Arrived in Singapore bright and early Friday morning after catching a 2 am flight out of Perth. Thought I would catch the train to my hotel, only to realise halfway there that I should probably have just taken a cab. Negotiating the subway transfers with full travel luggage during rush hour in busy Singapore was probably a bit much. Fortunately, the hotel, across from a nice little district of colonial-style architecture shops, agreed to take my baggage straight away, even though I wasn’t supposed to check in until 3 pm.
I used to travel to Singapore about 3 times a year a decade ago for business, but I have not been back in years. Traipsing through my old haunts in my very jet-lagged state, I snooped around the Bugis and Orchard Road shopping districts trying to stay awake. Fortunately, I checked back with the hotel by noon, and they had a room available for me. I went straight to bed for a 3-hour nap, then headed out for dinner that evening. Probably the nicest hotel I’ve stayed in on my own dime.
Looks like Singapore is getting ramped up for the next two big events: Chinese New Year and Valentine’s Day. Many Chinese markets had large piles of fireworks for sale, which I don’t think airlines would let me take out of the country. Valentine’s Day normally wouldn’t be worth mentioning, except that they had installed big, over-the-top purple light displays up and down the walkways along Orchard Road.
Flight from Perth to Singapore
