Kuala Lumpur - Day 1

As I write this article sitting in the heart of Kuala Lumpur City, Malaysia at the IMBI Monorail Station recounting the intriguing and excruciating experience of traveling in Kuala Lumpur (KL), I feel the thrill of unplanned and self-guided city tour.

We were two people, I and my friend Mithun. We took the Air-Asia flight from Bengaluru to KL that departs from Bengaluru at 5:15 PM (IST) and lands in KL at 11:40 PM (KL Local Time). As soon as we reached the Bengaluru International Airport to catch our flight, we saw, suddenly a volley of vehicles reaching the airport and a mob descending down on the ground.

Before we could comprehend what's going on, we saw Chandrababu Naidu, a politician and ex-CM of Andhra Pradesh descending down. He was surrounded by a large group of people comprising his fellow party workers and security guards and one person constantly filming him on a digicam. Seeing all that drama, a thought flashed across my mind like a lightning bolt - If you want people to salute you lifelong, do something to extort them systematically at a very large and mass scale - something exactly what the politicians and bureaucrats do.

After witnessing the melee, we moved on to complete the formalities of our flight. Thanks to the universal indiscipline of non-punctuality, the flight started 20 minutes late from Bengaluru.

However, as the plane took off we were elated as finally we were setting off to a journey planned 6.5 months ago and much talked about in our friends' circle as we'd managed to cut off air-fares at just Rs. 6095 per person to and fro Bengaluru and KL. So much was the hype that I'd often seen my colleagues visiting the website of Air-Asia to check for any low fares available. Well, that's human nature, the more the merrier, though here it being more economical.

Nonetheless, we were onboard the much hyped flight which was about 75% occupied. After the usual and usually boring flight instructions, we were served the onboard meals. Veg Biryani Combo for me (a not so strict vegetarian) and Chicken Rice Combo for my friend (strictly non-vegetarian). Feeling hungry we gulped the meals and gobbled the small glass of water provided. And then started the time consuming activity of killing time till the flight landed.

We ran through all the magazines, shopping catalogues and anything readable (be it in English or Malay) but time was a tough nut to crack. Even visiting the restrooms proved futile in killing time. And so, we decided to break the shackles of self-imposed discipline and came out of our seats. Mithun resorted to his favorite pastime - capturing the world through his third eye with multiple lenses - his Olympus E-620 Single Lens Reflective (SLR) camera. Snatched a pose or two from me too.

And then finally, the pilot announced that we were about to land. We'd started feeling like we're flying forever and ever on clouds. But now it was time to come to ground reality. We were touching down onto KL a little past midnight, a well 20 minutes over-schedule. The biggest concern at this midnight was to get a conveyance to get to the hostel we'd booked. After finishing the immigration formalities and re-claiming the check-in baggage, we headed straight towards the exit to board the bus that would take us to KL Sentral Terminal from where we were supposed to catch the monorail to the station nearest to the hostel - as per guidelines given by the hostel on their website.

Finally, we managed to get onto the bus and settled down there, looking through the window onto the empty night roads of KL city. After about an hour's drive we reached KL Sentral only to discover that the monorail's closed for the day. It was 2 AM at that time!

Having left with no options, we hired a cab. The cab driver started from the narrow bay at the KL Sentral - filled with buses and taxis and slowly made his way to the main road. Upon reaching the main road, the traffic light turned red. Not a single vehicle was plying at the dead of that night. Yet, the cabbie stopped, waited for the light to turn green and then only moved on. That's DISCIPLINE!

After about 15 minutes drive through the sleeping city and some struggle we reached, "Titiwangsa City Hostel". The person there was just waiting for us. Tired and feeling sleepy to the core, we fell dead sleep as soon as the luggage was settled down. The next morning we got up and found it was 10 AM. Sluggishly we got ready for tour-de-city. We took the monorail to KL Sentral and re-charged a pre-paid SIM.

Then we headed to "Jalan Petaling" which is popularly known as "China Town". Roamed down the narrow streets containing shops of ladies items, eateries, clothes and what not. Also, something we were looking for - a money changer so that we could purchase some more Malaysian Ringgits.

Then went to the nearby Central Market - which is like just another mall. Roaming on feet, our body batteries discharged and we were feeling hungry. The complimentary breakfast provided at the hostel had dissipated. Hoping to get some good lunch, our hopes vanished in thin air as there was nothing, a not so strict veggie like me could relish upon. Only animals in different forms were being served.

We came back to Chinatown and went to the lane we'd observed earlier with a lot of eateries. Thankfully one of them cared a bit for veggies and served me noodles. Enough for me to survive till dinner. My strict non-veg friend had a lot of options, he tried one of them.

We were then planning to take one of the Hop-On Hop-Off buses of KL. For the uninitiated, these buses are city-tour buses for tourists. Once they purchase the travel pass, they can get on to it and get off it at their will and spend time at their favorite spots as per their own whim and avoid the unwanted ones. The pass remains valid for 24 hours.

Spotting the bus terminus nearby, we went inside and inquired about the ticket. Two conductors showed us the building opposite as their office - 3^rd Floor. However, seeing us struggle to find the stairs the good Samaritans took the pains of escorting us to the office only to find it was closed! Presuming it was lunch time for them, we waited for some time but to no avail.

After clicking a few snaps here and there we found ourselves heading out of the building straight into another mall - Kota Raya. Roamed through the mall and found that it had hair salons and hair-weaving shops as well.

Finally, we decided to go to Bukit-Bintang which is a hot and happening market place in KL. We took out the map of KL and studied it to know how to get there and found that we were just 3 stations away from it, if we board the nearest LRT. And so we did.

Having reached Bukit Bintang, I gave up. My shoes were aching like hell and I could no longer walk, however, my friend wanted to have a look at some Macbooks, so we purchased the monorail ticket for the station nearest to our hostel. I went inside the platform and waited for him while he shopped. After he returned back - with the Macbook - we headed back to the hostel. Rested for some time at the hostel.

While Mithun got busy playing with his new toy - the Macbook, I was fuming at the power plugs. The power plug of my laptop would not fit in the European style power sockets there. Hoping to get a favorable one in Singapore I thought it would be a good idea to preserve the laptop battery, so shut it down after checking some emails. Since it was my birthday that day i.e. 29^th September, a lot of my friends had wished me, so responded back to them.

After some time it was dinner time so we set out again on the tour-de-cuisine. As we reached the main road, we spotted a restaurant which looked pretty promising. As we moved inside, we saw Indians managing the restaurant. Inquired about the menu and got to know, they served Dosas. Immediately ordered one. With a good dinner, the day was calling for being called off. And so we did. Slept early as we'd planned to get up early morning to watch the famous "Petronas Towers" in Kuala Lumpur.

Petronas Towers is one of the most famous tourist attractions of Kuala Lumpur worldwide. These twin towers rise up like huge and giant monsters above the sea-level and are joined at the middle by a bridge like stretch resembling congenital twins. One can visit the bridge provided one is able to collect the "Free Pass" available to watch it. These passes are distributed daily and are valid for one day only.

However, there's a glitch. Only 800 passes are available a day and one person can collect more than one pass. So the risk of passes getting exhausted is always there - like a daunting ghost refusing to budge. And hence, it is required to go there early morning and queue up. So we slept early to get up early the next morning i.e. Day 2 at Kuala Lumpur.

Kuala Lumpur Day 2 - Singapore Day 1

As decided, we got up early in the morning and got ready to visit the towers. Although the breakfast was complimentary, but the hostel guy would take ages to prepare, so we decided to go and have the breakfast. As we stepped out, we saw it had rained heavily. Luckily, at that time, the rains had stopped which allowed us to go to the same hotel where we had dinner and get something to survive.

But as we returned from there cats and dogs started pouring. We somehow reached the hostel and waited for some time for the rains to stop but they wouldn't. Waiting we fell asleep again and by the time we regained senses, it was time to leave. We had to catch a flight to Singapore at 2 PM, which meant we had to be at the airport by at least 12 noon and it takes at least 90 minutes to reach the airport from Titiwangsa, where we'd stay put.

And we also had one more work to do. Hoping to get a good selling rate for Ringgits in Singapore, we had planned to purchase Ringgits and exchange them for Singapore Dollars. So we first went to the "Hang-Tuah" station from where "Kota-Raya" mall is nearest. Kota Raya contains quite a few money changers.

Seeing the rates, we decided to exchange at least half of our Indian currency for Singapore into Ringgits and the rest we decided to exchange in Singapore itself. After finishing the exchange we took a bus to KL Sentral. Boarded the bus to the airport from KL Sentral and felt relaxed as we were on time.

Now was the time to enjoy the ride to the airport as the previous one was done in the dark of night and other than street lights, nothing else was visible. As we moved out of the city we saw the beautiful landscape of Malaysia. Vast spread of land with greenery and huge coconut plantations; it was a treat to the eye.

Roads, as smooth as butter, the ride was a memorable one. We crossed past the Putra Jaya and Cyber Jaya.

Reached the airport by 12:30 PM. Now the next biggest challenge was a vegetarian lunch at the airport filled with MacD's and Marrybrown's offering animals in all shapes and sizes hopefully sparing humans!

Luckily chanced upon an Indian Restaurant named "Passage Through India" and entered it without a second thought. Eyes stopped at "Pav-Bhaaji" (my fav dish) and devoured it without thinking. Mithun ate some animals at Marrybrown.

Post the meals, we'd to rush to finish the flight formalities. And so we moved in. After finishing the usual check-in, immigration and security check formalities (in that order), we waited in the lobby to board the flight. And then started the waiting period. Watching the time of flight nearing and no activity happening, Mithun went to inquire at the counter and came to know the flight is delayed by an hour.

I thought, "weren't they supposed to announce this, rather than us inquiring?" Something told me that I should not have such high expectations from a budget airline. Having no other option, we waited and finally boarded the plane to alight at the Changi Airport (Singapore) within an hour.

Landing on Singapore itself was a feeling in itself. One could make out from the ambiance, the reason for its success - just like Kuala Lumpur but better than it - the sense of discipline. Its discipline that's the key to success of anything on earth and its discipline that Indians lack in magnitudes, something they need to cultivate.

After completing the immigration and baggage reclaim, we headed straight out of the airport and took the free shuttle bus to the Changi Airport MRT Station - at about 10 minutes distance from the airport terminal. This one's popularly known as the "Terminal 2". There are ways to catch the skytrain or airport bus to go to Terminal 1 and Terminal 3 from here.

However, we headed towards the MRT station, following the well-informing sign boards. Reaching at the MRT station we purchased the Singapore Tourist Pass for 3 days costing S$34 each. For the uninitiated, Singapore Tourist Passes are a very convenient way to travel within the city. Issued by the SMRT, they can be used in all trains and buses, monorails, etc. In 8S$ per day, unlimited travel is almost free! While purchasing you are charged S$ 10 extra which is refundable on return of the pass post expiry.

So, we purchased those passes ensuring hassle free travel till Saturday. Today was Thursday evening, 30^th September 2010. After that studied the map of train network and found that we need to take a train going towards "Tanah Merah" interchange, change trains there and catch the one going towards "Joo Koon" to get down midway at "Aljunied'. After that, following the directions to locate the hostel (on the printout taken from the hostel's website), we reached the hostel (Urban City LLP Backpackers) and settled down there by 6 PM.

It was a pretty decent hostel with stacked beds and lockers to keep valuable stuff. Settling our luggage, we again set out. Feeling hungry, the next exercise of locating veg food started. After going thro some of the restaurants and seeing the variety of animals being served there, my hopes to get a decent meal were almost on the verge of fading away when at least one Chinese restaurant served me with vegetable salad and it felt like a ray of hope.

Having finished the meal, the next task was to find a local Singapore number. Purchased one S$ 10 Sing Tel sim card. After that we came back to the hostel area. Having faced the power plug issue in Kuala Lumpur, we'd noticed the same problem here as well but luckily we got a "traveler's adapter" which would allow us to connect Indian style power plugs into it and it would fit into the power socket.

Finally, I could charge my laptop battery with it and hoping to get a good wi-fi connection I tried to log on to the hostel wireless network with password provided. But it would just wouldn't connect and even if it would do so, none of the webpages would open. Me and Mithun were furious. Mithun went and talked to the hostel guy. The guy, in turn, showed his laptop and told that its working and told us to check our own I.P. addresses.

After some time, I also went there and told him the same thing but with somewhat stern voice. He tried to give some justifications and was apologetic. Then after some time, he came and checked and it got connected. We surfed the net for some time and it again got disconnected. Exasperated, we went to sleep wondering where to go for sight-seeing the next day.

Singapore Day 2

To be very frank, day 2 in Singapore didn't quite start off well. Due to bad experience with the wireless network last night, we woke up a well 90 minutes late of the schedule. We'd planned to get up by 6: 30 AM; we were up by 8 AM. However, after that we hurried to get ready and were out of the hostel by 9: 30. As my right leg was constantly torturing me, we'd decided to go the famous, "Little India" to purchase sandals for me.

We studied the MRT station map and found that we had to take the "East-West" line train towards "Pasir Ris" and get down at "Paya Lebar Interchange", change to "Circle Line" and take the train towards "Dhoby Ghaut" and get down at the same station. From there we'd be required to take a "North-East" line train going towards "Punggol" and get down at "Little India". We followed the directions briskly and reached "Little India" in 25 minutes approx.

The journey inside the trains was pretty intriguing of the Singaporean culture. We could see most of the people completely immersed in their mobiles/PDAs/MP3 Players completely cut off from the world around them. Spotted a good amount of Indians as well (expected as well). One noticeably good thing about Singapore city was its well connected and well-designed network of trains. Even at junction-interchanges one need not come out of the station, trains can be changed, thanks to the multilevel and multidirectional train routes designed keeping citizen convenience as a top priority - something for Indian politicians to learn.

Whatever it is, we reached Little India and hunted for something to eat - our breakfast was still pending. Chanced upon a line of Chinese eateries in Little India and ventured in. After some initial struggle I landed upon something with eggs and munched it. Mithun ordered a plate of porridge with fish-cake. The butter-rolls that I devoured, vanished inside the intertwines of my little intestine in seconds and I realized that in order to avoid yet another struggle of calorie-hunt I better eat something more.

Inquired with the porridge-maker and convinced him to make one for me sans fish cake. He was more than happy to do it. So after having a heavy breakfast we moved on. We'd two important tasks to accomplish here, which were left undone on Day 1 - purchase sandals and Singaporean currency.

So we moved inside the first mall hoping to find some money changer therein. None to find, we also looked for some 'idea' about prices of sandals and immediately found the same violating the boundaries of our permissible budget, we moved out of the mall. Soon we realized, we better move inside the streets to find something 'reasonable'. Still managed to find one in the "Sim Lim Square" where we exchanged the remaining INR for SGD. And also looked around for some laptops to get an 'idea' of the prices.

Reasonable is a word misfit in the costly city of Singapore, but we are tougher nuts, so started looking for unreasonable prices. Moved inside the busy streets of Little India and finally purchased a pair of rough sandals for S$ 6. After wearing the sandals I felt like I am in heaven, what a relief to my aching feet. Though the pain was still there - remnant from 2 days of continuous torture, yet it was comfortable. All I needed was some amount of rest and the pain would subside. But rest at this time was a luxury like a vacation in the POK.

Hence, we moved on, located a reasonable money changer offering us good price for the balance MYRs we'd purchased from KL the previous day. Now finally we had all the SGDs with us and were in a better position to plan the rest of the tour. Did some quick calculations and were happy to find ourselves well within the limits.

Having purchased sandals and SGDs, we're done with the backlog, hence re-hydrated with a bottle of water, took some rest, studied the map and decided to visit the "Marina Bay Islands" and the neighboring area. Figured out how to get there and found the "Promenade" station close by to it on the "Circle Line". So we were required to get to "Dhoby Ghaut" from "Little India", change from North East line to Circle Line and get down at "Promenade". After reaching Promenade, restudied the map to relocate ourselves and figured out the way to Marina Bay Islands. Found it was at a walking (sorry limping) distance and started walking (sorry limping) towards it.

On the way we passed by The Marina Mandarin, The Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton and the famous, huge and humongous Marina Square Mall. Squeezed ourselves into the Raffles link after passing by through Raffles Boulevard we hopped on to Raffles Avenue, passed by the Esplanade Mall.

Kept on moving through the footpath while Mithun was crying for lunch, we spotted the bee-hive shaped multi-facility "The Esplanade Mall". This one contains a mall, a theatre, an outdoor amphitheatre and many other things for entertainment. We were also fortunate enough to witness an unexpected event which will be covered shortly.

The porridge and butter-rolls still doing jingle bells in my stomach I wasn't' yet ready for another showdown. Finally we spotted an ice-cream vendor with a difference. He was selling ice-cream slabs wrapped in bread-pieces (a unique combination we'd never heard of). Munched it. Gobbled a can of soft drink and got rejuvenated for the next round of unplanned and self-guided tourism.

Saw the famous "Double Helix" bridge right in front of us and hopped onto it - sorry limped to it - my feet still angry with me. Mithun got his place - sights to shoot on his SLR and he got busy with his mean-machine - taking shots, swapping lenses, etc. etc. But the sight was worth clicking as well. What a construction it was - like the double-helix of the human DNA - this bridge built over the bloodline of Singapore - the Singapore River - truly represents the aristocracy of the architectural DNA of this truly multicultural international city. If you visit Singapore, DO NOT MISS this one.

Crossing over the double-helix after giving it, its due share of attention and time we proceeded forward. Found ourselves bumping into some construction workers whence I just noticed a small passage way leading forward. The sight of the "Marina Bay Sands" had kept us walking from the distance.

Marina Bay Sands is another architectural marvel in Singapore. Placed over 3 similar but not identical towers, each 56 stories long, this Skypark gives a feeling of sea-beach and a towering aerial Singapore view from a height of 200 meters above the sea level! We just couldn't wait to get there at the top but the limping journey was too taxing. However, we marched forward.

After a long walk we found ourselves entering a mall and walk through its walkway. This one contains Asia's biggest casino, which we visited later and will be covered shortly. We passed thru' it and came out on the other side to enter Marina Bay Sands and proceeded towards the ticket counter for the Skypark. After purchasing the tickets, we stared on. Got into the elevator and reached the top - 56 stories +ve in seconds!

Reaching there, our breaths froze. Seeing the breathtaking view of the beautiful Singapore city from that height was simply mesmerizing an experience incommunicable in words. We watched around - could see the famous Singapore Flyer at stone's nigh. We also visited the flyer which also will be covered shortly. So stay tuned J

Meanwhile, on the Skypark atop the 5 star hotel we walked along its boundary capturing the exotic Singapore in lenses and admiring the designers of this Skypark. All around we could see skyscrapers and rushing and gushing vehicles along the beautiful roads of Singapore. The Singapore River in its pristine glow and icon of Singapore - The Merlion across The Fullerton at One Fullerton was visible across the river.

Moving along the boundary, we finished one half of the Skypark clicking snaps and sometimes helping fellow visitors take their snaps as well!

Then we entered its restaurant area which also has a sitting galleria and a swimming pool. While the swimming pool is available only to hotel guests, galleria was accessible to us. We sat there for some time - took some rest and my feet blessed me as well!

While Mithun got busy clicking unparallel views in his camera, I was resting. At about 3:30 PM we decided to move on from there and came down to the ground floor. Just when we were about to leave the hotel, we saw its magnificent gallery at the ground floor and decided to have a walk there. As we moved around, we saw its beautiful construction of the three standing towers that define the architecture of the building. After crossing the second tower from inside, we saw a huge and humongous wire mesh hanging precariously (visibly) until we saw it being suspended from the top with the support of 6-7 huge iron wires. The structure looked mesmerizing and most probably must be lit at night to give a luminescent paradise to the eyes.

Admiring it, we moved on and reached almost near the other end of the hotel. A restaurant was set up there and 4 beautiful Chinese girls were playing musical instruments. We moved ahead amused by their music as they completed the performance. After that, we headed straight to have a look at Asia's largest Casino, the same one we had passed by while going to Marina Bay Sands.

Entry fee is applicable only to Singaporeans and Permanent Residents (PRs) of Singapore, for foreigners its free!

After handing over the baggage at the baggage counter and collecting its re-claim receipt, we entered the Casino for the first time ever! And we entered with no intentions whatsoever of playing.

Entering, we almost fainted at the size of the casino. It was a multistoried vast hall filled with tables and machines to play the money games and was filled with people trying their luck at the machines. There were the 2¢, 5¢ and 10¢ jackpot slot machines. Next we moved on to the cards counter where poker, blackjack, etc. were being played. The jackpot counter was going on up and up. Ultimately one of the lucky players was going to get the money of the other people who tried and in hope of being that ultimate player with great fortune; everyone was trying theirs - something similar to what litigants do with the Indian Judiciary.

Having scanned the ground floor we moved on to the first floor where a grand sports car was on display in order to lure more and more foolish players to try their fortune. The top floor had roulette tables where again people were trying their fortunes. We moved around the tables and found a desperate hope on the faces of people to regain their already lost fortunes. Well, that's what a casino is. Finally we were out of it.

Walking back towards the hotel we passed thru a galleria of diamond shops and a thought ran across - this is the place to empty the heavy-duty ATM machines of the world. After re-claiming the baggage, we sought to move out and came out on the other side of the shopping mall - The Marina Bay Plaza and chanced upon a delightful sight. A small canal flowed thru the middle artillery of the mall and a row-boat was plying thru it. Visitors were enjoying rides of the boat, the sight reminiscent of the Venice City.

Moving around the galleria we saw a volley of all the big who's who of the exclusive international shopping brands. Name any brand and it was sure to be found there be it Gucci, Chanel, Hugo Boss, Ferrari, everyone was to be found there. From there, we saw something; we had to go to the top to see it. It was a huge inverted dome and people could be seen standing at its outer rim. We went to the first floor to have a look and found that we need to exit out to take a peek. We did so.

As we came out of the Marina Paradise - as I would like to call the combination of the 7-Star hotel, the Skpark, the shopping mall and the Casino therein - we saw a huge dome made out with a small hole at the middle. The dome resembled the riding track of "Well of Death" - wherein adrenaline bitten males drive bikes on spirally circular tracks at an angle converging towards center of a hemisphere. People were throwing small coins of 10¢ and 20¢ hoping it will make it thru the small hole at the center and fall into the pool beneath - probably with a wish or two. We just murmured to each other - how much money do people have to waste!

It didn't took Mithun much longer to figure that there lay a golden scope for some golden snaps right in his front as we could see the iconic Merlion right in front of our eyes. You guessed it right - the Marina Bay Shopping plaza has a huge terrace like opening from where the iconic Merlion and the Marina Bay Sands present a photogenic spot.

Now, we had to decide what to do next. We'd postponed taking the ride of the Singapore Flyer till after sunset as we were hoping to see some nice lighting. Hence, we decided to go to the Merlion and as such started walking towards the nearest bus stop. We again crossed the Double Helix Bridge and came back to the spot where we had "Bread ice-cream" in the afternoon.

And we re-spotted the "Youth Olympic Park" - another architectural wonder. The Youth Olympic Park has been built into the Singapore River like a dockyard. One can only imagine the experience of either playing the games there or watching the players play - another experience incommunicable!

Almost 3 hours of roaming discharged the battery so we found ourselves finding means to re-charge and we chanced upon an isle of food shops - very much similar to the famous Chaupati Beach of Mumbai. So we ventured inside and a quick look was quite disheartening; nothing vegetarian to eat. But a second round proved worthwhile when an Indian hawker served me what I wanted - veg noodles. After finishing them and a can of juice we headed towards the iconic Merlion.

First we thought of taking a bus to take us to the other side of the Singapore River but we were too fatigued to decode the cryptic bus routes explained at the bus stands. Inquiring a few by-standers going in vain, we decided to take a stroll. As we passed by the side of the bee-hive Esplanade Mall, something told me, there should be a short cut to reach the Merlion from inside the mall - given the tremendous amount of thought and importance the Singaporean Govt. gives to the well-being of citizens and tourists.

We stepped inside the bee-hive structure. And found that it was just another shopping mall - an opportunity for women to treat their husbands/boyfriends as FREE ATM MACHINES. Getting an overdose of it, we ruled out exploring it and came out on the other side. We saw a small eating place there and kids playing along. A little further we could see a small amphitheater with some people sitting. On our right was the iconic Merlion and in our front, on the other side of the amphitheater was the Singapore River.

As we moved closer to the amphitheater, there was a guy standing with some packets and offered us to take two of them. We thought it must be some juice, feeling dehydrated we took'em and were just getting ready to pay when the guy shouted - "No money, its free, please take it." We took it and then he invited us to see the performance about to begin at his back - at the amphitheater.

We moved in and saw quite a few people sitting there and some audio arrangements. We guessed it might be a cultural show to watch. The thought of giving some respite to my aching feet was too tempting to let go off the performance and we sat down. After resting for a while, sensing that it may take some time for the performance to start we went to the river side. Mithun clicked some images while I enjoyed the cool breeze and the beautiful scenery around. The gorgeous structure of the Marina Bay Sands was visible from there and we noticed something interesting.

The three towering structures of Marina Bay Sands had an interesting architectural rarity. The structures have been built in the form of inverted "V's" and the angles at which the V's are carved out, rise in a progression from the first tower to the third tower as one moves from right to left from the front side. What an architectural thought!

Nevertheless, we moved inside as the performance was about to start and there appeared three actors on the stage. They started to sing something and I just hoped it was not in Chinese or Malay. Hopefully they started it in English and what a show it was. The theme of the show was Singapore's history but they presented it very nicely with music, drama and comedy. It was a 30 minutes laughter-riot and a performance extravaganza. Moreover, since it was totally unexpected, we enjoyed it all the more.

After that we finally moved towards visiting the Merlion. Initially we thought that there might not be any way to reach Merlion from there but we were wrong.  There was, after all its Singapore!

We reached the Merlion, clicked some snaps there, enjoyed the atmosphere, especially the refreshing cool breeze from, the Singapore River - a much welcome shot in the humid climate, especially since we'd walking for quite some time. After relaxing there for a while, we'd to leave to capture our last wonder of Singapore for the day - the Singapore Flyer.

Now this one's another hi-five on the designers of Singapore. The Singapore Flyer is a huge and humungous giant wheel with big containers that can accommodate at least 50 people in standing. The containers are cylindrical in size with seating arrangements. As the giant flyer rotates in a clockwise fashion, these flyers rotate in the anti-clockwise fashion so that the viewing angle of the visitors inside does not change - evidence that a visitor's interest is kept at prime.

The flyer takes visitors to the highest point above the city from where the entire city is visible. The feeling and the enthusiasm of being able to see one of the most beautiful cities in the world with a bird's eye view is truly incommunicable in words. All I can say is, experience it to know it. Needless to mention, Mithun had a ball of his time getting some of the rare shots of the night lit city from various altitudes and angles.

The ride finishes in 30 minutes. After climbing down, we headed straight towards the exit and were getting ready to call it a day. Our first day of unplanned and self-guided Singapore tour was nearing its end. Thought of having dinner at the restaurant at the ground floor of the complex containing the entry point to the flyer but ruled it out as it had nothing to offer me.

Finally, we decided to get back to the area where our hostel was situated. While returning back, we went to the nearest train station in a bus as the energy to walk had dissipated. The bus dropped us at the "City Hall" interchange station. We went there and fatigue played on us. Instead of taking the train towards "Pasir Ris", we took the one going to "Joo Koon", in the opposite direction - a mistake we realized only after boarding the train.

Got down at the next station, "Raffles Place" interchange; went to the other side and caught a train to "Pasir Ris" and reached "Aljunied" where we had stay put. A quick round around the area revealed two adversities - vegetarian options were very less and restaurants were nearing closing as it was getting close to 10 PM which meant a further shrink of options of vegetarian options.

However, a 10 minutes effort proved worthwhile, we finally managed to locate a restaurant that would provide us with an option to choose 3 vegetables from a set of boiled vegetables to be served with boiled rice. Immediately made my selection and placed the order, Mithun placed his. The healthy food satiated the appetite and taste both. Finally we retired back to the hostel room. Wifi internet was still not connecting, so slept after writing a bit of travelogue.

Day 1 of unplanned and self-guided city tour was over. Next day was to be dedicated to Sentosa Island.

Singapore Day 3

Having finished an exciting Day 2 at Singapore with some preferred and not so preferred surprises, we'd decided to dedicate Day 3 at Singapore to Sentosa Island after having heard so much about it, we thought we just cannot annoy Sentosa by not going there. And here were we, studying the MRT map again, figuring out how to reach there.

We found that we need to the take the East-West line and go to the "Outram Park" station and from there change to the North-East line to go the "Harbour Front" station. There was a huge rush to go towards the Sentosa Island which was a bit worrisome for us as it would mean extra latency. We wondered where the crowd descended from and why there were so many Chinese in the crowd.

Suddenly memory cells flashed and I recalled what the old Chinese man back at the hostel had told us. Last night we met an old Chinese person who had shifted to our hostel room. He started talking with us and during the conversation we learned that the Chinese Govt. had declared a week's holiday for the citizens and thus a huge lot of them had descended to Paradise in Asia - The Singapore City.

Coming out at the Harbour Front station, we saw ourselves heading into a mall, the Vivo-City, following the directions for Sentosa Island. Coming two floors up, we saw the ticketing counter for Sentosa along with the rides given.

Not being completely uninitiated is always an advantage. We had some idea of the rides and based on that partial knowledge we selected "4D Magix", "Underwater Park and Dragon Show", and "The Songs of the Sea", all of them will be covered in a short while. For some other rides, we were advised to purchase the tickets from inside, at the time of the show, depending on the weather as the tickets are non-refundable.

Having purchased the tickets and the entry pass to Sentosa, we moved forward. We were guided towards a monorail, boarded it and waited for it to start. As it started, we saw the landscape around it. Sentosa is separated from Singapore City by a 300 m stretch of the South China Sea. A monorail track and a roadway bridge connect both the islands.

In minutes, we reached the "Imbiah Lookout", spot on the island where our first ride was situated. As we stepped out, it was raining and we got a bit disheartened. However, the disheartenment was short-lived as we saw sheltered pathways leading to escalators to take us to our destination - the 4D Magix Show,

We went on climbing the escalators that looked unending. Finally we reached there and missed the 10 AM show. Next show was at 10:30. Finding some time with ourselves we thought it would be good time to munch something. Luckily we were standing nearby to a small eatery situated at the 4D Magix Studio's nigh.

Munched some sweet buns and gobbled a can of juice to survive. As the show time neared, we went inside. It was still some time for the show to start. As we moved inside, we saw a distorted video being played. Light and sound were moving at their respective speeds giving a very comic tuning to an otherwise serious scene. After enjoying the non-sensical trailer, we moved inside. It was a small dark theater with a very small screen. Before entering we were provided with glasses to view the movie which gave us the indication that we are going to witness something in 3D.

3D is always good! As the movie started it was a small script from the Pirates of the Caribbean. The captain of the ship, popularly known as the "Capitain", was a mess to be around. Every time he would move around, some of his fellow sailor would be injured and every time it would happen, our seats would shake vibrantly giving the feeling as if someone actually pushed us. And thus the concept of 4D - 3D vision plus real experience.

And thus progressed the movie and anytime something happened on the screen we would be made to feel it - literally and physically - be it the drops of water or the feeling of spiders crawling around or the experience of getting entangled in cobwebs. All in all, the short movie of 30 minutes was a mesmerizing experience - total worth for money.

After that we moved towards the Underwater Park. Found that it was on the "Waterhouse Front Station" on the Sentosa and we were on Imbiah Lookout - one station away from it and free buses were plying on Sentosa to take us to there. Hence, boarded one and reached the Waterhouse Front. Just nearby lay the Underwater Park.

As we entered it, we could sense ourselves heading into an underwater marine world full of fishes, crabs, crab spiders, mollusks, jelly fishes, sharks, stingrays, octopuses and the likes. An underwater tunnel has been built there emulating the exact environment of Deep Ocean with the same amount of pressure and light exposure so that these underwater creatures can survive.

It was really a sight worth watching; to see all these varied and rich forms of life with such proximity. There was also a provision of experiencing "Diving" on a payable basis. Interested visitors would be provided with the diving suit, oxygen mask and other necessary equipment, adequate instructions and they would be allow to spend some time with the underwater creatures! We saw a few people doing the same as well.

After finishing the underwater park, we came out and headed to watch the "Dolphin Show" - part and parcel of the same ticket. Having realized that it might take some time to start, we went inside the Gift's shop and took a round there about the gift items being sold there.

A large variety of gift items were on display. Most of the items were various utilities and showpieces in the shape of the iconic Merlion - the symbol of Singapore. Lots of other items were there like pencil sharpeners, children's toys, perfumes, etc.

After that, we felt as if the animals were calling us again so we revisited the underwater park and hopped on to the moving platform once again. The moving platform has been constructed in the form of leaf-shaped intertwined plates resembling the tectonic structure of the Earth's interior and they keep moving like a flattened horizontal escalator.

This enables the visitors to keep looking at the creatures without having to bother to move forward and take care of other visitors. Again the escalator covers only one half of the lateral walking area. Another parallel half remains free and stationary in case someone wants to spend some more time with a creature or take some extra snaps.

Having spent extra time with marine creatures and giving them their due share of attention we headed straight to the restaurant on the other side of the gifts shop (the one we visited earlier) near the passage way and started another exercise of suitable calorie-hunt.

After some ado, I finally managed to convince the waitress to get me "Vegetable Fried Rice", and one more lunch-issue got resolved. After finishing the lunch we were to head to the "Dolphin Show" and so started looking for ways to get there from where we were standing. We could see only one way and heading on to it, we realized the blunder we'd committed some 30 minutes ago.

The way-out of the gift shop into the restaurant was the "EXIT" from the Underwater Park and the Dolphin Theater combo! Only one entry is allowed per ticket. Seeing the hopes of us being able to watch the Dolphin show dwindling, we hurriedly rushed to the entry point and explained our mistake to the person there - telling him that we weren't aware it was an exit and came out accidentally in order to have lunch.

He asked us to talk to the counter behind him. We did so, again explained the situation to the person there. He told us, "this is your last chance, now if you come out, I will not allow you." We are not that fools either we thought and thanked the person for considering us. Had we known it was the exit point, we would have easily got the re-entry stamp done on our wrists and then we would have enjoyed multiple exit-entries. Nonetheless, now we were being allowed in and that meant we could still watch the Dolphins dance. Something definitely worth a treat and we reached the Dolphin theater.

As we entered the Dolphin Theater, we saw the amphitheater almost full and finding seats was an exercise. Dolphins and their trainers were inside the pool playing along - like friends. Along with that some visitors had also descended down into the pool and were playing along with the dolphins - like friends.

As we settled down, we saw ourselves sitting amidst a big crowd of Indians. Had it not been for the sight of a few more unfamiliar Chinese and American faces we would have felt like we are back in India. For now it was the pool of the Dolphin Theater of the Sentosa Island in Singapore.

And suddenly we saw the Dolphins retiring into one of the inside pools and came out sea-lions. The visitors had, by now, vacated the pool and the trainers were getting ready to start the show. They did so by doing some warm-up exercises and the sea-lions started enjoying the show. The animals were well-trained and displayed human-like intelligence by responding to claps, clapping themselves and traveling at super-sonic speed in the pool.

The lions knew that for every feat they displayed they'd be fed with fishes. This kept them going. The trainers then invited one of the visitors and gave them some small rings that can be worn around the neck of a sea-lion.

The visitor was asked to throw the ring in air; the sea-lion would then wear it while in flight displaying extra-ordinary judgmental capabilities. I thought, can these sea-lions replace Indian cricketers as they never missed any catch.

The lion show lasted for 15 minutes and then the Dolphin show was about to begin after about 45 minutes. We waited and then started the Dolphin show. This time we'd changed our places but were again amidst Indians only displaying their impeccable indiscipline with ample amount of noise and disturbances. Their kids, equally restless, would leave no unturned in creating ruckus either. Rather it looked, as if there was some kind of cold and untold competition amongst the parents and the kids - as to who is a bigger kid!

Order arose from chaos as the Dolphins did a step or two in water. They started with their signature step of semi-aqua semi-aerial somersault. They also imitated a fellow visitor playing hula-hoop rotating their own sexy waists in the fashion. It was an eye-candy.

They played basket ball with their nose tips balancing the ball on the tip with professional perfection and artistic beauty. A rare combination of technique and art!

This one too lasted 15 minutes and by 4 PM, we were out of it. Now we were left with only one show to watch - as per tickets purchased - the Songs of the Sea and that one was at 7:40 PM. This meant we still had 3 hours to enjoy before we enter the last show.

While going to the first show, we'd noticed the "Tiger Sky Tower" and now we decided to take the ride. So we came back to the spot where we'd taken the bus to come to the Waterfront Beach Station and took the bus back to the Imbiah Lookout, where the Sky Tower roars.

The sky tower is another elevating ride that takes you to a height and you can see the Sentosa around. It's a huge 3 dimensional circular cabin, with seating arrangements inside, wound around a large cylindrical tower - the base of which forms a concentric circle with the cabin,

The cabin moves in 2 dimensions - one, it rotates laterally around the cylindrical tower offering a 360 degree view at a particular altitude and two in the vertical direction giving a view into the island across the landscape.

We purchased the tickets and stood in front of the gate to go inside. One ride had gone up and we were in the next batch. Each ride would take 10 minutes. As the cabin descended nearing the end, another Indian displayed impeccable stupidity. He was standing outside and was shouting to his friend inside - "How was the ride?" - as if the person inside could hear!

Nonetheless, we moved inside. Settled down at a convenient place and started enjoying the changing landscape with altitude as the cabin ascended and rotated. The entire Sentosa was at our visual disposal. We could see the Imbiah Lookout, the Sentosa Beach, the Strait connecting Sentosa to Singapore city, the monorail track, the Universal Studio, the Rasa Sentosa World Resort and what not.

As the ride ended, we moved forward. The next one to it was, "The Luge and the Skyride" The Luge was similar to go-carting except that we had a descending track. And once it reaches down, the skyride (a cable car) brings you up. However, seeing it, didn't quite interest us much. So we moved on. While coming to Imbiah from Waterhouse station, we'd noticed some adventure park on the way.

Hoping it to be interesting, we headed towards it. Walked down the path to it. Meanwhile, on the way, we took out the information brochure to see what all was there to offer at the adventure park. We saw "Megazip Adventure", "Climbmax" and "Parajump". While the latter two were some gymnastics and a jump from a height respectively, they somehow didn't quite attract us.

It was Megazip that stole the show. A 75 m high and a 450 m long ride on the rope through the air at heart-pounding speeds of 50 KM/H was something that we just couldn't ignore as it excited us enough to be an adrenaline adventure. After all, a bout of adrenaline is always acceptable in journey where masculism is a way of life!

And hence we moved towards the ticketing counter. Signboards mentioned it at a distance of 200 meters from where we were standing. And so started walking (sorry limping), though I was wearing the crocks, the pain was still there since rest was a luxury.

Reached the ticketing counter, purchased the tickets and moved on. We were atop a small hill. Soothing cool breeze was flowing - a great respite from the humid island weather. After a while the organizing staff called us. We went ahead, submitted our belongings to them, they put it in a gunny bag. The staff gave it a number and scribbled the same on the wrist bands she gave us to wear. We were supposed to collect it after we would be thrown onto the rope from 75 m above sea level and after we would have covered 450 m and reached the bottom.

Then we were instructed to move ahead and wear the ride-jackets. The jackets were a crisscross of belts, pulleys and ropes meant to hook us on to the rope over which we would be travelling. The staff helped us hook it.

After some time the whole group of people marched forward following the staff. After some more strolling, we found ourselves climbing the stairs of a metallic watch tower like structure and went up 4 storeys and waited for our turn to come.

As our turn arrived, we were hooked on to the pulleys and in moments were let go off. Within the fraction of a second we were flying in air (downwards of course), tied to the rope. The feeling of flying in air is truly and completely incommunicable. We passed over tress, road (vehicles plying below us), beach and finally over sea and then landed into the net built at the docking station for slowing down. 5 minutes of extravaganza was worth the price (Rs. 1000 approx.)

After collecting the belongings we had to pass roughly 2 hours before the next show started. Rested for sometime at the beaches nigh and enjoyed the surroundings. On one side was the beach, on the other side was the road and we were seated on a bench. The road ended at the Rasa Sentosa World Resort.

After resting for some time we decided to move on and thought it would be a good idea to be near the place where the last show of the day - "The Songs of the Sea" - was to be held. As we got up, spotted a wall map of the Sentosa Island and spotted the spot where Songs of the Sea was supposed to be held.

After figuring out the direction of walking, we started. Reached our destination after about 15 minutes of walk. It was a pleasant place to be there. Some restaurants, some eateries and some steps tempted us to spend some time there and watch around. We were still wondering about what it will be to watch the "Songs of the Sea" show when we just saw a huge line forming in front of the entrance to the show.

We realized it was time to move in and enqueued in the line. After some time the line started moving slowly. A Chinese family was standing in front of us. There was a small Chinese kid who was sitting on his dad's shoulders and was looking around. After some time he spotted me and turned around the moment I saw him. Then started looking at me with crocked eyes, a little attention from my side and the kid was laughing away to glory.

Soon we reached the entrance and entered showing our tickets. As we moved inside, we saw ourselves in front of the "South China Sea". It was an auditorium like seating arrangement with a lot of under-construction huts in front of us - inside the sea - on the sea shore!

As we were still wondering about the show, something told me we better get something to eat as it was still time for dinner and thus went out to get some corns in a cup to eat. I went to the gate and asked the security guard there, "Can I just go and get some snacks." She answered, "Okay, I put one re-entry stamp on your wrist and you can re-enter." She stamped something on my wrist and I proceeded to purchase the corns.

And, as the sun set and darkness started creeping in, they announced the show would begin in another 15 minutes. 10, 5, 2 and the show began.

It started with a few people coming onto the beach, just near the sea waves and performing some dance and song sequence. The songs were in English, Tamil and Chinese - representing the three major cultures of Singapore. One of the actors named Lee was not singing while others were trying to woo him to sing. Finally one friend sings his favorite song. Finally Lee begins to sing in his magical voice.

And then, suddenly a beautiful Chinese girl appears on the air in front of us. It was a huge image of a girl rendered with the help of laser lights and colored lights on a smoke film. A mesmerizing engineering wonder followed after that.

The spectacular gaze of lights coming in front on water and smoke films in air along with the sound effects moving forward with a short story of Lee finding his lady love and in that process unlocking the hidden powers of the Fire God, the Light Goddess and the Sea Goddess was the last wonder we saw at Sentosa. With a fantabulous show the wonderful trip of Sentosa ended and we boarded the monorail that would take us across to Sentosa Station at Vivo City, beneath which lay the Harbour Front Station.

Catching the train to Outram Park from there and changing over to the East West Line and catching the train to Aljunied we finally reached near our hostel. Yet the day wasn't over. Dinner was pending and that meant an exercise. But we were prepared and so set on the tour-de-cuisine. But today was effortless surprisingly. I got some boiled yet tasty veggies (some culinary skills for Indians, ehh?) with boiled rice and stuffed my tummy with it.

Yet, we had one more daunting activity to be done. The tourist pass that we'd purchased on Day 1 at Singapore, was about to expire at midnight the same day. We inquired at the Aljunied station and learned that it can be returned only at some specific locations including the one at which we'd purchased the same - Changi Airport MRT Station.

So, we dumped our bags into the rooms and went to Changi Airport only to realize that the counter was closed for the day, but the good news was that we could still return the pass the next day, collect our refund of S$ 10 per pass and get a new one for the last day in Singapore. So, we returned and the pass getting expired past midnight, it also meant we would have to purchase tickets for traveling at least to the nearest station where the pass would be available.

But, for the time we being, we called it a day and went to sleep.

Singapore Day 4

Supposedly the last day in Singapore started off early compared to other days. We were out on streets before 9! Before we resolved the impending task of returning the expired pass, getting a fresh day's one, our tourism would not start. Enquiring at the "Aljunied" station, we came to know that from there, the nearest station where the "Singapore Tourist Pass" is available is "Bugis". However the window would open only at 10 AM, it was 9:05 right now.

So, we decided to purchase the tickets to Bugis, reach there, come out of the station, and have breakfast and then come to the counter to purchase the pass. We went to the GTM - the General Ticketing Machine - and followed the instructions given to print our ticket to Bugis from Aljunied. However, first time is always difficult. We had to pay S$ 2.4 for the tickets but the machine would not accept our S$ 2 note.

Tried with another machine and it worked. Having collected the tickets we hurried towards the train and got down at Bugis. As we came out of the station, we studied the map, figuring which side to move to have breakfast. We found that we were quite close to the "Little India". In hopes of finding some veggie breakfast there without much effort we moved in that direction.

After walking for some time we reached near the Sim Lim Square and The Verge - both malls. Suddenly, it appeared as we'd been to this area earlier, but I was confused as I had not gone to Bugis earlier. A little more walk and the clouds of doubt cleared off. We were approaching Little India from the direction opposite to the one we'd approached on Day 2.

After a little bit more strolling we came across - The Subway - an ideal for veggies to munch. And so we went inside and ordered our sandwiches. Having finished a sumptuous and healthy breakfast, we moved back to Bugis station hoping the counter to have opened by the time we reach it. It had, we reached at 10:10, returned the expired pass and purchased a single day pass.

Having finished the "pass-work", we had to now proceed towards the "Jurong East" station on the "East-West" line to visit the Science Park. Train map told us we were 12 stations away from it so boarded the train and dozed off (literally). As the train started to move I was getting ready to witness hitherto unseen areas of Singapore as it was the first time we were coming to this part of the city, past the "City Hall" interchange. The train was pretty well crowded for a Sunday morning - or so it seemed as we are not used to see very heavy inflow of people on Sundays in Indian cities. But here people were more active it seemed.

I could notice the difference here, this side of the city didn't quite look as advanced as the other side - like the Raffles Ave and Raffles Boulevard part or the Sentosa Island and I just sensed an observation I'd made - science park is built in a relatively underdeveloped area whereas amusement and entertainment parks were built in plush areas - but wasn't it science only that made possible the amusement and entertainment parks? The more you work the less you get paid!

Finally, we reached Jurong East and came out of the station. There were two sign boards - one mentioned a walking distance of 10 minutes and the other mentioned to board a bus numbered 335 to reach Science Park - both pointing in opposite directions!

Feeling lazy to walk we decided to enjoy the bus ride - now that we had the day pass - and so we went to the platform for 335 in the bus stand. Bus materialized in minutes and we boarded it, tapped our pass at the tapping machine kept near the driver. After we settled the driver moved. She was least bothered by the fact that the bus was empty. Her timer ticked and she started. Other than me and Mithun, there was no one else inside the bus. As the bus moved forward we looked around the area.

It looked like a semi-residential, semi-commercial area with clean roads and a lot of parks. In just 2 bus stops we spotted the Science Park. Even if there's a single person standing at the bus stop, the bus would stop - irrespective of whether the person on the stop, shows hand signal to stop the bus or not. However, if no one's standing at the bus stop, the bus would continue to move on until someone from the bus presses the "Stop" button, provided with each seat.

We could realize this only after the bus went past the stop we were supposed to get down at. We got down at the next stop and strolled back to the entrance of the Science Park. As we entered the Science Park - wondering what it would have to offer us, we saw ads of upcoming attractions - Robots and stuff.

Excited, we moved inside and saw there were various packages to offer - only Science Park, only iMax theater and both. We purchased a combo pack - the Science Park entry ticket and the 12 noon show of the iMax theater. As we had some time for the show we decided to finish some of the science park and so we moved forward.

As we moved into the corridor leading to the science park we saw the posters kept there - revealing interesting scientific facts about the history of life on earth and earth itself including the universe, animal classes aka the arthropod, invertebrates, vertebrates, chordate, etc.

Soon we reached the entrance of the Science Park, the security guards there verified our tickets and put a mark on our wrists but nothing was visible! We asked the staff, "Nothing is visible", she replied, "Its ultra-violet, invisible to the naked eye." Truly Science Park, I thought!

Moved inside and started admiring the scientific wonders built on simple scientific principles like optical illusion, reflection, refraction etc. We moved thru all of them admiring them. Then we moved to the Physics zone having an artificial tornado, and many other physics wonders.

We moved forward admiring them. Saw the mathematics section, but bypassed it for now as we had to move to iMax theater. The show was about to begin. We moved to there and settled there waiting for the show to begin. As we just raised our eyes, they went blank. The screen was above us, in front of us, around us, everywhere, like a dome. And this is how it gave a 3D effect sans glasses.

After some wait, the movie started. It was a movie about the pre-historic life on earth covering the 4.5 billion years of history of earth and the 350 million years of life on earth. It predominantly covered the era when the reptiles ruled the earth - from 250 million years ago to 65 million years ago.

There were all kinds of reptiles from larger than life dinosaurs of flying types to running types to the swimming demons. The plesiosaurs, the Ichthyosaurs and what not. They all were there, swimming, flying, killing and eating. The movie had been reconstructed from fossil based data with inputs from experts in the area. It was a very nice and different experience - again incommunicable in words.

After finishing the movie, we had our lunch at the Science Park itself. Luckily, here it was easy to have lunch. After that, we went thru the shop of scientific items. The most attractive item there was the variety of telescopes ranging from INR 5,000 to INR 50,000 of all sizes and zooming capabilities.

After that, we moved on to the Kinetic Park. It had everything we'd studied in physics - the sound parabola, the pulley, the windmill, etc.

We were now running out of time as we had to leave the hostel by 4 PM. We were supposed to catch our flight back to Kuala Lumpur at 9: 40 PM from the Changi Airport and while it took only 40 minutes to reach the airport, courtesy the MRT of Singapore, we had some more plans. When we'd reached Singapore on the 30^th September - 3 days ago - while going from the Changi Airport to Tanah Merah Interchange, I'd observed something - there was a station called "The Singapore Expo".

Having a separate station for the Expo in itself told us that it was something worth visiting. Thus we'd decided to visit it while leaving Singapore by checking out from the hostel an hour earlier. As we'd come quite far from the hostel to visit the Science in the direction opposite to the Changi Airport, we would be required to leave the Science Park by 3 latest. It was already 2 PM on the 3^rd of October 2010, our last day in Singapore.

In one hour we finished quite some of the remaining part - acoustics, viruses, microbes, DNA, etc. All of them were breathtaking, mesmerizing and highly informative. We also spotted some serious science students sitting there and utilizing the abundant knowledge available there. Finally, we left it and went to the bus stop opposite its exit and waited the bus.

A bus materialized within moments and we disappeared into it. Within moments we reached the Jurong East MRT station, boarded the train to Pasir Ris and got down mid-way at Aljunied. It was already past 4 by the time we reached the hostel. Checked out hurriedly from there - happened in moments as the payment was already done. The hostel guy was smart. He used to charge the guests as soon as they checked in based on the initial commitment they'd make to stay there and had put up a notice there reading,

"Dear guests, feel free to check out by putting the keys on the table if the admin person is not around."

However, this time he was there. We checked out and hurried to the station. Boarded a train to Pasir Ris and got down at the Tanah Merah Interchange. Again changed train to Changi Airport track and got down at The Expo.

Strolled along with the luggage into the Expo which is just outside the MRT station exit. The exit goes straight into the Expo! As we neared the entrance to the Expo, I noticed something.

A signboard read, "Please take One" and beneath it lay plastic cover bags in the shape of a cone - meant to kept umbrellas. If it rains and people bring along drenched umbrellas, they were encouraged to take one plastic cover, put their umbrella into it and then enter so that the mall is not littered unnecessarily. Small, but powerful thought, I said to myself!

The runaround had depleted the body batteries and at the right time we spotted The Subway. Aah, what a relief! Relished a delicious sandwich and then moved on. Went thru the sales section, the furniture section, the electronics section, the dailywares and immediately realized, this Expo is useless without a girl!

As it was still time to reach the airport, we sat down there for some time hoping to get some wifi connection to browse the internet. Failed to connect to the world web and moved on and again reached the platform from where we would get train to the Airport. As we reached the platform thunder stuck our faces.

We'd decided to pack some sandwiches for dinner as well. I requested Mithun to go and get it, while I would take care of the luggage. He also understood why I asked him to go - my cursing feet.

As he went, I found sometime for myself and started writing my travelogue. I wrote for some 20 minutes before he came. After he came, we caught the next train and left off to Changi Airport to leave the beautiful city of Singapore for at least some months - yes, we felt like coming back here but still there weren't any plans.

As we reached the MRT station of the Changi Airport, the first thing we did was to return the One Day Singapore Tourist Pass - we'd purchased today morning from the Bugis station. After collecting the refund of S$ 20 for 2 passes we moved on to catch the bus to the Budget terminal.

As we reached the bus stop, the bus was waiting there and we disappeared inside it. In 10 minutes we reached the Budget Terminal of the Changi Airport at Singapore. As we moved inside, we went to see the list of flights and saw that ours wasn't listed. Realizing it was too early we decided to wait for sometime. Meanwhile, we also saw that the flights to Bangalore and Chennai had been canceled. We felt bad for the stranded passengers and moved on.

We settled down at the seats and started browsing the net, thanks to the wi-fi connection. I also wrote some more of travelogue. Suddenly, Mithun looked up and his eyes fell at something and his reaction forced me to go up and have a closer look;

Our flight to Kuala Lumpur had been canceled!

We were shell-shocked. It not only meant stranding for us but in case we are not able to make it to Kuala Lumpur before the afternoon of the next day, we miss our flight from Kuala Lumpur to Bangalore as well and that would mean a lot of extra and unplanned expenses. Suddenly the future looked quite bleak and we were yet not able to absorb the shock.

We were cursing the Tiger Airways, for behaving so irresponsibly. We hurried to one of the counters that mentioned their logo. The staff there was busy with some other customers, when we inquired about canceled flights; she redirected us to another counter. We went there and told about our problem.

The man there was quite co-operative and told us that we would either get a refund or a rescheduled flight early next morning (thus ensuring we reach Kuala Lumpur well ahead of time) and nightly hotel accommodation, dinner and taxi. We were more bothered about the morning flight than anything else at this hour.

However, he said, this is not confirmed and will be confirmed only by the concerned staff who would come at counters 9 & 10 at 7:40 PM. It was 7 PM now.

We went to counter 9 and waited there. As there was still time, I told Mithun to check alternatives in case nothing works here. We got connected to the internet and checked for trains to Kuala Lumpur.

We were happy to know that the option was still open as the train started at 10:30 PM and reached Kuala Lumpur at 6:30 in the morning which meant that, if at 7:40, nothing worked out here, we could still rush to the train station and catch the train to Kuala Lumpur and it cost just MYR 34 (this flight was MYR 109 which we hoped of getting refunded).

However, for now, 7:40 was the D-Moment. Luckily the staff came at exact 7:40 - now that's called integrity I thought wondering how the response would have been if it had happened in India. As we explained our problem to the staff there about catching the flight to Bangalore from Kuala Lumpur and about our urgency to reach Kuala Lumpur, she handed us a copy of an official letter of communication from the Tiger Airways explaining the reason behind the cancelation of the flight. She asked our travel details, passports, tickets and requested us to go thru the letter of communication meanwhile she started checking something in her system.

We read the letter and it mentioned that the flight was canceled as the incoming flight had been grounded at Kuala Lumpur itself due to possible fuel tank contamination. As it was a serious issue and the entire fuel was required to be verified they'd decided to cancel the flights in the interest of the safety of passengers. We found the reason a genuine one and our anger subsided a bit but we were still worrisome of reaching Kuala Lumpur.

The staff offered us two options - take a refund or reschedule - as mentioned above. The rescheduled flight was at 6:25 AM the next morning and would land us at Kuala Lumpur at 7:25 AM (Kuala Lumpur and Singapore have the same time zone). Even if it would get delayed a bit, we would still have time. Only, if that one also got canceled, we would be ruined. Hence we doubly ensured from her that this flight was going to fly. Something told us to take the risk and we did. We opted for the rescheduled flight and she booked us on that flight.

Then she asked us to take the ticket she'd printed for us and go to the taxi stand. The cabbie will take us to "Hotel Amara" and the reception guy at the hotel will make the payment for the cabbie. We did so and went out. While moving out, my naughty brain thought - Is it good that the flight got canceled? - and I immediately shut down the thought saying to myself, "we are yet to reach Kuala Lumpur, so far so good." Probably Mithun was also thinking the same.

We reached the taxi stand and a "Hyundai Accent" cabbie took us to the Hotel Amara and we were back on to the streets of the Singapore city on a tour least (or rather never) expected. We passed past the Marina Bay Sands (never imagined, we would be able to see the beauty again) and this time from a completely different angle and direction. Suddenly we were getting excited - but with caution. But caution is difficult to maintain in a cab that's zooming at 120 KMPH.

Finally, after a 25 minutes drive we reached the Hotel Amara. Stepped out of the cab and stepped into the reception after taking the luggage from the dickey and found ourselves entering at least a 4 star hotel. And we were saying to ourselves - WOW!

After completing the check-in formalities and informing the staff that, we need to catch an early morning flight and need to be at the airport by 4:30 AM we moved on. The staff assured us, we will be getting a wake-up call at 3 AM.

Our room was on the 9^th Floor, room no. 912. As we moved in and looked around the plush interiors, bathroom with Jacuzzi and the view outside, I was telling myself, "Whatever happens tomorrow, for now, whatever happens always happens for your good."

Within minutes, the confusion was resolved. It was a 5 star with a mini-bar in the room (chargeable of course). We put all our depleting batteries - camera, mobiles, laptops - on charge and I started to write some more of my travelogue while Mithun got busy capturing some picturesque night shots. At the reception we were also given the coupon to have the airlines sponsored dinner but we also had our own Subway Sandwiches.

Hence, we first finished the Subway stuff inside the room. All the new and unplanned unfold of events had taken out our energies so gobbled the sandwich in seconds. Then, at around 9:30 we went down for dinner.

It was a buffet dinner and as we moved around, I figured out that other than salads, boiled veggies and desserts there weren't much options for me to try the way Mithun had - animals of all varieties. He tried quite a few of them while I survived mostly on desserts - thanks to my sweet-tooth.

Having finished a sumptuous meal in a 5-star at the cost of the airlines - free is always good - we retired back into the room as we had only 5 hours to sleep before we had to rush to the airport and the impending tension of the flight not taking off was not going off our minds. Mithun went to sleep as soon as we entered the room, I wrote for some more time before dozing off.

The only exercise now left was to get up at 3 AM. Apart from scheduling the wake-up call at the reception we'd also set our mobile alarms to be on the safe side and with that ended our supposedly last night in Singapore - on an unexpected note of course.

Singapore Day 5 - Kuala Lumpur Last Day

Sub-conscious mind works at its own fashion. Mobile alarms and scheduled wake-up calls weren't enough. We had awakened much before the mean machines rang and sang. We woke up at 2:45 and by 3:45 we were ready watching "The Ugly Truth" on HBO. Hurriedly we rushed down to the reception, finished the check-out formalities and settled inside the cab that the hotel people had arranged for us.

And set roll again on an unexpected but exciting part of our trip. It was 4:00 AM in the morning and the cab zoomed through the silent and sleepy Singapore roads. We reached the airport at 4:20 AM and rushed to the counter to collect our boarding passes. As we neared the counter our eyes fell on something that escalated our tension a bit. Our flight was re-timed to 7:00 AM from 6:25.

Nonetheless, the boarding pass was issued and our hopes of catching the flight were kept alive. Having collected the passes we rushed towards the immigration. The lady there at the immigration desk, seeing an Indian, asked "Tamil Theriyumma? (Do you know Tamil)?" I nodded in the negative. Then she asked me to empty my water bottle before immigration. We did so and threw it in the dustbin and then moved on for immigration.

Post immigration only security check was pending and after that we settled down there, browsed the internet for some time, I wrote my travelogue a bit as well. After sometime, we were bored of sitting, so we went inside the nearby shops. One was an electronics shop, Mithun got something he was interested in - cameras. I saw a bookstore nearby and went inside.

Chanced upon a book about Raffles - one of the co-founder of Singapore - and this information connected the missing bridges. While roaming in Singapore on Day 2, we'd observed there were many things named after Raffles - Raffles Avenue, Raffles Boulevard, Raffles Link - and so we thought he must be 'someone' in Singapore and now this info connected the missing bridges.

I saw the clock and froze. It was 6:30 AM and the flight was supposed to leave at 7:00. Seeing no signs of any announcement, we decided to move inside and so we did. As we moved inside we saw a huge line in front of the Gate T10 - from where we were supposed to board our flight. Finally after some more wait and finishing the formalities we were allowed inside. Some more passengers were yet to arrive and after waiting for them for 15 more minutes the plane took off at 7:45 AM. The passengers never turned up!

We landed in Kuala Lumpur on the morning of 4^th October at 8:45 AM. After finishing the immigration formalities and collecting our check-in baggage we were wondering what to do next. Suddenly Kuala Lumpur sounded like back home. We had a flight back to Bangalore at 3:15 PM and we had six odd hours before that and at least 3 hours to pass before the flight formalities would begin.

We decided to check out the cloak room and see if we can keep our luggage there for some hours so that we could go to the city and visit the Petronas Towers and the Malaysia Tower - which could not happen on Day 2 at Kuala Lumpur, courtesy rains. Inquired about the whereabouts of the cloak room counter and reached there.

But seeing the rates there we decided not to opt for it. It would cost us MYR 38 for some hours - bad deal I would say. We decided to keep the luggage with us only and disappeared inside the bus that would take us to KL Sentral. And we were back on to the buttery roads of Kuala Lumpur re-visiting its beautiful landscape from the airport to the city.

No sooner we fell asleep, tired from the unplanned unfolding of events and lack of proper sleep. A sound sleep of an hour re-energized us, as we got down at KL Sentral. Came out of it and started looking for a restaurant for breakfast.

Chanced upon "Moorthy's" and entered it - another restaurant run by Tamils there. As we were getting back to India, so it was important to get back to basics and thus ordered "poori sabzi" and tea for breakfast. And this was the first time in 6 days that a die-hard tea fan like me was having tea and that too Malaysian Tea - a tea with a difference. But honestly speaking the difference wasn't much welcoming.

As I said, Kuala Lumpur sounded like home to us now, went to the Monorail station nearby and took a train to "Bukit Nanas" from where both the towers are at walking distance. So we reached Bukit Nanas and it was already 11 AM. We would be required to be back at KL Sentral by at least 12 so that we can reach the airport in time. This meant, we did not have much time for the towers and anyways it was too late to even expect the availability of passes, so we decided to take shots of the tower from the ground only.

Both the giants were visible from a common spot and shot them. After that we again hurried back to take the train to KL Sentral and finally from KL Sentral we took the bus to airport and reached the airport just in time.

As we'd pre booked meals on the flight, we just munched some of the biscuits we had, to re-charge a bit. After finishing the usual flight and immigration formalities we were waiting at the airport to board the flight back to home that would end our trip. And finally the flight arrived; we boarded it and dozed off inside the flight after some initial time pass and reading.

Finally the flight landed and we were back home - after a 6 days trip. Now, everything looked familiar, the brain also relaxed. After finishing the final round of formalities we were finally out to catch the bus - Vayu Vajra - from the airport to various points in the Bangalore city. They run at somewhat premium rates but it should be fine as they are meant for exclusive airport travel.

But as we reached the bus terminal, we found the bus to be a bit different; we were too exhausted to do any investigation and just went inside. The bus interiors were also different - there were no special racks to keep luggage, only seats! It looked like an ordinary city Volvo bus, however we settled down having no other option.

After some time the bus started and we were back on familiar roads. It was raining at times in between. We were just hoping to be spared of the rain near our homes.

But home looked like a far sight now as the usual Bangalore traffic was at its best - chaotic, slow and extremely boring. And then suddenly we saw something we could not believe our eyes. People were stopping the bus, hopping onto it, purchasing normal bus tickets and in no time the airport bus was converted into a city bus!

I was furious at the observation and the experience. Isn't the airport bus meant for hassle-free travel for people coming from airport to the city and they pay a premium for that as well. But as I said, Indians are highly corrupt people this was no exception. And it worked as a myopic win-win for both. The bus company would get some 'extra income' and the passengers would get more buses to reach their homes and ultimately it's the flight passengers who pay the price.

If there's any foreigner in the bus, is he not going to carry back an impression that India is corrupt, then why cry when foreign media talks ill of India? After all, it is we the citizens of India who engage in small and unidentifiable corruption in our daily life and then complain - people call us corrupt!

Well, if we are corrupt, what else do we expected to be called?

Anyways, being an Indian you have to learn to adjust and thus we reached our homes with a slight adjustment and the trip ended!

I hope you have enjoyed the travelogue. Either ways do feel free to get in touch with me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

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