Week 24 - 4 Days in Singapore
- Apr 18, 2018
- 6 min read
This week has been a slightly different one, with me leaving Sri Lanka and heading off to fresh, new pastures, albeit for four days…
Now, what to say about Singapore? Oh my goodness, what a place! It is, without a shadow of a doubt on my list of top 5 places to visit again. I’ve only just returned, and I already want to head back. Perhaps it’s the post-holiday blues, but in all sincerity, it was fabulous.
But, let’s backtrack to the beginning of the week, when I was still in Jaffna, enjoying a slower pace of life and some VERY relaxing free time from school. Now, unlike the UK, the school holidays never seem long enough; it’s always a rush to fit everything in: seeing family, friends and going exploring, but thankfully, here in Sri Lanka, the length is no problem. I have been blessed with nearly a four week April vacation, and due to the heat, I couldn’t be happier this is the agreement. Due to our derelict building, the dodgy straw and saree roof and the lack of fans and walls, this means the air circulation is non-existent. Don’t get me wrong, I love the heat, and hot weather, but when you are working in a fast-paced environment, and the humidity is enough to make Beyoncé’s hair frizz, having the option of staying inside, with air conditioning for 4 weeks is blissful.
Thankfully, I have turned into rather a social butterfly, and have been out and about during my time off! My days have generally consisted of trips to the town, hanging out with some of the other teachers who live in the village, watching movies and drinking lots of tea (and I don’t even LIKE tea!).
So, back to Singapore!
WHAT TO SAY? Now, I would highly recommend, if you were to visit Singapore, spend longer than four days in this place! When I was planning what I wanted to see and do, my list was as long as my arm. For a calm and collected place, it sure does have some very unique and cool places to visit and explore. We had a very early flight to Singapore, around 1am, which allowed us to make the most of our first day there. After arriving at our hotel at 10am, we were able to check in and dump our bags safely in the room. We assessed the situation of sleep deprivation, and decided an hour powernap was well and truly needed, and how thankful we were! We woke, bright eyed and ready for an afternoon of exploring!
Something to really commend Singapore on, was its MRT system; I would say the most efficient, clean and easily understood system in the world. Simply jump on the train, enjoy your seat, look out of the windows at the beautiful views and stroll off at your destination. Every single attraction in Singapore is within a very short walking distance from the station, unlike London.
On our first afternoon we strolled around Haji lane, looking at the funky graffiti – in Singapore it is actually an offence punishable by a jail sentence to graffiti without the government’s permission. Perhaps this is reason it’s so clean. We then decided to walk from this area to the Marina Bay via the Fountain of Wealth, which in 1998 was listed in the Guinness World Book of Records as the largest Fountain in the world. It was truly spectacular and I would highly recommend getting there after dark to witness the water and light show. Unfortunately, we missed this as we ran out of time, but the lobby staff at our hotel said it is even better than the laser shows on the Marina. On the way to the Marina, the heavens opened, and lightning and thunder began! Just our luck – we did not plan for wet weather. Our umbrellas and raincoats were back in Sri Lanka!
Thankfully, we found refuge in a small alleyway with a roof, and we were totally unaware was a back entrance to the highest rated hotel in Singapore! Within minutes, a friendly looking staff ushered us inside and gave us each a massive umbrella so we could (or maybe would?) continue on our journey. I only say ‘would’ because I’m not sure we were the sort of people they wanted lurking outside their hotel. Once on the Marina, my eyes lit up at the wonder of Singapore – the skyline, the Marina Bay Sands, the Merlion and the Helix Bridge.
Our first full day in Singapore was again a wonderful day of exploring and spending time enjoying the freedom city breaks bring. We left our hotel early to try and get to the Gardens by the Bay before it got too busy. But we’ve learned and realised, Singapore NEVER gets busy. Everywhere seems empty and slow, but we were pleased with our decision for an early start. We walked across the sky-walkway between the trees, which was a great chance to get up close to these amazing metal contraptions, and witness how nature is using them! We saw birds nesting, insects as well as some impressive views. Without planning, we ended up spending all day at the Gardens by the Bay, but due to the beauty and the cuteness of the place we just couldn’t resist it! We also visited the two domes, one with the tallest indoor waterfall and the other with some fantastic plant wildlife. As well as this, I also experienced the wonder of a Coke Float, bind-blowingly good! We also managed to squeeze in a quick trip to the Marina Mall before grabbing dinner, where we saw a floor covered in motion sensor lights, a crazy chandelier and also enjoyed a Starbucks. Tharshini’s first one!
After dinner, which of course was curry and rice – what else would you expect from an Expat living in Sri Lanka and a Sri Lankan on holiday together? We enjoyed the light display in the Gardens by the Bay, where there was lots of music, light pumping and dancing from the crowd. We thoroughly enjoyed it – it was magical; like something you would expect to see and experience at Disney.
Our last full day was initially planned to be a day at Universal Studios, however, our full day of exploring the Gardens by the Bay on the day previous led us to push back our plans and unfortunately skip Universal. We explored Little India, the best place to pick up the touristy gifts, and cheap food, and some pretty cool buildings. Whilst wandering around, we found, would you believe, A NANDOS. Something I have been craving for the last 6 months here in Sri Lanka, and I finally got my fix! Going from having Nandos every other week, to once every 6 months has been hard, but Singapore Nandos I would even hesitate to say (sorry!), is better than the UK’s version. WOULD YOU BELIEVE? The garlic bread was FLUFFY.
After the ground breaking discovery of Nandos, we headed back to Marina Bay, and decided to ascend to the top of Marina Bay Sands; it was wonderful. The views over the city were something else, and the novelty of standing on top of a boat, laid across three sky scrapers was pretty cool. From this, we then hit China Town and then headed across to Sentosa, just to be able to say we had visited. Have we had more time, I would definitely had spent an additional day exploring Sentosa; the beaches, the theme parks as well as all of the fun free stuff they offer. We did make it to the beach, but it was unfortunately cordoned off in preparation for their evening shows.
Unfortunately, our break in Singapore had to come to an end, and so we headed to the Airport on our last morning, to be greeted with the excitement of the departure lounge at Changi Airport! What a place; it had so many exciting things to explore, including a Butterfly Garden, a Cinema, a huge slide (although I think it was meant for children and not adults!), and some pretty cool front of store displays.
Without much surprise, when I landed back in Sri Lanka, I had the Spanish Inquisition treatment, where the immigration officer wanted to know why I was working with an NGO, and even wanted to know why he should allow me back into the country! No problem though, I managed to deal with it, I’m back in the country!
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