Supertrees, Gardens by the Bay, Singapore
Asia,  Independent travel,  Photography,  Singapore,  Travel Blog

Singapore: On To The Little Red Dot

May 20, 2023 /

Such a difference. After ten weeks in Asia, ten weeks of looking away from the heaps of discarded plastic of terra firma and the floating garbage on the water, avoiding inhaling the stench of drains and sewers and steadfastly ignoring any rats which cross our path, and instead concentrating on the many very good bits, we find ourselves suddenly on the pristine streets of Singapore.

Singapore skyline
Singapore skyline

Singapore, where the sidewalks look permanently swept and the tiniest sweet wrapper has been dutifully binned, where chewing gum is illegal and cigarettes are only smoked on designated street corners, where the posters on the metro carry more instructions and guidance on how to be polite than the usual advertisements for language courses and healthcare.

Clarke Quay Singapore
Clarke Quay, Singapore

Singapore, where everything seems beautifully new, updated with the latest technology, and works the way it’s meant to. When we last visited here, six years ago, we left saying that any Singaporeans visiting England must feel like they’ve gone back in time by about ten years. Well, maybe make that twenty.

Singapore Flyer
Singapore Flyer
Aboard the Singapore Flyer
Singapore Flyer

Somewhat ironically though this resolutely twenty-first century island nation packed with gobsmackingly space age buildings still hides clues to British colonisation: in some neighbourhoods the back streets look and feel like those of London, so much so that you almost expect a Nicholsons pub on the next corner. They drive on the left too.

View from The Singapore Flyer
View from the Flyer

And then there’s the cost of things. It’s easy for the traveller to live frugally in Vietnam and Cambodia, which is not something you can say about Singapore. It’s hard to get your head round the difference that a couple of hours on the plane makes: the bill for our first night out here comes to more than TEN TIMES the cost of our last meal in Phnom Penh. After ten weeks of spacious accommodation at low cost we now have a modest room at wallet busting rates – a comparison of £s per square metre wouldn’t make good reading.

View over Gardens by the bay from The Singapore Flyer
Looking towards Gardens by the Bay

But make no mistake, it’s wonderful to be here again, looking up at the fantastically designed and beautifully shaped structures of the skyline, reflections twinkling in the water, the iconic and marvellous Marina Bay Sands Hotel capping the whole scene. What an amazing building. What a fabulous city, one of those cities where there is so much to do that you almost don’t know where to start.

Some things are essential, like indulging in a Singapore Sling at Raffles, where the Long Bar is so popular that there’s always a queue to get in. In our case it’s a wait of about 40 minutes but as this is a rite of passage for all world travellers the wait is immaterial. Once through, sipping the iconic drink in this more-than-iconic bar is enormous fun, as is joining all the other revellers in scoffing peanuts and throwing the shells on the floor. Raffles is beautifully grand and cleverly retro classic, the current incarnation having been redesigned in 1991 with none of the original elegance lost in the refit.

Long Bar Raffles Singapore
Long Bar, Raffles Hotel
Raffles Singapore
Raffles Hotel

Long Bar Raffles Singapore
Long Bar Raffles
Bag of nuts in The Long Bar in Raffles Singapore
Peanuts on our table
Menu in the Long Bar p, Rafflrs Singapore
Long Bar menu

The Singapore Sling cocktail was originally created here by an enterprising barman seeking a way around the fact that it simply wasn’t the done thing for ladies to drink alcohol in public places – fruit juices and teas were de rigeur. This bright pink, fruity looking drink enabled the ladies to join in the fun without looking “uncouth”. As for the peanut shells, legend has it that, originally, customers were encouraged to discard the shells as a way of keeping the dust down, but it’s long become a quirky tradition with no benefits other than enormous fun and sense of occasion. Sip your Sling, throw shells on the floor, and imagine that you are Rudyard Kipling about to add another chapter. It’s now the only place in Singapore where you can throw something on the floor and not get fined.

Long Bar, Raffles, Singapore
Inside the Long Bar
Singapore Sling in The Long Bar Raffles, Singapore
Our Slings
Singapore Sling in The Long Bar Raffles, Singapore
Michaela with hers

The LRT/MRT (metro) is, as you would expect, brilliant. Clean, efficient, easy to use, and with a network which covers most of the city. You can get anywhere quickly. No tickets – you pay contactless with your Visa card – and journeys are quite a bit less than £1 a time. 

View from the Skyway in Gardens by the Bay, Singapore
View from the Skywalk

One such ride brings us to Bayfront, gateway to one of Singapore’s many wonderful delights. We absolutely loved Gardens By The Bay when we were here six years ago and it’s lost nothing of its beauty or intrigue. In fact, with a further six years’ growth on all of the climbers, it’s probably even better now than it was then. Greenery is creeping up the stems of the “Supertrees”, which rise above the lush, packed gardens with true 21st century majesty. The Skyway, a walkway suspended at the precise height of a rainforest canopy, affords sweeping views over the intense foliage, the fifty shades of green, and the breathtaking vista which is the Singapore skyline.

Supertrees in Garden by the Bay, Singapore
Supertrees
Supertrees in Garden by the Bay, Singapore
Supertrees and the Skywalk

Pathways wind through lush tropical scenes, waterways drift between cafes subtly hidden behind shrubbery, the truly magical Cloudforest domes concealing re-created rainforests within their space age exteriors. The Gardens are endlessly fascinating, hugely interesting – and every few moments our eyes are again drawn upwards to the Marina Bay Sands Hotel seemingly soaring through the clouds above us.

Looking up at Marina Bay Sands hotel, Singapore
Marina Bay Sands Hotel
Marina Bay Sands hotel, Singapore
Marina Bay Sands Hotel
Supertree in Gardens by the bay, Singapore
Supertree

The “Supertrees” are ingenious, so much more than just the base for the nightly spectacular light show. As well as the Supertrees being conductors for solar energy, the creepers growing up these colossal towers are, like the Gardens in their entirety, soaking up pollution from the city and creating cleaner air for its inhabitants.

The floating baby statue in Gardens by the Bay, Singapore
Floating Baby sculpture in Gardens by the Bay

With a city as stunningly exciting as Singapore, it’s worth seeking out different viewpoints for different aspects. The Singapore Flyer, the very lofty observation wheel with counterparts in so many other cities these days, is brilliantly sited above the waterways and gardens and provides fabulous panoramic 360-degree views of the entire city. Somehow it’s just as thrilling to marvel at the towering structures from the lowest point too: on the water. A ride in a so-called “bumboat” reveals the one remaining old wharf building, the opulent magnificence of the Fullerton Hotel (check out those prices!) and of course the seemingly endless run of futuristic buildings.

Bumboat Singapore
View from a bumboat

The way the towering buildings produce reflections of each other simply enhances the drama of the whole scene. Modestly but proudly standing at the water’s edge is the “merlion” mermaid/lion statue, calmly casting its fountain back into the river and managing to retain its iconic status despite being dwarfed by its surroundings. “Singapura” means, literally, “city of the lion”.

The Merlion statue Singapore
The Merlion
The first generation statue, Singapore
The First Generation sculpture

Half way through our time in this fabulous city, it’s plain that we won’t fit in everything there is to do here – there’s a need to restrict ambitions in order to do justice to the places we visit. This is a city with endless opportunities, a never ending supply of things to marvel at. It’s hard to imagine that any visitor would ever reach the point where Singapore is done and dusted.

Which is, for the most part, the main reason we have returned for a second taste. We aren’t done yet….

Marina Bay Sands hotel, Singapore
Marina Bay Sands

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