The train system in Singapore is so well laid out and organised that it was super easy for us to follow the directions, switch trains and generally get around the city.
We boarded the train from the Singapore Changi airport and got off at Tanah Merah interchange station where we caught the train to City Hall. From the City Hall station we walked or rather ‘escalated’ to the road above and entered the Sun Tech City Mall.
From there we walked and walked amidst scores of designer stores and reached another mall, The City Link Mall. It was raining pretty heavily so we decided to see the sights and smell the smells of the malls of Singapore. It was almost 1.30 and we decided to have lunch. We went around looking for authentic Singaporean food, but in vain; finally, our grumbling stomachs overpowered our will to walk and we settled for an Indian looking place called ‘What do you Prata?’ The place was so crowded that we figured that the food would be worth the wait. We ordered one Chicken Biriyani and one Prata with Egg and Onion.
We could see the fellow make our Prata...it was amazingly simple and the final product was absolutely scrumptious. When we got our food, my hubby asked the guy for some tissues and to our utter surprise/disbelief, the fellow replied “inge adhu ellam kedakyadhu”.* After lunch, we decided to hop back onto the train and go to our next destination. We got off at Orchard Road station and walked up to the street level. For people familiar with the shopping scene at Pondy Bazar (Chennai)*, Orchard road presented a pretty similar sight, but with designer stores like Versace, Louis Vuitton etc. From there, we got back on the train and got off at the next interchange station, Dhoby Ghaut (sans dhobys)!
We took the train to China Town, walked around a bit there and then proceeded to the Singapore Harbour. From there we took a bus to Sentosa Island, which comprises a cluster of beaches, restaurants, spas etc.
A very funny thing happened to us at the bus stop. We had just missed one bus to Sentosa, and were waiting for the next one to arrive (it was expected within 15 mins). One fellow was standing the designated spot for the Sentosa buses, guiding the passengers and checking their tickets.
We knew that the day pass that we had purchased to use on the train could be used in SMRT buses too. We saw this SMRT bus almost ready to leave, we ran and got in...only to realize that we had made complete fools of ourselves. This bus went somewhere else...the fellow from the Sentosa stand followed us and made us get off just in time...I am very grateful to him. If it weren’t for that guy, we would have spent the remaining afternoon wandering the roads of a strange land.
Finally, the right bus came, we got in and we reached Sentosa in 15 mins. It was almost 4.15 and we had decided to start our return journey at 5, to reach the airport at least by 6.30. So we took the small tram that was shunting between the beaches and went from one end to another.
We got off at the last station, walked around a bit, bought something to drink and then I got a tattoo....yes a ‘real temporary tattoo’.
Ropeway from Sentosa into Singapore city
Our journey back to the airport was pretty uneventful. We were back on time to collect our baggage from the ‘Left Baggage‘ counter, grab some grub and make it to the plane on time. Once we reached the waiting lounge, it felt as though we were already in Chennai..the room was swarming with noisy Tamilians...but nothing mattered to us as we were coming home...to our parents...to our home town!!!
Amazing clicks dear!!!
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