This is Day 2 for me in Singapore. So much has happened since we arrived yesterday morning (what a swank airport!).
Despite my obvious lack of sleep (masyadong excited, chong!), one of the first things anyone would notice upon arrival is how CLEAN and ORDERLY the airport is. You can probably eat off the floor if you wanted to. But then some airport official would just take you away and cane your ass for doing so…
Even first-timers wouldn’t have a hard time finding their way around. If you miss the (multilingual) signs they have all around the place, there’s always a rack of nice little brochures to offer you directions, and some useful suggestions. If that doesn’t work for you- ask anyone and they’d be more than happy to help you out somehow.
The cab drivers are extremely courteous, and a quick little chat with the one we had from the airport explained that all foreigners from just about everywhere are all welcome in Singapore. It’s true. Apparently out of the country’s 4 million population, some 1 million people are from Europe, Malaysia, India, the Ukraine, the Philippines, etc. and they’re all part of a very productive workforce here in Singapore.
We checked in at the Swissotel (at Stamford), which is right smack in the middle of their equivalent of our Makati, and as it turns out, is the tallest hotel in Singapore. 70 stories high- with a nice little restaurant and bar at the rooftop. Our room was at the 44th floor. Pretty scary- I was in the room just at the time one of the smaller aftershocks hit us (the main quake happened in Sumatra- not far from here). It wasn’t a big one, but you can definitely feel the room shake and the structure creak a bit for a few seconds.
Anyhoo, tired as we were from the trip, we set out to get some food. Fortunately, there’s a mall attached right next to the hotel- it looks a lot like The Podium, only a lot larger. We tried out a place called Mos Burgers- and I was told later on that McDo copied the rice burgers from them (not that eat rice burgers- bad idea jeans.). For a fast food resto, the corn soup was excellent. And I had these interesting boneless fried chicken fillet-things.
After heading back to the room to catch up on lost sleep, we decided to set out to get some supplies. Usual stuff you wanna get if you’re staying in a hotel (coz you don’t want to eat the SGD15 can of cashews right next to the minibar)- so that means water and other drinks, some snacks and some personal care stuff. Lots of interesting stuff we found at the supermarket. Would’ve been cool if I could actually get some to cook, but I’ll probably get to do that the next time I come over.
Not much in the way of cable though- at least not at this hotel. No StarWorld or AXN. At least we have Discovery and HBO. Gives you a chance to sample some of the local fare a bit. Of course, you won’t be watching much TV since you WILL want to go around and check out as much of the city as you can.
The radio stations I’ve listened to pretty much play pop stuff (no Yes FM music for you Yes FM fans, sorry…), and it was later explained to me that there are stations catering to Chinese, to Indians, to Malays, etc. All the same, you have at least 5 or 6 English FM stations going on.
What I’ve really noticed was the ad spending- on TV, on radio, on the newspapers- it’s a sign that there’s lots of business going on- there’s always somebody somewhere selling or in need of something. That can only be a good thing, right? Definitely worth exploring opportunities around here.
Well, it’s now 3:18 AM. More raves to follow.
