Seeing SG for the first time
When we stepped outside the airport we were politely greeted by the cab driver who was waiting on the cab bay just few steps away from the airport exit door. I find that comfortable. The cab driver speaks English. He immediately asked us, where are we heading to, so I told him, "We will be checking in at Blah blah hotel". At first, (since, the hotel we booked is somewhat unknown), the taxi driver honestly told us, he does not know where the hotel is. But, promised us to bring us there anyway. He called a number and asked another taxi driver (or perhaps their station) where our hotel is.
Taxis in Singapore are clean, the leg room is wide and the taxi drivers are well-mannered and can largely converse in English. I think, taking the cab in Singapore, no English-speaking person, most especially if you speak Chinese, would have any difficulty if you'll be asking for some directions. The cabs in SG have LCD monitors, where the fare, ads and other matters are flashed like TV. All cabs, for that matter, as I have learned later, have card ports and terminals, where one can pay via VisaCard, MasterCard or any other major credit cards. Imagine, paying through card to a taxi! Another impressive thing about SG taxi drivers is that they do not haggle the price with their passengers. They would even tell you, you will only pay the exact amount as shown in the meter, and normally, they have change for few hundreds. Meaning, they always go to streets prepared.
After our cab driver determined where to go, we had the first glimpse of Singapore....it was so clean. I don't think I am just mesmerized by the thought of being in a foreign land, but the whole city, as far as the roads from the aiport to the downtowns are concerned, all were lined up with tall trees, and green shades. The roads are crisscrossed you can hardly determine what line and road to take. But, the well-maintained roadsigns, road trees, and other plants that are scattered to line up the entire Singapore highways are stunningly beautiful. I have never seen a place in Manila as clean, as the one we passed by.
After some few minutes, we arrived at the hotel. Suprisingly, the taxi driver gave an automated receipt printed out from the computer terminal attached on the dashboard. We were glued to think, that no taxi ( i think anywhere in the globe) that gives receipt to passengers, other than being obliged to pay what's on the meter. But, we had a taste of Singapore discipline, for the first time. Before leaving, the taxi driver gave us some directions where Henderson Road is, and how much the morning taxi rates will be. He even showed us the entire City of Singapore map to locate where are we, and where are we going tomorrow morning. He kindly thanked us, and wished us "nice stay" in Singapore. Now to the Hotel.
THE OLD HOUSE HOTEL
Before we left Manila, I have already browsed thru the internet various hotels, their rates and packages. We managed get one and tried to contact the hotel the day before our arrival. I placed a long distance call from the Philippines to SG, to verify rates in the hotel we have booked. So when we arrived at the hotel, our names were already listed in the Guest Book, and we were welcomed by the hotel attendant, an old man with Chinese features. He is clean and polite and asked our passports to verify if we were the ones who booked early on. He gave us the key and told us to use the stairs to the second floor where our room was. The hotel has only 7 rooms (or more, but not more than 10, I guess). The modest lobby is decorated with wooden furniture upholstered with white cushions. You can see various antique brass figures displayed on top of a wall table. The floors are accented with half-inch box mosaic tiles, and the staircases were also floored with old type ceramic tiles. It was at first glance, typical house of the 50's. Upon taking the stairs, we realized the hotel antedates us to the 50's. It is as if we have checked in a 3-star hotel wayback in the eras where our mom's lived. The building was old, though not dilapidated, it was obvious that it was really just moderately maintained to entertain guests.
Our room was at the right, with wooden door and old-type key (where you can see the hole in the doorknobs), we realized upon entering the room, we were in a motel. The bed is clean, but I don't think the linens are fresh. The bathroom sink sinks, and the curtains hung like they were not changed since the liberation in 1942. We were somewhat disappointed. The aircon is an old type phase-out aircon (though it cools efficiently), and the chair covers are stained with I think, "milk of human kindness" by former room users. Generally, the place is clean. We were just perhaps disappointed by what we saw. I wanted to have our room changed but, anyway, we want to rest now and to take some hot bath. Good thing, the bathroom has hot shower. Otherwise, we will suffer miserably.
We placed our bags, brushed our teeth, took a quick bath, but before we jumped to the bed, we lined everything with our clothes just to be sure we dont sleep on anything unknown to us.Then we took some hours of sleep because we have a big day early morning... actually, we only have few hours left to rest. Suddenly, in the middle of our silent sleep, we smelled incense in our room, and upon checking it, I saw the hotel master lighting incense on the lobby and on the front hotel doors, oozing incense aroma right to our room and making us more dizzy. This time, robbing us the few hours left, we alloted to take nap and doze off. But, thanks to the Chinese incense sticks, the first opportunity to rest turned into joining them involuntarily to the incense burning sacrifice downstairs. Hotel Hotel Hotel. That very moment, I promised myself never compromise your stay with an accomodation less than your minimum expectations, better yet spend. Doing otherwise will surely challege your sanity.
THE FIRST SINGAPORE MORNING
When we immuned ourselves with the incense, and perhaps after all the available incense in SG has been consumed by the hotel attendant downstairs, we never thought that we had indeed slept for some hours. We woke up around 7am, and hurriedly took a quick bath again, prepared our things, and went downstairs to take a cab to Henderson Road, where Donna shall be interviewed. Following strictly, the directions of the cab driver last night, we asked the attendant to book us a cab to the city. The incense-hungry attendant, joyfully called the cab station. The cab in SG never failed to impress us, in not more than 5 minutes a cab arrived in front of the hotel door.
We had the first glimpse of Singapore daytime! Now, we were more amazed and impressed with the cleanliness of the city. How organized and how well-developed Singapore is. I can't just imagine with the minute size of Singapore, the construction of buildings are everywhere. Despite that fact, the whole scene is still so beautiful, it as if, we were in Europe or US, or where else. We have seen how clear the city was, how concrete the roads were and how it feels to be in a rush-hour time with virtually no traffic. In Singapore, most roads are 3 or 4-laned only but the traffic flow is so smooth. The buses run only on designated lanes, and all private vehicles on specific outermost lanes. No buses or cabs stop anywhere, they stop where they have to.
Seeing the whole area excites the both of us. Too bad, we were not able to take pictures, because, the cab was moving fast and it might be a violation to take pictures in a highway.
I suddenly felt, where did the Philippines go? What have done wrong?
