Exit Phuket, enter Singapore. Everything is so clean and organized and meticulously cared for that you’re terrified you’re going to drop a receipt on the ground and ruin it all. The idea was: its monsoon season and likely going to rain through our Thailand island escape, so why not leave a day early and explore Singapore. I didnt see another point in my life where I thought “now’s the time to go to Singapore!” and this seemed perfect. Singapore was pretty much the opposite of Phuket. It was a slightly sterile, well controlled, brand new, shiny, kinda expensive city – and in the end, it got a thumbs up from me.
It didn’t start that way. Singapore worked hard to piss me off. First of all, their metro system, the SMRT, is #2 of things to do in Singapore on TripAdvisor. Why everyone is so fascinated with this thing is beyond me, except maybe that its clean? At the airport, the machines don’t take credit cards, and the people at the counter refuse to service you for single rides…even though it would take a second and you are standing right in front of them. Instead, you have to walk up, find an ATM in the airport, come back and pay with cash (OH, and the machine won’t take more than a $10 bill, and we all know what ATMs love to spit out). Anyway, short story version – it took us like 3 hours to get to our hotel. I was super annoyed and hungry. HANGRY. I was hangry. So we wander around until its time to meet Chris’s old colleague for dinner, and wander into the Boat Quay – a touristy row of restaurants along the inner harbor. Perfect. We sit down for some chinese food, and Chris looks it up – 1.5 on TripAdvisor (Forum Restaurant). I didn’t even know things could stay open with a review so bad! So we got up and left after drinks and stumbled into an English pub instead. And finally this is where the story starts to turn around 🙂
We ate a small meal and had some beers and ended up talking to some British expats who had spent years living in Singapore helping design the harbor area including the “boat building”, Skypark. They were the odd couple in their sixties and it was awesome. That turned my mood around, and Chris and I ended up just taking 20,000 steps all over the harbor area of Singapore. We wandered into the Marina Bay area and got to Marina Bay Sands Hotel and Skypark just at sunset. The whole boat on top of a building is an interesting concept that won me over even though it seemed a little touristy. We walked along the boat, saw the sunset, and left to head to Paul’s apartment.
For dinner that night, we met up with Chris’s old colleague Paul, who now lives in Singapore and who invited us over for a proper American BBQ with some of his friends. It was a lovely chill night where we got the semblance of a home cooked meal (burgers, guacamole, etc), which hasn’t happened in about a month and was very appreciated, and we relaxed and chatted. With a room full of expats from all over the world it was an interesting night for me, and Chris was able to catch up with Paul. A quiet, great night.
The next day was see-how-much-you-can-see day. Our flight left in the evening and we had the day to fill with Singapore activities. My goal was to see the Cloud Forest, Gardens by the Bay, Flower Dome and Supertree Grove – full itinerary but all in the same area. And, well, success! But first we had lunch at an awesome noodles and dim sum place called Din Tai Fung. It was efficient, cheap and delicious – everything we want out of our meals. THEN we walked to the harbor and saw the above 4 things. All of the gardens on the harbor/bay are less than 10 years old. They’re all sparkly new, earth friendly, and fun to walk through – just not at noon in Singapore (HOT). The Gardens by the Bay were free and an open area to walk through, where you could see the Supertree Grove from. It was hot though so we made our way to the other two activities. At $23 you got access to both the Cloud Forest and Flower Dome. A little overpriced by my standards for what you get, but they are super energy efficient and earth friendly, and I think that costs a lot of money so I’ll support it. The Cloud Forest was the coolest idea, where they recreated a small mountain inside and set up conditions at different levels of height to recreate what vegetation would be on a mountain in the region. You can then walk up, around and through it. The Flower Dome was definitely more beautiful though, exhibiting flowers from every climate as well, with a huge section of hydrangeas in the center. We walked through both air conditioned domes in about 1.5 hours, and timed it perfectly to head back to the hotel and grab our bags.
All in all I gave Singapore a thumbs up. I would have liked probably 24 hours more to see a few more things like the botanic gardens, a park in the city or one of the museums, but I don’t think I need to go back. There is a very strange feeling of nationalist/populist pride that runs through the city/country, that makes you just a little uncomfortable and want to behave. It felt like Big Brother was watching, and waiting for me to drink my water on the SMRT so they could fine me $5000. It made me ready to go back to Thailand and all its grittiness!
Where in the World are Chris and Stacey? 