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Craig and Efren's travels
We arrived in Singapore on different flights from San Francisco. Both flights left within 15 minutes of each other – Efren on EVA Airways with a stop in Taipei, and Craig on Singapore Airlines with a stop in Hong Kong.
Craig's flight was uneventful. Singapore Air does a good job of feeding you during the nearly 18 hour flight! Luckily the middle seat was open on the flight, so stretching out and sleeping was possible. Efren didn’t have such luck – someone was in the middle seat so it wasn’t quite as comfortable.
We arrived at Singapore’s Changi Airport within 30 minutes of each other – great timing! Our first impression of Singapore was how orderly and clean everything is. Even the immigration procedures at the airport were a snap. We took the MRT Subway to our hotel. The MRT ambassador was very helpful in showing us how to buy the tickets. When we were a little confused on which platform to go to, a very helpful young woman stepped in to show us the way.
We alighted at Clarke Quay (pronounced "key", as Craig learned) and immediately were hit with the heat and humidity. It was hot, but not as bad as we thought – probably about 85 degrees. We followed the very good instructions provided by our first hotel – the Rucksack Inn. A very interesting and friendly hostel located right in the heart of the Clarke Quay area. We dropped off our bags and freshened up a bit before heading out to explore.
Our hostel is right on the fringe of Chinatown, so we wandered around a bit and soon found a very interesting restaurant. We ordered some pork rib soup and wonderful garlic veggies and enjoyed the atmosphere. We then wandered down into Chinatown to absorb the sights. We stumbled upon the magnificent Buddha Relic Tooth Temple Museum and had a look. The building was delightful and held some fascinating Buddhist pieces and a delightful rooftop garden (as well as the cleanest public bathrooms around!). The highlight was the ceremony being led by the orange-rob clad monks.
We then wandered around more and came to the Sri Mariamman temple. A very elaborate and intricate and extremely photographic exterior. Next we hopped on the MRT and went north to the Little India area and strolled around a bit. Nothing too exciting for us there, so we decided to head back to Chinatown, by this time we were hungry and came upon one of the Hawker Stalls and had some beer and chicken and pork satay. We were going to go back to the Inn to rest up, but we realized that if we went back we’d probably end up falling asleep. So, we decided to hop on the MRT one more time to walk around the “Colonial District” which would serve as a nice contrast to the Chinese and Indian sections we had seen so far.
We walked by the Parliament building and soon came upon the Riverfront Walk. Beautiful multi-colored and lit up buildings. The real eye-candy was a bit further down when the huge Singapore Flyer ferris wheel and the recently constructed Marina Bay Sands building/resort came into view. It is a luxury destination for the business and gambling demographic, and has a most unusual design. Think of the mathematical symbol for “pi” with a third leg (see the pictures).
We took a bunch of pictures and then hopped on a water taxi to take us back to Clarke Quay. We stumbled back to our hotel and crashed! Tomorrow we plan to take things slow and easy as we fly to our first Indonesian destination, Medan, in the evening.
August 16 – Singapore to Medan
Caught up on sleep this AM. We rolled out of bed and headed to the People’s Park Center for a traditional Chinese breakfast. Craig had dumplings and noodles, Efren an egg, sausage and rice. Not bad – we were completed stuffed for under $8 total!
At this time the skies opened up and the rain began. This was a great opportunity to take advantage of and explore the comprehensive system of overpass walkways between buildings. We walked and walked and hardly got a drop of rain on us! We rewarded ourselves by stopping at one of the large shopping centers and ordering some fruit cocktail. The fruit was refreshing contrast to the fried and hot feasts enjoyed previously.
We ducked into a coffee shop and relaxed for a couple hours while drinking some iced tea. After the skies cleared we headed back to the hotel to check out. We had a couple hours to kill, so we took the MRT back to the airport for our flight to Medan. It took us about 1 hour to get back to Changi. We checked in for our Valuair flight and whiled away some time at the airport watching the Youth Olympics on TV which is currently being held in Singapore. There is also a beautiful cactus garden so we had a look.
Well our flight to Medan awaited. Indonesia, here we come!
Craig's flight was uneventful. Singapore Air does a good job of feeding you during the nearly 18 hour flight! Luckily the middle seat was open on the flight, so stretching out and sleeping was possible. Efren didn’t have such luck – someone was in the middle seat so it wasn’t quite as comfortable.
We arrived at Singapore’s Changi Airport within 30 minutes of each other – great timing! Our first impression of Singapore was how orderly and clean everything is. Even the immigration procedures at the airport were a snap. We took the MRT Subway to our hotel. The MRT ambassador was very helpful in showing us how to buy the tickets. When we were a little confused on which platform to go to, a very helpful young woman stepped in to show us the way.
We alighted at Clarke Quay (pronounced "key", as Craig learned) and immediately were hit with the heat and humidity. It was hot, but not as bad as we thought – probably about 85 degrees. We followed the very good instructions provided by our first hotel – the Rucksack Inn. A very interesting and friendly hostel located right in the heart of the Clarke Quay area. We dropped off our bags and freshened up a bit before heading out to explore.
Our hostel is right on the fringe of Chinatown, so we wandered around a bit and soon found a very interesting restaurant. We ordered some pork rib soup and wonderful garlic veggies and enjoyed the atmosphere. We then wandered down into Chinatown to absorb the sights. We stumbled upon the magnificent Buddha Relic Tooth Temple Museum and had a look. The building was delightful and held some fascinating Buddhist pieces and a delightful rooftop garden (as well as the cleanest public bathrooms around!). The highlight was the ceremony being led by the orange-rob clad monks.
We then wandered around more and came to the Sri Mariamman temple. A very elaborate and intricate and extremely photographic exterior. Next we hopped on the MRT and went north to the Little India area and strolled around a bit. Nothing too exciting for us there, so we decided to head back to Chinatown, by this time we were hungry and came upon one of the Hawker Stalls and had some beer and chicken and pork satay. We were going to go back to the Inn to rest up, but we realized that if we went back we’d probably end up falling asleep. So, we decided to hop on the MRT one more time to walk around the “Colonial District” which would serve as a nice contrast to the Chinese and Indian sections we had seen so far.
We walked by the Parliament building and soon came upon the Riverfront Walk. Beautiful multi-colored and lit up buildings. The real eye-candy was a bit further down when the huge Singapore Flyer ferris wheel and the recently constructed Marina Bay Sands building/resort came into view. It is a luxury destination for the business and gambling demographic, and has a most unusual design. Think of the mathematical symbol for “pi” with a third leg (see the pictures).
We took a bunch of pictures and then hopped on a water taxi to take us back to Clarke Quay. We stumbled back to our hotel and crashed! Tomorrow we plan to take things slow and easy as we fly to our first Indonesian destination, Medan, in the evening.
August 16 – Singapore to Medan
Caught up on sleep this AM. We rolled out of bed and headed to the People’s Park Center for a traditional Chinese breakfast. Craig had dumplings and noodles, Efren an egg, sausage and rice. Not bad – we were completed stuffed for under $8 total!
At this time the skies opened up and the rain began. This was a great opportunity to take advantage of and explore the comprehensive system of overpass walkways between buildings. We walked and walked and hardly got a drop of rain on us! We rewarded ourselves by stopping at one of the large shopping centers and ordering some fruit cocktail. The fruit was refreshing contrast to the fried and hot feasts enjoyed previously.
We ducked into a coffee shop and relaxed for a couple hours while drinking some iced tea. After the skies cleared we headed back to the hotel to check out. We had a couple hours to kill, so we took the MRT back to the airport for our flight to Medan. It took us about 1 hour to get back to Changi. We checked in for our Valuair flight and whiled away some time at the airport watching the Youth Olympics on TV which is currently being held in Singapore. There is also a beautiful cactus garden so we had a look.
Well our flight to Medan awaited. Indonesia, here we come!
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