Kiasuland

1 April

7 years later, I made my second trip to Singapore. Again, it's official. Four of us from the delegation were on the same flight. As soon as we arrived at the arrival gate, we saw a man holding a board with our names. I was tempted to snap a photo of him for memory sake but never did.

The trip to the hotel took about 40 minutes. We checked in and having freshen up ourselves, promptly left the hotel for a late lunch. Our adventure began with attempts to locate the nearest mrt station, Outram Park which was around 25-minute walk away! After a hectic walk, we arrived at Orchard Road. I was disappointed as there was no sale around this time of the year. So I made my way to Chinatown next. It was late afternoon by the time I arrived. I walked and walked before finally settling down in a small restaurant specialising in dimsum and porridge for dinner. As I could not bear the thought of walking to the hotel from the mrt station, I braved myself to take the bus. Thanks to the efficient transportation system in Singapore, I had no trouble catching the right bus back.

2 April

The whole day was spent in the meeting room. I nearly nodded off. The discussion was pretty dry.

Finally at 5.30pm, the meeting was adjourned. I made my way back to the room, freshen up and left the hotel for Raffles Place. I was to meet two friends for dinner. I managed to catch sight of the Singapore River and the Raffles Place before we decided to dine in a Japanese restaurant. It was nice catching up with them.

3 April

Another day spent on meeting.

At about 6pm, the delegates left the hotel to experience a ride on the Flyer, courtesy of our gracious host. It was my first time up on a flyer as I have neither went on the one in Malaysia nor the one in London. A little past 7pm, the sun began to set. The host had arranged such that we saw both the day view and the night view. Dinner was in an Indonesian restaurant known as Tambuah Mas, Marina Square. We were treated to plates after plates of seafood - fried mini octopus, fried soft-shelled crabs, fish, huge prawns, stir-fried vegetables with scallops etc. Pity we didn't manage to finish everything.

After the dinner, a colleague and I decided to do some last minute shopping at Mustafa which opens 24 hours a day. By the time we were done, it was close to 11.30pm. Time to head home.

4 April

I woke up early to do some last minute sightseeing. Incidentally, a friend from Philippines wanted to see more of Singapore too. So both of us left to find the famous Singapore Merlion. We thought we were early but there were already plenty of tourists crowding the park. The weather was extremely warm despite being still early in the morning. Our next stop was the more than a century old Thean Hock Keng temple. Once again, the place was surrounded by tourists. Our last stop together that morning was Chinatown. We had some trouble finding the place till we decided to ask for direction from an elderly man. The man took us to the entrance to Chinatown before turning back on his journey. I was touched to find such helpful people.

Soon, me and my friend had to bid each other farewell as I had to leave to meet some old schoolmates for lunch. Then it was farewell to Singapore.

I hope that the next time I come, I will be able to visit the night safari and do some shopping!