S’pore Airport: In previous years, Changi Airport has been voted the best airport in the world. It is beautiful; from the photos you saw on my 2nd posting – they really “bling” it up for Christmas! I was so tired that night, I didn’t take any more pictures; I’ll have to take some when we leave. http://www.changiairport.com/changi/en/about_us/history_changi.html?__locale=enMRT (Mass Rapid Transit): I’m up and running with my EZ-Link card and have been bopping around town on the underground. When you get outside of S’pore the trains run above ground. As you can see from the picture above, they have a marketing campaign going on to make sure the waiting people let the “alighting” passengers out: “Don’t Play, Play – let me come out first!” Here’s one the announcements in the train station: “Attention please, please give way to alighting passengers before boarding, thank you.” But, it’s like nothing you have ever seen (unless you’ve been in Puerto Rico waiting for an elevator – you know what I mean!); just masses of people (especially at rush hour and on the weekends) being transported on these trains. Everyone barely waits for the others to get out before rushing the train and if it’s busy you just have to push your way in – no one cares…I find it to be a bit overwhelming, though I love the convenience of it – so it’s a double-edged sword for me. The trains are extremely, extremely clean and usually quite cool, when there aren’t too many people in them. I like to people watch; people just zone - listening to iPods or play games on phones, etc. The bus system operates on the same style as the MRT – I only have to have one card. You just “top up” or add value to your card at one of the kiosks. By the way, yes, even the school buses are yellow! And for the tourists, they have double-decker buses.
Cars in S’pore: Owning a car in S’pore is discouraged. So, I couldn’t figure what was up when I was walking to see Paul at work one day: in a row, a Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, BMW, Lamborghini and a Mercedes. Later that night, we saw the Volkswagen Polo advertised for S$63K (approx $35K USD – ouch!). They have some motorcycles here and we can even hear them in the hotel at times – pretty loud, we’re pretty high up – but Paul tells me the motorcycles here are nothing like Taiwan. I guess they are all over there.
I love having this chance to experience these new things and be able to compare them to my other experiences. For example, for 2009, I have been on city train systems in Milan, Paris, London and now Singapore. It’s really interesting to start to understand the lingo and all of the nuances. You just don’t get these kinds of experiences in Denver, though I am really starting to appreciate the wide-open spaces there! But, not the cold, last I heard it was 4 degrees – that’s just a little too chilly for me!
So I have to tell you.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was there I decided to use the MRT a few times myself. On my way to work I would always pop over to Starbucks, outside the hotel. Then, off I would go to the MRT to work.
So one day I was just blissfully walking along with drink in hand the MRT station. Used the ticket to get through the stalls and boarded the train. Out of nowhere, I realized that not one other person on the train had a beverage of any kind. I thought, "oh, that is odd." And immediately, it occurred to me that it was not legal to have drinks on the train. I glanced over and read the sign for how much the fine would be for drinking on the train. I promptly shoved my drink into my backpack.
No way! I didn't know either. I'm glad you said something - I would have grabbed a juice and popped on the MRT! Yikes!
ReplyDelete