28 January, 2016

SINGAPORE - DAY 1


THE DAY WE GO TO A DIFFERENT TIME ZONE 

My family and I recently went on a trip to Singapore and Malaysia. It all started on December 19, 2015. Our flight from Nedumbassery Airport was at 23.35. We called an Uber and that day was the worst in terms of traffic. After almost an hour of going through random places, we reached Hotel Marriott. This was where the travel agency had told all the families to meet. At 21.30, we entered the airport and went straight to the boarding pass counter. After getting all the necessary procedures done like security check and immigration clearance, we waited for our flight call.

Now, I'm not that good with flights. I thought I'd tell you straight away before all the gory details come. The air hostesses of Malindo Air were dressed so beautifully! I loved their outfit and when I complimented one air hostess, she was so happy. The flight was mostly uneventful. My parents slept while I watched Queen. Take-off and cruising were the easy parts for me. But the minute the pilot announced that we were descending, my tummy started doing flips and I felt like my head was going to break. There was a piercing, unpleasant pain in my forehead. This was not a surprise as it happened for every single flight! 

We landed at Kuala Lumpur Airport at 6.00 their time. We were pretty exhausted. We freshened up and again went through immigration clearance and security check as we had to catch a connection flight to Singapore from there. Let me just tell you, the airport was close to perfection. It was so huge and wonderfully maintained. The most appealing thing about airports is the fact that they provide free WiFi. But we didn't spend much time there as our next flight was at 7.15. 




I vomited while landing and my head was throbbing. I was sleep-deprived too. So you can imagine my irritation when they didn't let us go to the hotel and freshen up. Instead, we were taken on a city tour and to the famous Orchid Garden after lunch. Seeing the pretty orchids made me feel a bit better. 

The hotel we were staying in was called Chancellor @ Orchard. I loved the room but the only thing I didn't like about it was that they only provided 50 MB free WiFi per room. Imagine our annoyance. We couldn't even keep in touch with our family back home for the first three days of the trip because of the stupid WiFi problem. 

Anyway, in the evening, we were taken to The Gardens By The Bay. Since we went during Christmas week, every building was brightly lit and there were decorations all over the place. This garden is artificially created inside an enormous air-conditioned dome. There was also a man-made waterfall. At about this point, Appa made a comment on how many beautiful natural waterfalls we had back home. 


 We saw a beautiful light and music show there, after which we were taken for dinner. And that was the perfect end to an almost perfect day. The food was delicious. We got back to the hotel and had a soothing sleep.