I'm actually in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia at the moment, but before coming here I spent 3 nights in Singapore. I decided only to book 3 nights because it's rather expensive. So the plan was to take a break from work and explore 'full-time' for a couple of days. In retrospect, I wish I would have had more time there though. People had told me it's rather small and that a couple of days would be enough. I would disagree. But I guess it all depends on your preferences. Also, the timing wasn't great for me. On my last day in Chiang Mai I caught a cold and the only choice I had if I wanted to see Singapore was to override my body. I was completely exhausted when I arrived in Kuala Lumpur and I'm still recovering. But let's return to Singapore! 🙂
So I had heard a lot about how expensive Singapore is but I didn't find it that expensive. Of course, for SEA it is but I would say a lot of things are still cheaper than in Europe. Accommodation is expensive though. I paid about €40/night for a bed in a not-so-very-nice hostel. The place was ok but there are definitely better hostels.
I stayed in a rather hip area called Lavender. I took a taxi from the airport and it was about €22. I arrived late in the afternoon so on my first night I walked to the area called Little India and had a nice meal. It was great with a break from all the Thai food 🙂
But the next morning it was time to explore the main attractions in Singapore. The big building in the pictures is called Marina Bay Sands Singapore and is a luxury hotel. It felt a bit unreal the first time I saw it. But who knows, next time I visit Singapore I might be able to afford to stay there 🙂
As you might be able to tell from the pictures it had been raining. Which was very refreshing in the heat.
After 2 months in Northern Thailand, I really appreciated the open water.
Singapore is very clean. Even the trash bins looked nice!
Singapore is a very green city. It was a big contrast to Chiang Mai. One main attraction in Singapore is Gardens by the Bay. It's kind of a park and green area that you can enjoy for free but it also has several attractions that you have to pay for. I decided to buy a ticket to the Flower Dome and the Cloud Forest. (About €22).
The Flower Dome is a huge conservatory and according to their website, it holds the Guinness World Record for the largest glass greenhouse. And for sure, they had a lot of flowers, from all around the world.
The place was super crowded though. A lot of Asian tourists with tripods taking selfies everywhere you looked, haha. (I had to put in some effort not to let it show in the pictures).
Some extra decorations due to the upcoming Chinese New Year. I took way more pictures than these but I won't bore you with pictures of flowers.
Next up was the Cloud Forest with one of the world’s tallest indoor waterfalls. (Was impossible to get a picture of that without a crowd). Just like the Flower Dome this place was very lush and had incredible plants.
There were also a lot of nice decorations. Again, I could share a lot more pictures...
Even though it was refreshing to walk among all these plants it was a bit exhausting due to how crazy busy both these places were.
So afterward I walked around outdoors and even laid down for a while by this waterfall that you can see in the picture below. After this full day, I didn't have the energy to stay out in the evening. I took the subway back to the hostel and had a quick meal at a hawker center (where you can have a nice meal for about €5).
The next day, which was my last one, I visited Singapore Botanic Gardens, so even more plants 🙂 It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and it's huge! I spent about 4 hours there and I wasn't able to cover the whole park.
It's free to visit but you have to pay for the National Orchid Garden (about €10) which has the largest display of tropical orchids in the world. I decided to buy a ticket.
They had all kinds of orchids, the beauty in that garden was mindblowing. Such an abundance. I must say that I liked Singapore Botanic Gardens better than Gardens by the Bay (at least the attractions you had to pay for) because there simply were way fewer people.
After all the plants and flowers I made a short visit to China town. It was too busy for me at the time though. I decided to walk towards the water again.
It was great to walk along the river. But well, by now I was really tired. In 2 days I had walked more than 50 000 steps and my cold wasn't getting better. I needed to head back to the hostel.
But I made a stop in Little India once again. Such a contrast to the more modern parts of Singapore.
The picture to the right below isn't from Little India, it's very close to my hostel.
The subway was great in Singapore. You could just tap your credit/debit card, no need to buy a separate card. And every station had public toilets that were clean, how amazing isn't that!? I have never experienced anything like it. Overall, it was very easy to find clean public toilets in Singapore.
I think that's it, at least for now 🙂 It would be nice to revisit at some point, and to spend more time there. It was hard to get a feeling for the place in just 2 days. But overall my impression is positive, for sure 🙂 I'm just not sure how it would be to live there. I did see quite many Westerners that lived there, I know that's rather common.
Now I'm doing my best to recover here in Kuala Lumpur but it's been rather challenging here so far. Hope to share more about that soon.
Thanks for reading 🌸
Wishing you a lovely day 💚