I've been meaning to write this post all last month, basically since we got back from holiday. But I just haven't had the time to sit down and really give this post the attention it deserves. Finally, I've found that time and can tell you all about our trip to Singapore. It's crazy to think that around this time last month we were only just arriving in Singapore. Now I'm sat at home reminiscing about one of the best holidays I've had.
If your a long time reader, then you will know just how much me and Paul love to travel. Once a year we like to try and visit at least one new destination, to try, see and experience as much of the world as we can. This time we travelled to Singapore and Bali. I thought it would be a long post to talk about both destinations, they are both so different from each other. So today I'm going to tell you all about what Singapore has to offer and what we got up to. Later on in the month though I'll tell you all about our Bali trip, so keep your eyes peeled for that post.
It took a 13.5 hour flight to get to Singapore from Manchester. Our flight left at around 11.30am and didn't arrive until around 7.30am the next day, Singapore time. We spent 4 days exploring before moving onto our next destination, here's what we got up to in those 4 days.....
....Day 1 started in the airport. We touched down around half 7 in the morning, Singapore time and surprisingly we felt quite wired. I think the excitement of arriving at our destination pushed past the tiredness. Once we got through security and collected our bags, we set off in a Taxi to get to our hotel. We stayed at the Grand Copthorne waterfront hotel, it was located on the waterfront as the name suggests. It's close to Robertson's Quay, which has plenty of restaurant's and Clarke Quay, which is a bar hoppers heaven. It took around 20 to 30 minutes by taxi from the airport to the hotel. It was around half 9 by the time we arrived at our hotel. We were instantly given a cold bottled water, which was great after a long flight. We were told our room wasn't ready yet, which was to be expected as check in wasn't until 2pm. After declining to pay extra to get into a room early, we were told our room might be ready earlier than expected and we could possibly get into our room at 11am. We were given access to an area in the hotel where we could have a shower, freshen up and get changed. This was needed after the long flight, to be able to freshen up and pull off the leggings and long t-shirt that I desperately wanted to get out off as soon as we stepped out of the cool air conned airport and into the heat of Singapore. After we'd both freshened up the time was around half 10 and luckily by then our room had become ready. We took our bags up to our room, took one look at the bed and wondered if we should have a nap. We decided to push through and find an area I had read about called Tiong Bahru, which is full of coffee shops and one of the best bakery's in the city. We headed to Tiong Bahru bakery, which was only a 15 minute walk from the hotel to get our caffeine fix and a sugar rush. We both got a coffee and a cake each. OMG! the chocolate cake was amazing and it was just what we needed to re-energise our selves.
After our pit stop, we explored Tiong Bahru and then took a walk down to China Town. We checked out all the stalls, the local food and came across our first Temple, the Sri Mariamman Temple. When we'd finished looking around at what China Town had to offer, we decided to go back to the hotel and take a nap before going out for dinner. We were seriously starting to lag, the heat was zapping the energy out of us and jet lag was creeping up on us too.
Later that evening we explored the restaurants in Robertson's Quay, but actually ended up eating in Clarke Quay. We ended up walking further than we wanted due to being mesmerised by all the lights and sights. We settled down in Clarke Quay enjoyed some food and our first cocktail of the holiday. This area is so lively, we walked around the Clarke Quay area debating on whether or not to go sit in a bar and listen to the music. But by walking around and crossing a bridge to the other side, we ended up finding a nice place to sit along the water edge. From here we were able to listen to the music and just take Singapore in.....
.....Day 2 was all about seeing the Supertrees, the reason why we were drawn to Singapore. We planned on staying out the whole day as we wanted to see the trees in the day and at night, especially because they do an amazing light show in the evening. We set off from our hotel past Robertson's Quay, Clarke Quay and followed the Singapore river towards the hotel with the giant boat on it (Marina Bay Sands Hotel). This was an extremely long walk, especially in the heat! They do have an underground train that comes out directly at the hotel to save you the walk, its the Bayfront stop. Although the walk was long we really enjoyed it as we got to see more of Singapore this way and got to take lots of photos too. To get to the super tree grove we took an elevator up to a walkway, this took you through a section of the hotel and brought you out to an amazing walk way to the Supertrees. We spent lots of time taking photos and enjoying all the different views and angles of the Supertrees. They got even more amazing every step closer we took. We couldn't quite believe how big these tree's were! I mean we knew they were big, but we just didn't quite realise how big until we were standing at the bottom of one.
There's a walk way up high in between two of the Supertrees called the skywalk. Its an 128 metre long walkway and is 22 meters high. I'm not great with heights at all, but when it comes to something like this I seem to be able to push it out of my head and not let it get in my way of seeing or doing something quite as amazing as this. These trees really are super! There are 12 trees in total and they were designed to mirror the form and function of mature trees. They even generate solar energy, which can be used for some of the functions of the Supertrees. One even has a bistro, so you can dine 50 meters high and enjoy a panoramic view.
After the skywalk we explored the actual garden area and came across some otters playing around in the sand. We actual met a local who was trying his new camera out, he told us that this was only the second time that he's seen the otters in this area and that we were very lucky to have seen them. We explored more of the gardens and views that the bay area had to offer before going back to the Marina Bay Sands hotel. We went right up to the 57th level to take in the views from their observation deck. It was quite crazy to think how far we'd walked that day. When we were taking photos of this hotel from such a distance away and now we were stood on top of it looking out at the same stunning views, but from the best vantage point in the city.
We also ate at the Marina Bay Sands hotel, we actually went to the Rise restaurant, which is known as one of the most lavish buffet restaurant's in Singapore. We got to try so many dishes and ate lots of desserts. By the time our stomachs were well and truly filled it was time to make our way back to the Supertrees to see the garden rhapsody, a light and music show that's on daily at 7.45pm and 8.45pm. With us staying quite close to the area for food we managed to get a great spot laying under one of the Supertrees. The show was truly amazing and something that we will never forget. I would 100% recommend seeing the Supertrees both in the day and at night as the views are so different.....
....Day 3 we explored Sentosa. Its an Island of adventure and fun, which can be accessed by road, cable car, monorail or by the boardwalk. We bought a package deal that allowed us the use of the cable car and four attractions to pick from on the Island. Once over on the Island we tried to do a really nice nature trail walk, but got bit like crazy from ants. We were stood there taking photos and realised our legs were in discomfort, we looked down and both our shoes were covered in ants that were crawling up our legs!! Safe to say that nature walk ended pretty quickly. We used our first attraction coupon on a Segway ride, which we'd both never done before and we really enjoyed. Next we chose to go on the skyline Luge, the skyline ride up to the Luge was scary as hell. Like I said we both hate heights and this had us both panicking quite a bit. The Luge ride down was so worth the 5 minutes of panicking though. It was so fun! The Luge is basically like a go cart but all you have is a handle that controls the brake and allows you to steer yourself. The downward hill is where you pick your speed up. I don't think me and Paul braked until we got to the bottom. Paul expected me to be way behind him, he didn't expect me to be able to keep up with him. I sure showed him! The last two attractions we went on was two from the 4D adventure land. Which to be honest were pretty poor. They didn't really wow us or give us any excitement, they were pretty boring. I wished we had done the Skyline Luge again and picked another attraction from the list
Once we'd finished at Sentosa we got the cable car back and went in search of food. We decided to give a Hawker market a try. We ended up at one not too far from our hotel called Maxwell Hawker centre. Its overwhelming just how many stores there are, all selling different stuff. We had no idea which one to choose, everything smelt and looked so delicious. We decided to get some chicken satay to share to act as our starter. This really wet our appetite, they were so tasty and would make a perfect main for one person. We couldn't wait to pick another food stall for our main meal. We were walking around and saw a massive queue for one food stall in particular, we thought it must be great if the locals are queueing for it. So we got in line and ordered what turned out to be the best meal I had all holiday. I ordered duck noodles and Paul ordered mixed noodles, which was duck and pork. We also picked up two of our favourite lime juices from the drink stall. In total we spend around £12 for a starter to share, a main each and two drinks. It was the best meal we had all holiday and the cheapest by far. We couldn't believe that we waited until day 3 to try a hawker market, we could have saved so much money and eaten some even tastier food.....
Once we'd finished at Sentosa we got the cable car back and went in search of food. We decided to give a Hawker market a try. We ended up at one not too far from our hotel called Maxwell Hawker centre. Its overwhelming just how many stores there are, all selling different stuff. We had no idea which one to choose, everything smelt and looked so delicious. We decided to get some chicken satay to share to act as our starter. This really wet our appetite, they were so tasty and would make a perfect main for one person. We couldn't wait to pick another food stall for our main meal. We were walking around and saw a massive queue for one food stall in particular, we thought it must be great if the locals are queueing for it. So we got in line and ordered what turned out to be the best meal I had all holiday. I ordered duck noodles and Paul ordered mixed noodles, which was duck and pork. We also picked up two of our favourite lime juices from the drink stall. In total we spend around £12 for a starter to share, a main each and two drinks. It was the best meal we had all holiday and the cheapest by far. We couldn't believe that we waited until day 3 to try a hawker market, we could have saved so much money and eaten some even tastier food.....
....Day 4 we decided to do a bit of window shopping on our last day. We went to Orchard rd, where the street is basically full of shops and shopping centres. This is were I came across Sephora and bought the few things that you would have seen recently in a haul. One of the shopping centres had a food market, were we was able to sample some of the delicacies they were offering. We bought our lunch from a bakery stall, which was a chicken flat bread slice and an amazing chocolate cake. Before leaving the shopping area we came across a Japanese style £1 shop everything was 2S$. We set ourselves the challenge of finding some Japanese treats and see who's would be the tastiest. I picked up Bon o Bon, which had a crispy shell and smooth chocolate inside and Paul picked up these Zackey wafers that were peanut butter and chocolate. Paul won hands down with his find, they were much better than mine and I love peanut butter and chocolate together!
Later that evening we took a trip to Raffles hotel, because you cant come to Singapore and not have a Singapore sling from the very place that the drink was created. Inside the Raffles hotel is a bar called the Long bar, this is where you need to go to enjoy the Singapore sling. We took a seat at the bar and both ordered a cocktail, at 35S$ each we knew we would only be staying for one. But that's all we came for, the experience of saying we enjoyed a Singapore sling at the place it was created. The Long bar is super quirky, its like you've took a step back in time. One of the novelty's to this bar is the fact that you can sit, eat nuts and just throw the shells on the floor. Which is completely crazy, but weirdly so fun and addicting to do. Some people seemed so nervous to throw the shells on the floor and were making neat piles on the table. But as soon as they left the server just wiped them off the table and onto the floor anyway!!
We arrived at Raffles about 6pm and spent about 45 minutes here. We then walked from the Raffles hotel to the Singapore flyer, getting there around 7pm. We timed it like this in the hope we would be able to enjoy the view from the Singapore flyer going from day into night. It actually wasn't too busy at this time either, most likely to do with people wanting to see the Supertrees around this time. By the time we got onto the flyer it was around 20 past 7, so it had already started to go dark by the time we got on. But it was only just starting to go dark so we were very happy with how we timed it. I preferred the views once it was completely dark as all the lights where on everywhere. It also meant it was such a different view than what we saw on the observation deck of the Marina Bay Sands hotel. The ride lasts about 30 minutes, this meant we got to catch 5 minutes of the Supertrees light show from a different view.
The Singapore flyer was the last place to visit on our list of things to do in Singapore, so this marked the end of our adventure in Singapore. But we weren't too sad about this as it was only the beginning of the next part of our adventure in Bali.....
I hope you enjoyed reading about our trip to Singapore. Don't forget to keep and eye out for the upcoming Bali post. Below I've linked to previous destinations I've wrote about, in case your interested in any of those places and I've also listed a few tips below for you.
If you've been to Singapore let me know what your favourite part was, mine was definitely the Supertrees. Also leave any tips below in the comments for anyone that's hoping to travel to Singapore soon.
Hotel tips
for the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel
for the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel
If your arriving early morning check in isn't until 2pm, but don't worry there's no need to pay extra to get your room early. The hotel has a shower room where you can freshen up and get changed. You can then leave your suitcases with them until your rooms ready.
This hotel had a shuttle bus service, which we weren't aware of until day 3 of our holiday. The shuttle bus drops you off at a few key places to visit, it also enables you to easily be linked with the underground system.
Food/Drink tips
It's easy to spend so much money on food at restaurant's. Check out the hawker markets, they might not look much but they have seriously fresh and tasty food for ridiculously cheap prices.
Drinks are more expensive here due to the sin tax and the 10% goods and service tax added on at the end of the bill in a restaurant.
Try a lime juice, its so refreshing and cooling to drink. It was one of our favourite drinks to drink.
Tiong Barhu has a hawker market that is rated one of the top hawker markets in Singapore. Unfortunately we didn't get to visit this hawker market due to it being shut for refurbishments, we ended up at the Maxwell hawker centre instead.
Sight Seeing tips
If you fly with Singapore airlines, be sure to keep your boarding card on you while visiting Singapore. Your boarding pass allows you to get discount off some of the attractions such as Marina Bay Sands observation deck, Gardens by the bay, Night safari, Singapore zoo and Singapore flyer.
Previous Destinations
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