From Golden mile complex (final stop of our bus from KL) to our hotel near Bugis junction, it was drizzling and so I could see Singapore only through those hazy window panes of the taxi. Unlike my mood in KL during my landing, I was excited and did not want to miss one single view through those window panes. For this was the city that was on my wishlist since my school days.
During school days, map reading was one of my past time. I would spread the atlas in front of me and run my fingers through all those places which my geography teacher had mentioned as beautiful valleys,rivers, volcanoes, plateaus, deserts and cities.
One of the cities that fascinated me was Singapore. It has been an inspiration for lyricists( joyful malaysia, colorful singapore,,,goes the song) and moviemakers who introduced me to this city as a beautiful, clean, litter free and disciplined city. I have read that the civic values and values like punctuality, discipline were not instilled in people overnight. It took them more than 20 years of public education through handbills, films and other media to convert this fishing city into a clean green super city.
I now could see whatever I heard about the city. I saw the discipline on the roads. At the traffic signals, the cars aligned themselves in a matrix of 3 in the 3 way lane. The pedestrians only crossed at the pedestrian crossing and never ran across the road by holding their hand against the car. There were no puddles or water logging on the road despite rains. Where did the rain water drain? No wonder they must have had good road layers and drainage system.
As I was observing all those city scenes, My taxi slowed down in the portico of the 18 storey hotel which was to be my place of stay for the next 3 days. Luckily, this time we and our children got to stay on the 18th floor on the opposite sides. After the touristy things like check in, We took the lift and when we opened our rooms and I went near the window to watch the city below. A huge lawn unfolded in front of my room beside a government primary school. The green well maintained lawns were public property. No one dared to walk over the lawns everybody went around the lawns which was not even fenced or guarded or there was not even a notice board telling people not to walk over the lawns. Yet another example of their sense of discipline and respecting government laws.
I then crossed the corridor to my teens room and they had one of the best views of the city – the boats bobbing in the bay faraway with the Singapore flyer. The sky was still grayish but the drizzle had stopped.
There was so much to see and do for me in the dream city for the next 3days, I should getover the glamour and poshness of the 4 walls within the room and move outside the hotel to see what’s in store for me. We refreshed and went to the base of the hotel to see the glitzy Arabian mall which had arabian lifestyle products and culture on display. We finished our window shopping and moved towards the hotel lobby by 6.
I recalled our driver Matthew’s voice when he dropped us. “We singaporeans are punctual and respect time, so please be here at the lobby by 6. We will leave for the Rivercruise"
My next post will be on my cruise experience down the singapore river.
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the traffic alignment that i observed at most signals
There are buttons on the traffic signal lights to halt the traffic so that the pedestrians can cross the road. the traffic halts for 90 secs. Very safe.
there are no puddles or water logs.
