Impressions of Singapore

I started writing this post on March 1^st, the night I landed in Singapore. I was going to call it: “First Impressions of Singapore”, but since my arrival, my days have been action packed. In the evenings, I did not have the energy to formulate coherent sentences for a blog, so there it went, unfinished. Now, as I sit at my boarding gate on my way to China, my views on Singapore are more than just first impressions. I’ve had the chance to explore many different sides of the city/country.

The beginning of this blog post will be an excerpt of the first impressions I had started writing on my first night in Singapore. Then, I will list everything I have done since I got here, with pictures, and some interesting facts about Singapore!

First Impressions

Changi Airport

My flight was a total of approximately 7 hours from Melbourne. I was lucky to get a seat by the window and slept most of the way, which killed time. Changi airport is one of the largest transportation hubs in South East Asia and one of the busiest airports for international traffic in the world. I expected to be overwhelmed by people and confused upon arrival, but it was very easy to navigate myself to baggage claim. Besides the very clear signage, there was an abundance of airport staff available to help visitors, even in the bathroom, I might add. This took me by surprise considering my experience in airports and grocery stores lately has been increased automation and a decrease of human service. Moreover, as I came out of that same bathroom, there was a tablet prompting customers to rate the facility. As I passed through immigration, where I needed to give my thumb prints (first time I ever needed to do this at an airport), there was also a tablet asking visitors to rate their experience at the immigration counter. It seems that Singaporeans care very much about the customer experience.

Navigating the Train System

After collecting my luggage, I made my way to the train station. I was staring at the screens, wondering if I should purchase a tourist card, which would give me unlimited access on the trains for 3 days, or an EZ-link card, which I would need to re-charge with money as I travelled. Not just one, but two employees came to help me, giving me their advice after hearing about my plans in Singapore. In Montreal, whenever I had issues purchasing a train ticket at the machine, I would struggle to find a worker who could help me. Within one hour of my landing, I was already impressed by the Singaporean customer service.

I knew that my hostel was located near Lavender station, and I managed to find it on the extensive train map of Singapore. My guess was that I needed to make a transfer between lines to get there, but I thought I should confirm this with a local considering some of the mistakes I made while on the public transit system in Australia, such as going in the wrong direction. I asked the couple that was waiting next to me whether I needed to transfer and not only did they answer my question, they told me that they would also point me in the right direction once we got to the stop where the transfer needed to be made. As we boarded the train, we compared travel stories and they gave me recommendations on things I should do in Singapore. Most of their suggestions involved food. They were definitely speaking my language.

After they guided me in the right direction, we parted ways, since they were taking another line. A man, who had overheard my conversation with them and was travelling in the same direction as me, approached me and continued to ask about my travels and made sure that I knew where I was going. What friendly people! He got off the train 8 stops before I did. When he left, I people-watched those around me and realized that this is the first country I have ever visited in my life where I stand out so obviously as a tourist because of my physical appearance.

First Supper

Since I was tired from my flight, I decided to lay low for the first night. By the time I arrived at my hostel, it was 7pm, just in time for supper. I scoped out the cluster of street stalls around the corner. The choices were predominantly Chinese or Indian, which I was expecting, since these are the two predominant cultures in Singapore. What I was not expecting, however, was how inexpensive the food was! I was warned that Singapore was quite pricey, and it is, if you compare it to other South East Asia countries like Thailand, Cambodia and Malaysia. But, coming from Melbourne where a similar portion size would cost me at least four times the price, my wallet and I were very happy.

I decided on some Indian cuisine, chicken mansala to be specific. Because the main spoken language in Singapore is English, I could read the menu. But, this does not mean that I understood what I was reading!! My Indian and Chinese food culture is very poor (won’t be for long though), so I still needed to ask the staff for some clarification. For example, I did not know what “mansala” meant. Tip: When an Indian tells you that something is not very spicy, don’t listen!

 

Some of the Most Interesting Things I Did in Singapore:

Friday:

• Participated in a walking tour of Little India, where I tried some traditional

  

  Indian dishes, such as dosa.

• Walked around Chinatown and visited a Buddhist temple.
• Ate chicken rice, a classic Singaporean dish, and drank pure sugar cane juice at a Chinese hawker center. Hawker centers are a collection of food stalls and are where all the locals eat. The chicken rice was 2$.
• Visited Sentosa island, which is essentially the playground of Singapore. This is where you will find a casino, amusement park, indoor skydiving, beaches etc. You can also visit the Southern-most tip of Asia here.
• Went to Suntec city mall.
• Visited Gardens by the Bay, an iconic tourist attraction in Singapore and multi-award winning gardens.
• Ate Singaporean fried rice for supper.

  

• Admired the light and water show at Marina by the Bay.
• Took the elevator to the top of Marina Bay Sands Hotel for city views, and had a drink at the rooftop bar.

Saturday:

• Rode the bus to Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, where I climbed the tallest hill in Singapore (163 meters). That was a breeze compared to the hikes I had done in New Zealand!

  

• Went to Esplanade, one of the busiest art centres in the world (over 3000

  

  performances yearly), and watched Ajinai, a Mongolian band, perform a free show. I loved their music so much that I bought their CD.

• Walked a full circle around Marina Bay and re-watched the light and water show, since I enjoyed it on the first night!
• Visited Merlion Park, a landmark, to see the “Merlion”, which is Singapore’s national icon. It has the body of a fish and the head of a lion.
• As I was looking at my map to figure out how to get back to my hostel, a girl approached me to look at my map as well. She was from Israel and we ended up spending the rest of our evening together. We went to eat Chinese food in Chinatown and next thing we knew, it was midnight and we had to catch the last bus back to our hostels!

Sunday:

• Took the MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) and bus to Changi beach, a good place to spot airplanes coming and going. On the way, my friend Dex pointed out different estates and army training camps.

  

• Ate Nasi Lemak, a Malay dish, at the Changi Village Hawker Center.
• Also tried Singaporean desserts at this Hawker Center: ice kachang and chendol.

• Took the boat ride over to Palau Ubin and explored the island by bike. This island demonstrates what Singapore was like in the 1960s. It is considered to be one of the last “kampungs” (authentic villages) in Singapore. You can also see a variety of animal and plant life. I saw wild boars and long-tailed macaques.
• Stopped at a local restaurant on Palau Ubin and drank coconut water from a coconut. Delicious
• Ate supper at Swee Choon, a very popular local Chinese restaurant, with an automated waiting system!
• Walked through Haji Lane and along Arab Street
• Drank a Singaporean Sling at Clarke Quay, a historical                                                river quay with dining and entertainment options.

  

  

  

Monday:

• Visited the URA (Urban Redevelopment Authority) in Singapore, which taught

  

  me about the urban planning strategies that Singapore is using in order to grow as a city-state economically, while maintaining its cultural heritage and preserving its natural environment.

• Walked along Orchard road,

  

  Singapore’s main shopping street with over 5000 retail, dining and entertainment establishments. I was especially curious to see the two-floor Abercrombie and Fitch I was told about. Fourteen year-old me would have been in clothing heaven and financial hell.

Did You Know? (About Singapore):

• The Singaporean population is very multi-ethnic. The dominant ethnic groups are: Chinese (74.3%), Malay (13.4%), Indian (9.1%).
• Singapore became so multi-cultural because its location made it an important trade settlement in Asia.
• Singapore has four official languages: English, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil, but Malay is the national ceremonial language and English is the main spoken language.
• In order to accommodate the size of the Singaporean population and the small size of the island, most Singaporeans live in estates, which are condo buildings that are approximately 16 stories high. There are community centres that several estates share together. Housing is extremely expensive.
• At school, there is one day a year where students must wear clothing from a different ethnic group.

  

• You cannot buy chewing gum at any store; the sale, import and manufacture of chewing gum is not permitted. Only gum of therapeutic value is allowed and must be prescribed by a doctor.
• Singapore’s goal is not just to be a garden city, it aims to be a city in a garden.

Impressions After Four Days: 

The Singaporean friendliness and excellent customer service was still obvious through the rest of my visit. For example, I had asked an employee at a passenger service center which bus I could take to my next destination. He told me which bus number was best and pointed me in the proper direction. So, I made my way up the escalators of the subway station and started walking down the street. Shortly after, I noticed that the employee from the passenger service center was chasing after me. It turns out that he had found another bus number that would take me to my destination even faster and he just wanted to let me know!

I was very fortunate to have my friend Dex show me some of the local dishes and destinations. This absolutely gave me a better appreciation of Singapore. It was very interesting to experience the contrast between Palau Ubin island, Little India and Chinatown, which are made up of heritage buildings, and Marina Bay, with the lights, water displays and modern infrastructure. This contrast shows how much Singapore has developed over the past 50 years. It was also interesting to learn about how three different ethnic groups have managed to continue thriving throughout Singapore’s history. I would not be surprised if Singapore is used an as example of a successful multi-lingual, multi-racial and multi-religious society in discussions about immigration.

On to China…

As I sit at my gate before boarding my flight, I can’t help but begin to feel nervous about the journey to come. Communication in Singapore happened in English, yet I still felt a culture shock, mostly due to food. In China, the language barrier will be an additional challenge, amongst many other things.

But then I remind myself that many Chinese immigrants have arrived to Canada speaking very little English. The same goes for my Greek family who immigrated into Canada more than 50 years ago. They knew no English, their alphabet was completely different, they had never experienced snow…

So if they can do it, surely I can do it too, for 4 months…