We boarded the plane at 10am to fly to Singapore. Both Chris and I were very excited to be spending a long weekend in the ‘Lion City’ before returning to Vietnam to find work. For Chris it was another new country to explore, and for me, having visited when I was 17 years old (8 years ago!!), I could show him some of my favourite spots. It took us a little while to get through customs and work out the public transport options to take us to our hotel, but thankfully, with the recommendation of a Singapore transport app from a friend, it soon became clear. We purchased a three day tourist travel card and made our way to the metro. A few stops later we changed to a bus, and within 45 minutes we had found our hotel, ‘Fragrance Hotel – Sunflower’. We definitely didn’t have high expectations having seen pictures online, although the reviews were good, it was in the red light district, and very expensive compared to any other SEA country. However, we were pleasantly surprised with our room and really we would only be there to sleep and shower.
By now it was mid-afternoon and we were starving! A quick pork and rice dish at a small eatery at the top of our road went down well. We jumped on a bus and headed into the centre, disembarking at Marina Bay. Marina Bay is home to an array of restaurants, hotels, businesses and residential buildings. A 3.5km waterfront promenade enables visitors and residents alike to complete a loop around the bay, which we saw many people using as a fitness circuit; cycling, running, walking, skating etc. It was a very pleasant walk around the bay, although the unbearable humidity and powerful sun led us to enter the ArtScience museum along the waterfront. I had read about an exhibition called ‘The Deep’ in the inflight magazine on our flight over, and it sounded right up our street. Glad to be in the air conditioned exhibition centre, we decided to visit ‘The Deep’ then and there. ‘The Deep’ reveals the weird and wonderful mysteries lurking in the deep sea. The exhibition displays an assortment of extremely rare creatures of the deep, preserved and in pristine condition. There is also an extensive display of mesmerising images of spectacular sea fauna and unearthly bioluminescent organisms. The exhibition displays findings from four levels below the surface, reaching from 150m to over 1000m. It was truly fascinating and I would highly recommend visiting it. “More men have walked on the moon than have dived to the deepest part of our oceans.” – Dr. Cindy Lee Van Dover.
Time flew by and we spent just over 2 hours at the ArtScience museum. As we exited the building at early evening, the humidity was still unbearable. So we jumped on the air-conditioned metro over to Chinatown. When we were reading up about Singapore before we arrived we had learnt that residents spend their days living in air-conditioned flats, travelling by air-conditioned transport, whether it be the bus or metro, then walk to work via air-conditioned malls, and enter their air-conditioned workplace. The smallest amount of time possible is spent outside and we absolutely understand why!
We found the hawker food stalls in Chinatown, all hidden away neatly in a building, with very high levels of hygiene. Nothing like what we have been accustomed too in other SEA countries! Much to our delight the food was affordable and plentiful. We tucked into some duck wanton and couldn’t resist sharing an ice cold beer.

We enjoyed the pork and rice from the top of our road enough to go back for breakfast. A filling and energising start to the day. Back on the bus, we disembarked at Marina Bay again. However, today we walked around the other side of the bay, allowing us to stop by the Merlion, Singapore’s mascot, and a popular tourist attraction around Marina Bay. We continued around the waterfront and crossed over the world's first double Helix Bridge. It was a relief to ‘have’ to walk through the air-conditioned Marina Bay shopping mall to reach ‘Gardens by the Bay’, our next destination. Gardens by the Bay covers 250 acres of reclaimed land and was created with the aim to improve the quality of life by enhancing greenery and flora in the city. The gardens consist of flower domes, themed gardens, conservatories, and super trees. After a stroll around in the unbearable heat and humidity, we came across the ticketing office for the super trees. Costing just under £5 for the both us, we decided to purchase the tickets, allowing us to climb to the tree tops walkway. The super trees look like they came straight out of the Avatar film set. Connected by a narrow walkway standing at 50m high, we were able to enjoy a panoramic aerial view over the gardens. But it was now around midday and definitely time to escape the heat. So it was back over to Chinatown on the metro, to a different hawker centre called ‘Maxwell’s food court’.
Maxwell’s food court is very popular with business men and women on their lunchbreak, making it near to impossible to find a seat. When we spied an empty seat it more often than not had a packet of tissues placed on it or on the table. Luckily we had read about this practice, and it is common in Singapore for workers to reserve their seat with a packet of tissues whilst they queue up for their food. Some of the queues were insane. It made me wonder how long their lunch breaks are! After a browse around, Chris joined the queue for fish head soup – something he had been keen to try for a long time, and I opted for some pork noodles. Fortunately we managed not to upset any local workers and found some seats without tissues!
One of the famous shopping areas in Singapore is Bugis, and since we were passing by on the metro it seemed only right to stop. Bugis has a small area of covered market stalls, and much to my disappointment I didn’t manage to spend any money. Chris however bought a nice pair of shorts, then as part of my birthday present from Chris, I got a new ear piercing. When I was in Singapore 8 years ago I got my belly button pierced, so I wanted to keep the theme. Any excuse!
City sightseeing is tiring enough, let alone in 38 degree heat and 90% humidity! So we caught the bus back to our hotel for a short rest. But with countless places to see and visit, before we knew it we were back out and making our way on the bus to Little India. We were really looking forward to some delicious Indian food, and we had read and heard that Little India was a great place for reasonably priced good food. Maybe we were looking on the wrong streets, but either the eateries/restaurants were dead quiet, or the prices were extortionate. We couldn’t believe how much we were struggling to find somewhere to eat. But to our knowledge and understanding we were looking in the right places. We settled for the only busy place we could find, a row of small stalls with some under covered seating, and shared a large portion of chicken biryani with an extra lamb curry. Surprisingly we still had a small amount of vodka left over from Beth’s parting gift, and being the classy travellers that we are, poured the remainder into a water bottle. We purchased some coke and sipped away at our vodka and coke in our plastic water bottles!
I was keen to show Chris ‘Clarke Quay’, a historical riverside quay containing five blocks of restored warehouses housing various restaurants, bars and nightclubs. As well as this, there are many floating old Chinese junks converted into restaurants and bars and several other streets leading off from the main riverside lined with quirky bars. Unfortunately the two bars I had been to when I was last here had closed and changed hands, and everywhere was charging London prices for drinks. But it was a lovely area to walk around, enjoy the atmosphere and somewhere to definitely come back to with money!

It was time to try the traditional Singaporean breakfast of kaya toast (sweet margarine and coconut jam spread) served along side two soft boiled eggs, and washed down with a strong coffee. It was nice and a pleasant change from rice. Then it was back on the bus and over to the Botanic gardens. Probably the largest botanic gardens I have visited and as you can imagine, it was pristine. It has even been granted an UNESCO World Heritage Site, the only tropical garden to be honoured with this.
We meandered our way around and found ourselves at the 'Healing garden'. This area displayed a large assortment of plants used for medicinal purposes. Another highlight of the botanic gardens is the 'National Orchid garden' and much to Chris' amusement, the 'Ginger gardens'. With a pricey entrance fee for the Orchid gardens, we veered towards the free Ginger gardens. Ducking under trees and various shelters we managed to avoid most of the rain which had very spontaneously started. Luckily the rain in Singapore is very short lived.
We found the immaculate bandstand and completed the length of the gardens, passing by a very picturesque lake. Then it was back onto a bus and a quick stop at the most famous shopping street in Singapore, Orchard road.
After a taxing morning on our feet we had a very special treat to look forward to... a Sunday roast! Being in a popular ex-pat city I knew that a Sunday roast would be available somewhere. We did some research and ended up at 'Bank bistro and bar'. It had the decor of a British pub and served up a satisfying beef roast. Although not at all comparable to neither mine or Chris' families roast dinners, it still appeased. We couldn't help but order a glass of red wine to help wash it down, which really went down a treat! Of course dessert was also called for. Over nine months in the waiting and worth every penny - thanks mum!
All this food called for a rest back at the hotel. But not before long we were on the bus and disembarked at the Formula 1 pit lane. With the Singapore GP only a couple of weeks away, the city was in the midst of setting up the track. The pit lane was open for visitors and we casually strolled in and looked around with no hassle at all. Feeling the heat again, we returned to the ArtScience centre and visited the free 'Singapore stories' exhibition. With it being Singapore's 50th year of Independence, the city is buzzing with events. Singapore stories taught us about Singapore "then, now, and tomorrow". It was interesting to learn the history of Singapore and how far it has come since being expelled from Malaysia. More so, it was incredible to learn about their future plans...with the minimal space they have, their ideas include expanding further underground.
With it being late afternoon we decided to find a spot on the helix bridge and watch the sunset behind the captivating cityscape with views of Marina bay. It was wonderful to slowly see the bay turn from a peaceful daytime area into the lively atmospheric evening attraction. Especially with the popular light and water show performance in front of the Marina Bay Sands hotel. It was a very touching story told by cleverly projecting lights onto water fountains. The crowds seemed to join us as we walked over to the Gardens by the Bay. We had decided to revisit the gardens to take some nighttime pictures of the super trees. Unbeknown to us, shortly after we arrived it became clear why the crowds were here...there is also a light show at the super trees. We lay on our backs to enjoy the extremely cheesy song and light show. Much more up my street, I thoroughly enjoyed it! Chris however couldn't wait to leave! The super trees really came to life in the evening, lit up like Christmas trees.
We decided to yet again return to Chinatown for dinner. However, by the time we arrived it was nearly 10pm, and it seemed everywhere had closed for the evening. We thought we had no choice but to resort to McDonalds, but luckily en route we stumbled across a small eatery serving Hainanese chicken and rice. It was surprisingly really good, served with a delicious broth and cooked to perfection. A great find and end to an enjoyable day.

One of my main memories from visiting Singapore was crossing over to Sentosa island via a cable car. The cost to do this was way out of our backpacker budget so we decided to walk across the boardwalk to Sentosa. For the 50th Independence celebrations it was free of charge to enter the island this way, and most of the walkway is a continuous travellator!
During the Second World War, the island was a British Military fortress, and later became a military training camp. However, in 1972, the island was renamed 'Sentosa' meaning 'peace' and 'tranquility' in Malay. Since then the island has received much investment and development to become what it is today - "Asia's favourite playground".
We eventually found the free shuttle bus that takes you to various locations around the island, so we took advantage and used it to make our way over to the luge. Realising that perhaps we had outgrown this attraction we decided to take a look at the man made beaches. We were not overly impressed, and unless you had money to spare or children to entertain, Sentosa is nothing special. We decided enough was enough, Chris had seen what all the 'fuss' was about, and I was underwhelmed compared to my previous visit. We made our way back to the city and caught the metro over to Chinatown.
We ended up back at Maxwell's food court and hunting out the available seats amongst the packets of tissues! Chris couldn't resist another fish soup, and I joined a very long queue to try the famous Hainanese chicken rice from a popular and recommended vendor. As we finished up I watched as an elderly man went to wash his hands and face in the sink next to where we were sat. I was intrigued as I thought he was drinking the tap water - something we had read was possible in Singapore - however when I looked more closely I noticed he actually had his false teeth in his hands and was giving them a thorough clean!
We meandered through Chinatown, stopping by the Buddha Tooth Relic temple and Sri Mariamman temple on our way back to the bus stop. We caught the bus back to our hotel for a short rest and breather before heading out for the evening.
For our final evening in Singapore we visited Arab street. A very cool, quirky area with the Sultan Mosque at its hub. The streets are extremely picturesque and lined with unusual bars and eccentric boutiques. I was then reunited with a close friend from my time studying and living in Amsterdam. We met Tiff, along with her fiancé Andrew (recently engaged) and found some hawker stalls for food and beers. Very kindly Tiff and Andrew were adamant about treating us for dinner at 'Golden mile food centre'. It was really lovely to catch up after four years and to see and learn about her life in Singapore. The beers and conversation flowed all evening, before we all climbed into a taxi and generously, Tiff and Andrew dropped us off at our hotel. It was a wonderful evening to end our long weekend in Singapore.

I thought it was only right to enjoy the Singaporean breakfast one last time before we made our way to the airport. Singapore is such a fantastic place but our short visit made us both feel quite homesick due to its western influences and similarities with UK cities. For us, our backpacking was about to come to a halt, after nearly 10 months of travelling around 8 different SEA countries, our funds were slowly dwindling and it was time to earn some money. Having fallen in love with Vietnam, and not wanting to return to the UK as Autumn/Winter was about to hit, we decided to return to Hanoi in hope of finding some English teaching jobs....