Almost There

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After 23 sleepless hours of flights and stopovers, at 23:45 PM, I've finally arrived in Singapore. As the plane touched down at Changi Airport, an almost-tangible wave of nostalgia hit me. Suppressing it was no easy feat; when I took the first few steps outside the airport, I was amazed at the incredible amount of foliage and vegetation. Moreso, I was even more frightened by the prospect that I had forgotten that such breathtakingly beautiful sceneries exist in this world.

Our hotel bus took us on a 30-minute drive through part of the city. I couldn't help but gawk at this incredible man-made garden of a city. Botanical engineering is evident everywhere: carefully-trimmed leafy vines climb up every other lamppost; giant 50-foot trees with a width span of two full-length buses umbrella main roads; the median is occupied by smaller trees that divide pink and violet flowering plants; hanging plants spill over from every bridge. I wonder how the plants are kept so well. I later found out that if anyone so much as rips a little leaf off any plant, he/she will be fined $500 SGD.

Tomorrow, we leave for Brunei, my birthplace and home.

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