A tale of two cities. A whirlwind couple of days back in Delhi, this time to the Defence Colony in New Delhi. Our final stopover before Singapore. A tranquil, modern Indian suburb, quite a difference from our previous destinations. Once everyone had woken up, we hit the deafening hustle and bustle for one last time.
Sunday morning cricket.
Barber in the colony park
Shoe menders
Delhi’s bypass is noisy, heavily polluted and home to a number of families. Home is just a tarpaulin and a campfire situated underneath the bypass. We have witnessed the poverty in India, but it wasn’t in your face. However, this bypass is desperate and dystopic. To try and make money, families attempt to sell flowers and cheap toys to the drivers, as they wait at the lights. Men, women and children go knocking on the car windows, starring at you through the glass. It breaks your heart.
Our taxi driver took a big bunch of flowers home to his wife that afternoon.
Having passed through Delhi Airport without any issues this time we felt a huge weight lift. Arriving in Singapore Airport you quickly realise that you ‘waft’ and ‘glide’ through. There is no stress in this airport. In fact there appears to be no stress anywhere.
The cars in Singapore are on the correct side of the road, travelling at a slow steady speed. it’s unnervingly quiet, no horns are beeping, no revving of engines. Its very, very calm. Not a cow, buffalo or goat to be seen.
The roads are smooth and everywhere is planted, pruned and manicured. Ugliness is hidden away or disguised. Colours are considered and harmonious. There is no chaos. Singapore looks like an advert for Utopia. There is a population of about three million people living on this tiny island. High occupancy flats and offices and yet it is so quiet and uncluttered. However, there’s no wildlife around us anymore, just an occasional dog on a lead.
Our AirBnB didn’t quite workout, infact it was disastrous, so we vacated and took a punt on a hotel downtown. As we squeezed into our super-deluxe, top of the range ‘value’ room, it dawned on us that our palatial, generous rooms in India were now a thing of the past. We would be downsizing from now on.
Shoebox with a view
We also realised that food was going to become challenging, especially if your vegetarian like me. However, we preferred the challenge of the Chinese hawkers markets to the sterile city restaurants. It’s really clean here, no litter, no shoving or pushing, everyone is so polite and helpful. It’s very easy. The trains are driverless as are some cars. There is WiFi everywhere and its super fast. Everyone is on their phone, all the time.
Our first menu in Singapore was quite challenging.
Hawkers market
Restaurant Open Kitchen
Singapore is not a particularly attractive city in the daylight, its very sanitised, clinical and a bit dull, but when the night draws in it’s transformed into the city of tiny lights, millions of twinkling lights. Its stunning and magical.
And since we’re in town we brought rain. Not just any old rain, 24 hours torrential rain. John’s nickname in India was Johnny Monsoon. He’s beginning to believe it.