We travel not
to escape from life but to not let life escape from us. Whoever said that (not
me) was completely right. I was leaving Dashain, maasuko parikar (khasiko
choila, fried khasi, saadheko achaar, khasiko jhol, Bhutan, hyakula) and dakshina
to travel so the journey had to be worth it.
After a tiresome journey we landed in Singapore “the Lion city”.
Spotless clean roads guarded with bougainvillea hedges, the roads of Singapore
from the airport into the city itself
were very pretty.
Exhausted by
the journey my parents chose to rest but we sisters filled with curiosity had
promised ourselves to walk till our feet hurt as we wouldn’t get the chance
again. We walked for ten minutes and then reached Little India. From fresh
flowers to dream catchers, from Diwali decorations to mithaais from Bikaner you
could get everything at one place. The aroma of the mithaais and fresh flowers,
the reflection of sparkling mirror handworks, Hindi tracks from various cities,
foreigners buying Rajasthani handicrafts and children nagging for mithaais made
the place livelier. As soon as we got out of the market there were almost 50
light arches giving the city a view like Navaratri hit Calcutta. From the
extensive arrays of restaurant we chose an Indian restaurant nearby. The waiter
smiled with freshly prepared biryani, raaita, greasy curries and sambar on
banana leaf adding an Indian vibe to it. We ate till we looked three months
pregnant.
 |
| Courtesy: Shraddha Suman Silwal |
The best part
of Singapore was the religious tolerance. There were mosques, churches and
temples right next to each other and so were places to booze where people were
clinking their beer jars but all of the people respected the differences and
were living harmoniously.
 |
| Source: Internet |
Along with
our parents our very first destination was garden by the bay, a seaside
botanical garden. The park that boasts of more than one million plants had
various segments but we chose to visit cloud world and flower dome. With carved
pumpkins, vibrant lights, statues and flowers, flower dome was quite clean and
funky, but it didn’t touch my heart. (Have I become old?)
We then
entered the cloud forest. Veiled in mist the mountain got colder and better as we
climbed higher. After ten minutes of walking we reached the top and the view
from that point was mesmerizing.
The alarm rang and it was next day, my ears which would never hear the beeps of alarm in other days perfectly functioned that day. Firstly we headed towards fountain of wealth in Suntec city. Largest fountain in the world, fountain of wealth was the place where the movie Krish was shot. Every time I struck a pose for photos I could feel the water droplets from the fountain on my body.
 |
| Courtesy: Shraddha Suman Silwal |
Without
sharing the whereabouts our guide took us to place which according to him we
couldn’t afford to miss. When we arrived, we were standing in front of the Merlion. Merlion, a
mythical creature with a lion's head and the body of a fish was definitely one
of the most popular places of Singapore and was heavily crowded with thousands
of people waiting to click pictures there. (my experience of rushing to take
photos did work finally)
 |
| Courtesy: Ramesh Kumar Silwal |
Just nearby
the Merlion was the Singapore flyer. With glimpse of neighboring islands of
Malaysia and Indonesia one could get a 360° view of Singapore. Slow and steady,
the wheel did get dull at times and was a bit expensive.but overall it was
beautiful. As I am a night person after looking
at the day view I think it would have been better had we got the opportunity to
ride on it at night as we would get a glittering.
 |
| A picture of the flyer which I took from the gardens by the bay |
We then
headed towards Sentosa Island. We had a concrete time plan so we rushed towards
Madamme Tussauds. I would have loved it more had there been real people instead
of wax statues (I mean who wouldn’t) but clicking pictures with the wax statues
and learning the process of preparation of each one was interesting.
 |
| Courtesy: Shraddha Suman Silwal |
We then
headed to a 4 D movie building, which basically wasn’t a movie but there were
actors delivering the history. I was shocked to know that Singapore had such a
short history yet was so developed. Then I compared the timelines we read in
social studies with the movie they used to teach history. It was crystal clear
why Singapore is so developed and Nepal isn’t.
 |
| Source: Internet |
At the end we
went to watch the wings of time. Set in an open sea with nature as the screen,
wings of time is an outdoor night show with a delicious fusion of water
fountain, multimedia effects, laser lights, fire effects, entertaining music
and a story. It is definitely a night
extravaganza.
As I love
lights visiting all the places I mentioned above would have been better at
night time as the beauty of these places came into full effect. But
nevertheless Singapore is definitely a place to visit and if you eat in places
like Little India it isn’t that expensive too as it is described to be.
 |
| Courtesy: Shraddha Suman Silwal |
The last day
and the best one, visit to Universal Studios was a highlight in our Singapore
tour. Located in Sentosa Island, universal
studios is a world-class theme park and a glamorous world of movies. Every
spot was begging to click a picture with it. The
decor for each section was very striking. Six hours wasn’t enough for us as the studio had whopping list of entertaining
activities. Thus if you are planning to visit this place any day it’s better to purchase an express pass. The express pass is worth the extra cost as it saves your day.
As the studio closed by 6 p.m we missed few activities but we managed to have
thrill rides of transformers, Jurassic rapids. Each
themed activity had matching shops and 'inspired' food stores. It was a
thoroughly fun day out with something suitable for all ages. It brought out the child in me. Let alone
me, even my parents were also enjoying the games. This is definitely a place
that I will take my children along in the future . That
ended my trip in Singapore.
 |
| Courtesy: Shraddha Suman Silwal |
Our second
destination was Langkawi. As soon as I landed in Langkawi it gave me a Terai
feel. I have never loved hot climate and getting grilled again was very
painful. We had a very short trip planned in this place and I was happy about
that. The toughest thing for me there was finding food as I am allergic to sea
food. With every restaurants serving sea food and exuding aroma of prawns it
was hard for me to get good food options. We entered to an Indian place
expecting it to be like that of Singapore but the platter was so bad that it
could neither go down the food pipe nor out of my mouth.
 |
| Courtesy: Shraddha Suman Silwal |
As soon as we
woke up we had a target to hit, Langkawi Island hopping. The Langkawi
Island Hopping
basically takes you on a journey of four
different islands to explore the lavish beauty of nature. After a refreshing
motor boat ride we reached to the first venue which was a private island. We
basked in the sun and swam for an hour in the sea. Pristine white sandy beach crystal clear water, the beach was indeed
heavenly; I collected some shells and corals too.
 |
| Courtesy: Shraddha Suman Silwal |
As the second
venue we were taken to Pregnant Maiden Island. The entire island seemed like a
sleeping lady with a baby bump. After having lunch in our hotel we went for a
boat ride to mangrove area. With roots above the land, the mangroves were worth
visiting. The entire package included visiting
bat cave and crocodile cave too which wasn’t that wonderful for me. Then we
headed towards fish farm which was pretty amazing.
The experience of feeding sting ray with bare hands, playing with small
fishes and touching spiny puffer fish felt incredible. As soon as the boat rider dropped
chicken on the river the golden eagles that had been swooping high in the sky in
the wild came to eat it. That was definitely a wonderful view.
The other
places we went weren’t that beautiful and I was highly disappointed by
Langkawi. I felt this area to be pretty hyped. Nevertheless the beaches were
beautiful.
 |
| Courtesy: Shraddha Suman Silwal |
Bali
 |
| Source: Internet |
Finally we reached to our third destination Bali. Bali is indeed a perfect destination
for a romantic getaway. The land of temples and
graffiti, every nook and cranny of Bali is filled with art and you can feel the
artistic vibe. Even the airport seemed like a temple. With 21 thousand temples
on the island and every house with similar structure like that of temple, it
felt like I was lost in a durbar square but one that was a hundred times
bigger.
 |
| Courtesy: Shraddha Suman Silwal |
We went to Uluwatu temple first. Very different from the conventional
temples, this one has a captivating beauty and is very picturesque. Everything here is
beautiful beyond words; the only thing you should be careful about is the
monkeys. Popular for their aggression, one of the monkeys stole my mother’s
spectacles and returned it back when it was offered food. Crazy right? Even
monkeys in Bali trade.
 |
| Source: Internet |
Next day, As soon as we picked up some food we rushed towards watching
barong dance. The dance presenting
the eternal battle between good and evil wasn’t fun at all. With catalog impossible to interpret and act hard to understand the dance was pretty
disappointing. I would never recommend this to any Nepali as our very own
laakhe dance is way better than it.
 |
| Source: Internet |
After the
dance we went to Kinataamani Volcanic Mountain. As
there wasn’t a single place from which we could observe the mountain and a lake
below so we went to a halaal cafe nearby. Eating with a splendid view, cold breeze
playing with my hair did cheer me up.
 |
| Courtesy: Shraddha Suman Silwal |
As we had
enough of free time we hopped into Starbucks.
As usual Starbucks had warm
ambience and friendly staff but the difference that day was the menu. Pink
coffees were also served to raise voice against women violence. We ordered two
of them. One was too sweet for my taste while the other one was just fine. We
sisters grabbed our coffees and started walking again.
It had been
two days that we had come to Baali and there wasn’t a single alley where we
weren’t invited for a massage. Thus we made up our minds to pamper our feet and
have a fish spa. The staff of the massage center washed our legs and then we
dipped our legs in the tank. As soon as we dipped our legs, the fishes swam
swiftly towards our feet and started devouring the dead cells. My sister
enjoyed it more as there were plenty of fishes around her feet (she definitely
needs to clean her legs pretty often :P) How did I feel? Ticklish and soothing.
Soothing as the water was pretty cool and ticklish well 70 fishes kissing ones
legs is ticklish. Our legs became softer and looked nice but for a while only.
 |
| Courtesy: Shraddha Suman Silwal |
 |
| Source: Internet |
As soon as we
had our Indonesian breakfast we drove toward Tanah lot. A Balinese coastal
temple situated on a rocky mountain with black rocks the temple had a charm of
its own.
Finally we were taken for a cruise dinner. The cruise didn’t meet my previous
experience in Seattle but the entertainment activities were fun. The wind, the
sceneries and the food were dull comparing to Seattle but nevertheless the
cultural dance, musical performance and magic was fun.
Overall the
journey was perfect. The only suggestion I have to give if you are planning to
visit Baali is be aware of the guides there. I ain’t saying because we met one
guide but after talking with other Nepalese families they had similar
experiences.
What did I come back with? Tanned skin, a tad of fats, bucket full of
memories and a completely freshened body.
