We arrived in Singapore early evening, it was an unusual landing; as we were almost at touching dow the pilot we suddenly start to ascend into the sky. Once we reached a safe altitude he explained unfavourable winds had surged preventing our landing. As we circled around the city preparing to try landing again, we saw amazing storm clouds! Luckily everything went smoothly. After checking into our place, went for a walk to explore Robertson Quay where we were staying. It was surprising to us to learn that the high-rise we were staying and was going to be torn down at the end of the month (to be turned into luxury apartments). Although the apartment was slightly dated, it was built in 1999, it seemed to us an outside paint job would help. We learned from the staff that the Singapore government was insisting the building be demolished and we were some of the very last guests as it scheduled for this starting early June.
Singapore is an amazing city. It has four official languages, with strong influences from four main cultures: Malay, Chinese, Indian, and Western. Singapore’s rain forest climate is warm and humid. It is known for being the City of Gardens (46.5% land covered in green space). There is an impressive government Green Plan, on track for 2030.
Given that we were all interested in seeing the well-known architecture of Singapore. We decided to take a double-decker city bus tour. We both routes and being able to get off as we liked. The night tour felt rushed, it was a little bit disappointing (the guide styles was a bit awkward and repetitive, he gave away our chicken satay). Seeing the city at night was fantastic. The sunset from the reservoir park was lovely, we enjoyed seeing local family’s picnic in the grass and flying kites with amazing view of the Singapore skyline in the background. It was interesting to learn about Singapore’s water treatment and reservoir system, used to manage a safe water supply accessible to everyone. There are water bottle refilling stations near most public washrooms, and they are actively trying to reduce single use plastic. Throughout our journey we have become very and aware of what a difference free, accessible potable water can make in every aspect of life.
Singapore is incredibly expensive, apartments are small, but designed to have light, (even in the suburbs). We learned that 80% of Singaporeans are homeowners (as government leased land helps keep costs down for locals). City planning encourages people to be outside and participating in their community, this was wonderful to witness. It is very expensive and competitive to get one of the few new car permits allotted each year and there are strict regulations about how long a car can stay on the road. There is a fantastic public transport system. Thus, in this densely populated country traffic is not a major problem.
We really enjoyed visiting Garden by the Bay and learning about the Super Trees, they are incredible. The Super Trees are converted cooling towers, they have scaffolds around them supporting many tropical plants and lights, they look beautiful. The Super Trees also do other important jobs; they have opening at the top which collects rainwater to nourish the plants throughout the park and solar panels to generate electricity to support the park. We enjoyed seeing the fantastic views from the Super Tree Skyway and returning at night to see the light show. The pre-show was based on northern lights, not doing them justice (but still beautiful). The main event lasted 30 minutes, it was set to music with multiple lights featuring songs from the movie Lilo and Stitch (current theme).
While at Gardens by the Bay, we also visited the two biodomes. The first one featuring flowers from different climates all over the world. It was currently hosting “Lillitopia” with many different types of lilies. During our visit there was a live opera for performance. The Cloud Biodome, it is designed to mimic a cloud forest at up to 3000m elevation, displaying the plants that are typically found at these elevations, including many amazing orchids. At the entrance you are greeted with a massive indoor waterfall. They were featuring Jurassic Park for a few months, thus flying pterodactyls and a large brontosaurus were on display.
The next day we continued our bus tour and explored little India. We visited a mall like nothing we have ever seen, it was like a very densely packed market inside a building, of at least 5 floors, the entire thing is open 24 hours a day. They are selling everything you can possibly think of. We enjoyed trying different food at one of the local food hawkers’ markets. Singapore is culturally diverse and proud of their diversity. We visited China town and little Arabia. Interestingly, in each of these areas of the city, many people continue to dress traditionally there are places of worship, grocery stores, restaurants, and culturally relevant shops for the locals, as well as the expected tourist souvenirs and traditional crafts and artwork.
That afternoon the rest of the family stayed home (to work on school and relax). I headed to the Botanical Garden of Singapore, a UNESCO world heritage site. The Ginger Garden, walking trails and waterfall were lovely. The National Orchid Garden was incredible; I was grateful to visit on my own as my family would have become impatient with me! I slowly explored the gardens and greenhouses containing over 1,5000 varieties of orchids and numerous hybrids (often named in honour of famous visitors to the Botanical gardens). I have a huge photo collection, but will only share some.
The following day we decided to take a metro to the Science Center Singapore. It was an hour journey on one of the cleanest metros we have seen. The stations were quiet; the metro was very civilized and quiet, no food, drink, or chewing gum allowed. It was incredibly comfortable and as most of it was above ground giving us great views of different parts of the city. It is amazing to see the density of the population and the huge high-rise buildings extending everywhere in the suburbs, while maintain lots of green space. It is noticeable how much attention it is paid to having light and windows in the apartment buildings and even in the poorer areas building are designed with interesting shapes, so everyone has windows (and often patios).
The Science Centre Singapore was “very cool” and interesting. There were tons of local school groups visiting the museum as well. It had many interactive exhibits. Alastair regretted his decision to try the 3D experience of flying like an eagle. The kids were very proud of their performance on the Laser maze (Sophie top 4, and Aiden top 3) and laughed at their mother’s pitiful score. Sophie like the exhibit on climate change, particularly answering questions about your lifestyle, receiving a score and ideas on how to improve. The creepy robot lady that answered questions was “weirdly realistic and looked really creepy”. We all enjoyed the fantastic urban science exhibit, very relevant as we had been thinking a lot about this during our time in Singapore. spent tons of time. The engineering exhibit and carnivorous plants were also interesting. We probably only saw half of the museum and spent 3 to 4 hours there. Interestingly, there was information about the new science center they are in the process of building, despite this one being amazing by our standards!
Gallery not found.Our flight to Rwanda was very late at 2am, we have planned to spend a few hours exploring Changing Singapore airport. Unfortunately, the Jewel Waterfall, a famous Singapore sight located in the Airport was closed by the time we arrived at 10pm. We were able to see it with some lights and recognize how amazing it would be to see if it was running. The entire airport has so many different activities and exhibits, if we ever get to Singapore again, we will prioritize spending some time at the airport during normal hours. We wrongly assumed that because it was such a busy airport (many late-night and early morning flights) thing would be open 24 hours.
