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Published: February 2nd 2015
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We spent only one night is Singapore in a hotel in Chinatown. We travelled there from KL on an aircon 'Nice' executive bus. This supposedly is like an airoplane as you get an electric socket, screen with films to watch, food, and extra leg room. Infact the food was minimal (we had to quickly buy a KFC takeaway when there was a toilet stop at the services) and the film quality was poor....so I read and looked out the window instead of watching. No big deal....ticket price was £15 for 6 hour journey, but could have been less still on less 'Nice' ordinary aircon bus.
In Chinatown they were getting ready for the new year (year of the goat) so everywhere was colourfully decorated and busy. The hotel room had one of those typical chinese shuttered windows above a busy market street. Handy food court opposite. Singapore is clean efficiency itself......the MRT is brilliant. There is hardly any gap between the platform and the train, lifts and escalators everywhere, and so easy with heavy wheeled luggage. Also very fast and cheap, fares ranging from approx 50p to £1. Didnt have time to do much. Ate chinese food, and took a
picture of the cable car to Sentosa (because we remembered it from 16 years ago when we had a stopover in Singapore on our way to visit Kris in NZ). Then MRT to Changi airport. Changi airport is ,of course, clean efficiency itself. They have loungers as well as ordinary chairs in the waiting areas, and even free foot massaging machines...which we tried out. Also free wifi and electric sockets, lots of shops and arty installations. All this puts Heathrow and LA airports to shame.
5 hour flight to Delhi with decent film to watch and decent meal. Delhi is a complete contrast to Singapore! Everything is fairly chaotic. We were very glad that we had arranged airport pick up via the hotel. The taxi ride was crazy....the roads seem to be a free for all, everyone jostling and beeping their horns, and no lane discipline. The hotel is up a side alley off the main bazaar close to the train station, and there is no way we could have found our way here safely on our own. Apart from eating and gawping at the strange sights around us, we spent the first day checking our train tickets are
in order. We had strict instructions not to get taken in by touts at the station, and to go straight up to the first floor to the international travellers office and get them to check our reservations and monthly pass, that was issued in London. We were so gullible that we were taken in by a well dressed man, (with ID saying he was from the tourist board), who stopped us at the entrance to the station and persuaded us that the international travellers office had moved premises. He persuaded us to take a rickshaw to the supposed new office, where another smartly dressed guy with a computer and walls covered by travel tourist posters explained that our tickets were no good. He said we would have to cancel them to get a refund, and he could rebook everything. He wanted to book us a car and driver for a large chunk of the journey because 'train is no good in Rajistan - you need car' in addition to rebooking some trains. He said we must go to the nearby Starbucks to use their wifi and email London to cancel our monthly pass. (We had told him quite truthfully that
we had no credit on our phones to contact London.) They left us alone in Starbucks, where we both agreed that we didnt want to do this, and that we should go back to the station incase it was a scam, and that the international office was still upstairs at the station. Another smart guy met us coming out of Starbucks and tried to convince us to go back to the office, but we ignored him and jumped in a rickshaw back to the train station. Here we walked fast past a load of touts, who were telling similar variations on the story, and up to the first floor, where the international tourist office STILL EXISTS. What a releif! The lady there checked in her books and said our tickets are fine. So, a happy ending after all.
After this we got a veggy curry in a rooftop restuarant by the bazaar. We could see and hear them setting up a political rally in the street. There is a local election in about a week. The PMs party were having the rally. There were loads of supporters there many wearing orange hats, and also police with guns. By tommorrow
we will find out if we made any culinary mistakes....remembered to be veggy and no salad.....but forgot that we should get drinks from cans or bottles until after Fred had drank a mango lassi and I a mint lemon juice. Find out the outcome in the next blog!
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