A whistle stop tour of Singapore
We spent about 30 hours in Singapore on our way to Thailand from New Zealand, and I really loved the place! After a month in the cool early spring of New Zealand, my first observation of Singapore is that it is HOT! I suppose the heat is just something we’ll have to get used to again. Poor us hey, ha!
From the short time I spent there, I was really impressed with Singapore! The city seems to be very well looked after, it’s a really green and pretty place, and everyone is super friendly! It’s like a Western city has been dropped into the middle of Asia. It’s very calm and organised despite its population – there’s none of the chaos that comes with some Asian cities like Bangkok. It’s a nice way of transitioning from Western life to Asian life! But it is more expensive than the rest of Asia, although still cheaper than home.
There are lots of different little sections to the city, which must make it a great place to live and it makes it a fun place to visit. There is also a really easy to use, cheap and efficient tube/metro train system, so it’s really easy to get around. It was the cheapest and easiest way of getting to and from the airport, and most journeys in the city cost less than a dollar. Here’s a link to the network map, which is super useful for getting around.
During our short visit, these are the things we got to see:
Gardens by the Bay, Marina Bay Sands and The Super Tree Light Show
We were in Singapore one night and arrived just in time to head straight out to the Gardens by the Bay for the light shows. These shows take place every evening at around 8 and 9pm and are completely free to watch. And it’s really lovely!
To enter the gardens you make your way across the Dragonfly Bridge, which goes across a section of the river where they have installed lit up water displays and ornate dragonfly statues. From here you get your first glimpse of the slightly bizarre but beautiful Super Tree Grove. This area of the gardens features artificial trees that tower above you. They have ‘living walls’ with plants growing up them, and they made me think of the trees on Avatar! And at night they light up to music for the 15 minute light shows! You can pay $5 to go up on the walkway, but we just copied a lot of other people and laid down on the floor to look up at the trees as the light show took place. It was really cool! It reminded me a bit of the Vivid light festival in Sydney.
The massive Marina Bay Sands building is right next to the gardens and is also lit up at night so you can see it behind the Super Trees during the show. It was busy, but I really enjoyed it! I definitely recommend going and seeing it if you’re in Singapore on an evening. The gardens themselves are beautiful and worth a visit anyway. We also came back for another wander in the daylight the next day. It’s a great spot!
The Sultan Mosque and the surrounding laneways
This area is just alongside the Bugis metro station and is a great place for a wander. The Sultan mosque is impressive and the laneways around it, such as Arab Lane and Haji Lane, are full of little middle-eastern type shops, restaurants and street art. There are absolutely loads of places selling fabric and clothes to order, and I loved the shops full of oil lamps and magic carpet style rugs! We didn’t buy anything but it’s fun to look! The prices for food around here aren’t especially cheap, though. But I did have a very delicious falafel wrap! 🙂
China Town
This area is exactly as you’d expect. You’re hit with the sight of Chinese lanterns and the smell of fried food the second you get out of the train station! It’s great fun wandering around and looking at the random stuff they have on sale here. There is a huge food court inside the Chinatown Complex, which is a great place to get yummy and super cheap food. I had fried dumplings with noodles for $3.50! As a tip, food courts in general across the city will provide cheap eats.
Little India
With elephant pictures and sculptures all over the place and Bollywood music blaring out of the little shops, this really is Little India!
It’s another great place to have a wander and look at the shops, street art, temples and eateries. They were celebrating the Hindu festival Deepavali while we were there, so it may have been more decorative than normal but I’m not too sure!
The Merlion Park and river area
We had a lovely walk along the Jubilee Route by the river, starting from Raffles Place station. The Jubilee Walk is well marked out on the maps throughout the area and highlights historical icons. We only looked at part of it as it was quite strenuous walking in the heat ha! It is a really pretty area, with decorative, white river bridges and many of the restaurant-fronts along the river are all designed the same, which is cute. Our stroll ended at the water feature Merlion, which is a fairly new symbol of the city but one you’ve got to see nonetheless!
Accommodation
The cheapest we could find (to sleep together) was a ‘pod’ at the Seven Wonders Hostel, near Lavender station. This was a bit like a dorm as there were lots of the so-called capsules in one room, but they were double beds separated by wooden walls with privacy curtains. We got free wifi and free breakfast (continental) and it was £15 each for a night.
