First Impressions of Singapore and the A380
My first post on this South East Asia trip comes to you from the most ‘un S.E. Aisian’ city of the lot. We didn’t really know what to expect from this place but I was hell bent on coming here guided in no small way by the opportunity to fly on the Airbus A380, the largest passenger plane in the sky.
Airports have had to be modified to accommodate this beast with larger jetties that are on two levels not to mention the capacity to handle so many passengers travelling through at one time. We flew business class and, in all honesty, the service, food and in flight entertainment were all on a par with what you expect from flying on the top deck. What was different about this though is the sheer size of the seats and loo you get…
Putting business class aside, it was a real buzz to be on this thing and it genuinely brought out the ten-year old in me. (Remember when you could say that without sounding like a paedo?)
Back to Singapore then…
We landed at around 7.00am local time which meant our body clocks were instantly screwed (UK time was midnight) and all we could do was dump our bags at the hostel having been told we couldn’t check in until 2.00pm. We set about discovering Singapore.
We had no idea what to do or where to go. I considered just booking two nights here as I had heard that it’s not exactly a ‘party town’ but as it was always likely that one day would be lost to the Greek God of Jet Lag we opted for three. We’ve been here 24 hours now and I’m struggling to think how we can fit in all that we want to do with the time we have left before flying to Kuala Lumpur on Monday.
Our first day was spent getting our bearings around our local surroundings. We’re based in a hostel in the Little India area of town. It’s a strange place as during the day it’s awash with the local Indian population going about their day, during the evening it becomes a busy market and late on all is much quieter with just the signs from hostels and a few backpacker bars lighting up the road.
After strolling through neighbouring Bugis and back past the world renowned Raffles Hotel we came back and managed to check in our room and had a few hours sleep. Last night we moved from India to China and had some great food from the stalls along Smith Street which, at night, is pedestrianised and is known as ‘Food Street’!
From there it was to Clarke Quay where the affluent locals and buisness trippers hang out. It’s a cracking area and we had a good night but at $13 (SGD) a pint (abot £6) it’s easy to see why the Westerners may choose to stick to their hostel bar and wait until Bangkok to get smashed.
Today’s agenda is filled with some of the ‘must-see’ things in Singapore, the Raffles Hotel (inside today!) and the Singspore Night Safari before finding some Karaoke!
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Sounds like it’s time for a Singapore Sling – just don’t let the drink price shock you too much!
Cheers Dave – it was a shock but I guess you just roll with it. What we spend on booze now we’ll more than make up for later on in the trip in other places such as Thailand!
Hi Andy!
Where in Spore did you stay?
Any experiences there you could share?
Regards,
Anders.