Super clean and stylish Singapore
Trip Start
Aug 23, 2011
1
33
79
Trip End
Aug 10, 2012
Singapore, Singapore
Thursday, November 10, 2011
We had a lie in and breakfast we went out to sightsee and went to have a look along the waterfront. We walked by the Art Museum with its funky spiky roof, through the garden with several painted elephant sculptures (as part of a exhibition for elephant conservation) and then along the river, where we saw the Marina Bay Sands Resort which, after reading afterwards, is the most expensive hotel ever built. It is really a sight to behold, with three towers (apparently designed to look like cards- maybe because there is a casino inside) and what looks like a surf board on top. It’s a really cool building. We walked further down and had a look at the very European looking Museum, Singapore Cricket Club, Fullerton Hotel, and other surrounding buildings. I never knew I was so into architecture before this trip, but I find that buildings really make a city, and there are certainly lots of beautiful and interesting ones in Singapore. We then strolled down to Clarke Quay. It was nice to walk around with colourful buildings and loads of cool bars and restaurants, that sadly we cannot afford, including a particularly interesting one called The Clinic where you sat in wheelchairs and drinks are served in drips! Very weird. We got some lunch at a bar on along the waterfront whilst watching a boxing match (so Gary was happy!). We walked down to take some pictures of the famous Merlion statue, just before it decided to pour down with rain. We took shelter underneath the overpass and waited for the rain to clear before attempting our photos again. We then walked to the MRT and got the train over to see Little India. We had a walk around the walking trail recommended in our guide. The area is really vibrant with some really cool buildings and decorations up for Divali. We walked over to Sim Lim mall in the hope of buying an external hard-drive to store our (thousands of!) photos but got caught mid way by a sudden heavy downpour so had to take shelter in a restaurant until it eased off. Unfortunately we didn’t find any good deals so we just headed back to the hostel and got dinner in the food court near our hostel before bed.
On our third day in Singapore, the weather was finally looking nice so we got the long journey on the MRT over to the Botanic Garden. It was gorgeous hot sunshine, so we had a nice walk around the garden. We then got the MRT back to the centre and had a photo outside the famous Raffles Hotel. We were going to go in for a signature Singapore Sling, but having read terrible views about the place, we decided not to bother wasting our money. We walked over to the Singapore flyer and sat by the river bank for a while and took some photos. We then went over to the Marina Sands Resort to have a look around and go up to the top for the views, but then we found out it cost $20SIN each so we decided against that idea! Inside the hotel was amazing though, it was absolutely enormous. We ever so slightly envied the people staying here, comparing it to our cramped hostel dorm room in the middle of the red light district! We walked over to the waterfront and took some pictures of the sights and then onto China Town. We did the trail recommended in the guide and took pictures of the old buildings and bought a few souvenirs. After a long day we went back to the hostel to relax for a while and got some dinner from the food court down the road. Unfortunately, the roast duck was nowhere near as nice as it had been the previous night, basically just bone and skin, absolutely disgusting! We watched a film in the hostel common room along with a few other people then went to bed.
Our flight to Cairns wasn’t until 10pm so we had most of the day to spend in town, but we weren’t able to check in online on any of the websites we tried so we decided to go to the airport quite early just in case there were any problems. So we spent the morning walking around a pretty park and enjoyed the sunshine and then cooled off by window shopping in the countless malls. We went back to the hostel at about 4pm to get a quick shower and then got the MRT up to the airport. Thankfully there were no problems check in, and we were able to check in at 6pm so we spent the rest of the time looking round the airport shops, getting dinner, and relaxing in the departure lounge.
Well that’s the end of Singapore which we absolutely loved. I can understand why some people would say it’s a bit clinical, but I liked the fact that it was so clean, safe, and orderly. It definitely competes with Hong Kong to be one of my favourite cities (and mini countries), although I think Hong Kong still has the edge. So we have now finished 5 countries and one continent. Asia has been really amazing, so incredibly beautiful and quite a culture shock. I couldn’t possibly choose a favourite country because they all have something fantastic about them (and also some crappy things too!). I think our highlights in each country were The Great Wall and the scenery of Yangshuo in China, Stanley Bay and Lamma Island in Hong Kong, Koh Phangan and Elephant World in Thailand, the scenery in Cameron Highlands and the heritage of Melaka in Malaysia, and in Singapore just generally walking round the city and enjoying how clean and safe it was and the interesting architecture. Now onto our next country, Australia!
Love Tania and Gary xxxx
