Travelogue: Singapore July 07

Old shop house from the back originally uploaded by .Nikkster

Day 1: arrival and free shopping day
With only 3 days in this modern Asian city, there was little time for a lot of sightseeing. However, as I have already been here a couple of times, there wasn't much left for me to do.

We arrived in the morning, and got free transport to the hotel by a family member of my school director who happened to be on the same flight with her family. What a bonus! Since check-in wasn't until 2:00pm we had time to kill which meant walking around looking for a money changer.

That was tiring and after changing money we made our way back to the hotel. It was a nice enough room, though the door entry was at an angle so entering was awkward cause you had to swing it completely open to walk in clearly.

We decided to hit Orchard Road for some shopping. I was looking for my favorite store. Alas, I never found it. Later I discovered it had been turned into something else.

Day 2: business plans
Today was the first day of doing business which meant visiting tour agencies. But since the "yahoo" forgot to bring his business cards, we spent the first few hours getting quickie ones made in an hour.

Lunch was at Burger King. I try to avoid the M-place, but am fond of BK. Once cards in hand and lunch down the hatch it was off to the first destination. There was lots of walking and MRT riding, even a taxi thrown in.

The main stop was to the partner's office. It was a quick stop relatively, then we were ready to head back to the hotel. I was tired.

Later in the evening was a meeting with the partner rep, and to my surprise and pleasure a night out with him and his wife and the hotel's GM. We had "hot pot", or porridge as it's called in Singapore. This is more or less a soup pot in the middle of the table where you boil the things you order such as meats and vegies. There was plenty ordered and we were stuffed by the end. Conversation was lively. We even had a dish which was called fried porridge. It was the rice porridge but darker and thicker with some unknowns in it. Delicious!

Day 3: nothingness
I spent today waiting and waiting. I had no idea my partner would be out until 1:00am and I had received no messages of his whereabouts. In fact the hotel reception neglected to give me the two messages he left for me. I was so worried that I nearly felt like calling the police since I had no idea what had happened to him. In the end, he appeared with no explanation. But I wasn't in the mood for an explanation, just happy he was alive.

Day 4: bus to KL
It was an early morning with departure from the bus station at 8:30 for KL. We had to be at the station by 8:00. There were some hot drinks available in an instant beverage machine where you push a button of your choice of drink: Teh Tehrik, Milo, Nescafe with milk, Nescafe without milk, and so on