The Singapore Airlines Airbus A350 landed at Changi Airport in Singapore at exactly 8:38 a.m. It's already 27 degrees. I had to take off all the layers of my onion look except for the t-shirt, the jeans are still too warm.
Immigration is now digital. We to scan a QR code from a poster and fill out several pages on our cell phone. Only after confirmation of data receipt by the Singapore government were we allowed to go through an eGate and willingly hand in a photo and thumbprint. The whole thing takes so long that several rows of plastic chairs were set up in the immigration hall specifically for this purpose, alien objects in this otherwise beautiful airport. Last time we arrived in the middle of the night. We were not only impressed that 10 counters were already open in the middle of the night, but because the suitcases were already waiting, we were in the arrivals hall in just a few minutes.
In the arrivals hall, the first thing we saw was the French Café Paris https:// www.parisbaguette.com.sg/, drank a coffee and ate Kougin Amann 😮 to set up the eSIM. My husband found a company that offers an eSIM that covers all the countries we travel to. We found that very practical. To create an eSIM, you should scan a QR code that was sent in an email. Who would think of something like that? What do solo travelers do with usually only one cell phone?
You can imagine what happened. Neither the QR code nor the manual alternative worked. As expected, the chatbot is stupid and the only way to contact customer support is via a form, so who knows when someone will respond. After more than an hour of desperate attempts, it suddenly went, I have no idea what caused it. So now we are online and made our way to a taxi.
We had an older taxi driver who could speak a bit of Cantonese. Regardless of his broken pigin English, he was very talkative. However, I also like to encourage taxi drivers in foreign places to talk because we learn the most about the place from them. The driver is already 70 years old and started driving a taxi after retiring from his old job so that he doesn't just sit around at home.
Despite the government providing social housing, housing and also a car has become very expensive. After deducting this, many have little left to live on. You can't really imagine or classify it when you see the city. Electric cars are being used more and more here, too. The most popular brand is BYD, as I assume it will soon be in Europe too. Instead of approaching the hotel directly, the „kind“ taxi driver surrounded it extensively. When it comes to payment, he easily added 14S$ to the meter total justified that the traffic was heavy which in our opinion it was not true.
As far as travel planning for accommodation goes, it was easy for Singapore. We chose the Scarlet again https://thescarletsingapore.com/ at Chinatown. However, we have to notice, especially when it comes to the bathroom, that the hotel is getting a bit old and it would do good to undergo some refurbishment. As for the rooftop bar, it's still one of the best in the city, according to Timeout. Since our room wasn't ready yet, we had to spend our time walking around Chinatown. Without resting and freshening up straight in the heat of 33 degrees. 🫠
Now overcome the jet lag and explore the city again.
I recently had the same experience with a taxi ride in Shanghai. Best Mario