Singapore

So despite having more time previous trips to plan my holiday and make sensible decisions logistical decisions I still managed to spend the night camped out at the airport bench trying to catch a few winks before the departure of of my 2.30am flight - I'm endlessly jealous of the people who can sleep anywhere. However it did mean we landed bright and early (6.30am) so that I could make the most of my day.

Wednesday - 29/04/15

Thankfully I had given some thought to my first activity of the trip because in Singapore nothing really opens until 10am (like China) so that meant I headed to the only place in Singapore that opens at 5am - the Botanical Gardens. The gardens are lovely, but sadly not quite in season so there weren't many spectacular floral displays on offer but the gardens themselves are beautiful, due to their great layout and design. They are also very well kept, there was an army of people pruning and primping at 8am when I arrived. The 30oC heat was also making it's presence felt at that time - I now understand why the air-con on the metro was turned up so high!

The gardens are home to a huge variety of tropical plants - I still get overexcited when I see something exotic that would never grow at home - which are all split into various sections, like the healing garden (plants used in traditional natural remedies), the rain-forest and the ginger garden, to name a few. The gardens are put to good use as a public space (they are free to enter) there were loads of people walking their dogs, running, doing exercise classes and speed walking - I have never seen so many speed walkers in my life! It was very inspirational all these people getting fit around me but unlike them I had to spend the rest of the day in my clothes so I decided not to try and race them up the hills. I would have lost anyway (excuses, excuses).

After getting lost in the various corners of the huge garden I decided to head to my next destination of the day - Chinatown. Purely because I was hungry and there is always lots of food in Chinatown! I skipped all the tourist mementos - they had some nice things but I would have felt a bit silly taking Chinese souvenirs back to China at the end of the week - and headed straight for the food street. I seriously considered having frog soup, but I may have to build up to that one. I opted for some safe but tasty chicken instead. I followed it up with a delicious papaya frozen juice - it hasn't helped to dampen my feelings of wanting a blender! It's not the people and place I miss, its the kitchen appliances! So instead, I'm going to have to try and drink my way through as many frozen juices as I can to keep me happy. Despite this being my personal highlight of Chinatown I had a noisy around some of the impressive temples in the area before checking into my hostel.

My papaya smoothie...

Despite me feeling like it should be bed time, it was barely past lunch, I headed to an area of the city known as Little India. I don't think I've ever been anywhere like it. The streets are lined with coloured buildings with people selling all your clothing needs from socks to sarees. Scattered in between were stalls selling flower garlands (which smell exactly as you imagine), traditional Indian delicacies and treats and of course restaurants selling all the Indian cuisine imaginable. Obviously Singapore is all about its food.

As it was too early to eat my way through another culture, I headed to another area called Arab Street, which is centered around a magnificent gold dome topped mosque, or at least it would be spectacular if it wasn't covered in scaffolding! To me, it was a bit surreal walking along streets called Kandahar street and Baghdad street...

I decided to head back to little India for dinner - it's been a long time since I've had curry! And it was definitely worth the wait.

Thursday - 30/04/15

As I hadn't made any plans for my time in Singapore I decided to pick the brains of Jonas, the guy manning the hostel - he definitely knows Singapore! After much discussion we decided my best plan for the day would be to head to Pulau Ubin, an island to the north-est of Singapore. Pulau Ubin was described to me as what Singapore used to be like - in which case a rustic area full of tropical plants and well established forests. Before taking the little boat to the island with some of the other nature seekers I ate lunch at the Changi hawker centre. The hawker centres are the best, and cheapest places to eat. The centres, which are plentiful in Singapore, cater primarily for the locals so they are the perfect opportunity to try a huge variety of local dishes. Palau Ubin is where the nature lovers in Singapore go to play; there is a mountain biking track, plenty of places for fishing and a good network of roads and paths for cycling and walking. I decided to hire a bike for the day from one of the local shops on the island. I was so busy whizzing around on my bike - I'd forgotten how much I like cycling - that I had to make a conscious effort to slow down and look at the nature around me! The plentiful supply of shelters came in handy when I had to dive into one to avoid a thunderstorm - Singapore's weather is definitely unpredictable!

The island was nice, the scenery wasn't exactly spectacular but if you are used to living in the centre of a busy city it must be a little bit like paradise.

Palau Ubin -  I never get bored of palm trees!

In the evening I went to the Gardens by the Bay, Singapore's very adventurous garden creation. I was there quite late so I missed the light shows for the evening but I wanted to see what all the hype was about - I have to say I initially wasn't all that taken with it.

Gardens by the Bay

Friday - 1/05/15

Day 3 was my day of culture. The Presidents house, Estana, was open due to it being May Day (it only opens to the public for special holidays a number of times a year). The house was built by the British when they were there so it's quite an old building (it's been very well looked after) Only 3 of the rooms, which are used to entertain guests were open so there wasn't that much to see, I'd been hoping for a rake through the cutlery drawer type of visit but with the amount of military security keeping a very close eye on proceedings nothing but the planned itinerary was possible. They did have a number of gifts given to Singapore by other countries, when they were on state visits, on display which were interesting to look at. The huge grounds that surround the house are also quite impressive and even come complete with a 9 hole golf course.

Estana

I continued my cultural education with a visit to the National Museum of Singapore which had a really good exhibition about the last 700 years of Singapore - I really enjoyed it, especially because I knew nothing about the history of Singapore beforehand. After the museum I took a walk around Fort Canning park, which is the site of a colonial built fort (it doesn't exist anymore) before heading down to the Clarke Quay area of the city - home to the majority of Singapore's nightlife (alcohol is very expensive everywhere in the city) - for a spot of lunch and a stroll along the river. After very leisurely making my way along the river I went to the Asian Civilizations Museum which was very heavy on religious development in Asia, including China. Despite the sheer volume of information on various the development of religions I found it really interesting because religion is never talked about in China so I previously had no idea how the different religions had been introduced and developed in the country, despite China being home to so many temples and Buddha statues.  

Ice cream from a street cart - serving it in a slice of multi-coloured bread seems to be the thing to do...

Because it was such a lovely afternoon, even though it was very hot, I spent about an hour chilling out around the marina (surrounded by thousands of tourists), next to the famous Merlion statue before heading to the Singapore Art Museum in the evening via a detour through some of the memorial parks and a quick nosy at the famous Raffles Hotel. 

My attempts at trying to understand modern art failed yet again - art is most definitely wasted on me - so much so I managed to trip over one of the exhibits! I saw that as a sign...

Saturday - 2/05/15

My last day started off with a walk up and through Mount Faber park which promised to offer views over Singapore - it did but the trees are quite tall so from the top you only get to see little sections of the city, panoramic views are not an option. This was slightly disappointing but it was a nice walk none the less. The park is connected to another 5 parks in the area through unusual bridges and treetop walkways - it made for a nice scenery change for a few hours. In hindsight climbing a hill in 30oC when I wasn't going to have access to a shower for the rest of the day wasn't my smartest idea but I still enjoyed it.

After jumping on the metro to head to China town for lunch at the Maxwell Road Food Centre (another hawker centre), I walked through the city to a different side of the Marina to the one I had been to before and spent a while relaxing in the shade (I forgot my suncream) as well as under some outdoor fans (genius idea). I then headed to the Gardens by the Bay again to see them during the daylight hours. I spent a lot of time hiding in the shade trying to decide if I wanted to go up onto the Super Flowers viewing platform - i'm glad I did because it gives a good view over the rest of the park (and showed me all the areas I hadn't seen yet). I stayed in the gardens until the first of the two nightly light shows before heading for dinner and then off to the airport. I always brings you back down to earth when you have to hang around an airport for 6 hours before your flight leaves!

Banana fritter and kiwi and mango smoothie - trying out the local snacks

The 'Super Flowers' in the garden

My last view of Singapore

I really liked Singapore. Most of the older, historical buildings and structures have been restored to their original splendor, the city seems proud of it's history - it has certainly helped to shape an amazingly diverse city and culture. I think the city feels more homely than Hong Kong, and even China, because accommodation seems to be predominantly houses or apartment buildings with only a few stories - most even have gardens. Currently most of the skyscrapers are confined to the financial district - because of this I think the city feels quite spacious and relaxing. The city is also very clean and well kept - some would say it almost feels clinical and soulless because of this but I enjoy not walking along streets lined with chewing gum and rubbish! I was also pleasantly surprised to find that Singapore wasn't completely flat - there are quite a few hilly parks in the city - I went up as many as I could - I'm bored of living in a flat city! 

G x