Singapore in 4 hours

It's always nice to have overseas friends come pay me a visit, but when they only have 6 hours of transit time in between flight arrival and departure, how do you show them Singapore?

Hyemi emailed me a week ago, seeking advice on what to do for 6 hours when she, her mum, her friend Jessie and her mum would transit in Singapore from Christchurch en route to Seoul, Korea. I sought to challenge myself again, after doing the same with Hyemi and JiSu last year when they transited with an entire day to spare. Of course, it pays to have the family car free for my use then, and again today.

Hyemi and Jessie's spent a third of their time translating whatever I said into Korean for their mums to comprehend, about Singapore and Singaporeans. It was perfect that they managed to catch a whiff of daylight, dusk, and night all within the short time they spent in Singapore, plus experience the multi-racial food culture we seem so proud of.

*I should make a mental note to myself how ridiculously expensive tiger prawns are.

On a similar note, I should keep my tour itinerary a secret for interested parties/clients to buy out. Hmmm. Anyway, I really ought to thank Hyemi's mum for her generosity in rewarding my hard day's work with a bottle of NZ wine when I alighted them at the Departure Hall. I willed myself so hard in refusing her offer, but courteously accepted it later on grounds of fairness in chauffeuring and splitting the dinner bill.

It's really rewarding to hear first-time visitors exclaim in all impressive-ness of Singapore's cleanliness and vibrancy. Even Jessie asked me why I'm much fairer than other Singaporeans (I think she compared me to the non-chinese), and was surprised to hear how we Singaporeans serve our National Service the same way Korean guys do back home. It was a pity time wasn't on their side, since the girls would have loved to get out of the car anywhere along Orchard Road to do their thing.

At least that's incentive to re-visit Singapore.