Saturday
09:00
I only have 48 hours in Singapore because of my extended stay in Malaysia. Nevertheless I believe it is possible to see a lot of what Singapore has to offer over a weekend. My travel to Singapore from Malaysia was via bus and the journey was relatively straightforward, even though it included a border crossing. It was 4 hours until we reached Woodland Points (the official border) and somehow I slept all the way.
The exit of Malaysia and entry into Singapore meant leaving the bus twice to go through immigration and get passports stamped - but the border staff were really efficient. Before embarking on this journey I had heard of horror stories of people getting stuck at the border for over 2 hours.
14:00
I was dropped off at Queens St bus terminal which is very central and I managed to get public transport (MRT) to my hostel. I am staying quite close to Chinatown, so this became my first port of call. To say the Chinatown is big is an understatement. Most Chinatowns I've seen are like hamlets, but not this one! The streets are lined with many shops, restaurants and attractions, and if this is not enough there is also a large temple and mosque. There is so much history and events that they even have a visitor centre for tourists. An explanation may come from the demographics, a staggering 75% of Singaporean residents identify as ethnic Chinese. So its size is hardly surprising as it is in proportion to the size of the Chinese immigrant community.
The area is also known for its burgeoning street art, from hyper-realistic to comic, there are small and large set pieces; it really is worth a good explore around the side streets. I grabbed a late lunch/early dinner and to my surprise managed to find a decent vegan noodle restaurant that had cheap and tasty vegan options - this is rare in Asia!
19:00
When I went back to the hostel I met one of my roommates who was only staying one night in Singapore before heading home to Vietnam. I wanted to visit the Marina Bay at night and this girl wanted to tag along so we went together. I didn't really have a plan, but I knew we would spot things once we got going. We had a light dinner in Chinatown before commencing the walk. It was about a 25 minutes walk from the hostel to get to the Marina but we were able to do a nice walk from Boat Quay all the way to the Marina Bay Sands Observation Complex, passing by the Merlion and Durian on the way.
We watched the laser show from opposite the Marina Bay Sands Observation complex and then continued our walk to the shopping mall.
21:30
We needed a bit of a rest and an energy boost so we bought bubble tea (boba tea) from the mall.
By chance we managed to catch a water light show outside the shopping mall and enjoyed the view whilst drinking our bubble teas.
The laser show and this water light show were both spectacular - in Singapore they really know how to put on a display!
On the way back to the hostel we passed the famous Anderson Bridge which is part of the Marina Bay F1 circuit. There were workers putting the Armco barriers up for the Grand Prix which is scheduled for October in around 8 weeks, and this was very exciting to see (for me at least, maybe not my friend)
In the end we must have walked for at least 2.5 hours, only stopping to take pictures and then having breaks every now and then. It was a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to having another packed day tomorrow!
Sunday
08:00
I woke up relatively early today in order to maximise my last day here. First up was breakfast at a pretty trendy brunch bar called Punch - it's very popular and I was lucky that I was solo so I didn't have to queue long. For breakfast I tried the smashed avocado with poached eggs and a hot chocolate, it was pretty decent. Everything is pricey here but you just have to accept it.
Once fuelled up I started my day of walking. First I went to Raffles square to go see the hotel and the nearby attractions, and then I followed Raffles Avenue until I reached the main part of the F1 circuit, passing by Singapore Flyer on the way.
As a fan, this was pure indulgence, but I couldn't turn down this opportunity to see the track. As one of the longest street circuits on the calendar it was not difficult to identify the streets which make up this iconic circuit. One day I will visit for the night race!
10:30
Finally, I slowly made my way to the Gardens by the Bay in the Marina, crossing the river via the Helix bridge (which was impressive in its own right)
The first thing to say is that this Garden complex is huge, it is an all day trip and I did indeed spend my whole day here. I bought a Garden Experience pass which allowed me into the Cloud Forest Dome, Flower Dome and OCBC Skywalk. Even if you don’t pay to visit the biodomes there are plenty of free gardens to wander around such as the Chinese, Indian and Malay gardens
The skywalk is one of the main attractions. It only costs $12 Singaporean dollars and can be bought as a standalone experience. If you have seen any pictures of the Gardens by the Bay it would have been from this famous walkway - the light show at night is particularly spectacular, visible from outside the gardens. As you walk between two Supergrove trees you are roughly the height of a low rainforest canopy at 22m above ground and the tree height is nearer 50m. The walkway is 128m, which you must do in 15 minutes to get to the other side and down again. Nobody does of course - too many photo ops!
What impressed me the most about the gardens is how they fuse nature and technology to build sustainability - it's factored into everything here. The trees have solar panels which harvest energy from the sunlight, they also collect and store rainwater which is recycled for the fountains and irrigation of the plants. It's high tech photosynthesis!
I really enjoyed the visit and learnt so much about tropical climates, biodiversity in cloud forests and the impacts of climate change on the environment. I would recommend this place to anyone visiting Singapore.
20:00
After a very busy day I had a chilled evening, getting a simple dinner on the way back to the hostel. My flight to Bali is early in the morning so I didn't want to stay out too late tonight, but I felt happy with what I've covered. I love this country and will definitely come back to visit again - either for an F1 race or as part of another trip to Asia.
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