Chapter 1 (The beginning)
Kayla was beaming with excitement. Her plane had just landed in Singapore and the air steward was making his announcement over the system. "Please note that drug trafficking carries the death penalty. The local time is 3.30pm and a warm welcome to Singapore." A warm welcome indeed. This country was known for its humidity and Kayla was all ready to embrace it.
As Kayla made her way to the entrance of the plane, she marvelled at the stick thin air stewardesses in their tight fitting Malay attire as they bid goodbye to her. "What do they eat to maintain such a voluptuous yet slender figure? Or is it just in their genes?"
Once Kayla stepped into the airport, like most of the other passengers, she made a beeline for the toilet. "Wow, it is so clean. One brownie point scored!" Kayla said to herself. As Kayla walked to the last cubicle, her first shock for the day was there to greet her.
As she pushed opened the cubicle door, an asian squat toilet bowl greeted her. Never in her life had she seen such a toilet bowl before and in her shock, she stood still in her tracks. "Would you like to use that cubicle, if not I'll use it." came a request from a lady behind her. "You may use it, I'll use the normal one," replied Kayla. "They are all normal! How dare you say that this one is not normal. In fact, this one is good for you! You don't have to touch the germs on the seat! It is more hygienic and is good exercise for your thighs, young girl." And with that, the lady behind her walked into the squat cubicle and closed the door.
After the toilet saga, Kayla headed to get her passport stamped. The queues weren't too long and Kayla was able to get out of immigration and to the conveyor belt rather quickly. She quickly took her bag and headed to the taxi stand to get to her hostel.
The taxi queue was inside the airport and Kayla waited under the cool air-conditioner for her taxi. However, the moment she stepped out of the airport, a gust of hot air blew past her. "Wow! It is really hot here. My seniors weren't kidding when they said that Singapore is HOT!" "Girl, where would you like to go to?" asked her taxi driver. "I am an exchange student and would like to go to Brown Hall at the Singapore Union University." "Oh! S-U-U is it? Sure I'll take the P-I-E there!"
Kayla was not sure why the taxi driver was talking in acronyms. Was it some code that the locals used? And why did he say P-I-E and not just say pie, as in apple pie. All these thoughts wandered in her head as the taxi driver drove her down Singapore's clean and green Pan Island Expressway, also known as P-I-E to the locals.
When she had reached her destination, she paid the driver with her Sing dollars. While waiting to check into her hostel room, she could feel drops of sweat trickling down from her forehead. "And that's what they mean when they say that Singapore is humid."
Squat toilets, acronyms and the humidity. It was enough for Kayla to digest in one day. Kayla knew she was going to experience so much here and this was just the beginning.
Glossary
Acronyms - Singaporeans are known to speak in short forms so expect to hear lots of acronyms being used on your trip here.
Humidity - Singapore's weather is hot and humid. Expect to sweat while you're outdoors especially when the sun is out.
Sing dollar - The local currency used in Singapore to pay for goods and services.
Squat toilet bowls - An asian style toilet bowl which requires one to squat. This type of toilet bowl is usually found in the last cubicle of a public toilet. The natural squatting position is known to provide more health benefits as compared to the sitting position.
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