2 ] Second Day in Singapore

2 ] Second Day  in  Singapore

After the breakfast we were waiting in the lobby for the car. Then this guy came in the lobby and came straight to me and said, “Mr. Vinay?” He did not wait  for my answer, but continued in his  grumpy and sulky voice, “Common….co..common, let’s go. We are already late. Are you carrying all the papers… show me those papers… Flyer ticket and …I’m Raise. Let’s go.”

This was our half day city tour, which included Flyer ride. On our way we picked another couple.  

“So, Mr. Shreeram, you have got your papers with you. Haven’t you? Let me see them.”  

 I suppressed my laugh.  The man and the lady too almost laughed while they were showing him their papers, so I thought. We introduced ourselves. They were Shreeram Sharma and his wife, Mamita.

 “So you are from India. I’ve visited India many times. Have you ever come to our Nepal? No, surprising! Indian and not come to Nepal, very surprising indeed!”  

 We became friend instantly.

“It appears you have met Mr. Raise before,” I asked him in hushed voice and he told me that he had picked them from the airport some three days back. We continued our conversation in hushed tone, lest we offend him.

“He is very possessive about the papers. That’s okay. But he does make one very uneasy and nervous. Doesn’t he?”  He told him that he did make me jittery. “But there is this driver. He took us to Universal Studio. He’s Kumar. He talks non –stop, you know. Have you gone to Universal studio?” 

 “No, it is in our itinerary. But there is still time for it. Kumar picked us from the airport. He does talk rather … but I think he is quite informative.”

He drove us through the city. Kumar and Raise were poles apart.He did not speak much. He could not be a good guide.

We had to coax him to get the information about the place. Singapore, the world famous tourist city having highly developed economy, has so many spots. I do not recollect the chronological order in which we covered them. Anyway these were the spots we did cover:

• ·         Sultan Palace ( Istana  Kampone Glam, where once lived the former royal family, which existed until the late nineties.
• ·         Sultan Mosque (Masjid Sultan), the most important mosque of Singapore with its star features of a huge prayer hall and a beautiful, huge golden dome.
• ·         Jalan Sultan Textile centre
• ·         Malay Heritage Centre, which show cases the history and contributions of the Malay community.
• ·         Singapore zoo and Changi Chapel.
• ·         Kranje War Memorial.
• ·         Asian Civilization Museum, which focuses on educating the visitors about the origin of different groups that have settled here and how they have developed since that time.
• ·         Buddha Tooth Relic temple in China town- a many storied high-rise complex and also Malay Buddhist Meditation Centre.
• ·         Orchard Road, a 2.2 km stretch of 22 shopping mals and 6 departmental stores covering some 800,000 sq,mt. of retail paradise. The street is lined with ornamental angsana trees – the heart  wood of these trees smell like roses. There are also nutmeg plantations, pepper growersand of course fruit orchards (for which it is named.)
• ·         Science Centre
• Marina bay and Marina Beach. The beach is the world’s longest beach, stretching 2.2 km and has pleasing visuals with statues and parks all round. 

• ·         And then we went for the Singapore Flyer ride. The Singapore Flyer is a giant Ferris wheel with an overall height of 165 meters or 541 feet, in Singapore. Up until 2014, it was the world’s tallest Ferris wheel. It was described as an observation wheel. It opened in 2008. Its construction took about 2½ years.  It has 28 air-conditioned capsules, each able to accommodate 28 passengers, and incorporates a three-storey terminal building.

We had lunch we picked another couple, Mr. Anurag Bhatacharya and his wife, Nikita. They are from Kanpur. Our driver Raise was again at his best with his rhetoric – his obsession about checking the papers, etc.  And then we proceeded for the Sentosa Island, which included Cable car, luge & sky ride and Wings of Time show. He dropped us at Cable Car Habour Point, after giving us detailed  instructions about the way to go to Skyline Luge, to  Sentosa beach for the ‘Wings of Time’ show and the final pick by him to take us to our respective hotels.

The Singapore Cable Car (It is a in fact a bi-cable gondola lift and not an aerial tramway), is an iconic attraction in itself. It presents a bird's eye view of Singapore city, the habour and Sentosa.It is gondola lift providing  an aerial link  from Mount Faber (Faber Peak Singapore) on the main island of Singapore to the resort island of Sentosa across the Keppel Harbour , about 1650 mts in length. Opened on 15 February 1974, it was the first aerial ropeway system in the world to span a harbour. However, it is not the first aerial bi-cable gondola detachable ropeway system to span the sea. For instance, Awashima Kaijō Ropeway in Japan, built in 1964, goes over a short strait to an island. It has 6 stations. It has 81 cabins, each with capacity to carry 6 adults and carries 1400 passengers per hour either way. It’s a 12 to 15 minutes ride. The photo opportunities are abundant with the cabin's 360 degree panoramic windows.

 We got down at Imbiah Lookout and for the Skyline Luge, the first ever luge in Asia. It offers two unique experiences - Luge and Skyride. 

The Sentosa Luge is a fun-filled gravity ride for all ages and abilities. The Luge tracks descend through spectacular scenery with views of the forest and beach. It is a unique wheeled gravity ride that provides riders full control over their descent on purpose built track. The Luge is a fun adventure ride and all adrenaline-pumping excitement. We enjoyed this 1.4 km ride all the way down. Sentosa Luge carts provide the rider with full control over speed and direction using a unique braking and steering system. You can put on brakes by pulling back the handle bars and accelerate the cart by pushing the handlebars forward and like any bike handles you can negotiate the curves and go safely down the slope.

The hoarding read: Once is never enough. It was very true.

It is not only for those who like to take things a little easier jump aboard the Skyride, but for all ages. It is a scenic adventure on a four seater chairlift, and we were lucky to have exclusively for just the two of us, that gives you a bird's eye view of the Singapore skyline and the South China Sea while engrossed in the natural habitat of Sentosa Island, you might also see the cheeky cockatoos that often entertain the guests.

Then we took bus number 2 (free ride) to the Sentosa beach for the 'Wings of Time' show. While writing a travelogue on our Singapore visit I realized that ‘Wing of times’ needed a separate chapter.That's another story. Let's meet on the Sentosa beach for the show then.

                                                                          Vinay Trilokekar