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Here we go again, off on another adventure! Starting with the sensational Singapore!
It’s been a year of planning, mind changing, and time altering, but now I am back out on the road exploring three new countries over two and a half months.
I’ve decided to keep things simple and update my journal page once a week or so. That’s roughly one post for each stop along the way.
And if I can strive for productivity, I’ll throw in a few guides and helpful tips posts as well.
I’m a bit delayed in getting the posts off the ground as I experienced some photo sizing issues and a glitch in WordPress that made typing impossible. But I’ve persevered and overcome these technical challenges, and can now bring you the first post of this trip. Singapore!
Sensational Start to Singapore
The main bulk of this trip will be in Australia and New Zealand, but there is no way I am capable of handing that journey in one go. Nearly thirty hours on a plane with only a short stop in between? No thanks!
Which is why I decided to take advantage of the layover and tick another country off the bucket list. The one and only Sensational Singapore!
Five quick facts you might not know that make Singapore sensational:
1. Singapore is located one degree (that’s 85 miles) north of the equator, meaning I still haven’t made it to the Southern Hemisphere!! It also means the temperature stays a balmy 28-33 degrees all year round.
2. Singapore is both a city and a state, the country composing of 63 islands. When most people refer to the country of Singapore, they mean the city area.
3. Modern Singapore was founded in 1819 when the British Empire lay claim to the island. Since then the country has been an immigration hub, making it an incredibly culturally diverse country. Of the city’s 5.6 million residents, 39% are foreign nationals.
4. There are four official languages of Singapore: English, Malay, Mandarin Chinese, and Tamil. Most Singaporeans are bilingual, with English serving as the nation’s main tongue. Many residents also speak the colloquial Singlish, which is a mix of the countries many languages and slang. The government discourage Singlish, but it is popular amongst many Singaporeans.
5. Singapore has several distinct ethnic neighbourhoods, including Katong, Kampong Glam, Geylang Serai, Chinatown and Little India.
Up, up, and away!
I’m happy to report there were no issues getting to our first destination!
The taxi to Heathrow was on time, the checking in process easy, and the flight right on schedule.
We had three seats between the two of us so were able to spread out a bit, and I managed to doze off miraculously. It wasn’t quality sleep by any means, but I zoned out enough that the flight flew by. Which for a 13-hour journey is saying something!
Sadly this is probably the most sleep I got over the next four days…
I chose to fly with Singapore Airlines as I previously had a good experience with them flying from Tokyo to LA.
They didn’t disappoint and I will happily continue to use them for any future Asian flights.
Touchdown!
We get a taxi into the city upon arrival as the thought of navigating the MRT with backpacks during rush hour was not pleasant.
The price was reasonable though (about £15), and worth the cost just for comfort!
Thanks to the time difference it’s about 7:30pm by the time we check into the hostel. I definitely prefer arriving later in the day as it means there’s no pressure to stay awake and busy after a long flight.
Checking In
Singapore is by no means a cheap destination unlike most of South East Asia, and we want to keep costs down where we can, so we chose to stay in a hostel. The only little extra we decided to pay for was to have a private room rather than a dorm.
The hostel is called Tribe Theory and markets itself as an entrepreneur hub. This means their primary clientele are freelance workers who are working whilst travelling.
They have loads of inspirations quotes up on the walls, and networking events every day.
I imagine if you want a cheap place to stay and work this place ticks the boxes, but it is pretty basic.
The beds are bunk bed pods and I can only imagine what that must be like in a room of 8+ people. They really cram you in!!
Out private room was tiny and only really had room for our “beds” and backpacks. If we were both standing in the room too that was all the floor space gone.
The mattresses are rock hard, and the bedding could have been cleaner…
In fact the whole place could do with a ramp up in its housekeeping. Especially since they make you take your shoes off past the check in desk. You’d think that would help keep it cleaner I suppose, but let me tell you, it does not help much!
The shower room was also very basic and not really clean. Plus the door was always open so you can look right through to the front door whilst brushing your teeth.
Suffice to say I won’t be going back, but you get what you pay for and the place was cheap!
On the positive side, the staff were friendly and inviting, and breakfast was free.
If you are the sort of person who doesn’t need creature comforts and wants a quiet place to work in a unique multicultural city, then Tribe Theory will work well for you!
For this lover of luxury however, it was a bit outside my level of comfort.
Leading me back to the lack of sleep.
Insomnia
I don’t think I got more than two hours uninterrupted sleep, and no more than four in total, each night we were there.
In fact one night I didn’t sleep at all and ended up having to grab a couple of hours in the afternoon.
Whether this was because of jet lag, the temperature, or general discomfort who knows. Some combo of the lot probably.
Regardless, I was not sad to leave this place and move on to the next hostel!
(Spoiler Alert: The Melbourne accomodation is MUCH better!!)
But enough about that.
Whatever my sleeping issues, we have finally made it to Singapore!
Time to start exploring!!
Chinatown
We are staying in the Chinatown district (every major city has one after all!) which is renowned for it’s street food. The Hawker Centres all over Singapore stem from the popularity of the cheap street food available in Chinatown.
I am currently far too tired to navigate the etiquette of street food dining so allow us to be tourist trapped into one of the restaurants off the side of the market. Maybe a little more expensive than the self serve vendors with essentially the same food, but still not pricey. We eat some noodles, spring rolls, and satay chicken, then head back to get some sleep.
Or more accurately, to lay awake all night with a caffeine headache (thank you time difference!) and finally nod off at 5am for a couple of hours.
First Full Day
The hostel offers a free breakfast of simple cereal, toast, juices and coffee. This is fine for me and I have a bit of toast and coffee as we decide what to do on our first proper day in Singapore.
The main attraction on my bucket list in Singapore is the Marina Bay Sands and the Gardens by the Bay, so we make this our destination.
For some reason I cannot fathom I decide to just wander instead of using a map, and we inevitably end up walking in the wrong direction for half an hour. Not a great start!
Couple with the heat and humidity that I am not at all used to, we end up seeking shelter in the first public air-conditioned building available.
Now using google maps we easily find the Marina Bay area, which is happily decorated with Christmas Trees!
Marina Bay Sands
The Marina Bay Sands was only opened in 2010, but has become an iconic spot in Singapore. The hotel itself consists of three towers with an infinity pool stretching across the roofs of all three.
It is more than just a hotel though. The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands is a massive indoor mall complete with its own river inside; there’s a Las Vegas style casino; two celebrity chef restaurants; a theatre (currently performing Cats); a SkyPark on the roof; an interactive light and music show; a free light and water show every evening outside; and the ArtScience Museum.
My actual bucket list wish is to spend a couple of nights here, but the cheapest room comes in at about £300 a night. One day…
For now I make do with wandering around and snagging a fruity lunch of fresh pineapple smoothie and a pot of watermelon, grapes, and dragon fruit. It’s too hot to eat anything else!
There is a store called Bread Talk however that drew us in despite the weather thanks to the selection of doughnuts. Couldn’t resist the 3 for $5 deal try though I did. So I have some sweet treats for the next couple of days.
As we wander we take a look at the ArtScience Museum and pop in to find out the admission cost. The very helpful lady at the information desk tells us that if we sign up to the Sands Loyalty card we get buy one get one free admission. Love a bargain! We sign up online that evening and plan to go back on Friday!
Supertree Grove
The other iconic image Singapore presents is the towering Supertrees illuminating the skyline each evening.
There are eighteen Supertrees in total and each one is about the height of a sixteen story building. There are made of steel and concrete, and have canopies, eleven of which are embedded with environmentally sustainable functions such as solar cells.
The Supertrees are covered in over 158,000 plants comprising more than 700 species including varieties of bromeliads, orchids, ferns and tropical flowering climbers. They are also covered in solar powered lights which transform the skyline at night.
Twice an evening the Supertrees perform a light show accompanied by classical music which can be observed from several vantage points around the bay area.
To hear the music you’ll need to be in the grove though, which is where we were on Friday night when the usual music switched up to a festive medley when the Gardens open their Christmas Wonderland.
I’ll return to that later!
Gardens by the Bay
Supertree Grove is just one part of the area called Gardens by the Bay, there are also conservatories, lakes, and walks. Some parts of the Gardens are free and others require tickets, and being on a budget we stuck to the free areas.
It’s a lovely place for a stroll, even when it is so hot and humid you want to hide in the nice airconditioned mall. The lake is covered in giant dragonfly eggs which glow at after dark, and there are a bunch of art installations all around.
Including a giant, floating, naked baby…
Intriguing as to how it balances, slightly disturbing somehow as well.
And which nation did the artist herald from? The UK of all places! This is our nations contribution to Singapore.
Still, it was a pleasant walk, and we saw real dragonflies as well as their giant statues. And Ruth spotted a small lizard.
Sufficiently worn out from the heat and lack of sleep we walk back to the room to chill out (literally an figuratively!). Getting out of the Gardens and back to the marina area proves challenging however. You can’t cross the road as the Marina Bay Sands hotel is in the way!
Turns out there is a bridge from the shopping centre that goes through the hotel, and leads to an escalator down into the gardens. We didn’t find this out till the next day however and so had yet another detouring walk back to the hostel.
Buddha Tooth Relic Temple
In the evening we head back into Chinatown to explore some of the temples and streets. In particular I want to visit the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple to listen to the closing drum and bell ceremony.
I do my research and know this is due to happen at 6:15pm, so we get there in time to have a look around then plan to listen to the bells.
The bells that never ring…
I have no idea what happened but all I saw was a monk walk through the temple, light some incense, and maybe heard a single drum beat…
Nothing like the bell ringing rituals I witnessed in China.
Fairly disappointing really!
The temple itself is still beautiful though, and I’m glad we went to look around. It isn’t an ancient temple by any means. It was only built in 2005! However, I didn’t know any of this at the time as there is a distinct lack of information around in Singapore explaining anything I’ve learnt.
In hindsight we should have taken a tour of Chinatown, but given how tired I was I don’t think I’d have taken any information in anyway!
There is also a Hindu temple in the area called Sri Mariamman Temple which was founded in 1827. It was very busy when we walked by as closing prayers hollered throughout. The sound was loud from the street so going inside was ruled out.
I wish I could tell you more about it other than the outside was funky, but alas my heat fried mind couldn’t deal with any more exploring and we went in search of dinner.
Light and Water Show
Too hot for anything other than salad! We found a nice place called SaladStop! And had a refreshing bowl of greens each.
Now that it’s finally cool enough to walk around without risking heatstroke we go back to the Bay to watch the Light and Water show put on by Marina Bay Sands.
The reviews were very high, ranking it amongst the Las Vegas Bellagio Fountains and the Hong Know Harbour Lights.
When we arrive there aren’t a lot of people about which seems odd, but we take a seat by the water and wait for the show to start…
Which it does… a few hundred meters further down the waterline.
So to sum up todays Stumbles:
- Walked in the wrong direction for half an hour
- Didn’t hear any Buddha Bells
- Sat in the wrong place for the light show
Not bad for day one ay?!
We walk down to where the show is actually happening, and it is pretty cool. They project images onto the water (much like they do in Disneyland!) and the whole thing is choreographed to music. It’s effective and a nice way to spend fifteen minutes for free.
Helix Bridge
We cram in one more Singapore Sight and pop over to the Helix bridge to take some night photos. The bridge is pretty cool to look at, and if I’d thought about it properly, I might have grasped its design significance.
It is only now as I write this that I have come to learn what the Helix Bridge represents. It is the double helix structure of DNA.
Apparently, pairs of coloured letters c and g, as well as a and t are on the bridge which light up at night in red and green represent cytosine, guanine, adenine and thymine, the four bases of DNA.
I really should do some reading BEFORE going to these places. It’s the Boston Freedom Trail all over again!
As a little holiday treat on the way back I grab a Singapore Starbucks Special: a Holiday Vanilla Frappacino! Which has BLUE cream on top. It’s really yummy!
And full of coffee.
I’m an idiot.
Sleepless in Singapore
I don’t get a wink of sleep again.
On the plus side, I am up in plenty of time for our free walking tour of Little India.
We get the MRT (metro/underground/subway… insert your own country’s term here) for the first time and it’s nice and easy to use.
There are all the usual rules: don’t eat and drink, don’t make lots of noise… and don’t bring on durian fruits.
When we walk past some of them later the reason why is abundantly clear. They STINK!! Why anyone thought to eat that thing in the first place is a mystery.
We get to the tour just in time (because whilst I was awake, getting ready apparently was a different matter) and head off with our guide.
Little India
Contrary to stereotypes, Little India is not solely an Indian neighborhood. Located in the neighborhood alongside shops that cater predominantly to the Indians are Chinese clan associations, places of worship of different religions, and a variety of different business.
The architecture, like a lot of Singapore districts, is a mix of cultural styles. The most noticeable is the Peranakan influence of patterns and colours. The style has also been adopted by Singapore Airlines as their hosts wear clothing with Peranakan.
Our guide takes us around the streets and tells us the history of the district and points out interesting buildings.
And then takes us to a cooking demonstration!
Grubs up!
This is a new part of the tour they are trialing in partnership with a local restaurant. It’s a very welcome addition!
The restaurant is called Komala Vilas and opened in 1947, making it the oldest Indian restaurant in Singapore. All the food is vegetarian, and it smells amazing!
We watched a demonstration of a dosai being made, which we then got to eat with accompaniments. And they topped it off with massala tea. All as part of this free tour. They get 15% of the guides tips, so I encourage people to give a fair amount to the guide after the tour as it really is a wonderful experience.
Temple Time
Next we walk to the Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple, one of the oldest temples in Singapore. It was built by Indian pioneers who came to work and live in Singapore and the temple became a focus of early Indian Social Cultural activities.
The Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple is dedicated to the Hindu goddess Kali, but there are hundreds of deities represented here. The place is full of activity as both a working Hindu temple and a tourist site.
Our guide told us some background of Hinduism and pointed out some of the most popular deities and what they stand for.
That scary looking goddess pictured above, with entrails hanging from her mouth, is actually the goddess of childbirth…
The tour ends at the Hawker Center, by which point I’m exhausted and dead on my feet.
We go back to the hostel and I try and get some sleep. I manage a couple of hours, which may or may not be a good thing. I’ll never adjust to the time difference if I keep dozing off in the afternoons. But today it is necessary.
SuperTree Show
We go back out in the evening (it’s much more tolerable after dark!) and have a quick pizza dinner before heading back to the Marina Bay area.
This time we want to watch the SuperTree light show.
It is now that we discover the bridge leading miraculously through the Marina Bay Sands Hotel and into the Gardens By The Bay.
It’s also a good place to watch the light show from above, even if you can’t really hear the music.
I decide I’d like to go back the next night and watch the show from the grove itself. Which means booking tickets as the next day is the opening of Christmas Wonderland!
Friday Feeling
On our final day in Singapore we have a lazy morning so I can try and get a bit more sleep because once again sleeping at night didn’t happen.
And around mid morning it starts to rain. And I mean RAIN.
We’ve been pretty lucky to have avoided the infamous Singapore Showers until now, but it really is making up for it today!!
There a short break in the monsoon around one so we dash out for lunch and on to the ArtScience Museum back at Marina Bay Sands.
We were here on the first day and have since signed up for our free tickets, because I simply can’t resist their current exhibition.
DISNEY!!
Disney Drawings
The exhibition is about the history and development of Disney animation, which I admit I already know a lot about. But I still love looking at all the concept art and cell images.
Plus there are some fun interactive bits…
I can’t help it, I’m a sucker for everything Disney.
Since we got a free ticket we also visit the permanent exhibition at the museum called Future World.
It’s aimed at kids, but still fun for the young at heart!
For example, I coloured in a jellyfish, scanned the picture, and then it swims along on a huge interactive wall. Fun!
When we come out of the museum it is raining even harder than earlier, so we dart back into the mall and wait it out. And what better way to pass the time than with some coffee and red velvet cake?
Christmas Wonderland
The rain eases of eventually and we head back over the bridge into the Gardens By The Bay just after Christmas Wonderland is due to open.
Now, having been to a lot of Christmas themed places I do have high expectations. So maybe Singapore’s offering isn’t as bad as I think. But honestly, I do think “wonderland” is exaggerating.
It’s nice enough, but there aren’t really many places to look around. The few stalls there are sell not very christmassy things, and the food is mostly standard event fare.
However, I will give props to Haagen-Daaz who sponsor the event for their summer snow machine, and their epic ice cream cones.
Maybe we just got there too early, or the first day had teething problems.
Anyway, the SuperTree Festive lightshow later on was lovely. And we heard some kids singing carols, so it was all pretty festive except for the heat.
Onwards
We do a quick final walk through the mall and look at the pretty lights, a last trip to Chinatown for the required souvenir magnet, and then go back to the hostel to pack.
Tomorrow we fly on to Australia!
And do I finally get that much needed nights sleep?
No, of course not.
Never mind, we have a fairly early start anyway. Happily, the Asian version of Uber (called Grab) is easy and arrives swiftly so we are the airport with time to explore.
Singapore Airport is meant to be one of the best in the world, and honestly it is pretty cool. There’s a butterfly garden for crying our loud!
I grab a few snacks for the plane and we smoothly travel on to our second destination. Melbourne Australia, here we come!!
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Up Next: Melbourne Mania…
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