We boarded a flight for Singapore from Phuket, on February 29 ..which now seems a life time ago. So sunny and hot when we landed. I actually didn’t realize how close we were to the equator obviously my geography was way off.
Our tour guides were Ryan and Serena. We stayed at the Shangri-La Singapore. Such a beautiful spot, after checking in we went to the pool, just to relax and have a few drinks before dinner.
I had forgotten that Singapore was once a British Colony, English was spoken in most places and all the signs were also in English, which was a huge help for us. I was really hoping to go on the Singapore Flyer, but its been closed for a few months for maintenance. The first night we had dinner at Forlino, it’s located near the Fullerton Hotel. The view from the restaurant was magnificent, as the sun set the entire harbour began to light up. We didn’t get on the bus to go back to hotel, we decided to walk around and explore the area. It was so warm out, we walked around and then went to the Lantern for a few drinks, and a bit of dancing.. yes we had a Singapore Sling.. very cheesy but we had to since we were there. I wish I brought my tripod but I didn’t, so I couldn’t take the photos I wanted to that night. I also wished we walked along the board the entire way, and not only part of it.
Our first full day we had a tour of Singapore, we went into the different neighbourhoods, little India, Kampong Glam, which is on Arab street and is known as Singapore’s Muslim Quarter, with the notable landmark that includes the golden domed Sultan Mosque (which was closed due to Covid 19). I wish we had more time on this street, so vibrant, colourful shops, it was early in the morning so not much was open yet. The alleys displayed lots of graffiti, which was very cool. We had lunch at National Kitchen by Violet Oon which is located in the National Gallery Singapore. Before entering the National Gallery – we all had to write our names/ emails on a paper and then we had our temperates taken before we could get in. The restaurant was on the 2nd floor, I wish we had time to walk around the gallery, but it was time to go to Chinatown. We had a bit of time to walk around there, not too much, we didn’t make it to Maxwell Food Centre. We ended up in a shop where my husband got a few dress shirts made (which would be ready the next afternoon) and went into the Elephant Parade store. A group of us went to Spago in Marina Bay. The views were amazing, we just couldn’t get into the hotel part, which had an infinity pool overlooking the city.. again spectacular as the sun set and the city lights came alive. After dinner we went for walk to the Gardens by the Bay, I had my tripod so I set it up at different areas and took some night photos. We lost part of our group but that was ok, I didn’t want to hold anyone back while I took my photos. So many people walking through he gardens at night, such a beautiful spot.
The next day we went on the Singapore River Cruise, it was great getting a different perspective of the city from the water. There were 8 of us, and that was about it on the boat a few people hopped on at various points and then got off at the next stop, so pretty well only us on the tour boat. After that we went to the Gardens to see it during the day and go inside some of the flower pavilions. We went to the famous Raffles hotel. Long Bar where the original Singapore Sling was created in 1915. The gin based cocktail was created by bartender Ngiam Tong Boon, to resemble fruit punch. Back then etiquette dictated that ladies couldn’t consume alcohol in public, as a result the Singapore Sling was born.. a glass cost about S$30. Plenty of peanuts on the tables in burlap bags – no food, so don’t go there expecting to get lunch with your drinks. We waited in line for about 15 minutes before we got a table. After we picked up the shirts, we headed back to the hotel and got ready for our final night in Singapore. We had dinner at Ion Sky restaurant, another spot for a spectacular view of the sunset and city. We didn’t have a chance to go tot he observation deck, not sure it was open the night we were there. We decided to walk back to the hotel as it was less than a kilometre away. But we didn’t know that you had to figure out how to cross the street underground, no above ground crosswalks.. so this took a bit of time to figure out, but once we did it was pretty easy.
I wish we had more time in Singapore and hindsight we should have extended our stay for a few more days instead of heading to Tokyo for a couple of days before we headed back home.
What were your favourite parts in Singapore? Was there places I should have gone but didn’t??
xoxo
M 💞
Little white pearls 