The story really starts in February with our trip to Singapore. A few months prior, Olga had attended a Charity function at the Australian Embassy where she won a weekend at the Singapore Intercontinental in one of their Shophouse suites. When you live in Delhi, free hotel rooms in another country is a gift from the Gods (which one of the 330 million, I cannot say).
We decided to extend our trip a few nights as the 6 hour flight to Singapore did not justify only two nights. We figured if we were going, we would at least go for 5 days, as just being somewhere that did not smell like human shit and body odor justified the additional expense!
We left Delhi, as always, under the cover of darkness and a blanket of smog so think you could actually taste it. Yum! We landed in Singapore, on the other hand, under the gentle, clear sunlight and the slight smell of the sea. Our hotel representative met us at the gate ushered us effectively through customs and into our black Mercedes limo for the ride to the hotel. Outside, the city was alive with rush hour traffic flowing orderly across the network of pristine roadways. Inside, the sleek, black car silently wove its way through the city streets as Olga and I admired the mixture of colonial architecture combining seamless with the new modern skyscape of Singapore. It was so different than the run-down, moldy favelas that pass for buildings in Delhi. We were happy!
The hotel is located in the Bugis district of Singapore. In the 1920s, this district was a thriving Peranakans merchant district. The shops were located on the ground floor and the living quarters of the owners and their family on the top. In the 1950s, the area declined and become a huge tourist spot known for its transvestite denizens rather than its merchants. Between the 1950s and 1980s, the area became a huge tourist attraction due to the concentrated transvestite population. In the late 1980s, the district underwent massive urban redevelopment that preserved the unique architecture, but added unique elements such connecting the rooftops with glass and creating air-conditioned, pedestrian shopping areas. The district is a shopping destination for tourist and Singaporeans alike.
The front of the hotel was indistinguishable from most of the other buildings, but when you drove into the courtyard away from the traffic on the street, you got a sense for the oasis it provided. Inside, it felt like a gentle combination of older building melded together to give a grand feel. We were escorted to our suite which was in a quiet, slightly segregated wing away from the main building in which the few Shophouse suites were aligned in narrow corridor. Inside the room retained much of the character that one would image the original house had. It had a foyer, a sitting room, a bed room and a large bathroom. The sitting room had the original French doors which led to a small balcony overlooking what was once the street, but was now a glass topped shopping thoroughfare. Even when you stepped outside the room onto the veranda, you were still inside. Brilliant!
After settling in, we set about exploring Singapore over the next few days. As always, our excursions were mostly anchored in food choices. In a city as diverse as Singapore, choosing which great restaurant to patron is a heart-wrenching choice of picking what you want more over just what you want. We choose steak, sushi and BBQ mostly. It may seem like a waste to choose such continental foods in Singapore, but when you live in a city where most of the native dishes look and smell like diarrhea, something recognizable is worth the sacrifice.
Our dining was interspersed with activities that took us all over the city. We spent a glorious morning walking through the Singapore Botanical Gardens with the largest orchid collection in the world. We spent a night at the unique Singapore Night Zoo in which all the animals are nocturnal. We took a cruise and, of course, had the obligatory spa outing. Overall it was fantastic.
And that was the problem…
Watching the Singaporeans shopping for refrigerated, non-toxic vegetables; eating in hygienic restaurants with a choice of food that will not incite your stomach to try and vacate your body; and just being able to go outside without have to scrub like a nuclear clean-up specialist before you can sit on the furniture got us thinking…
What the hell are we doing in India?
It is not like we have not asked ourselves that question before, but this time it was different. There was a sense of disapprobation and indignation.
It was the beginning of the end.
We decided to extend our trip a few nights as the 6 hour flight to Singapore did not justify only two nights. We figured if we were going, we would at least go for 5 days, as just being somewhere that did not smell like human shit and body odor justified the additional expense!
We left Delhi, as always, under the cover of darkness and a blanket of smog so think you could actually taste it. Yum! We landed in Singapore, on the other hand, under the gentle, clear sunlight and the slight smell of the sea. Our hotel representative met us at the gate ushered us effectively through customs and into our black Mercedes limo for the ride to the hotel. Outside, the city was alive with rush hour traffic flowing orderly across the network of pristine roadways. Inside, the sleek, black car silently wove its way through the city streets as Olga and I admired the mixture of colonial architecture combining seamless with the new modern skyscape of Singapore. It was so different than the run-down, moldy favelas that pass for buildings in Delhi. We were happy!
The hotel is located in the Bugis district of Singapore. In the 1920s, this district was a thriving Peranakans merchant district. The shops were located on the ground floor and the living quarters of the owners and their family on the top. In the 1950s, the area declined and become a huge tourist spot known for its transvestite denizens rather than its merchants. Between the 1950s and 1980s, the area became a huge tourist attraction due to the concentrated transvestite population. In the late 1980s, the district underwent massive urban redevelopment that preserved the unique architecture, but added unique elements such connecting the rooftops with glass and creating air-conditioned, pedestrian shopping areas. The district is a shopping destination for tourist and Singaporeans alike.
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| Original Shop Houses |
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| Redeveloped Shop House |
After settling in, we set about exploring Singapore over the next few days. As always, our excursions were mostly anchored in food choices. In a city as diverse as Singapore, choosing which great restaurant to patron is a heart-wrenching choice of picking what you want more over just what you want. We choose steak, sushi and BBQ mostly. It may seem like a waste to choose such continental foods in Singapore, but when you live in a city where most of the native dishes look and smell like diarrhea, something recognizable is worth the sacrifice.
Our dining was interspersed with activities that took us all over the city. We spent a glorious morning walking through the Singapore Botanical Gardens with the largest orchid collection in the world. We spent a night at the unique Singapore Night Zoo in which all the animals are nocturnal. We took a cruise and, of course, had the obligatory spa outing. Overall it was fantastic.
And that was the problem…
Watching the Singaporeans shopping for refrigerated, non-toxic vegetables; eating in hygienic restaurants with a choice of food that will not incite your stomach to try and vacate your body; and just being able to go outside without have to scrub like a nuclear clean-up specialist before you can sit on the furniture got us thinking…
What the hell are we doing in India?
It is not like we have not asked ourselves that question before, but this time it was different. There was a sense of disapprobation and indignation.
It was the beginning of the end.
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