Jani Jermans – Travel Diaries

When you think of Singapore, the only expression comes to my mind is WoW. The country is an inspiration to other developing countries in South East Asia. Its growth from the bottom to the top is phenomenal and holding on to the top position for being the best country in South East Asia in terms of social, economic and financial is a credit to it’s Govt and their people. Their hard work, discipline and excellence keeps them at the top position.

They have the best airport in the world and their national airlines is one of the best in the world as well. Their achievements and accolades speak volumes of the country’s commitment to strive for the best. Another interesting thing is to note is that they are also one of the least corrupt countries in the world. Singapore is Par Excellence in every way and my prayers and wishes to the people of Singapore to continue to grow and be the best in everything. Let them be an inspiration to other countries to grow and become like them. My respect and love to the country and it’s people.

When ITB Asia was hosting a conference and I got accepted to attend, I was over the moon.  So I asked Sur to join me for the trip, unfortunately he was short of leaves from his work so he could stay only for the part of the trip leading up to the conference.

Visa: The visa process is pretty simple; all you need is to apply for a tourist visa and you will be issued with an E-visa.

If you are in India, you can apply from any of the three consulates, do refer the below details for the jurisdiction. Do go through the link, check for visa information for visa application details. The application has to be submitted to the authorized agents as per the list provided in the consular websites. It gets updated time to time, so ensure to check before filing.

New Delhi – North & East Region – https://www.mfa.gov.sg/New-Delhi
Mumbai – West Region – https://www.mfa.gov.sg/mumbai
Chennai – South Region – https://www.mfa.gov.sg/chennai

About Singapore: Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island city-state in maritime Southeast Asia.

Day 1:

We had booked the Tiger Airways, and that was the worst decision I have ever made. I now know that LCC’s (low cost carrier) are not the right one for international trips. I didn’t have any issues with the airline as there was no service during the flight being a LCC. I wished that I booked another airline which was non LCC. The flight was non-eventful and we landed in Singapore in the morning, booked a cab to the hotel and reached Holiday Inn Express @ Clarke Quay. This is a budget hotel and was decent for its price. The hotel didn’t have much options for food, so we had to step put to get lunch.

We found a F.R.I.E.N.D.S themed coffee shop named Central Perk near the hotel. Even though both of us are not a fans of the series, the shop looked interesting so we stepped in and were welcomed with a pretty lady waitress and they were extremely hospitable and friendly. We asked her for some recommendations for food and drink and we ordered the same. The food was really good, but the quantity was huge. So be sure to order less so that you don’t waste the food. The waiter also invited us to visit the café in the evening for drinks. We smiled and said we would join if we were close by and thanked her for such a warm hospitality, before stepping out.

Central PerkPost lunch we walked over to the China Town, where I got a Chinese dress which looked really nice. We also found a travel agents and bought sightseeing passes for the next 3 days.

After which we walked back to the hotel and dozed off since it had been a long day. By the time we woke up it was late night, and all the shops around us were closed by then. Since we didn’t have any other option, we had to come back to the hotel bar to get some snacks. Keeping in mind that this was a budget hotel which meant that they had really limited options for food available. Since I don’t have food restrictions, I had options like burger etc and Sur being a pure vegetarian left with only one option in the menu which was a spaghetti. So we ordered that and I don’t think we have ever eaten a worst spaghetti. It was just plain spaghetti dunked in Olive oil, Yes dunked in Olive oil and one big clove of garlic which had been boiled till it was tasteless was kept in the middle. He just couldn’t eat the dish even though he tried forcing himself and I also tried to help because I didn’t want to waste the food. But it was one of the worst food experience we had in the Singapore.

Day 2: After a wonderful breakfast at the hotel, we took a metro and then a cable car to Sentosa Islands. Sentosa is a sunny island in Singapore, home to exciting events, themed attractions, award-winning spas, lush rainforests, golden sandy beaches and resort-style hotels. This has lot of attractions and we started with Butterfly Park with lots and lots of trees, flowers and exotic birds. There was also a Fossil museum which was great. We also saw Merlion (lion’s head and a fish’s body) which is the tallest merlion in Singapore. We headed for the Mega zipline and jump, me being not the adventure type, I was a bit sceptical. Sur insisted that I do it and am glad that I agreed to do it. It was my most memorable experience. The zip line went from a mini forest to the road and then landed in the beach. That was one awesome ride. Then we went to one of the beach restaurants, had a delicious food and drink. We headed back to Sentosa Park, it had lot of great decorations and interesting statues. We waited then for Laser light show at Wings of Time, which is in the evening. The show was spectacular and then headed to meet Sur’s friends for dinner. we returned to the hotel and called it a day.

Butterfly ParkDay 3: After the breakfast at the hotel, we took a metro and then a cable car to Sentosa Islands back as we were going for Universal Studios. I get headache for such roller coaster rides and I was as usual reluctant. Sur gave me a motion sickness tablet and told me to accompany him as he didn’t want to go alone. So the first ride which was the famous rides Human Vs Cylon, we took Human, it’s the tallest duelling roller coaster. As usual I just closed my eyes and finished the ride. The other Cylon is also similar to Human and since we had more rides to go, we went to others. We took few more rides like revenge of the mummy, treasure hunters (realized later its more for kids, as it was a very slow ride which would be boring for adults), Canopy Flyer and Puss in Boots’ giant journey. We wanted to do more rides but being a weekend and lot of crowd, we couldn’t do much.

Universal StudiosThere were quite a lot of restaurants for lunch in the park and we grabbed a quick bite in one of them. We had to do a force stop as the studio was closing it for the day and then headed to the Night Safari after a little break at the hotel. This is in a little outskirt of the city, after a long ride we reached to the park, it’s a open air zoo and was an amazing experience. Watching the animals at night is a completely different experience. After the tour we had our dinner and headed back to the hotel and crashed for the night.

Marina Bay SandsDay 4: After breakfast we had to check out from Holiday Inn Express which was a good experience overall, as I had to check in at Marina Bay Sands where we were hosted for the ITB Asia conference. Once my check-in formalities were done we went around Marina bay Sands to have a quick look as Sur was leaving the same evening. We had our lunch at Marina Bay Sands and headed to Gardens by the Bay which was at a walkable distance from Marina Bay Sands. This was heaven for me as I love flowers. We enjoyed the flower dome and cloud forest. This was the best experience and it has thousands of trees, plants and flowers from across the globe. It is a paradise for photography and nature lovers. Then we had to head back to the hotel for Sur to bid adieu as he had to catch his flight late in the evening. He complained that he missed out staying in Marina Bay Sands due to his unavailability of leave, I agree with him it was sheer bad luck. Since I cannot explore alone anywhere, ordered the room service for dinner and crashed for the night.

Gardens by the BayDay 5: We were served our breakfast at the Sands Expo Convention centre and then headed to back to back meetings with travel suppliers and various talks. Evening we were invited for the Opening Night Function in Marina Bay Sands and after a great evening, we crashed for the night.

Day 6: After breakfast at the Convention centre, back again for the same meetings and talk. Singapore Tourism Board hosted the dinner that day and after another memorable evening, crashed for the night.

Day 7: After such a lovely stay in Marina Bay Sands, I had to check out in the morning since we couldn’t leave the conference midway to come in the afternoon for check out, gave the luggage to the bell boys and headed to the convention centre. After a great breakfast, we were back again to the supplier meetings and talk. Then I had to rush in the evening for the flight to catch which was a late night. The airport was beautiful and I couldn’t explore much as I needed company. So I read a book, waited for the flight to start boarding. Boarded the Tiger airways for return to India and reached bangalore the next day early morning with a WOW experience of Singapore.

Singapore remains an inspiration to all other developing countries across the globe. My respect, love and Kudos to the Singapore Govt and it’s people.

Stay Safe.