My Maiden Journey To A Foreign Land

I stayed in Singapore for a couple of years; one thing is for sure that I was totally in awe of the city and I look forward to going there once again.

The plane was slowly descending down. I caught a glimpse of vast expanse of  sea right beneath. It just took my breath away. My heart skipped a beat for a while as it felt the plane was going to land right in the sea but slowly it swooped ahead. Eventually, landed itself on the runway with a heavy jolt.

The announcement made in the plane, either in Chinese or Malay, was grossly incomprehensible for me. It made me feel that I was not daydreaming and had truly landed in a foreign country. I was over the moon as since my teenage there was great longing buried deep somewhere in a corner of my heart to visit abroad.

I swear I had never ever in my life had seen such a mesmerizing, such a jazzy airport like Changi airport. It is rated is as no 1 airport in the world so hope this account of the place does not sound much exaggerated.

My first day in Singapore

My heart had swelled in happiness, feeling excited to go out and see how the place looked like. In the wee hours of morning, when a tiny light started to blend into the darkness, I could not make out much. But very soon we booked a cab that would drop us to a hotel, located somewhere in Bencoolen street. We sat inside the cab and it sped along. On the way, whatever I saw its little blur to me right now. Partly because a long time has gone by and partly because I was half-asleep, and wanted to catch on the fitful sleep that I had in the previous night in plane.

The cab, eventually, pulled up in front of a tall, decent hotel ,which stood in one the most posh, uptown locality, Bencoolen street in Dhoby Ghaut. We booked in the Hotel Strands, and went straight to the room. The room was mid-sized, with double bed and large windows looking over to the next building. A long blind hung down the window and a TV was hooked right in front of the bed. Unlike the posh outsides,the room was bog-standard, as far as I could recollect.

Due to jet lag I felt totally run down ,so I stretched out comfortably into the bed, sleeping for hours together while my husband went out to his office after an hour. I slept as much as I could and woke up to a lonely room in the evening. Drawing aside the curtain, I found that night had already fallen.

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Singapore dazzled me

The night life of Singapore was just out of the world. Once, while I tried to venture out on the nearby streets in the night,the dazzle and glitter of the place made me feel as if I had never thought of such a place existing anywhere.

Sometimes,I could feel the panic overtaking me as I went ahead to far off spots since I was new to this vast, unknown city. While ambling around,the thoughts that, no city in India could match to the high-tech sophistication, cleanliness, safety of Singapore-would come around into my mind.

Even in late night,I could spot hundreds of girls, dressed in skimpy clothes, bustling around malls and metros… Safety was never a concern for them. Had I ever thought of roaming around during late night in home town then either my parent would have disapproved of it or I would have myself got in terror of going out all by myself in late night.

Streets of Singapore brimmed over with food courts. It offered cheap, tasty and hygienic food. On the first night of our stay, we ate out in a nearby Parotha house. Later on,we went out  to numerous food courts over our stay of two years  out there and tried out different cuisine.

I stayed in Singapore for a couple of years; one thing is for sure that I was totally in awe of the city and I look forward to going there once again.

Image source: Pixabay