Singapore- My First Trip Abroad

Singapore is always going to be special in my scheme of things. It was my first tip abroad and it was to attend an academic conference at Nanyang Technological University. I was a Ph.D. student then! It was not only my first international trip, I was also flying for the first time in my life! It was a Sri Lankan Airlines Flight and it had a stop over at Colombo. I remember reading all those drug related warnings and feeling quite dazed.

I have written about this trip before (long back) but I decided not to look at it and write from memory. I think I remember many stray incidents but not much about Singapore Tourism.

As a part of the conference we visited the Singapore Airport and this photo was taken in that part of the airport where there is no common access. I remember listening to the talk given by a senior pilot and why we were required to switch cell phones off during a flight. As part of the conference program we also visited Tiger Beer factory and even though I was even less of a beer dinker then it was a fun experience.

I was staying with my school classmate’s elder sister and her family and was always escorted and never needed a Singapore Map. Thank god for it, I have always found maps the toughest puzzles to solve! Meenu didi was very kind and took me around the city. I remember her husband dropping me to the conference venue as well. I roamed around Orchid Road and saw an aquarium. They also took me to Mustafa”s and to Suntech City. I bought a Yashica camera which I used for quite sometime. If I dig deeper into my memories it seems I always liked photography but it took sometime to get really crazy about it! Digital of course made it more affordable.

I also remember my first experience of authentic Chinese food and how bland I found it! It was a blessing to come back to didi’s home in the evening and eat channa and rice and all the good home cooked food.

Another strange bit I remember from the trip is from my Delhi-Colombo flight. I had dozed  off at some point and I woke up with a start because it felt as if a small explosion happened somewhere. It was the guy on the next seat opening a bottle (or can can’t remember which) of alcohol.

This post will be incomplete if I don’t remember the three kids (who must be teenagers now) of didi’s family! They were fun to be around and I wonder how it would be if I meet them know. I have still remained in touch with the family and of course my school friend. Also I still have a top left with me that I bought on this trip!

When I started writing this post I was not sure what I will remember but what fun it is to go down the memory lane!

So which was your first international trip? Did you write about it sometime? What do you remember?