I flew to Singapore on Monday afternoon after Eid al Adha to attend a seminar. The seminar was held at Amara Hotel in Tanjong Pagar but I stayed at The Residence at Singapore Recreation Club instead for a number of reasons: staying at Amara would cost TheOrganisation more; Amara is in the business area, and the vicinity would be ‘dead’ after office hours; as it’s not centrally located, it’d be more difficult for me to find food, specifically halal food there (its proximity to Chinatown would not help me at all in finding halal food). My four-night stay The Residence gave at least S$200 cost-saving to TheOrganisation. It’s only a two-minute walk from the City Hall MRT station so it’s so much more centrally-located. Not to mention, both the North-South and East-West MRT lines serve this station.
We were supposed to land after 55 minutes but we were circling for a while before we could land. So when we finally landed, we had to join hundreds of other passengers from other airlines at the immigration. It took more than 20 minutes to clear immigration and when I finally joined the taxi queue, it was well past 6.15 pm. We reached The Residence at close to 6 and it was already getting dark.
After checking in and performing prayers, I walked out to Bugis Junction to find a store. I had dinner there before walking back to the hotel.
On Tuesday morning, I went for a morning walk after morning prayers. It was a grey overcast morning and in fact it was drizzling lightly. I walked a few blocks before turning back and had reached the posh Raffles Hotel about 100 metres away from The Residence when the skies opened up and the rain came down hard and heavy. I waited out the rain for about ten minutes, increasingly feeling hungrier by the minute. Finally the torrential downpour slowed down to steady rain and I decided to brave it back. A kindly Singh staff offered to lend me a brolly (I didn't ask, he offered) and I accepted it gratefully. I told him I’d only be able to return it later in the day and he said not to worry about it. I returned to my room and had a quick shower before going down for breakfast.
The rain had gained momentum in the meantime and had returned to a torrential downpour when I emerged. All the taxies seemed to be on hire and I reckoned it would be ages before I could find an empty cab at that hour in that weather. So I braved the rain and walked to the MRT station. It was a good thing I went ahead and packed my pair of Crocs footwear as they came in very handy indeed in that weather.
Tanjong Pagar MRT was full of employees all stranded in the station and even the escalators were stopped for this reason. I walked through the running water and before long, my Crocs were soaked. I quickly changed footwear in the washroom before making my way to the ballroom where we would be cooped up in for the next couple of days.
The rain resulted in the seminar starting later than scheduled as we waited for the remaining participants. Even the chap who was supposed to officiate the seminar and deliver the opening remarks arrived an hour later (he was caught in the traffic for two hours)! And in case you forgot, there's the ERP charge slapped on during peak hours...
Thankfully, the organisers were thoughtful enough to allocate a prayer room (this being Singapore, you won’t find any prayer room in hotels or shopping complexes) so I performed prayers there before having lunch. We finished after 6 pm on the first day and I hurried back to my room to change before going out again to Orchard Road. I was at the MRT platform on my way back at exactly 10 pm but not to worry, Sin City is a very safe city. Whenever I peeked out of my room, I could see people walking even at close to midnight. You don’t need to worry about suspicious characters lurking behind a bush or tree ready to ambush you. You don’t have to worry about being pick-pocketed in crowded trains or snatched while walking alone. And there’s no illegal motor racing (especially since my room faces Stamford Road)! Hate it or like it, we have a mighty lot to learn from our neighbour.
It didn’t rain on Wednesday but I decided not to go for any morning walk. The day pretty much was a repeat of the day before. Different speakers of course, different levels of concentration needed. I sat at a different table and met new people. We finished just before 6 and again, I hurried back to change before taking the train to Orchard Road. Yes, again. This time, I cut my browsing time and returned back to City Hall after 8 pm and walked to Marina Square.
We had workshops in the morning and afternoon on Thursday. I had filtered through the speakers from the previous couple of days and earmarked those I thought interesting. The morning workshop I was in was over-subscribed, so much so the room was cramped. But we all gained a lot from the active interaction and participation. We ended just after 12 for lunch. It was a two-hour lunch break today and we started our afternoon workshop at 2 (I wouldn't have minded having a one-hour lunch and starting again at 1 so that we could end early but well, I wasn’t part of the organising team...).
I left at 5.30 pm and hurried back to change before walking out to the Marina Bay Sands. It was an easy fifteen-minute walk. I wandered around the shops, got chatted to by a hottie salesman and even checked out the casino. I left after about 20 minutes and walked back to Raffles City. I had dinner there before returning back to my room. No shopping today, just lots of visual treats.
As I’d decided to buy some fragrance for Abah, I had to return to Orchard Road again on Friday morning. I decided to take a leisurely walk there instead and set off after breakfast. It took me 30 minutes to walk to Orchard Road and I managed to get the items I wanted. I hurried back to my room and checked out at 1215.
I took a cab to the airport and reached Terminal 2 at 1237 (flight was at 1340!). I still managed to browse some shops, buy a lion key chain for my nephew and checked out the Golden Lounge before running all the way to gate E26. The queue was such that we only took off at 1400. There were a lot of clouds (it was threatening to rain in Singapore) that there were some turbulence (I hate turbulence).
Despite the later take-off, we landed at 1445. I was already reunited with my bag at 1455 but missed the 1500 KLIA Express train by about ten seconds. How annoying! So I had to wait for the next train out. From KL Sentral, I took a cab home. It rained all the way but not thankfully in Ampang.
So that was my fourth trip to SG this year. I don’t think another trip would come so soon, especially not when the SGD keeps appreciating and when Johor Premium Outlets open on 2 December (grand opening on 11 December 2011 - originally supposed to be today, 11.11.11).
This definitely warrants a trip to Senai in the near future. Watch this space!
P.S. In case you are wondering, yes, I rely on my watch a lot. I have this tendency to time myself, how long it takes me to get from A to B, whether it be on foot, by bus, taxi or train. I set time limit on myself (I’m not rigid, I just like to set a timeframe and plan my schedule like this and I do adjust my schedule as necessary), I set aside how much time I reckon I need to do something, I clock myself...no, I can’t explain it and I don’t know why I have this obsession to time myself (I think it's because the first surah delivered by the angel Gabriel to prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is al-‘Asr). So yes, when you see reference to time in this blog, it’s because of my obsession to check the time and tendency to place things in their time.
We were supposed to land after 55 minutes but we were circling for a while before we could land. So when we finally landed, we had to join hundreds of other passengers from other airlines at the immigration. It took more than 20 minutes to clear immigration and when I finally joined the taxi queue, it was well past 6.15 pm. We reached The Residence at close to 6 and it was already getting dark.
After checking in and performing prayers, I walked out to Bugis Junction to find a store. I had dinner there before walking back to the hotel.
On Tuesday morning, I went for a morning walk after morning prayers. It was a grey overcast morning and in fact it was drizzling lightly. I walked a few blocks before turning back and had reached the posh Raffles Hotel about 100 metres away from The Residence when the skies opened up and the rain came down hard and heavy. I waited out the rain for about ten minutes, increasingly feeling hungrier by the minute. Finally the torrential downpour slowed down to steady rain and I decided to brave it back. A kindly Singh staff offered to lend me a brolly (I didn't ask, he offered) and I accepted it gratefully. I told him I’d only be able to return it later in the day and he said not to worry about it. I returned to my room and had a quick shower before going down for breakfast.
The rain had gained momentum in the meantime and had returned to a torrential downpour when I emerged. All the taxies seemed to be on hire and I reckoned it would be ages before I could find an empty cab at that hour in that weather. So I braved the rain and walked to the MRT station. It was a good thing I went ahead and packed my pair of Crocs footwear as they came in very handy indeed in that weather.
Tanjong Pagar MRT was full of employees all stranded in the station and even the escalators were stopped for this reason. I walked through the running water and before long, my Crocs were soaked. I quickly changed footwear in the washroom before making my way to the ballroom where we would be cooped up in for the next couple of days.
The rain resulted in the seminar starting later than scheduled as we waited for the remaining participants. Even the chap who was supposed to officiate the seminar and deliver the opening remarks arrived an hour later (he was caught in the traffic for two hours)! And in case you forgot, there's the ERP charge slapped on during peak hours...
Thankfully, the organisers were thoughtful enough to allocate a prayer room (this being Singapore, you won’t find any prayer room in hotels or shopping complexes) so I performed prayers there before having lunch. We finished after 6 pm on the first day and I hurried back to my room to change before going out again to Orchard Road. I was at the MRT platform on my way back at exactly 10 pm but not to worry, Sin City is a very safe city. Whenever I peeked out of my room, I could see people walking even at close to midnight. You don’t need to worry about suspicious characters lurking behind a bush or tree ready to ambush you. You don’t have to worry about being pick-pocketed in crowded trains or snatched while walking alone. And there’s no illegal motor racing (especially since my room faces Stamford Road)! Hate it or like it, we have a mighty lot to learn from our neighbour.
It didn’t rain on Wednesday but I decided not to go for any morning walk. The day pretty much was a repeat of the day before. Different speakers of course, different levels of concentration needed. I sat at a different table and met new people. We finished just before 6 and again, I hurried back to change before taking the train to Orchard Road. Yes, again. This time, I cut my browsing time and returned back to City Hall after 8 pm and walked to Marina Square.
We had workshops in the morning and afternoon on Thursday. I had filtered through the speakers from the previous couple of days and earmarked those I thought interesting. The morning workshop I was in was over-subscribed, so much so the room was cramped. But we all gained a lot from the active interaction and participation. We ended just after 12 for lunch. It was a two-hour lunch break today and we started our afternoon workshop at 2 (I wouldn't have minded having a one-hour lunch and starting again at 1 so that we could end early but well, I wasn’t part of the organising team...).
I left at 5.30 pm and hurried back to change before walking out to the Marina Bay Sands. It was an easy fifteen-minute walk. I wandered around the shops, got chatted to by a hottie salesman and even checked out the casino. I left after about 20 minutes and walked back to Raffles City. I had dinner there before returning back to my room. No shopping today, just lots of visual treats.
As I’d decided to buy some fragrance for Abah, I had to return to Orchard Road again on Friday morning. I decided to take a leisurely walk there instead and set off after breakfast. It took me 30 minutes to walk to Orchard Road and I managed to get the items I wanted. I hurried back to my room and checked out at 1215.
I took a cab to the airport and reached Terminal 2 at 1237 (flight was at 1340!). I still managed to browse some shops, buy a lion key chain for my nephew and checked out the Golden Lounge before running all the way to gate E26. The queue was such that we only took off at 1400. There were a lot of clouds (it was threatening to rain in Singapore) that there were some turbulence (I hate turbulence).
Despite the later take-off, we landed at 1445. I was already reunited with my bag at 1455 but missed the 1500 KLIA Express train by about ten seconds. How annoying! So I had to wait for the next train out. From KL Sentral, I took a cab home. It rained all the way but not thankfully in Ampang.
So that was my fourth trip to SG this year. I don’t think another trip would come so soon, especially not when the SGD keeps appreciating and when Johor Premium Outlets open on 2 December (grand opening on 11 December 2011 - originally supposed to be today, 11.11.11).
This definitely warrants a trip to Senai in the near future. Watch this space!
P.S. In case you are wondering, yes, I rely on my watch a lot. I have this tendency to time myself, how long it takes me to get from A to B, whether it be on foot, by bus, taxi or train. I set time limit on myself (I’m not rigid, I just like to set a timeframe and plan my schedule like this and I do adjust my schedule as necessary), I set aside how much time I reckon I need to do something, I clock myself...no, I can’t explain it and I don’t know why I have this obsession to time myself (I think it's because the first surah delivered by the angel Gabriel to prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is al-‘Asr). So yes, when you see reference to time in this blog, it’s because of my obsession to check the time and tendency to place things in their time.
|