Christmas Village on Orchard Rd

First look Singapore : View from airplane

SilkAir boarding pass brought us discount at the National Gallery Singapore

Bengaluru airport

" There are a few things that thrill an Indian's heart as much as 
foreign trips. The minute the plane lands, I squeal in delighted 
anticipation and look up my things to see, do and eat list...." 
Twinkle Khanna took these words right from the tip of my tongue.

Singapore is a well marketed foreign destination in India and we were
delighted by the offerings.Singapore is what we hope to see our 
cities transform into - clean and green, an oasis of calm and 
orderliness together with places of fun, adventure and amazement. 

Our travel agent helped in getting the e-visa from the Singapore 
Consulate in Chennai. Third week of December and we were travelling 
from Bengaluru and took the 9:50 am SilkAir flight direct to 
Singapore. The SilkAir boarding pass offered us 25% discount on the 
entry tickets at the National Gallery Singapore. It was a pleasant 
surprise and does anyone know of such offers for other regional or national carriers..? 

It was a 4h 30m journey, the airplane food was good and they served 
all the kids first and then the adults, something not seen in the 
other carriers we have travelled. The inflight entertainment though 
was left wanting. 

We travelled during the day. Most people prefer travelling during the night, maybe for reasons such as nothing to see from the airplane 
for majority of the travel or the day can be put to more productive 
use. My preference for day travel is because the journey is to be 
enjoyed as much as the destination and I want to sleep on a bed at 
night rather than dozing off on a chair. 

As we approached the island nation, we could see a fleet of ships 
below and their number kept growing. We arrived at 4:30pm at Changi. The weather was pleasant with clear skies. We were staying at the 
Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel on Havelock Rd. The hotel provided a mobile phone during the course of the stay and found it very useful
for hailing cabs. After checking in, we took a cab and head straight
to the famous Orchard Rd. Orchard road is the shopping street in 
Singapore and most of the major brands have representation here. 
Nightime has the added attraction of all the charming and colourful 
Christmas decorations coming alive. Sunday night, the place was 
crowded, buzzing, colourful with plenty of decorated nooks to take 
selfie.There is also a Christmas Village set up just for the holiday
shopping. We started off from the Ion Orchard Mall and covered the 
entire stretch of ust over 2 kms. After a quick dinner of Ramen 
noodles and icecream from Coldstone for the sweet palate, we head 
back to the hotel. It was a very colourful start to the Singapore 
sojourn !!