Singapore 2023

Singapore: On To The Little Red Dot

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, 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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”.

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….

Last Days Of The Trip: Ending On A High, Literally 

“Good morning Sir, will you be paying cash or card?”, she asks before we’ve even got past the gate.

“I don’t know yet. Probably card”.

“That’s one hundred dollars then, Sir, please”, she says, picking up the card machine.

“But I haven’t bought anything yet”. 

“No, Sir, it’s fifty dollars per person minimum spend here”.

I grin, most probably an inane grin, thinking she’s joking. I look at her more closely. She definitely isn’t joking. She means it. This is a beach bar, it’s 11 o’clock in the morning, and they want a minimum of 100 dollars regardless of what we want to eat/drink/buy. We’re both speechless – well, speechless apart from saying “goodbye” as we turn and walk away.

This is the island of Sentosa, at the southern end of Singapore, where the journey by public transport turns out to be far more to our taste than the island itself. The MRT (metro) brings us to Harbourfront, from where there is a choice of three ways – cable car, monorail or ferry – to cross the water to Sentosa – it’s a transport lover’s heaven! We opt for the cable car. Sentosa itself turns out to be essentially a succession of adventure parks, full of log flumes, pools with wave machines, luge rides and the like, plus numerous resort complexes and a giant structure purpose built for bungee jumping. We wander through it all, eardrums pounded by the Yankee accented guy running the Kids’ Club whose voice can probably be heard back in his home state in America, so booming are his over enthusiastic tones. He’s clearly in the right job.

We take one last ocean swim for this Asia trip, just so we can say we did it in Singapore, buy bottled water from a 7-Eleven just to spite the money grabbing creeps at the beach bar, and spend no more time than is necessary on this rather overblown island. What Sentosa shows though, is that Singapore really does have everything, and by definition that means there will be some things we don’t like.

It’s massively outweighed by those things that we do like. Chinatown, for instance, with its garishly colourful temples tucked behind the shophouses, its market vendors hell bent on convincing us that what we really need more than anything in life is a lucky charm on a string, its eateries throwing out temptation on every waft of breeze. This is a neighbourhood steeped in history, its tales of squalid and sordid beginnings now told via a series of plaques on the walls of its tight streets; never ashamed of its past, proud of its heritage, regardless of the low points. Time has moved on, the city has changed immeasurably around it, yet the community still stands strong and proud.

Further north is the eclectic mix which is Kampong Glam, another former village once packed to the rafters with migrant workers seeking fortune at the tip of the continent where the seafaring trade teased with promises of wealth. The street names are evocative: Arab Street, Muscat Lane and Haji Lane lie within its confines, the last of which is named after Muslims returning from the Haj pilgrimage. These days this corner of Singapore has a wholly different persona.

Whilst adjoining streets celebrate the foods of North Africa and the Middle East, Haji Lane itself is a bohemian melange of bars, pizza joints and drinking dens, frequented as much by the youth of Singapore as it is by travellers like us drawn by the babble and pizazz of the evening. Arty, bohemian and hip by day, cradle of revelry by night, it has a convivial, bright, inclusive atmosphere all of its own. 

Last time we were here, the heart and soul of nighttime Singapore seemed to be the Quays. Now, with Clarke Quay undergoing some rebuilding works, it’s not quite so lively, leaving Boat Quay with the responsibility to be “the place”, together with the narrow streets leading off from the waterfront. If you’re looking for a bar street in Singapore with that perfect ambience somewhere between too quiet and too rowdy…it’s here, just behind Boat Quay. But then, Haji Lane fits the bill too. And probably lots of others in other parts of the city do too. 

Food wise, Singapore is as global and inclusive as it gets, as you might expect from such a modern, cosmopolitan place. You can go for any food you like, the whole world is here leaping out from the menu boards. In our first four nights we’ve opted for Chinese, Turkish, Lebanese and Indian, but we could have just as easily gone to Mexico, France or Italy, or even stayed in South East Asia.

Any sojourn in Singapore calls for two visits to Gardens By The Bay, one to amble around its delights during the day and one to return at sunset to see the light show. Twice each night the Supertrees are the focal point for a musically accompanied show incorporating various choreographed shifting of lights, best viewed by laying on your back on the grass and staring up at the ever changing patterns above. Actually, we’re not quite as thrilled this time as we were when we came a few years ago, maybe simply because it was our second time, or maybe because for us the accompanying opera music isn’t as dramatic as the rock pieces played last time. Just our personal taste, of course.

Unlikely as it is, Singapore boasts a garden even bigger than those “by the bay”, the Botanical Gardens which is the country’s first UNESCO World Heritage site. It’s a major, sprawling garden divided into sections of plant types, sumptuously green and beautiful, and packed with fascinating histories and facts about plant life and plant evolution. Our long walk around these lovely gardens involves constant shower dodging – Sunday has brought rain and a noticeable drop in both temperature and humidity.

By Monday, our last day of the entire trip, it’s as if Sunday’s flirtation with cooler weather was imagined, as once again the day is hot, humid and full of sunshine. In our last hours here, we do what we’ve purposefully left until last – the top of Marina Bay Sands, up on that incredible platform on the 57th floor. From up here, in the baking sunshine, this marvellous, wonderful city is spread out before us in all its glory, multiple ships out at sea waiting to dock, skyscrapers reaching for the sun like trees in a forest. Singapore is so green, a city in a garden rather than a garden city. This is a wonderful place to be, and up here on top of the world is a great way to end our visit. On a high, literally.

Public transport, mostly the MRT, has been our choice throughout these six days in Singapore, we have used it several times every day. The whole network is so good – clean, efficient, regular, cheap and with extensive coverage – that there is hardly ever any need to use taxis here, even though there seems to be plenty of them around. 

It’s been amusing watching and getting to know the people here. Singapore is full of rules and regulations and is packed with advice on good behaviour (“it feels good to be thoughtful” appears regularly on billboards), and somehow this has resulted in the evolution of a race of obedient, dutiful people. Nobody jaywalks, nobody stands on the edge of the kerb waiting to cross, nobody disobeys the painted arrows on the floors of the MRT tunnels which guide everyone to walk on the left. Nobody litters and nobody smokes away from the designated areas, even outdoors. Nobody breaks the rules, nobody misbehaves. The flip side is….. now how shall we phrase this….well, you are highly unlikely to be served by a flamboyant waiter or to find yourself chatting to an extrovert in a bar. Let’s leave it at that.

Singapore is a wonderful place and it’s been fabulous to be back here, something we’d wanted to do ever since our first taste six years ago. After this long (over 10 weeks) tour through such different parts of Asia, being whisked up into Singapore life has been the biggest single culture shift of the whole trip.

It’s been a fabulous trip with so many aspects, but now it’s time to head home, just for a while. And then, there’s more of the world to see. It won’t be long…

Street Art & Tech Art In Singapore 

For a fee which is eminently reasonable we are able to delay checkout till 6pm, hugely useful when it’s an overnight flight home. One last ride on the MRT and a couple of stops on the Skytrain and we’re wandering into a crowded Changi Airport, still far too early for our flight but happy to kill time with a beer and a sandwich. Until, that is, the lady at the check-in desk suggests we stay land-side and head to the Jewel.

Has anyone seen the Jewel at Changi in the last few years? At night? Just when we think we’ve seen all of the wonders which Singapore has to offer, we stumble upon this amazing, incredible scene. In the centre of what in any case is a hugely spectacular and brilliantly modern shopping-mall-with-everything, here is something which wouldn’t be out of place at the biggest and best rock gig you’ve ever been to. It’s called The Rain Vortex.

Cascading from way up in the domed roof, water descends like a bridal veil waterfall, crashing into the pit below where it is joined by more H2O which heaves over the edges of the well and down the inside of this amazing creation. Then, to cap it all, the light-and-sound show begins, colourful forms projected on to the wall of water, moving and twisting, all accompanied by dramatic music. As good a special effect as you will ever see live, and it’s here, in an airport – in an airport shopping mall, no less. Singapore is endlessly magical, forever surprising.

Singapore is, in keeping with its clean and tidy nature, just about entirely free of graffiti, and instead leaves street artists free to work in the more bohemian and carefree districts. Having not included these previously in our Singapore posts, here’s a selection which does justice to what is an impressive collection, mostly telling stories of the history of Chinatown…