Singing in the Rain - Singapore

So as is now traditional when we fly into a new country, torrential rain greets us when we land at Singapore airport. We’d both been excited about getting to Singapore for many reasons; the prospect of exploring this super clean city, that Singapore heralds the end of Asia and the halfway point of our travels and probably the most exciting one, the chance to spend 3 nights in a 4* hotel that we’d splurged on as a treat!

The hotel itself didn’t disappoint, after spending 4 months in varying levels of budget accommodation (some good, some bad, some ugly), the comfortable bed with two, yes count them, two pillows each, the soft white fluffy towels, the carpet underfoot and the hot, high pressure water on demand in the shower was like dying and going to hotel heaven. The fact we also had a colour TV with cable and access to a swimming pool, hot tub, sauna and gymnasium was just an added bonus. After a walk in the rain to get our bearings we jumped on the subway and headed over to Chinatown, Singapore style. As we have been to China, and also Chinatown in at least 3 large cities previously, I’m not entirely sure why we went, but we did get to see a Chinese guy who was practically a fossil (at least 80) sing karaoke by the bus stop. We headed back and after some dinner in a bar serving the most expensive pint of beer we have found so far (7.50 GBP / $11 US), we snuggled up in our cosy bed and drifted off to sleep.

Heather was unimpressed with the “tropical” weather in Singapore

Street market in Chinatown

The rain had stopped, so we headed out to explore the city. Singapore is well known for being the cleanest and one of the safest cities in the world and as you walk round its streets, the level of cleanliness is obvious, you could almost eat your dinner off of the pavement. It is illegal to possess chewing gum in Singapore and there are heavy fines for littering which clearly seems to be effective. The subway is equally as clean and is also super efficient.

Super clean subway

Walking past the famous Raffles Hotel (we couldn’t stop for a Singapore Sling in the Long bar as I was inappropriately dressed) to the new marina complex, the mixture of old English colonial style buildings mixed in with the super modern glass skyscrapers creates a surprisingly relaxed feel for such a big city. One of the newest buildings in the Marina is the Skygarden Hotel, three huge towers with what looks like Noah’s Ark stranded on top. The Ark in fact is a huge outdoor garden with amazing views over the city (or so it’s marketing literature said, we were scared off by the entrance fee!).  From there we headed over to the mecca for all shopaholics (Heather included), Orchard Road.

The famous Raffles Hotel

Sky Garden Hotel

Singapore sky line

Orchard Road is truly astounding, the subway station is inside one of the giant shopping malls that line the road, each of the malls is around 6 or 7 levels and they are linked so that you can pass from one giant mall to another without realising. Orchard Road itself is around 3 miles long and where there aren’t any shopping malls, there are huge individual stores such as Gucci, Prada, Louis Vuitton etc, etc. The scary thing is there isn’t just one or two huge Gucci stores (we’re talking at least 3 floors high), we must have passed at least 3 or 4 on Orchard Road, thank God we were on a backpackers budget or serious cash may have been spent!

For our final day in Singapore, we had intended to visit Singapore Zoo as we had been advised to do so by many travellers we had met on the way However Mother Nature had different ideas and as the torrential rain hadn’t abated by lunchtime (nor all day as it happens) we spent the day chillaxing at the hotel, laying in the hot tub in the rain, using the sauna and in Heathers case, the Gym, just because it was there!

Singapore really is an amazing city and we’d both really like to return here one day as tourists, so  we can get to do some of the things that we’re a bit too expensive for our backpackers budget. It’s also probably the only city that we have visited in Asia that I could quite comfortably live and work in, but that is due to it’s huge western style culture as much as its clean streets and urban lifestyle.

Onwards to Australia!!!