We were planning on three days in Singapore, but with hurricane Queenie having forced us to arrive early, we had seven. I can't remember what we actually did on each day, as it's a blur of fast food, malls, and coffee shops, but some of the highlights were:
Botanical gardens
Stunning gardens with bonsai trees, a tropical rain forest area, sweeping grass plains....literally everything. I touched lots of plants because a sign said I should.
Bonsai trees (didn't see any in Japan!)...touched those.
a swing chair.... Not a plant, but connected with it.
Waterfall!
No idea what this is....and I don't understand it; did many stems grow up from one seed into a single tree, or did the tree at some point decided to grow both up and down??
Didn't touch this.
Orchard road
A road of shopping malls. Not just one big shopping mall, but dozens of them, each with hundreds of shops. Insane. Even has a unicorn.
Chinatown
A bustling Chinatown right by the business district, we had some great food here on our first night! There's a closed road very close to here which is full of expats drinking on a Friday night... Lots of fun but with beer in Singapore at £8 a bottle, a bit expensive!
Clarke Quay
The touristy, but cool nightlife area. We walked around and soaked up some of the atmosphere.
Arab district
Markets, groovy tower blocks, and interesting temples!
Raffles
The classic colonial hotel... We walked around, and the gawped at the £20 price for a Singapore Sling (which they invented). Typical Singapore cars parked out front.
Coffee shops
Starbucks are here in force, and were unfortunalty one of the only places we could go for affordable food, wifi, and air conditioning. However, there are loads of independent coffee shops springing up further to the north (little India and farrer park), where we stayed.
Bayside area
Incredibly modern, with malls running under most of it. You never see anyone on the surface here.
The hotel to the right has a garden and pool on the roof! And a mall underneath. We spent time watching some skaters jump a stair set and some other 20 something's cosplaying... Was the only alternative culture we saw here though.
Football!
We went and watched Malaysia beat Singapore 3-1 in a really close game that was decided in the 90th minute when at 1-1 the referee gave a penalty for some unknown reason. All went downhill from there and riot police were called.
However...
- we bought our tickets on the day of the match.
- it was mainly families there for a night out.
- it cost £15 a ticket.
This is what English football should be like.
Universal Studios
Jane was apprehensive, I was excited. I had my photo taken with EVERYTHING. However we got there to find the main rollarcoaster was shut till next year! Since we arrived for opening though, there were no queues for any rides so immediately went for the next two biggest rides; the Transformers ride and the Mummy Returns ride.
Jane did not like these rides. The Transformers ride was one of the 3D glasses combined with movement rides. Jane may have thrown up. Four times.
Pushing on, we didn't discover until it was too late that the Mummy ride was a fast rollarcoaster in pitch black. Probably not the best for Jane, so afterwards she decided to spend some time sitting down (in Starbucks), while I went on the Mummy ride another four times.
The highlight of the day was the Waterworld show which was a live action scene full of explosions, jet ski jumping and high falls into water. Even the site was pretty cool.
After a quick lunch, I started having my photo taken....first with a car.
Then Mr and Mrs Woody Woodpecker.
Pinocchio.
Kungfoo panda I think? He didn't introduce himself.
Optimus Prime!
This guy who had bigger muscles than me.
And best of all, the penguins from Madagascar. Through all these photos, Jane looked at me as though I was bonkers. There's only so many times you can line up with kids to get you picture taken with a penguin.
And then at the end of the day, Jane went on the Mummy ride with me again!
Newton food area
We met up with a friend of Jane's who moved to Singapore a few years ago, and after a couple of drinks we moved to this food area. Basically it's 30 to 40 restaurants with a single outdoor seating area, so you pick the best dishes from each place! Perfect....
This is our chilli crab, which we scoffed down with bread rolls. Unfortunalty this was the only place we found tradional Singapore food, though it was tasty and cheap!
Cars
I asked Jane's friend why all the cars here are high end Porsches, BMWs, etc... And was shocked by the answer.
- Cars can't be older than 10 years here. They get scrapped after that.
- You must have a certificate of entitlement (COE), to buy a car, and it lasts 10 years.
- To buy a COE costs £40,000.
So buy the time you've spent £40k on a piece of paper, I suppose you aren't really going to buy a Fiat Punto.
Museum of Singapore
We went to the museum of Singapore and actually really enjoyed it. It was the first museum we had been to since Japan, as we hadn't really been in the mood, but this was a well laid out experience, and we learnt loads! For example, Singapore was part of Malaysia for two years and Mr Raffles didn't own the hotel.
Light show
There are three light shows around the city each night. We only managed to see one, but it was great to sit by the waterfront with a beer and watch it.
Avoiding the heat
After our first few days above ground, we submitted to live as a mole person and went underground. The malls are all air conditioned and run from one MRT (metro) station to the next, so you really have no reason to go into the stifling heat. We were shocked when we found out that this was their cold season, and that it was far far hotter in the summer.
The other thing that is slightly worrying is the pollution; the sun is hazy and barely visible on a clear day, due to the burning of rubbish in neighbouring Malaysia. It's a real shame given how clean and green Singapore is.
Seven days may have been too long here, but I do feel we got a really good feeling of the place... and we would definitely need to adapt better to the heat if we were to move here.
Chris
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