Wednesday, October 2, 2013

36 Hours in Singapore - The Last 24 Hours

14 November 2012

After waking up this morning, the first thing I did was to call up the Air Niugini ticketing agency where I bought my air tickets. I bought the tickets two months earlier and was not happy with them for not informing me about the rescheduled flight date before I flew out of Port Moresby. The agency would know that its customers would be affected by it. However, it did nothing to inform me.

Anyway, after making a call to the agency and getting the new ticket via email, I had it printed at the hotel. I have a long day ahead. After checking with the reception, I was told the nearest MRT station was Aljunied MRT Station.

While walking around the Geylang neighbourhood looking for breakfast, I saw several budget hostels around the area. This must be a backpacker district. Most of the restaurants and coffee shops had not opened for business with messy tables, plates and eating utensils yet to be cleared and washed. Nevertheless, I ended at Koung's Wan Tan Mee. On the wall was posted a newspaper clipping with the headlines "Koung - king of wantan mee". Great! I landed myself in another famous food spot. Indeed, this noodle stall lived up to its reputation as the king of wantan mee. It was good.








Just after mid-day, I checked out from the hotel and went to catch the MRT at Aljunied Station. Without the SMRT Tourist Pass, I had to cough out some cash to buy a one way ticket to Changi Airport from the ticketing machine. This time, I decided to leave my luggage at the Left Luggage Office at Terminal 1.



From the airport, I decided to go to Marina Bay, to see Singapore's latest landmark. The surrounding area outside the MRT station exit was undergoing a construction boom. From the Marina Bay MRT Station, it was a few hundred metres walk to Marina Bay promenade.




At the Bay area, I was quite fascinated with all the tall glass towers. There were not many people around and the ample space at the promenade made the atmosphere felt so relaxing. I never realised that a man-made area surrounded by tall glass towers and concrete structures could create such an atmosphere.

I planned to walk a full circle of the promenade. As I reached the double helix pedestrian bridge, it started to drizzle. I aborted my attempt and returned to Marina Bay Station, this time dropping in at The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands.












From Marina Bay, I went to Chinatown MRT Station. On stepping out of the station A Entrance to Pagoda Street, I saw the wet ground and the dark sky. It was pouring rain. There was no fun in the wet weather. The area around A Entrance has lots of souvenir shops and restaurants, all draped in plastic to protect themselves from the rain. There was nothing to see and I walked across the overhead bridge to People's Park Complex. Here, I found a few food stalls and decided to taste something there.











I left Chinatown after 5 p.m. and decided to drop by at Bugis MRT Station for dinner and to pick up some finger food before returning to Changi Airport. I had been eyeing the delicious looking finger food there and must have it before leaving Singapore for Port Moresby that evening.


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