After some of the flying days we’ve had, a non-stop five-hour flight was fairly innocuous. To land at Singapore’s Changi Airport is to land at an airport that is widely regarded as the best in the world, and it has been awarded such titles over and over again. Changi is truly a crossroads of the world, with long-haul widebody jets landing continuously from all corners of the globe. Surprisingly, Asia has become very high-tech with customs formalities, with many airports using biometrics (fingerprint and eye scans) to enter, and Changi is no exception.
We quickly cleared the formalities and ordered a Grab (ride-share) to our hotel, which was in the Joo Chait neighborhood in Singapore’s east. (Changi Airport is about 25-minutes further east from the hotel we choose.) Not only is Singapore’s airport widely considered the world’s best, it is also one of the planet’s most expensive cities, and that extends to the hotel scene. With only a 15-hour stop in Singapore, and having planned to spend half of that exploring the city, we chose a simple hotel (Ibis, which is in the lower end of the Accor Hotels family).
We dropped our bags and around 10:15PM we set off to explore the place we wanted to see more than any other in Singapore: Gardens by the Bay. As the lighting effects are best seen at night, we chose to visit the Gardens as our first stop. And oh, we were not disappointed! Gardens by the Bay is a $1 billion, 101-hectare of space-age biodomes and whimsical sculptures. But the most impressive thing to us was the collection of 18 Supertrees, of of which is up to 80m high. A pic is worth 1000 words, so the photos below will show what a Supertree is. These trees are in three groves, and those of the largest grove are connected by a walkway. Unfortunately, the walkway was closed by the time we arrived. We spent our time wandering the complex, which is open until 2AM! (Singapore never sleeps.) Another highlight of the Gardens is its view of Marina Bay Sands, a massive hotel-mall-casino-theatre-exhibition-museum complex. Imagine three towers with a huge boat plunked on the top, and you have the idea. Again, due to our late arrival and limited time, we could only enjoy Marina Bay Sands from a distance. But even those views were jaw-dropping.
We made it back to the hotel just before midnight, slept til 6AM, and then were back at it: using Grabs, we hopped from the Joo Chiat neighbourhood where we stayed, to ground-zero of Singapore’s famous shopping, which is Orchard Road. From there, we went to Merlion Park and ended with Chinatown, before heading back to the hotel to grab our bags and take in one last sight. That last sight was The Jewel at Changi Airport. Now, you may think it odd that we would spend extra time at an airport on a round-the-world trip that is filled with airports! However, The Jewel is like nothing any airport on earth has, so we decided to take some of our Singapore time to enjoy it. Picture a massive domed building that is filled with tropical trees and plants, with a huge Rain Vortex pouring down from the ceiling at specific times. (The photos will explain better.) We arrived at The Jewel just in time for the first Rain Vortex waterfall of the day.
From there, it was on to our flight to Laos, but first, a comforting lunch in the SATS Premier Lounge to augment the simple breakfast we had at a Starbucks near Orchard Road.
Singapore is 5.6 million people crammed into a very small bit of land at the tip of the Peninsular Malaysia, that’s hard to even spot on a globe. It is spotlessly clean, governed with discipline (for example, chewing gum is not sold and if you have a piece and spit it out, you will be fined), impeccably built, and features what are some of the most creative and impressive large-scale works made by humankind. Could we live in Singapore? Not a chance. But it was great to be able to stop by and see it along our journey!
Gardens by the Bay
About to start our late-night exploration of Gardens by the Bay.
The introductory grove of Supertrees leaves you staring upwards with your jaw dropped!
“Pinch me, to make sure this place is real!”
A long parade of connected animals lines the large lagoon.
Dragon flies in the peaceful by ever-so-humid late-night air.
Miniature orange trees were prolific.
Some of the colours of Gardens by the Bay.
The floral clock
Wooden sculptures at Garden on the Bay.
The main grove, containing a dozen Supertrees, some of which are connected by a Skyway.
The view of incomparable Marina Bay Sands. Had we had more time, a swim in the infinity pool on the top level would have been wonderful!
Orchard Road
The beginning of Orchard Road, Singapore’s retail ‘ground zero’.
IONSky is a shopping and entertainment complex located at #2 Orchard Road. It offers a 37th floor view each afternoon, but the timing didn’t work for us.
Along Orchard Road.
Okay, this bordered between shock and disgust. KFC in Singapore, wanting to enter the breakfast market, was advertising porridge containing its chicken. No, thank you.
Other Sights Around Central Singapore
There are a lot of religions in Singapore, but surprisingly, there are a lot of Christians. One of our Grab drivers was telling us about the Singaporean Mega-Churches, one of which he attends.
The Civilian War Memorial
The National Museum of Singapore, located in the Colonial District. Time only permitted a view from the exterior.
The most iconic hotel in Singapore is the Raffles Hotel, which started as a 10-bedroom bungalow in 1887 and is famous for its Sikh doorman. We visited the hotel on our last Singapore visit, so this time we just whizzed by it. The bus is also of note: like Hong Kong, Singapore is filled with British references, from driving on the left to street and place names. As in London, double-decker buses form a significant part of Singapore’s transit network.
A daytime shot of Marina by the Bay.
Looking across Marina Bay and adjacent to the Esplanade Bridge is the famous Merlion statue (half mermaid, half lion), a long-time symbol of Singapore. We couldn’t get over the tour bus masses there at 9:30AM! Merlion Park provides a wonderful vista of downtown Singapore and Marina Bay Sands.
At the end of Esplanade Bridge, Theatres by the Bay is the home of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra.
The Fullerton Hotel is another of Singapore’s historic hotel landmarks.
We were assured by our Grab driver that this is not a Christmas tree, but rather just a piece of public art.
The national stadium is where Taylor Swift will be doing her shows — the only Southeast Asia stop on her Eras World Tour.
Singapore has a seemingly non-stop supply of luxury residential towers. One Grab driver told us that, for Singaporean citizens, subsidized housing is available, meaning a two-bedroom flat in a lower end building for half a million Singapore dollars (which are on par with Canadian dollars). On a monthly rental basis, a basic two-bedroom apartment runs $3000-$4000 SGD. He also shared with us that, other than housing, cars are the most expensive commodity in Singapore. The driver has a fairly modest electric car, which cost him $140,000 SGD: $100,000 for a Certificate of Entitlement (COE) and $40,00 for the car itself. You must buy a COE before you can purchase a car.
Chinatown
This five-storey temple is called the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple. Why? Because it contains what is supposedly the Buddha’s canine tooth, which was also supposedly retrieved from the Buddha’s funeral pyre (cremation fire) in northern India.
Colourful buildings along Chinatown’s Sago Street.
The Sri Mariamman Temple is a Hindu temple in the middle of Chinatown. It was built in 1823 and rebuilt in 1843. The colourful gopuram above the entrance (shown) is mainly what people come to see.
Joo Chiat
Joo Chiat is the neighbourhood where we stayed. It is filled with cafes, bars and shops.
Typical street in Joo Chiat.
Shrines like this, offering liquid and food, are commonplace in Singapore. This one was just down the street from our hotel.
Just a block away from our hotel are the Pernanakan Terrace Houses, which line both sides of Koon Seng Road. They are decorated with stucco dragons, birds, crabs and brilliantly glazed tiles. They feature swinging doors at the front.
The Jewel at Changi
The lush dome before the Rain Vortex show.
There was a burst of vapour from the ceiling and then the Rain Vortex started, exactly at 11AM! We also took the inter-terminal train, which passes through the Jewel, and saw the Rain Vortex up close.
And to close..
Just a couple of closing photos. Robotic floor-cleaning machines are now commonplace in airports. But leave it Singapore Changi to have a robot parking ticket attendant!
This caught our attention at the Buddha Tooth Temple in Chinatown: a rack containing plastic bags for dripping umbrellas. Practical? Absolutely. But it just speaks to the orderly society-of-plenty that is Singapore. 00
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