Singapore '10: Orchard Parade Hotel and Orchard Road

We arrived at Singapore after 3 hours of an are-we-gonna-die turbulent plane ride. Thank you Cebu Pacific for not providing any meals, nor anything else for that matter that we can have without paying for it. No middle-of-the-flight updates on where the heck are we nor free earphones or newspapers to blast away the boredom. What you get for taking a 50% off promo ticket fare.

We arrived at Orchard Parade Hotel at Tanglin Road at the end of Orchard Road. The building looks tired but our room was surprisingly spacious. Last year at Mexan Harbour Hotel in Hong Kong, there was barely any space left to roam around and an ancient television with *gasp* no cable, but now, we even have a huge flat screen TV with some cable channels and a balcony to look out on.

As I am traveling with my mother and little sister, everything was rated PG and toned down a bit. After having our lunch, the second thing we did in Singapore was sleep. Yes, sleep. How fun.

View from our hotel room's balcony

We did stroll the squeaky clean sidewalks of Orchard Road in the afternoon. We loved how our hotel was just a few minute's walk to the shopping malls in the vicinity and even the Orchard MRT station. From there, you can go to about anywhere else in the one-city country. It was hilarious how we were so afraid to cross roads and accidentally litter. We wouldn't want to be fined for anything in a foreign country, especially one which is known for fining residents and tourists alike for a myriad of petty crimes. Although, I don't blame them. Those laws probably helped made this country as beautiful and safe as it is right now.

One thing I've noticed is that everyone speaks English, which is absolutely fantastic since we were bound to ask for directions sooner or later. I thought we'll have problems conversing with people because of language barriers like we did in Hong Kong. Another is that there are more Indians living in Singapore than I expected. I was not aware that they have such close ties with the Indian community.

Outside Orchard Station, to ION Mall

All in all, our first half day there was pretty uneventful. Which was understandable since we're still getting the feel of the place. It was great that our itinerary for our vacation wasn't as hectic as our trip last year. After walking up to the ION Orchard Mall, we decided to go grocery shopping then head back to our hotel.

That night, we spread out the maps of the city we got from the airport and planned which places we should visit the next day because, due to passport mishaps and change of schedules, we have no idea where to go.