Singapore 🇸🇬

Today was a much more eventful—and tiring—day than the previous one. As my only full day in Singapore, I wanted to make the most of it.

The morning started with a decent sleep-in to shake off any lingering jet lag and recover from the long flight. I then jumped on the bus to my first stop of the day: Fort Canning Park, which has some historical significance relating to WWII. Although I love war history, I found this part slightly underwhelming. I walked around for a while, but there wasn’t much information about the actual role the location played during the war. I did learn a lot about the First Nations people and the significance of the area in that regard, which I enjoyed, but I had expected a little more from the WWII history.

My next stop was the Singapore Botanic Gardens, where I was very impressed by the sheer diversity of flora on display. There were forests, orchards, and even desert sections. The only downside was that many of the experiences that would have been particularly memorable required an additional fee to enter - a common theme in Singapore, it would seem. I was aware of this before arriving, though, so I didn’t let it affect my experience.

The gardens were enormous, and eventually I had to skip a few sections and find somewhere to sit down and cool off. I wish I could have afforded the time to see everything properly, but I’m sure I’ll transit through Singapore again at some point. One thing I was particularly impressed by was the efficiency of the transport system. I never waited more than five minutes for a train and rarely took more than 15 minutes to reach my destination. It was a pretty good introduction to the travelling lifestyle.

The heat, and more importantly, the humidity of Singapore, then forced me to spend the next two hours wandering around a shopping centre waiting for my sweat stains to disappear. On the bright side, it gave me the opportunity to try Singaporean coffee, which was nice - but I already know I’m going to miss Aussie coffee before the end of this trip.

Next, I headed to Chinatown. Despite feeling slightly out of place and as though I was supposed to pay to enter, I made my way through the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple. It was an eye-opening experience and an interesting insight into a culture very different from my own. The rest of my time in Chinatown was spent wandering through the small stalls and assortment of shops. Unfortunately, the heat in the tightly packed, undercover areas made it unbearable to stay for more than a few minutes.

From there, I made my way to Singapore’s main attraction for me: Gardens by the Bay.

I was impressed by the sheer size of the area dedicated to the attraction, much like the Botanic Gardens. Then again, Singapore is essentially one enormous city, so I suppose it makes sense to make the most of every available space.

Unfortunately, I happened to arrive during a children’s event, so there were considerably more kids around than I would have liked. Despite that, I was impressed nonetheless. Water is surprisingly difficult to come by in Singapore, and your options often seem to be limited to buying bottled water. In steadfast protest of this, I spent the next couple of hours drinking beers, with the occasional cup of water provided by the restaurant.

I stayed until the light show began at 7:45pm, by which point the sun had only just gone down. The show was quite amazing and made the trip to Gardens by the Bay well worth it. After a few more beers, I made my way back towards the train station for the final stop of the day.

On Manjit’s recommendation, I stopped by the Lau Pa Sat Street Markets on my way home. I’d already eaten, but I was keen to try some proper Singaporean street food. The only issue was that the portion sizes were far larger than I wanted. Although the food was cheap, I also needed cash, and with only one day left in Singapore, it felt like a waste to withdraw money for a single inexpensive meal. It was still an amazing experience. I must have wandered around the market three times, completely overwhelmed by the number of choices available and the incredible aromas filling the air.
Eventually, I jumped on a train and made tracks back to the accommodation for my final night in Singapore.Read more