Singapore: August 2015
Singapore
We arrived in Singapore at noon. We were starving and decided to grab a bite at the airport. Quiznos. Bad idea. Javier was making fun of me because I was paranoid about chewing gum. I had read conflicting reports on gum-chewing in Singapore. There are public places where chewing gum is prohibited, and we all know that Singapore doesn’t mess around when it comes to punishment. Here’s what I found out… while it’s not illegal to chew gum in Singapore, the selling of gum is prohibited. So, it’s fair to say that they don’t like it, but won’t go as far as making it illegal.
Singapore
I made it a point to read up on the laws in Singapore. At first, I was nervous that I would accidentally do something wrong and get the cane. As it turns out, Singapore’s weird laws make for a very clean and safe country. We arrived at our hotel after a short metro ride and walk. We learned the hard way that our credit card company had been hacked and had “tried numerous times to contact us” before flat out canceling our cards. Never mind that we had been traveling for well over a year at this point, checking in with them every three months to update our travel itinerary, and had told them repeatedly that the phone number associated with the card no longer works and that they must email us. So, at some point in KL, our cards stopped working. Not good. When we called to inquire, they gave us their spiel, and said that if we wanted the cards expedited to KL, we would need to pay. After yelling at a few representatives and managers, they sent the cards for free, and while we were told they would arrive the day before we were scheduled to leave, it didn’t arrive, which prompted another phone call. In the end, we decided to have the cards sent to Singapore, informed our hotel there of our package, and they were kind enough to hold it for us. I will say this, the cards arrived in Singapore much faster than Malaysia. Kudos to Singapore and their speedy customs. All this to say, our cards were waiting for us at the front desk, and we were so happy.
Our Neighborhood. in Singapore.
We were staying in the Arabic Quarter, which was easy to walk around and had quaint streets and a lovely mosque. There are slightly conflicting reports, but many places have Singapore ranked as the safest city in the world, or just behind Tokyo. Needless to say, we walked around at all times of the day and night. After dinner, we took a spin on the Singapore Flyer, which is their giant ferris wheel. From up there, we could see the city below us. Normally, I’m not so impressed by these sorts of things, but this was very pretty. From a distance, we could see these huge light fixtures that looked like trees. We decided to check them out the following day.
Singapore Flyer
The next morning, we nearly missed breakfast. We took the MRT to Marina Bay Sands. The area is beautiful. Marina Bay Sands is a luxury hotel, with an infinity pool at the top, and casino and mall at ground level. Everything about this place is 5-stars. It was such a change from where we had been the past few months. After a brief walk-thru and stop at the best food court we’ve ever been to, we walked to the ArtScience museum, which looks like a giant metal flower. We saw an expo on the history of Singapore, played around with Samsung virtual reality, and tried (and failed) to send my mom a happy birthday e-greeting from Singapore. The server was down, so instead we took a picture of it, and sent it to her once we had wifi. 🙂
Sending a Digital card to mom for her BDAY
What was possibly the most exciting was the Dreamworks animation exhibition. I would describe it, but I couldn’t make it sound half as awesome as it was, so I won’t even try. We spent the most time here. Afterward, we took the MRT to another mall. Javier was on a mission to find new hiking boots, and wasn’t going to stop until he found them. Unfortunately, Singapore wasn’t as promising as he’d hoped.
We were back at Marina Bay the following morning. We started with Gardens by the Bay. We walked to a viewing platform to see the Supertree Grove. These were the bright trees we saw from the Flyer on our first night. We made a mental note to return later in the evening to watch the light show from this place.
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Gardens by the bay, Singapore
We wandered through the trees and gardens until we reached the Flower Dome, which is the largest greenhouse in the world. There are two shell-shaped structures in this area. One is the Flower Dome, and the other, the Cloud Forest. We purchased tickets for both and started walking through the flowers. The flowers change depending on the season, as does the theme. While we were there, (late summer) we saw lots and lots of orchids. There is also a succulent garden that we both very much enjoyed, as well as artwork and decoration. The theme while we were there: “From Tales to Legends: Discover Singapore Stories.” There were rickshaws and merlions everywhere.
Cloud Forest. Gardens by the bay, Singapore
After our mosey through the flowers we headed over to the Cloud Forest. Inside the cloud forest is a small mountain that you ascend via elevator and then stroll down the ramps and walkways, stopping all along the way to see the different vegetation and other bits of information until you finally reach the bottom. While the Flower Dome has a Mediterranean temperature, the Cloud Forest is more like a rain forest. In fact, it will periodically thunder and start to rain (mist) and when you look at the top of the mountain, it looks shrouded in clouds. The mountain also has a waterfall that greets you as you enter. It really is quite amazing. The flowers inside are both tropical and those found at high elevations. There are lots of ferns and everywhere you look is green. There is other information on the mountain as well, such as caves, animals, and threats to the rainforest. The whole thing is pretty amazing.
Marina Bay Sands resort complex. Singapore
It was starting to get dark, so we left and made our way back to the viewing platform to see the Supertree light show. There are actually many aspect to this show. The Marina Bay Sands Hotel participates in the lightshow, as does the Marina boardwalk. We got a little lost finding our way, but eventually found it, and were early enough to find a good spot. We have so many pictures and video of the Supertree show…
On the way home, we walked along the water until we reached the Merlion Statue, which turned out to be bigger than I thought, and took goofy pictures. We contemplated walking home, but after our long day, cheated, and jumped on the MRT.
Sentosa Island resort.
For our last day, we decided to check out Sentosa Island. There’s a lot to do on Sentosa Island, including Universal Studios. We didn’t do that. Instead, we walked around and saw two massive machine storks with LCD screens for torsos come out of the ground, do a sort of mating ritual with their hearts beating and machine innards moving, or something to that extent, and return to earth. It was weird. We walked to the Merlion. These people really love their Merlion. As we were walking around, we saw a Peruvian restaurant. Javier was so excited. As we came nearer, we could see some of the dishes they offered. It didn’t look so Peruvian. We asked to see a menu, and turns out, it was Mexican food.
fake Peruvian food. Sentosa Island resort.
Javier was so mad. And not just play-mad, seriously upset. His hopes were so high, which made the let-down that much harder. We drank some bubble tea and walked around a bit more before walking back. Back at the hotel, we went for a long run to, and around, Marina Bay, and stopped at the neighborhood durum place for dinner.
Javier often writes me small notes to help me remember our trip for the blog. For this one he wrote, “We want to go back with more money to spend.” HAHA! I think he liked it!!!
To see more pictures of Singapore, click HERE.