A short back story: When my family came to visit in early June, we traveled all over Malaysia together. While we were in the Cameron Highlands, we met a couple staying at our hotel and struck up a conversation with them one night before dinner. It turns out they are from Texas but will be living in Singapore for the next three years (it was a work-related relocation). Our family loved getting to talk with Geralyn and Rick, and after dinner we exchanged email addresses and the Corneliuses offered us a place to stay in Singapore if we were ever in that area. Well, fast forward to a few weeks ago. Gwynne and I were planning to visit Singapore, and the Corneliuses came to mind. True, we had only spoken for a while, but I could just sense that they were kind and genuine people, and so I decided to see if they'd let me take them up on their offer to house us during our stay. I began an email correspondence with Geralyn, and she assured me that we were welcome. Unfortunately, we soon discovered that she and Rick would be out of town the weekend that Gwynne and I would be in Singapore, but they decided to let us stay in their apartment anyway. This generosity was astounding, and Gwynne and I were so fortunate to be guests in their home. Upon arrival (early Friday morning after our overnight bus from KT) we found that Geralyn had left us well equipped with labeled maps of the city, detailed typed instructions, and many suggestions of places to visit and things to do. Their home is absolutely lovely, in a peaceful setting within walking distance of the Singapore Botanic Gardens. Thank you again to Rick and Geralyn for welcoming us into your home. I hope to be able to repay the kindness one day!
After what started out as a short nap but then turned into a four-hour siesta on Friday, we set out to explore the city. Fortified by a delicious lunch at a coffee shop called Beviano (thanks for that great recommendation, Geralyn!) we headed to Orchard Road, the famous shopping street in Singapore. We did a lot of window shopping and then finally gave in and made a few purchases. We also ran into a few lion dancers on the way, which was a fun and unexpected surprise.
We continued on, new clothes in hand, to the Singapore Art Museum (SAM), and soon made a wonderful discovery. Our visit, on Friday the 25th, happened to be the day of a special event called the Night Festival in the city. This meant that, among other things, many of the city's museums were open until 2 a.m. and had free admission for that day only! Also, there was a free concert at one of the local universities that night. Gwynne and I spent about two hours in the art museum, soaking up culture that doesn't exist where we've been living. We were so impressed with the museum, which was housed in a building that used to be a Catholic boys' school. They did a beautiful job keeping the integrity of the building's structure while tastefully updating it as well. One of the coolest things was the lighting on the outside of the building. When we first arrived, it looked like a normal facade. Then when we left the museum, the lighting had changed and images were projected onto the building and then, when we walked by a few hours later, the image had been changed yet again.
We continued our trek to some of the must-see locations in the city: the famous Raffles Hotel, the prickly porcupine-looking Singapore Opera House, and the Quay. Getting hungry, we chose a riverside restaurant and shared an extremely picturesque Italian meal overlooking the water.
Our stomachs full of pizza, we paid a quick visit to the Asian Civilisations Museum (with a really well done Southeast Asia exhibit) and then, on the way back to the Cornelius' apartment, we stopped by the Night Festival concert and heard a great band from New Zealand called Van She. The atmosphere around town Friday night was lively and fun, but not overwhelming or unsafe. We really enjoyed being a part of the Night Festival!
After a glorious night of sleep on a soft bed in an air conditioned room, we awoke recharged for Singapore Day Two. My wonderful mentor Anis has a Singapore connection (her brother's wife's sister lives there) and she had given me this woman's phone number. I called her (Ida, pronouced "ee-duh") on Saturday morning and she offered to take Gwynne and me to the Singapore Zoo, because she lives in that area of the city. Keep in mind that this is a woman I had never met or spoken to before. Gwynne and I hopped on the MRT (Singapore's remarkably clean and efficient subway system) and headed to the Woodlands area to meet up with Ida.
We were warmly greeted by Ida and her 17-year-old son, and Ida took us to the zoo and paid for our entry. We loved seeing the zoo (it, like the rest of the city, is landscaped perfectly and is well planned and lovely) and, perhaps even more, had fun getting to know our new Singaporean friends.
After our zoo visit, Ida treated us to a delicious lunch at a nearby mall (Gwynne and I got great Chinese tofu and vegetables with noodles) and then shopped together for a little while. We were blown away by this woman's kindness, to spend hours of a precious Saturday afternoon with two Americans she had never met. Now we have a wonderful new friend!
We only had a few hours left in Singapore before we were to board our 9 o'clock bus back to KT, so Gwynne and I hurried to the Singapore Botanic Gardens (a place highly recommended by Geralyn) and were extremely impressed by the place. The gardens are HUGE, and are full of tropical plants and trees that work together to create an appealing and peaceful atmosphere. The huge lawn was full of people enjoying the afternoon, and joggers and dog-walkers filled the pathways. A highlight was definitely the National Orchid Garden, filled with flowers so beautiful and perfect you'd swear they weren't real. I have never seen so many kinds of orchids before, and especially not so many healthy ones. Singapore's climate must be ideal for these flowers, because they are certainly flourishing there.
Returning to the apartment to pack and gather our things, Gwynne and I set out for the Lavendar Street bus station, confident that we were leaving in plenty of time to make it to the bus. On the MRT, however, we began to get a bit anxious. Things were taking longer than we'd anticipated, and the MRT was really crowded during that time of day. By the time we got to the Woodlands stop, it was 8:30 and our bus was going to leave at 9. We still had to catch a taxi to the bus stop, too, so we rushed to a taxi stand and waited a while before one arrived. We got into the cab and told the driver where we wanted to go, and he looked incredibly confused. We repeated our destination a few times (trying to think of any possible pronunciation for the word "Lavendar"), but his expression remained blank. I finally got out my bus ticket to show him the name in print, and it took a while but finally he seemed semi-confident. It was unfortunate that the the only person we met in Singapore who did not have perfect English came at this crucial point in the journey. The cab ride was taking much longer than we felt it should, and Gwynne and I started to get incredibly anxious. I kept checking the time: 8:46, then 8:51...things were looking grim. We both silently started planning for an extra night in Singapore. Suddenly, our driver pulled into a tiny parking lot full of buses and said we had arrived (this bus stop was in a completely different location than the one we had arrived at on Friday, which explains our confusion with the distance). I threw 20 Singapore dollars at the driver to cover our 15 dollar ride, told him to keep the change, and we frantically grabbed our bags and sprinted for the Transnational bus line counter, where a woman pointed us toward a bus. Thank goodness, the bus was still there. There was a group of good-natured men outside the bus, and when we ran up looking frazzled they laughed and said they had waited for us. "Next time come earlier!" one man kept saying. We were so fortunate, and (after our heart rates slowed down and the stress had worn off a bit) we realized how much goodness our trip had been filled with. We were only in Singapore for 48 hours, but in that time we came across so many wonderful people and so much good fortune. This trip will not soon be forgotten!
1 comment:
Wow, Anna. Looks like you had the best trip to Singapore. The night view from that Italian restaurant was especially wonderful. Hope you continue to have great adventures traveling...
George
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