By telling us your country of residence we are able to provide you with the most relevant travel insurance information.
Please note that not all content is translated or available to residents of all countries. Contact us for full details.
Shares
I had never traveled outside of my country, India. The word ‘traveling’ is a conglomerate to me which consists of many pieces of stuff like planning, arrangements, adjustments and the most important one is the “time”. All these kinds of stuff were hurdling to overcome as they had an invincible role in any office goer’s itinerary. Leaving everything behind was like taking a giant leap for me. I speculated that considering all circumstances, my ‘giant leap’ could not reach beyond Singapore, the island state. I had never boarded on an airplane before this journey to Singapore. This was my first domestic as well as international air journey. As soon as the flight takes off, my world began to change; the interior of the flight started to become unknown. I had my pocket packed with Indian currency and I got my first shock when I came to know Singapore bound flight only values Singaporean or US dollar. By the way, the lady air hostess was too cute and beautiful that I forgave my stupidity. But my stomach became rebellious until I took my first bite at Singapore airport Mc Donald’s. I had my backpacker hostel at Kallang which is nearby an MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) station. Any country’s development index can be traced by its transportation facilities, which I realized on the ground after witnessing the Changi Airport MRT station. The Airport MRT station looks like an extended subway with some black mirrored fence on both sides. Suddenly, a slight vibration happened, and the black mirrors opened. The number of people was too less to accommodate in the compartments, only I was left outside. In Mumbai, it is almost a battle to make a space for your footsteps in the trains. Meanwhile, I saw the multicultural society inside the compartments as if they were waiting for me to step in. As soon as I stepped in, the train started. It took an accelerated speed within a moment. My body was just swinging like a pendulum. It took ten minutes to reach Kallang. It was a shiny day and a clear sky above my head. The traffic control was excellent as there was no human deployed for traffic control, no traffic police. It was almost a heaven for me. There were traffic posts on which a round button deployed for road toddlers. If anyone wishes to cross the road he or she needs to press that button and it will give you a peculiar beep sound for a specific duration for crossing the road. The island state had a lot to surprise me. I wake up in the mid-night and found the Chinese restaurants were open which was shut throughout the day. These restaurants were mainly serving steamboats and frog porridges. Steamboat is a boat-shaped oven on a little stove where mostly seafood is kept. The customers eat them one by one with the help of chopsticks. The concept was derived from ancient Chinese businessmen who used to come to this island state for business. They used to carry such a boat-shaped oven along with a little stove for keeping the food warm all the time. I tried frog porridge in one of the restaurants and failed very badly. You must have the training to eat this food if you are a non-Chinese like me. The giant frog is cooked in an earthen pot and super melted rice mixed up with it. The rice was almost in a plasma state where it is impossible to differentiate between two units of rice crops. The Singaporean people, who were relishing their food beside me, could pick the rice with chopsticks. A beautiful lady came to rescue me from my embarrassing situation. The waitress gave me a spoon and I finished the porridge and the giant frog.