Singapura!

What an incredible country and quite the change of pace from Indonesia…two very different countries right next to each other. We landed in Singapore around 10 AM on Sunday and after going through customs and taking Public Transit (yes another city with great public transit- our faves!) we made it to our Hotel in the Geylang neighborhood. Unfortunately, we couldn’t check in yet so we left our bags at the hotel and headed to the Singapore Botanic Gardens.

It was so nice to walk around but it was HOT and we were both wearing pants from the plane. Should have probably known ahead of time how close Singapore is to the equator… we looked it up and the lowest recorded temperature was around 66 degrees.. sounds like there’s no changing of the seasons here! We ended the day by watching Spain beat England in the Women’s World Cup. It was pretty surprising to see Spain win the whole thing because we saw them play Japan in Wellington and they got crushed 4-0. Still, so fun to be in the mix of the Women's World Cup on our travels.

The next day we woke up and went to our first food stall in a hawker. Hawkers are essentially big food halls with a bunch of tiny restaurant stalls inside that offer an assortment of different cheap cuisines. They quickly became our favorite places to eat and we found ourselves eating in a different one for almost every meal. This place we stopped was clearly a local spot with little English being spoken- we both got noodles and it was delicious. We walked around that area to see a Muslim and Buddhist temple and then walked through the Singapore Management University Campus- very fancy. We ended up at the National Museum of Singapore which I think is one of the best museums we have been to. It had just the right amount of exhibits and took us through the history of Singapore which gave us great context. We also opted to do the extra exhibit which talked about Travel in Singapore. We got to see everything from old travel guides, hotels, airplane suites/lounges, and how that shaped some of Singapore's reputation.

Walked from there to the nearby Fort Canning Park to see old forts from World War 2. The area was surprisingly hilly but it allowed us to see better views of the city. Walked along the river to Clarke Quay and then walked to Chinatown. On the way, we heard loud chanting and music and ended up going inside a Muslim Temple, Sri Mariamman, to see this ritual take place, which was something we had never seen before. (see photos album for a video) We walked over to see the main Chinese Buddhist temple which was so big we couldn’t even get a full picture of it and then we grabbed food at a nearby hawker.

We kept walking and stumbled upon another hawker center downtown called Satay Street. Every day at 7 pm they close a block of road, put out a ton of tables and chairs, and all the stalls lined on the street make heaps of satay in the middle of the city. We got a beer and enjoyed the people watching. We had seen many signs for the Nights Festival, which was a light festival occurring the week we were there. We saw two light shows that were portrayed up on buildings and many lit-up sculptures scattered around the city. After a very long, full day we headed home.

The next day we hopped back on the bus, a lot of which are double-decker buses. We loved this because we would always go sit up top and it felt like we were on a cheap version of a hop on hop off bus, especially when we could get the front row. We drove through the city to get some delicious bagels, that were highly recommended. We headed to Alexandra Arch, which is shaped like an open leaf and is the start of the Southern Ridges, which connects the Arch to Mount Faber. The walk was made up of a series of bridges/walkways high up in the trees that wound us through the park and over the famous Henderson Waves pedestrian bridge, which is the highest pedestrian bridge in Singapore. I’m sure many of you have heard about Singapore’s unreal architecture. Well, that doesn’t just apply to its buildings, but also to its bridges. This bridge takes the shape of waves while offering views of the city and the ocean. We kept walking and eventually made it to Mount Faber Peak, which gives us 360 degree views and a nice breeze.

We kept trucking along to the infamous Gardens by the Bay. What a wild place. First off, the majority of the gardens are free which is pretty shocking given how many incredible sculptures are inside. Second, the garden is well mapped out with a number of smaller gardens inside highlighting different aspects of Singapore- cultures, animals, trees, insects, mushrooms, etc. A lot of these smaller gardens form a circle around the iconic Super Trees!

Let’s just say, it all lived up to the hype! We did forgo the famous Cloud Forest and Flower Dome because both were out of our budget- this is where the expensive part of Singapore comes into play. However, since they are glass domes we did peak into both to get an idea of what they had to offer. There was a bridge that connected the gardens to Marina Bay Sands so we took that and finally saw inside the famous fancy hotel. Great people watching!

Walked from there to the Helix Bridge and then got a great view of the bridge, the bay, and Marina Bay Sands.

(the people in the corner are flaws of the self timer)

Throwback to Melbourne and you will recall Will is a big Formula One fan. Well, Singapore is gearing up to host the Grand Prix in September and they have seriously built up a lot of the course/stands/paddock that goes along with it. We walked along part of the course and are excited to see the race take place (yes even me), after seeing so many elements of the track. We headed back over to Satay Street for dinner since we didn’t actually eat there the night before. Got some delicious food and of course people watched.

The next day we bussed to another well known Hawker center, grabbed some more delicious food, and then headed to the more northern part of Singapore to hike the TreeTop Walk. We did a 5 mile hike through the forest and eventually over a swinging bridge high up in the Tree Canopies.

We encountered monkeys, lizards, fish, and a HUGE wild boar. After the hike, we headed south to a free garden oasis that was 20 floors up in the heart of the city. This was another element of their architecture that was fascinating, they had trees planted in the middle of their skyscrapers.

We walked all around the area then headed down to grab dinner. Went from dinner to see the famous Merlion statue on the bay as the sun started to set. (this picture is from later on)

We explored the Esplanade area for a little and eventually watched the Marina Bay Sands water and light show that occurs every night. On top of the architecture this city has to offer, it seems that every building, bridge, and garden comes to life every night with lights! It really is so impressive!

The next day we checked out of our hotel and headed to the Changi Airport. While this might have been a little overzealous considering our flight wasn’t until 2am, this airport has been consistently ranked the best airport in the world. We know why. It has the largest indoor waterfall (post picture), two movie theaters, multiple slides, a full mall, gardens, a swimming pool, so many food options, art installations, jungle gyms, an outdoor Jurassic Dinosaur walk, a climbing wall- all in the AIRPORT! We explored almost every inch of it and can say that it certainly lives up to the hype! Eventually, it was our time to board around 1AM and we settled into our seats for the night.

After some very full days, we said goodbye to Singapore and our last real stop on the trip. We loved this city’s mix of cultures, abundance of trees, architecture, and cleanliness. Like most of our stops, we have already vowed to come back!