First impressions are so important - Singapore is amazingly amazing!

We arrived at the Chiangi airport late afternoon on Tuesday the 15th of September.  Vietnam was extremely trying at times.  I knew we would need a break from the constant culture shock and thought Singapore would be a nice distraction however Jim initially was not keen on visiting another big expensive city and had made the request to minimize our time in Singapore and perhaps skip it all together.  I blatantly disregarded thus suggestion and took another approach.  I not only booked a few days in Singapore but on recommendation from Kunta our sailing captain in Koh Samui, I extend our time to 6 days.  The Grand Prix F1 was occurring the same time as our visit and this had really increased the price of hotel rooms as well as making availability scarce as we would need two rooms - quad rooms are all but non existent in this part of the world.  Price of air B&bs were also going through the roof. After a ton of research I did finally find a nice modern albeit small central Air B&B with pool for $210 a night and went for it. 

Jim and the children had been secretly counting down the days since Hanoi and during our last week in Vietnam, Singapore and going to Universal studios came up daily.   The thought of going to anEnglish-speaking  developed country with clean side walks, pollution control and green space made Jim froth at the mouth.  They could barely contain their enthusiasm on the plane, especially after our daring escape from Da Nang and Typhoon Vanco.

Welcome to Singapore, the kids ran off the plane and into the most modern of airports.  There was no loud noises, no garbage, expansive space, orderly queues, English signs, vertical gardens and greenery, candies at immigration and a very large multi story slide...and this was Just the airport!

Jim went to get do local currency after we cleared customs, it was roughly 6pm and just a few people in this expansive and modern airport.  Something caught my eye and it was a sign for the super slide.  I quickly called the children over and said guys get a load of this.  It was a three story polished metal tube type of slide.  On monitors it gave the present time of the slider as well as the best time ever.  There was a lovely lady with her son who was about 8 years old and we got to chatting.  I asked were the tickets were being sold for this slide and she then offered us 4 tickets for the kids to slide indicating that the tickets were driven out with every purchase at the airport shops.  Wow what a lovely lady and so friendly.

We then queued up for a cab - is it a queue if it is just you? 😀. There was also a big sign at taxi stand indicating that it is a major offense for cabs to overcharge and not to use the meter.  Wow what a difference from Vietnam where cabs with tampered meters were the norm and being "taken for a ride " was a sport to some Vietnamese.  The cabby was super informative and when pJim told him that we were from Canada and this was our first time in Singapore he counseled Jim to never ever tell a cab driver that as they may take advantage of his unfamiliarity with the city...not in Singapore but other cities.  Good advice.

Our air B&B is one of many condo buildings tucked aware off of Orchard Road right across from the presidents residence, a lovely park and green area but what I have seen of Singapore so far greening of this city has been a priority for a long time which great success in terms of air quality and access to green spaces and parks.