Singapore; 's own small country in Asia
My first impression of Singapore was the same as most other first-hand accounts I've heard , a clean haven in the midst of the frenzy of the pollution which is the South- East.
Everything in Singapore is at a convenient distance , mainly due to the size of this small "country" which extends 41 kilometers high by 23 km wide and more like a suburb . The airport is connected to the city by metro which connects all parts of the country and , although the metro is very convenient it is a little difficult to understand at first, because a deposit is charged and refunded to the end of my trip .
As soon as I got to my stop to Aljunied station , I felt like I was in the suburbs, the whole area was surrounded my greenery , trees and grass and ample parking , not very common in Thailand site.
I stayed in hostel WOW that was damn awesome, it was like relax at home. All rooms are air conditioned and there was a cool manager running the place that has always been watching movies in the common room on a nice big HD TV . They had a huge selection of movies on an external hard 3TB hard to choose from , so I am guilty of staying in a little more then I should have while traveling.
Singapore is not a big city ... desolate country for tourism. There is not much to see , so I was glad I booked 4 days there . They have small pockets of small crops , including Chinatown cleanest I've ever seen (see photos) , Arab city with some mosques in the region and bards chicha course, and some of the India, which was actually quite large, with an impressive selection of food for cheap.
Although Singapore has a bad reputation of being quite expensive, you can still get a good selection of cheap eats (i often paid Singapore $ 2-3 for my meal) and the portions were quite large, compared to small portions I was used to Thailand :)
The most beautiful sites here is certainly Clark Quay with a river side restaurant strip beautifully , fully planned , lit bridges and walkways and colorful buildings (see photos) .
Orchard Road is the shopping paradise in Singapore with a glitzier shopping center than the other, and the hottest of them is Ion, a massive architectural wonder in the center of the city, lined with luxury shops all you can dream off , this is the place to collect your Vertu phone and programmed it while you color coordinated with the Prada bag on the screen opposite. The food court is equally impressive , and some budget choices were even sprinkled into the mix , thankfully.
I lied a bit when I said Singapore was not tourist ... ResortLand Singapore, a very direct and uncreatively appointed stations across Mendosa island. It is the only Universal Studios in Asia and I think a nice man made beaches, but like many Singapore was still under constant construction.
I had a bit of an adventure at the airport on the way back ... but still get to the airport at least 1.5 to 2 hours earlier for people on international flights ! ( Where International Singapore ) I arrived with only 40 minutes of my flight, but I was pleasantly surprised when I arrived without a problem, even if the counter already closed , since I do not have checked baggage . However, my first experience with airlines to effectively enforce restrictions on baggage came immediately after . My bag weighed 14 kg , which was twice allowed to 7 kg hand luggage @ 16 per extra kilo ... about $ 110 total , which was more than the cost of my flight . There was no way I was going to pay that so I got out of the bathroom, put on my hoodie, jeans , cap and jacket and a little sweat in the process and threw some unnecessary items . To my surprise , the baggage check people recognize me when I got home (maybe the cap enough and they covered my face if I was a local ?) If no problem and I walked pass by without make a weigh in. :) Yay . So I went to my flight to Phuket , which Air Asia standard tariff arrived 5 minutes after the start time , but only took another 10 minutes to take off :)
until next time ,
Sawadeekhap
