Singapore

Day 226 (February 9, 2019) – Singapore

Originally, our plans didn't involve visiting Singapore, but we were made an offer we couldn't refuse: free accommodation! My friend Sharon from high school now lives in Singapore and graciously offered to host us for the four days we were in town. Singapore is known for being quite the expensive city, and it certainly would've been had we paid for our own room. But thanks to Sharon's generosity, we were able to put that money towards awesome food and drinks instead. It was great catching up with Sharon, and the city turned out to be so much better than we had expected. The city is so vibrant and cosmopolitan that it is high on my list of places to live if we ever settle down and find a job again (and if that job would let me work remotely from Singapore). Public transit is super efficient, and the city is extremely safe. The only downside is there was a heavy Big Brother feel to the place, with government security cameras everywhere. Singapore locals may be used to it, but it was a bit unnerving as a visitor thinking your every move was being watched.


While we're kicking ourselves for forgetting to take some pictures with Sharon, we did get plenty of her cute dog Roxy.

Sharon's dog Roxy

Sharon lives in a really awesome condo/apartment complex with well-maintained grounds. There were boardwalks among koi ponds, pools, and vine-covered seating areas. I'm not sure if every condo building in Singapore looks like this, but I wouldn't be surprised if they did.

Me on one of the boardwalks surrounded by koi ponds

One of Sharon's pools

Vine-covered seating area for about a million people

The original reason we wanted to come to Singapore was to experience Chinese New Year. While it would have been chaos to be in China for this holiday, Singapore was supposed to be a bit more sedate, while still having pretty good celebrations to attend. Singapore's Chinatown was bustling with activity and decked out in red lanterns and other decorations. While Chinatown was packed with people, walking around was manageable without too much personal space being violated. We even attended an evening fireworks display held at one of the major exposition grounds, which also had a ton of street food for sale.

Chinatown Singapore

Red lanterns in Chinatown

2019 is the year of the pig

Here's an even bigger pig

Last two pigs, I promise

The fireworks display

About the only thing that is cheap in Singapore is the food, so we ate plenty of that while there. Singapore has an awesome Little India with tons of really good and cheap Indian food, and we ate there several times while in town. The more main attraction food-wise in Singapore are the hawker centers, which basically are areas where there are a collection of very cheap food stalls. You can usually find all kinds of foods to eat there, including both Indian and Chinese foods, as well as other ethnicities. And while many things in Singapore are very expensive, this food is very cheap, usually only a couple of dollars per dish, and the portions are quite large. You can even buy cheap beer there, which would be a fortune at a bar or traditional restaurant, and we did just that with Sharon at one of the hawker centers near her home. Unfortunately, we didn't get any good hawker center photos, but we did get one of a bun place right next to a hawker center.

Buns!

One of the more odd sights in Singapore is the set of buildings that look like they're topped with a curved cruise ship. We could see this structure from much of the city but didn't really know what it was. Turns out it's the Marina Bay Sands, a hotel/resort/casino consisting of three towers and topped with the SkyPark. The SkyPark has an infinity pool open only to hotel guests, as well as a bar open to the public. While we skipped the pool, since it would've cost us around $800 per night to stay in the hotel, we did go up to the bar for a drink and some awesome 360 degree views of the city. It cost us $35 for two pints of beer. We chose to think of it as paying for the view, with free beer included.

Marina Bay Sands Hotel

Infinity pool at the Marina Bay Sands

From the top

View of Gardens by the Bay from the Marina Bay Sands

We also visited Gardens by the Bay, which you can see in the picture above. The gardens include an outdoor area with Supertrees (the circular elevated structures on the right in the picture above), as well as two conservatories (the two domed structures on the left in the picture above). One conservatory is the Flower Dome, and the other is the Cloud Forest Dome. These glass-walled domes are massive and are completely air-conditioned, which felt amazing after walking all over Singapore to get there. 

Supertrees in the Gardens by the Bay

Inside the Flower Dome

Flower Dome

What was pretty cool about the Cloud Forest Dome was there was a giant waterfall inside, as well as some elevated walkways, perhaps to mimic walking through the tree canopy. 

Inside the Cloud Forest Dome

Elevated walkway in the Cloud Forest Dome

More Cloud Forest Dome, and you can see the Supertrees outside

We also did a few other things while in Singapore, like going to the National Gallery, watching a water/light show (kind of like at the Bellagio in Las Vegas), and getting hooked on bubble tea. These things provided some brief entertainment and kept us occupied for a few hours. While the art in the National Gallery was nice too see, what was more entertaining to me was that the gallery is made up of the two separate buildings that could be explored: the old Supreme Court building and City Hall. A level has been built to surround the old Supreme Court Building so you can walk around its dome, and you can tour an old jail cell and the judges chambers. There was also a thin pool covering the glass ceiling of one of the buildings, which made the floor shimmer with light.

National Gallery Singapore

Walking around the dome of the old Supreme Court Building

A squat toilet in the jail cell....not too private

Glass ceiling covered with a thin pool

Water/light show at Marina Bay

Enjoying our new obsession: bubble milk tea

Singapore is supposed to have one of the best airports in the world when it comes to entertainment, amenities, and facilities. While we didn't have enough time to enjoy their rooftop pool on the day we were flying to Phuket, we did catch a couple unique performances. One room of the terminal had a wall that looked like shopfronts, with apartments above the first level. A musical was performed on those upper floors by projections of people, sort of like a movie, but you kind of felt like it was really happening, since the apartments/storefront looked quite real. 

Mark enjoying a musical performance

Thanks Sharon for being a great hostess, we had a great time! Say hi to Roxy for us!

Thanks Sharon and Roxy!