I was traveling from India on business when I had a long stop over in Singapore on my way back to San Francisco. That's enough time to enjoy the city and the country's world class airport.I landed at Changi International airport on an early Saturday morning en route to San Francisco during a business trip to Bangalore and the layover was going to be for ten hours. Luckily, Singapore is a great city to visit even with just a few hours to spare.
Even though I had just visited Singapore a couple of months earlier with my mom and siblings and their families, there are so much more things that I still wanted to do or see in the city. One of them is the free Singapore Tour from the airport. Unfortunately, the time slot that was ideal for my schedule was already booked.
Luckily, my friends from high school D and L are available to meet up for lunch at the Rasapura Masters at the Marina Bay Sands. I had been there several times and I liked it. After I freshened up at the Silver Kris lounge, I was ready to meet up with my friends.
The great thing about Changi is that it is connected to the city center via the clean and very efficient MRT train system. All I had to do was hop on the East West line (green line) and transfer at Expo for the Downtown line (blue line) and get off at Bayfront station. That would take me directly to the Marina Bay Sands in just an hour.
I was hoping that I was a little early to the Marina Bay Sands foodcourt or the Rasapura Marters so that I could take more pictures of the area. However, my friends got there before I did which was also great because it gave us more time to catch up. Since they are the savvy ones when it comes to Singaporean food, I let them decide what to order. We had pan fried noodles with shrimp, fish ball noodles and a Nasi Lemak combo. What a feast!
For desserts, we ordered the Singaporean coffee called kopi. We paired them with varieties of Mysore Pak that I brought from my trip to Bangalore. The lunch alone took around four hours and the time was not enough to spend with my friends.
As if our bonding time was not enough, we decided something all three of us have never done before - to take the Sampan Ride. The ride was a very touristy and bordering on the kitschy sdie. Honestly, I was not surprised to hear the both my friends have not been on that ride. But they were both sport to join me in the ride.
This is what the sampan looks like. This is also what we would have looked like. Too bad there was nobody we knew who would take out picture from that angle! For the next time, perhaps?
That is where the boat turns around - under the Rain Oculus.
This is what the Rain Oculus looks like upclose. This picture does not do justice to the structure and to the manmade falls because the sheer volume of water falling is insane. It would have drenched us if we had gotten any closer.
I couldn't believe that over four hours have passed. Time truly flies when you're having fun. I had to say my good byes to them and then jumped on the MRT to get back to the airport with enough time to a little sight seeing at Changi.
I had seen The Jewel in my previous trip to Singapore. The Jewel is a huge manmade water falls and tropical forest with fresh smelling orchids in the middle of Changi. It was newly opened then so it was packed with visitors and locals alike. Maybe there would be less people a few months after its opening?
Beautiful hanging planters near The Jewel. It is unfortunately that people are too in a hurry to see The Jewel that these beautiful decorations are usually left unnoticed.
The fresh scent of the plants and orchids inside The Jewel fills the entire complex. I sat there for a few minutes admiring this engineering marvel and also resting my tired feet.
I wanter to enjoy the amenities at the Silver Kris Lounge before my flight back to San Francisco so I decided to not linger much longer at The Jewel and to head back to my departure gate. On my way to the gate, I chanced upon a couple of art exhibits at the same terminal. One of them is called China Lit and it consisted of lights in concentric circles which symbolize the dynamism and energy that is happening today in China's major cities.
Another art exhibit is called Flora Inspiration which are two big marble sculptures by artist Han Bai Yu which symbolize Singapore as Garden City.
I had a little over an hour to enjoy the amenities at the Silver Kris. I wrote a separate blog regarding my wonderful experience at the lounge.
All in all I think that I spent my ten hours well - ate very tasty food, go to hang out with my friends from high school, saw The Jewel and got to enjoy the amenities at the Silver Kris.
~rl
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