Yes it felt good to be back.. but we also had a lovely time in Singapore !
The one thing that struck me the most was - I was expecting a super-clean sanitized type of city where everyone goes about their own business - and this was definitely not the case! And definitely you don't feel like someone's going to jump out at you for disturbing or dirtying the surroundings or something like that (which we didn't do in any case :)).
The weather definitely reminds one of the weather back home, in fact it is even hotter compared to Bangalore as the humidity is higher. And after a lot of straightforward and silent taxi rides, we also met the odd couple of taxi drivers(non-Indians) who were interested in talking about India, one of them actually played Bollywood songs for us and told us how he thought Bollywood actresses were very beautiful :).
The crowds in the malls and tourist areas on weekends are no different from our Brigade or Commercial Streets, and we specifically planned most of our sightseeing on weekdays to avoid this! Also lots and lots of Indians on vacation, and sadly not all of them publicising India in a good way.
We had the good fortune to spend a couple of days with friends (the day we reached, and the day we left) so the children also could relax on these days and could get over the jet lag and night flight on the way out with home atmosphere and food.
More about the sightseeing and photos in the next post! I'm still trying to organize my thoughts on that :). One thing I was most thrilled about was how well the camera that I had researched and bought especially for this trip functioned more or less as wanted (except for one day when I didn't anticipate the battery running out :( ). Especially the zoo pictures using the 18X optical zoom came out very nicely - I told hubby I might take up photography as a serious hobby, only that means we might have to go on vacations more often ;).
The one thing that struck me the most was - I was expecting a super-clean sanitized type of city where everyone goes about their own business - and this was definitely not the case! And definitely you don't feel like someone's going to jump out at you for disturbing or dirtying the surroundings or something like that (which we didn't do in any case :)).
The weather definitely reminds one of the weather back home, in fact it is even hotter compared to Bangalore as the humidity is higher. And after a lot of straightforward and silent taxi rides, we also met the odd couple of taxi drivers(non-Indians) who were interested in talking about India, one of them actually played Bollywood songs for us and told us how he thought Bollywood actresses were very beautiful :).
The crowds in the malls and tourist areas on weekends are no different from our Brigade or Commercial Streets, and we specifically planned most of our sightseeing on weekdays to avoid this! Also lots and lots of Indians on vacation, and sadly not all of them publicising India in a good way.
We had the good fortune to spend a couple of days with friends (the day we reached, and the day we left) so the children also could relax on these days and could get over the jet lag and night flight on the way out with home atmosphere and food.
More about the sightseeing and photos in the next post! I'm still trying to organize my thoughts on that :). One thing I was most thrilled about was how well the camera that I had researched and bought especially for this trip functioned more or less as wanted (except for one day when I didn't anticipate the battery running out :( ). Especially the zoo pictures using the 18X optical zoom came out very nicely - I told hubby I might take up photography as a serious hobby, only that means we might have to go on vacations more often ;).
wow..sounds fun..waiting for the photographs and story behind them..ya..go ahead and bring out the photographer in you..take more vacs..;-)
ReplyDeleteThanks Uma :). One entry done - one more to go!
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