, public transport and connectivity, or simply the landscaping – everything is fascinating to see, feel and live through. We realized that with just a short bus ride through the city and visiting two regular spots; we still have not visited the recommended tourist places and the amusement zones. Imagine if we had enough time on our charts to be here to live a couple of days and experience more?!!
Landing was pretty exciting as till the last second we were flying over the sea as if gearing up for a water landing.. The touch-down is almost at the same time as you start seeing the runway appearing out of nowhere in the middle of the sea. The first feel of the Denpasar airport is somewhere lesser than the even the small airports in India.. but that notion soon gives way.. This time to a little better organized one.. There are proper signs and officials to guide you.. Yes, straight to the payment counter for the Visa On Arrival.. At US$25 per head with 30-day validity, the Indonesian Visa is quite a deal - at least they have a well printed VISA sticker to paste on the passport than the stapled plain A4 printed sheet for Singapore! A couple of minutes through the queue for the VISA, bought some local currency and we are off to the five star Aston Bali in a pre-paid taxi..
Nice roads greeted us, much better than Bangalore, making us feel that the place is much better. And before we could realize, a two wheeler appears from nowhere and zooms past our cab zigzagging its way through the low traffic at that hour. Boys, will always be boys! It is a good feeling to see all those resorts and places that you researched over the net for days, went through the profile snaps, now looking right at you as your drive through. It is around an hour or so since we landed in Indonesia. Finally we arrived at Aston Bali.. Greeted with courtesy, welcome drinks, and the bell boys guiding us to our rooms after check-in. Heaven, is what you call it when you get what you want the most in your life - a good bed, to stretch your legs and straighten your backs.
Room is quite spacious, well equipped, clean and tidy, and so is the restroom. Though our bodies did not want to get up, the minds were wondering about the private beach and the sound of the sea, eventually dragging us to the beach side open bar, and treating ourselves with some chilled beer. The lounging for the bed came over pretty strong in no time and our feet dragged us to the beds again. Getting up ever, ever, was never on our minds! A good night's sleep is all you need to be fresh and shining the next morning.. but for some, it takes a little more.. Adieus Amigos! :)
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