360 Degree Singapore View

Following video is the one that i shooted from about 130 metres from the ground. From the revolving Carlsberg tower in Sentosa island, Singapore. You can catch the Siloso beach, Palawa beach on one side and the imposing modern buildings on the other, the Merlion in between.

Bank surrounding the Zoo

More Wild Life

Scintillating Singapore

We reached Singapore after another weary 4 hour flight journey. Changi Airport is one of the best Airports in the world. Changi is better than San Franciso's, Seoul's and Hong Kong's airports bundled together.
Its larger than life and filled with plush carpets, greenary and travellators. It took us about 25 minutes to WALK from one to another gate when we had to change flights to San Francisco. Its a testimony to man made magnificence and grandeur.

Singapore National Zoo

My awe for Singapore Airport is not just due to the grandeur, the facilities here are equally overwhelming too. We could easiy check-in into a hotel from the Airport and we took a cab (The cabs are far cheaper than they are in US and much more comfortable.) to our Hotel from there.

The very first thing that dawned on me once i entered Singapore is the climate. Its TORRID. Coming from the onslaught of the not so welcome rains and chill weather at the Bay Area in California this was a blow. It did not take much time for me to realise that the worst thing about Singapore is the climate and also it did not take long for me to realise theirs defense against this nature's bane. They have Air Conditioned almost the entire island. From Cabs to Hotel Lounges to Shopping complexes the whole place runs on Air Conditioning. Even the Singapore National Zoo had certain "Cool Zone" rooms that are Air Conditioned and where you can tend your scorched skin.

We had to choose between the Jurong's Bird Park and the zoo for the day. Though i was not very interested in wild-life we had to zero on the zoo as it had a Night Safari attached to it. Going to the Zoo awas after all was not a bad idea but for our moaning muscles from a 19 hour flight journey and not to mention the weather. We got to see whole lot of tigers, Kangroos and variety of birds.

After the Zoo we went to have snacks and not much to my dismay there was no vegetarian food around and the lady at the KFC counter looked at me with all the pity in the world when she came to know i was looking for vegetarian food. The whipped potato and French Fries too were made from Animal oil. I had to settle for an overly priced Pizza which neither looked nor tasted like one.

We went to the Night Safari next. We were put in a tram and by the time it was around 7.30 in the night. The safari took us around miniature Rain, Amazon, Himalayan and Indo-Malayan forests with the corresponding wild-life. It was an awesome experience. We could not take a lot of walking trails that could have exposed us more to the forest ambience due to our already squealing limbs. Flash Photography is a strict No in the Safari.

Halt at Hong Kong

While coming back from San Francisco, our flight stopped at Hongkong for an hour. We were asked either to enjoy the stuffiness of the Singapore Airlines flight or venture into the airport. The caveat was that going out meant security check which consumed around 40 min!! so we did not get to see a lot of the airport but atleast we could stretch our worn out muscles and by the time they were rejuvenated we are asked to board.

Below are the two photos i managed to click meanwhile. This airport is quite similar to the one at Seoul. The passages are lined by giant glass plates on either sides. One side over looking lofty buildings and the other side the sea. Its quite a sight.

Travelogue

I have been to the United States for about three weeks this month. So a lot of my coming posts will cover the same.
The experience has been rewarding. I got to see part of the west coast, San Francisco, Los Angeles and some parts of Silicon Valley.

I also stayed in Singapore for about a day and half. We have a lot to learn from this small country. Its exquisite. Its as lively (read bustling with noise) as any Asian cities and as sophisticated as any of the cities in the west.
Welcoming you to the three week chronicles....