Singapore.. So near but yet so far..

Awaken by the chirping birds outside my room and the refreshing Sunday morning breeze, it's time to start another day. Today i went downtown to have a walk around bringing nothing but my bag containg my passport, a water bottle and some cash. Noramally back in Malaysia, if you are new to a place and you ain't taking taxi to your destination, a tour guide must be present or at least a map can come in handy so that you can find your way home before midnight; but things here works slightly differently, as long as you have the energy and stamina, you can basically walk all around from place to place by yourself, without asking help from anyone. But of course, basic english is important so that you can read the signboards all around. Getting lost here is literally impossible..

One thing about Singapore is there are shopping malls everywhere.. Walking down the streets of Singapore, all you see are malls... malls... and even more malls... Stepping into on of the hundreds of malls with take you to never ending corridors of shops.. Here, everthing is branded, from the fashion shops, to the restaurants and kopitiam.. from brands we see only in some high class malls back in kk like Esprit, Giordano, Baleno... to brands that only exists as a myth in my mind like French Connection, Levi Strauss Signature, any many more which names i have forgotten, you can litterally find brands which is only available in kk at 1 Borneo in every shopping mall here.. For those who enjoy shopping, here is the perfect place for you to be.. Just to let you know there is a sale going on here and everywhere i go i can see banners, posters, papers haging at the glass door that read " Up to 70% Discount", "50 % Discount Storewide" "$6 for ANY TOPS".. And there's a significant difference in the sales going on here compared back in Malaysia.. If you have noticed, Malaysia's sales normally starts counting from 20%, 30% and if you get real lucky you may hit a shop with 70% discount going on, but whats the point of sales if wherever you go you just can't find the right size for your shirt, pants or shoes.. Discount here starts from 50% and the best thing is you can be sure to find your size.. Oh I forgot to mention that even the toilet bowls and water taps are branded.. What the hell..

When we finally found our way out of the interconnecting networks of shopping complexes, we saw a gigantic round frame in our front direction with capsules sticking out of it in every 10 metre gap.. It was the famous Singapore Flyer ( I didnt know its name until i got there and saw the signboard).

Singapore Flyer - from up close

We took a ride in it.. The whole place looks and feels like an aiport to me.. Our ride is actually call flight.. Now i know how it got it's name..

After a breathtaking 45 minutes ride up there - which should be more beautiful if flying at night, I had a dreamy feeling when stepping right back on solid ground.. Suddenly everything from all around seems to fall back in place.. While up there you just feel like you're umpama tuhan, with everthing below you..

After that we walked all our way to one of the most famous landmarks in Singapore, we call it the durian since we don't know its actual name.. I doubted whether to call it that way since the name seems to downgrade the class of that building.. Its actually used for exhibition purposes and other functions which im not sure about..

The Durian... I felt sorry for the name...

And following up next is another landmarks known far back in time before we were born and when our parents were still teenagers.. The Merlion.. For you guys who never heard of it and now wondering what in the world is a merlion, lets take a look at the picture below..

The Merlion..

Lets think about it like this, a MERMAID is a biological combination between a MER...which stands for fish, and a MAID... which stands for a women.. For those who have read Harry Potter - The Goblet of Fire, the term MERPEOPLE should be very familiar.. Its a genetic combination between, again a MER and PEOPLE.. which stand for us, homo sapiens to be specific.. Next up, whats a MERLION.. You guessed right its a fish and a lion.. Good job figuring out.. This statue sucks up endless suplly of seawater from below and spits it out from its lion mouth in a powerful stream of water.. I actually got sprinkles of water wetting my shirt from this far away..

Ending this one day self guided tour around downtown Singapore, we took a ten minutes walk to the nearest MRT station which is underground and sat down there, waiting for the next train to arrive.. I'm starting to feel some muscle cramps on both of my foot and i can actually fell the muscles of my legs generating and stiffing these few days.. After half a year, I wonder how fit would my legs be.. It's a good experience though, we should think of having a class trip to Singapore if you guys wanna shop rather than going to KL.. Things here aren't so expensive after all..

Here comes the train.. One and a half hours until i reach home..

Singapore.. So near but yer so far..