Mama , I m coming home!!!

A Dayz Trip to singapore
28th February 2009
Distance travelled :
Denver- SFO : 1529Km (2:55Hrs)
SFO-Seoul- 9033Km (18Hrs)
Seoul-Singapore 4660Kms (5 Hrs)
singapore- mumbai 3914 kms (5:30 hrs)
total : 19136 Kms (about 35 Hrs flight time )
means : airplane,bus,subways



GooDBye Denver:Now good bye blue skies!!

Strumming throughout month of march the Ozzy Osbourne song ,I was on my way to India from Denver .Had a mixed feeling.Was a bit happy about food, my family V/s less money i ll be getting ( less than $700) and other things u know :) .

As infy would allow a break journey I chose singapore as we get a visitor pass ( mind it not a visa ) with ease, I donno is it because of an indian pasport or a US visa.My journey was really going to be hectic. I was suppose to start by saturday morning 6 AM ( MST) catch a flight to San Fransico and from dere to Singapore.I had a thorugh checkin for my overweight ( about 10 pounds ) baggage for Mumbai.Flight from denver to SFO was around 2:55 mins was a plesant one.I was sitting on a window seat.Two old white couples sat besides me.I thought they would not like me .I thought thier thought train would be of an old school.How wrong I was.Initially they did not speak to me at all or rather I did not speak.Of a sudden the women spoke to me.asked me where I was going I said singapore international travel ( sm bit of show off ) she said grt n commentd that I seem awful lot silent (he he my friends round the world would surely laugh at this) n started chatting they were heading towards kona ( is that the spelling?) in hawaiian islands.it was supposed to have an active volcano.They gussed that i m an indian (well who would not2) n said they had a relative ( m bad in relations ( both of the meanings r true) ) some daughter in law with last name rao .I said grt.the woman suddenly showed me the fotos of her grand daughters one was blond other had black hair. All women are alike in this world :).Felt good to talk to them.The womwan had the bluest eyes i had seen in the world.( I used to think my eyes r black untill pointed by the woman in DMV. One of the scariest eyes i had seen was my friends' corrines' she used to call them blue n believe me it was white with bluish tinge.Reminded me of zee horror show)

SFO- NeXT time Baby:
I reached San francisco in time .All the united flights were on time till now for mee.Was excited

to be in SFO wanted to have a quick trip to the golden gate which BTW was around 20 miles( 30 mins US).but my dreams were shattered by the information booth, the fat old unsympathetic lady told me to stay in the airport , as 5 hours r not enough to go out :( she said u can take a red line train which takes around the airport n its free ( again did she guess I was indian!!!) and gave me a bigg smile . the red line i took, d'uh ,did not mean any thing.Though the airport was huge, i wasnt
impressed much Denver DIA was i guess bigger ( abt
50sq miles) n also has a "conspircy theory" associated with it.you can go to youtube n search it and also the theory nullifying it hehee ( does the m

umbai airport has a conspiracy theory ,donno !!!)
Rest of the time i just talked to friends many of whom were shocked that i m going so early .Also I roamed around checking out some "art" work .I just went through the security check n waited for my flight to singapore
at 12:35 pm (PST) ( these time zones really confuse mee ...will it be lik this i sarted on 28th suddenly over pacific i loose one day???? god knows )

SIA really impressed me.The hostess ohhh got most of them ethinic chinese n tamils i guess were not beautiful as such but "sexy" is the word!! what they made them wear was really amazing.It really brought out unimaginable curves ( fake or real does it really matter?).It was green sarong designed by ( andy warhol???) looks amazing ( hate this objectification of women :D) .Besides that the SIA had really good seating ( one comnplaint, they dont have neck rest n 20hrs flight good lord!!) there were foot rests!! ( united i had to keep my feet to myself as if they dont exist n i m short !)
Thier entertainment module was the best.i couldnt ask for more except fot the crappy head fones i had got one side did not work .Had may of the latest movies
including the slumdog millionaire ( many people cannot pronounce millionaire ).They offered wine, softdrinks juices after every 5 mins.I had ordered hindu meal and luckily got one .besides the hostess' the entertainment module kept me busy for a long time.one thing i observed there were lot of cranky ol ppl around me asking after every 5 mins wen will we reach singapore. the journey was via soeul ( so - el This is how we pronounce it ) was a bit gloomy dere hardly any english even in the transit area i imagined how it would b outside( a signboard showing shop selling "a" watch and "a" choclate) , i got a coffee as the food seemed wierd. got a dollar replaced by 1500 Won2 !!!!the bill has w wierd persons expressionless foto ( i still carry that note to show off )
hmmm do our notes have an expresion ?.went through transit n on the way to singapore 5 hrs flight.My back was in tatters as i had around 20kgs hanging over it.


Singapore- Changi Airport- this is what an airport is
i reached in singapore by 1 am .I knew i wanted a room to sleep .there is a transit hotel in the airport it was arount S$60 i.e 40 not too mch...but i m an indian i did whatever to save money
i went to a baggage checkin counter n checked in my baggage i guess $8 for 2 baggages pretty resonable if u have us dollars.there my asian experience started.the woman on the counter was sleeping there were instructions to ring bell she came out sleepy was gentle enough to answer all my queries.i unloaded most of my luggage n just took off the camera n started at the immigration counter.the chinese man at the immigration counter was a bit rude ( asian culture uhh??) told me that i had come to a wrong gate n all the crap but suddenly kept quiet n told me to go to a huge section where we get our pass
stamped...was a tamilian at the counter . i went out but it was just 3 am could not do anything. The information counter would open at 6am so i just lazed around ate at the MacDz (finally i found the fries without the animal fat smell ) after eating i "slept") I roamed around after sleeping .singapore airport "changi" is verry big my feet had already started to give in .One of the best airports i had seen compare it with sahar i guess pune staton is better than sahar airport...freaks.the airport was just a mall converted into airport it had everything one could wish for ( including toilets ,that to not overflowing )
Singapore- going out
finally by six the information counter did open.The lady was really helpful she guided me n took a feed back.I finally decided to go by my self as the free shuttle would come only after 8 am n i would waste my precious 2 hrs.i decided to head for bus stop. i converted my dollars 200 to $333 singapore .they dooo have plastic money with some mans foto.I went to the bus stop .the time table was clearly marked ,mine was route no 36 to the raffles road.It was really hot n humid i really started to sweat like hell.I there met a nicest chinese air hostess.she was really hot n ofcourse short !! i guessed she was airhostess she told me i was to early n everything would b closed ( well she was right in one sense all beautiful airhostesses r always right) we talked for abt half an hr till the bus arived there started my asian hospitality.I was wondering where to put the money n how to take the ticket the bus driver was rude told me to put in money asap n the hostess guided me i told the person that i had to get down at esplande he said yes n never told me.Some american lady told me where to get down .i got down near esplande
by 6:30 i guess still it was just the break of dawn n it was monday.

The Esplanade: Could
i could see tall buildings clean "over signed" roads even by Denver standards. In pune we dont have signs even if there is a dangerous ravine n 100 ppl get killed.
Roads had some zig zag end markings (as shown ) i wonder why it was dere ( to confuse the terrorists?? god knows) I could see the esplande theaters by the bay n was eager to start my real journeythe esplanade theater consists of two domes having spikes or scales of fish .I found it fascinating .good architecture ( as if i understand ) It is supposed to be a center of art.There was

also an open air amphitheater any ways i could not get in as it was too early. i knew i had a long sweaty day ahead of me.the esplanade is along the singapore river there was also a huge giant wheel ( london eye on the similair lines i guess ). people were out to jog i wonder why ppl wake up early ( nearly all of them were chinese)
There quiet a few bridges over that river pretty good architecture ( i pride my self for having keen eye for art ,though ppl will not agree :D) After having thoroughly seen the area i decided to go to merlion
which is just across the bridge .i really donno how to pronounce it.As in french MER- lee- on ( mer is sea and lion is lion ).people could not understand that n it was embarrasing
i guess we say it just like english mer-lion.Any ways i did cross the bridge but could not find the lion...what the hell...i searched for it every where
to my surprise i just remembered what the woman had told me in morn..wat could be the chance of lightning hitting the statue n it being covered in a blue sheet
i guess it was 100% for me then i realised the thing in front of me was "it".It was like going to agra n not seeing Taj mahal or going to mumbai n not seeing dharavi .Anyways what diff does it make to not having seen it. i ll see it on the net :(
Then i decided to move on .I had a map ...but i could see some things i started towards the tall buildings now all i could see was the beauty .The thing with a green dome
what the hell is that i did not know but had seen it in fotozz it had old colonial archetecture .One thing i liked abt singapore was thier supreme court
looked pretty much like a mall hehee ( imagine!!! you are sentenced to lifetime of shopping with human female species ).Singapore is a notoriously clean city.the have banned chewing gums :O .They impose heavy fines for littering.
All i could see there was closed malls in the morning it was abt 9 am .Tall buildings were nt new to me (cuff parade, manhatten anyone!!! ) but certainly the weather was taking its toll i had walked about 10-15 kms ( what the heck google earth is showin clowds F*** ) the path was verry belle along the river with pieces of modern art.I was also amazed to see indian bikes pulsars were pretty common ( had seen one almost after 6 mos).I then decided to head to china town.



China town - ready for some cheap action??
the lady had told me that the china town is one of the places to go.i went to the bus stand there i searched for bus going to china town even though everything was clear (me being dumb) i did not understand as i thought chinatown was just a name given to a very large area.I did take a help of a chinese old woman she was exteremely friendly .unfortunately she did not understand me neither did i ,she told me ( i guess) to go to otherside of road n catch bus dere oddly
she was insisting on crossing the road by jumping the fence!!! i donno why (sensing a plot there i just walked away, never trust a chinese...u rember
indi-chini bhai-bhai,,,what crap our leaders teach us instead of accepting the humiliating defeat) but by some fluke i found a subway .It was much clearer
all the lines were straight with good maps.I got my self $18 whole day pass ( 10 dollars as a deposit for the proximity card ya the transport is pretty hightech)
one can use this pass also for bus we just have to keep it over the detector n it makes noise (of course as u ppl mite have guessed BEEP) this pass was totally worth it
as the subway was air conditioned I felt really good.i would certainly vote its transport as one of the best in the world .(LA i found was better n cheaper than this ) As i reached china town i found again one mall but it was chinese one .My frnd tushar would surely b happy to see this hi class mall ( sarcasm alert!!) felt pretty sleazy all over some wierd food .eating that would have surely made me throw up wierd smell,wierd looking meat, wierd looking ppl.The mall sold all
the fakes thats why my fotography was met with some stiff resistance.Adidas nike, puma u name it!! .I was even attacked by a chopstick :O but could not trace who did that ( i suspect the female in left!!)
that was enough china town for me. i decided to head to little india.It was 11:30 AM

Little india:Cheapest action!!!
I took the subway to little india ( the subway has names in chinese,tamil n english).PPl in the subwere ok types some babes with short shorts :D
Little india was more like chennai ( i have never been therer but can guess )all same indian stuff smells of masalas,gold marts, veg n non veg restaurants
i guess they would be worse than in states where all the hotels claim they have recieved awards .but the place was much colour ful.It reminded me of "dongri" in mumbai...my father used to take me dere when i was small n whined less.There was also a temple which i did not visit.Overall the place was much dirtier ,no prizes for guessing ( singapore has around 70% ethenic chinese and 7% tamilians )
There was also a market pretty much like indian markets but with foulest of smells.with amazing names lke "maya mohan ".Seemed to be famous served biryani n other indian stuff though you could see lot of chinese faces.There was also a 7-11 store i got water from dere .I found more indian brands here
LML vespa hehee .Over all not much to see here.It was 1o clk plus i decided to head for orchard street.the shopping district.


Orchard street: Buy buy till u die
I reached there also by subway.Was full of big malls ,bigger than i had ever seen bigger than in US with same old brands GAP, guess etc
also haute cotoure brands like gucci,YSL,channel which are out of chaddi.It also has a huge electronics market saw 103" television ( ohh i wish i could buy that !!)
It did not excite me much as it was the same stuff and i knwe i would not buy anything
I had plans to see it everything .It was almost 2 o clk.but my feet were giving in .This happened for the first time in my life that my feet brought me down.this could be because of weather
the weather had become clowdy but it was green enough.they had installed amazingly huge glass sheets asart forms that really looked good besides the legs
i tried to see it all but the same stuff ept repeating.of cource the food looked good but i did not have courage to try it ( i really admire anthony bourdain)
malls after malls but i guess things were cheaper than in US god knows i knew onlyone thing i did not want to buy anthing.i roamed as much as i could. till 4
i decided it was time to head back.I took the subway to changi airport,


post-Experience:
As much as i had seen singapore it was pretty ok i guess ,nightlife could be good here.The esplanade would surely look beautiful in the night. Though the weather is really bad.
A flight form india to singapore could cost any where around 22k surely one can find cheaper flights.I did not visit sentosa may b next time.Its a good place for shopoholics and food lovers ( not on the indian scale)
i did like to roam alone, first time i did it .to explore something unknown is really good feels great.to see different culture is simply grt.learnt many things like chinese ppl have bad english,good legs, i am made for indian food,i cant just keep on walking,asians ( including r us) are not too friendly....rest is to forget!!!

i would really like to visit central asia and iran lets see if my luck permits it.now head home n plan for ladakh!!

adinathy@yahoo.com