Loved Singapore but....

After a stay of 3 months in Singapore - a time ; good enough to know the city well ; I confess I loved Singapore  for reasons more than those below ...

1) Comfort :A well developed city with all comforts of a developed country from ease of transportation to quality of things you get here.A fabulously well connected transportation system linked by trains and buses.
The internet speed and availability of 4G makes the country well connected to the world over internet.
2)Proximity to India and a decent paying job - I could afford the time and money for at least one trip to India a month.

3)People: I liked Singaporeans for their hospitality - smile , accommodating nature and cleanliness - not to mention their hardworking nature. Singaporeans slog in and out at work and is a tough competition for the Indians working with them.

4) Availability of Indian food : Food is one thing that you generally miss when on onsite assignment in foreign countries ; but in Singapore with a prominent Tamil population you get good south Indian food and  plenty of options at it.

5) Asian Culture where children and elderly are taken proper care of . Kids are pampered , punished and corrected. I felt it to be a good place to have your kids grow up. 

And you get a good choice of Indian schools so that kids don't suffer the 'syllabus shock' if you happen to move back to India. So Singapore in general is a good option to make quick money for those in the IT industry without compromising on your kids education or the fun of those family get togethers and marriages back in India.

Having said that ...it is time for me to take leave off the city for something better back in India.

Time to cuddle up with my husband and son for a peaceful good sleep...which I've been missing all these days.

Happened to see a 'note' written my mom on the last page of a diary ... I couldn't help taking it and kissing it all over in fact on every letter or number she had scribbled . It was a very generic note - a scribble of some numbers . The upsurge of emotions on sight of her handwriting in me was so intense and profound that I had absolute no control on my  actions ..neither on my tears.

Wishing all mothers good health and long life !

Gong xi fa cai !

fruit is orange
colour is red
dance by lions
light by lanterns

year is new
soon by moon
luck bet yours
perk be so

恭喜發財 :)
Gong xi fa cai :)
Chinese New Year Greetings :)

Comfort in Singapore

Any mention of travel/transportation in Singapore would remain incomplete without the mention of the comfort offered by the city taxis. Run round the clock, across the city, along all roads,  Taxi services are a boon in the never predictable rain and sun in Singapore. Affordable though higher than the bus and MRT, taxi services are a good option in case of  emergency or while commuting at night after the bus and train services stop.

The number of private cars on Singapore roads is restricted to curb congestion and pollution .Car buyers have to pay one and half times the market value of the car as Duties and bid for a  Singaporean Certificate of Entitlement which allows the car to be run on the roads for a decade.So as statistics has it , only one in ten Singapore residents owns a car - another good  reason why Taxis are a popular option of transport here and are available round the clock on the roads.

So call 6552 1111 or just flag them down as they  ply with the green 'TAXI' mount and have the comfort of  'Comfort Taxis ' at your footstep wherever you are (in Singapore  though)...

Commuting in Singapore....!!

A small well connected highly developed sovereign city state , Singapore consists of a diamond shaped main island and over 60 small islets. With more than 3000 km of road length , the mainland is  well connected by road and rail. With a single ezlink card that can be used on buses and trains ; a traveler in Singapore can hop on and off buses and trains to reach any destination. The Ezlink cards can be bought at any MRT station ticketing counter and costs 7 SGD for the card and can be topped up from a  5 to 150 SGD.

There are skywalks in almost all bus stops to cross over the road. Climbing up and down the stairs may be a tiresome task for the aged though.

Mass Rapid Transit  (MRT ) forms the major component of Train services in Singapore and are complemented by their feeder services known as Light RailTransit ( LRT ) . Train stations or MRT stations  are usually walkable from bustops / interchanges and are indicated by the MRT station symbols.Services operate from about 05:00 am and usually end before 1 am.

The MRT stations are usually buzzling  with people in the peak hours of the day.

You may have to change lines at some stations and can be a walk of few hundred meters through the station. Have a tube map in hand and follow the signs and displays to the correct platform.

So recharge your ezlink card, get a tube map from the nearest MRT station , hop on the trains and buses to see around the whole of Singapore when you are here ….and don’t forget your goggles , umbrella and bottle of water . The Singapore weather is either hot or rainy.