First thing which caught my attention on the immigration counter on Singapore port were the words. death penalty for drugs and suddenly I remembered the stories how mercilessly some foreign nationals were hanged here for carrying drugs. I got little panicked for the reason I was carrying the parcel of someone, though I knew the sources as very reliable and I didn't see the parcel. All my awful imaginations came to an end after an easy clearance. Thank goodness !! but I realized one must be aware of belongings in the parcels before carrying abroad.
I admire the city as each and every part of the city is very neat, compact, clean and green. The govt. charges heavy fines for breaking the laws and is very stringent. I was amazed to see every third or forth person is Indian or Indian origin especially from south. They work every where as public servants- on ticket counters, drivers, sweepers, gardeners, laborers which I had never seen in Bangkok. Tamil is one of the official languages out of the four languages. Rest is Malay, Chinese and English. But it was of no help for me as I do not understand a bit of Tamil.
I felt as if I am in India when I visited a famous 'Little India' area there. Not only the faces and shops were Indian but the streets were also messy. Lots of Indian restaurants, huge kajol's and Aishwarya's hoardings!! The Mustafa centre is wonderful place to shop which is open for 24 hours and one can find all the necessities especially Indian stuff under one roof which is some thing lacks in Bangkok.
I did visit some of the famous places like Sentosa island, Singapore Zoo, Night safari, Orchard road etc. Intriguingly, the island was different; I had expected it to be huge and natural as islands and beaches in Thailand. Sentosa was a compact and looked more as an amusement park but again very organized and clean. Orchard road is a grand one full of malls and all famous brands there.
One NRI gave some interesting facts about the place. Singapore government wants to increase the population and therefore provides assistance to the families who have two or more than two kids. I saw the city is crowded one but do not know why they want more population. Singapore is dependent on others for its basic needs. For an example water is imported from neighbor Malaysia. Water charges are more than electricity bills but it is supplied without any interruption.
The country is well developed and advance, has a strong currency in comparison to other countries in Asia but why not as the country is just one city and it is probably smaller than Delhi.
Nice writeup……. singapore visit karoonga to kaafi kaam aaega
…… thnx for sharing
Oo boy… I”ve heard all that too about Singapore. Got to see it some day :=)
A good post on Spore. I have been to Spore several times and yes despite the large number of Indian Origin people there (almost 7% of their population), there is this underlying tone of resentment amongst the chineese and the Indians and the Malays. Whats worse is that there is this resentment between the resident Indians who have been there for 2 or 3 generations with those who have recently migrated for jobs. I find the city to be a GOLDEN CAGE and its too perfect to be NATURAL. You cannot criticse the government, you can”t have loud parties lest your neighbour complains, you sister will baby sit for youu and charge you a fat sum and stuff like that. Yeah its good for electronic goods and nice to oggle at the Chineese airhostess of their national airline but thats about all I would ever want to do in a place so full of arrogant Chinks.
wow! that was a grt description abt Singapore……well done and thx for sharing
Good post. Wanted to visit it one one of my trips back home a couple of years ago. Couldn”t do it due to the SARS scare (The US immigration made life tough for people who visit any of the countries in East Indies). Your blog has inspired me to plan my next visit so that I have a layover in S”pore.
Cheers
nicely written..simpla and lucid.like thisno complications, only great vacations approach
Very interesting travel diery although the first part of it gave me shudders… Seeing our huge country, wondering how easy it must be for the govt of such a small country to implement the schemes and rules. BTW its great to see you back.. Keep posting
Regards, Angel
Good to see you are back .. Sing is definitely a good place .. Did you go to Mustafa? … a must see place or let’’s say it’’s the pilgrimage for indians in singapore:-)
Welcome back to Iland and nice narration on singapore.
A very good post. I used to love the small barbecue places that existed years back. Where Singapore has to commended for it’’s fantastic infrastructure and cleanliness, people live in perpetual fear as was conveyed to me by an acquaintance. I believe each and every thing about every individual is monitored so closely. As for the tamils, the people from Karaikudi and surrounding areas found root there a century back, may be even before.
hey I went there when i was a kid…dont remember much…Glad to see you back! :-))
well welll….thnx for the info…i have also heard singapore is a wonderful place but expensive tooo
good post..thnx.
Singapore is a marvel of Urban planning and great infrastructure.. It’’s infrastructure is ”the best” in the world, perhaps. But that’’s about it!!! The flip side is, I find that place incredibly boring and ppl seem to be too scared there, oh those bored, dull eyes! It can be killing for an artist! Art needs some chaos and Sing has NO chaos. Somenow, that place reminds me of George Orwell’’s 1984. Good post. will be back to see the pic. Hope u had a great time in Mustafa
hey Pooja, nice to have you back on iLand after your break. good post and good observation too. the pic is not up as yet. keep blogging. and thanks for the wonderful comment that u left on my posts yesterday. am very very happy.