A Night in Singapore
Trip Start
Jul 17, 2011
1
3
Trip End
Jul 27, 2011
Singapore, Singapore
Monday, July 18, 2011
We arrived from Tokyo just before midnight after a rather pleasant flight on All Nippon Airlines. Our flight was very empty, so after a quick dinner post-takeoff we each grabbed an empty center row (3 seats) to get some sleep (at this point we'd been up for nearly 24 hours). We both slept for a couple of hours and woke up about an hour before landing.
Once we got off the plane, customs was a breeze. It took us all of 5 or 10 minutes to get through passport control and customs. Our first challenge was finding out how to get into Singapore proper. Our goal was to visit the night market and the casinos. So we found our way to the MRT (the public transit in Singapore) train into the city. Unfortunately we had missed the last scheduled train by 20-30 minutes, and could only take the train to the station on the main MRT line, which was only two stations away. We contemplated taking a taxi, but decided to try for the bus instead. We found our way to the bus stop (go to the basement of Changi airport). As we asked some MRT employees about which bus to take, he pointed out the bus that was preparing to leave was the last bus into the city. We flagged the driver down who graciously allowed us onto the bus. The only problem was that we didn't have any small bills, and had to pay 10 SGD (about 8USD) for a ride that should have cost around 4 SGD. It was still much cheaper than a taxi, so we just paid it anyway (buses don't give change).
The next challenge was to find where to get off. I frantically googled and attempted to find a way to get into the city in order to get a bite at the night market before heading to the casinos. As it turned out, the night markets weren't quite open until 1 or 2am. So we opted to just head towards the casinos instead, where we figured we could find an open restaurant. We asked the driver to let us off as close as possible, which he did.
When we got off the bus and stepped into the rather wet Singapore air (like Houston but even more humid, though a bit cooler with the breeze off the water) we headed over a bridge to Marina Bay Sands which is the more opulent casino development. The walk was probably 20-25 minutes, and we made our way into the casino. Being foreigners we were not required to pay the 100 SGD entry fee that is required of locals, and we easily made it through the security line. We immediately searched from a restaurant, and ate at a noodle house in the lower level. The food was decent, and only about 10 SGD each.
After dinner we walked around the casino, in hopes of finding a reasonable Blackjack table. The cheapest tables we found throughout the casino was 25 SGD which we decided was too rich for our blood. After taking in some of the sites, we opted to head to the other casino on Sentosa, which is a large resort island about 15-20 minutes away by cab. I'd read that this casino catered to more locals, and might be a bit cheaper.
We hailed a cab from the taxi line and made our way to Sentosa which was a faster than expected ride. We then made our way into the casino at Sentosa, which was still nice but nowhere nearly as opulent as Marina Bay Sands. Unfortunately for us the minimums were no cheaper! So we opted for some speed roulette (same as they have in Vegas) which had minimums of around 2 SGD. We played this for at least an hour or two, before heading off to walk around the casino. In the mean time we drank a fair amount of coffee, tea, and water which were all provided by the casino for players (similar to alcoholic drinks in Vegas). We ended up deciding to play a game that neither of us had played before, 3 card poker. We watched for a while to teach ourselves the game, and then sat around playing for a few more hours.
Around 6am we decided to walk around outside, as we assumed it would be getting light soon. We looked around for a while until we decided it was breakfast time, and ate in the same "mall" area that the casino was located. This was all adjacent to the Universal Studios on the island. After eating we found our way off the island (by way of the Boardwalk) over to a mall that housed an MRT station. By this time it was probably 8 or 9 in the morning, and Singapore was beginning to wake up.
As we walked through the mall (full of Swiss watches by the way) we were surprised at how busy the mall was, despite the fact that very few stores were actually open. It must have been related to the MRT station. We made it to the MRT station, bought our tickets, and got on the first of many trains (several connections) towards Changi Airport. The trains were JAMMED! It made riding some of the subway lines in Manhattan look peaceful and quiet. Luckily we'd left our backpacks at the luggage locker at the airport.
The train ride took an hour perhaps until we arrived at Changi. We got our bags, checked into our Air Asia flight to Denpasar (Bali), and went through passport control. On the other side it was a terminal full of really nice shops. Burberry, Rolex, Hermes, whatever you want, it was all there in terms of luxury goods. We window shopped a bit before settling at a table to have a drink before getting onto our flight. We opted to get to our gate a little early, because in Singapore you actually go through another security check at your gate before getting on the plane. Not being familiar with the process, we decided to get there a little early. It was probably unnecessary, but didn't add much time sitting around in the secure area.
Next stop, Bali!
