The Singapore Flag.
Seasonal Decorations At Changi Airport. Photo by Angela Lansbury.
Singapore is a city where everybody eats out. Hawker centres or food courts are indoors or outdoors. Buy fresh fruit.
Green Pandan cake.
In the autumn buy mooncakes.
Mooncake with salted egg filling.
The cheap local fast food is chicken rice, rice with a few strips of chicken on top, a couple of strips of cucumber, and a thin soup.
Drinks
Singapore Sling, of course.
Singapore is civilisation, the smart city of the future, clean and green with Stunning Gardens By the Bay and a Night Safari. Must see.
It also has history, a pronounced Chinese culture, an interesting history museum, WWII and Ford Factory museums, and Little India.
Here's a checklist of things to see and do:
Open top bus tour
1 Gardens By the Bay - At least half a day
At least half a day to walk around the two pavilions. One contains half a dozen gardens from different parts of the world, seasonal flower corners, labels on every plant and tree you pass, numerous photo stops, and
One way paths leading up and down and around so you have to do the entire circuit to get out.
Waterfall
A combined ticket lets you visit the giant waterfall, with walkways at the top, centre and base. Another hour or two.
Add on stops at the shops and for a meal or sit and drink.
A third walkway around the treetop artificial trees costs another 8 dollars and will take another hour or so.
Add on the free ground level walks around the open air gardens with plaques telling stories or trees and uses of plants in food and medicine and stories and myths about the plants and trees.
2 Marina Bay Sands
Marina Bay Sands triple tower complex of hotel, shops, observation deck, boat trips.
b) Better still go up to the bar (Coup d'Etat) and see the infinity pool alongside used by hotel residents. The fee is about S20 dollars upfront, which is decucted from the cost of a pizza or cocktail.
3 Botanical Gardens
Free, pleasant walks around lakes and lily ponds, giant trees, a stadium in the water, an artificial waterfall, labelled trees.
Assorted birds hop along the paths. Photo stops in bowers and bridges. Possibly a view of a giant lizard or two roaming around. A couple of expensive restaurants for the evening - must book.
Discounts and Freebies
Your airline ticket may give you privileges at the duty free shop, the airport, or if you are stuck several hours at the airport in daytime, a free bus tour of the city.
4 Night Safari
Walk or pay extra for the open sided train to take you around the night safari and watch animals (90% of the world's animals are nocturnal) coming to water holes on mini-cliffs across artificial valleys which keep you at a safe distance but near enough to see. (Binoculars are an advantage.)
Bring your camera or get familiar with your phone settings.
5 WWII
The History Museum
6 The Ford Factory Museum
Museum about the surrender of the Japanese ending the war in the Far East.
7 Fort Canning
Museum about the fall of Singapore to the Japanese.
8 Lunch at a Hotel with a waterfall - or a Club.
At the Sheraton Towers Hotel, indoors by the waterfall.
It's now what you know but who you know.
For example: Lunch at the Tanglin Club
Tavern
Churchill Room.
Alternatively lunch in the airport's new terminal.
9 The Big Wheel - the Singapore Eye
The Singapore Flyer. Photo by Angela Lansbury.
10 Cable Car to Sentosa
Spend half a day or a whole day on Sentosa
11 Chinatown
Peranakan Museum
12 Little India
Indian Temple
Mustafa's Department Store
Murals
Museum
More Indian temples elsewhere:
13 Orchard Road
Start at Isetan's Japanese Department Store.
See a community centre.
Look across to Tang's Chinese Department Store.
Walk underground to Tang's.
Ngee Ann City
Underground walk from Isetan Japanese Department Store or Tang's via Ion at Orchard to Ngee Ann City complex containing Takashimaya department store with basement food court and large bookshop upstairs alongside a restaurant with seats by the window.
15 Synagogue on Waterloo Street.
16 Take a bus
17 Take a train and LRT.
Hear MRT announcements in four languages.
Chineasy. Learn Chinese (Mandarin) online.
See artwork at:
Newton MRT
Botanic Gardens
Other stations
18 Take a taxi.
19
Hire a bicycle or scooter.
Hire a scooter.
Major Hotels
Raffles and the long bar - open from August 2019 or earlier.
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer. I have several more posts on the Singapore MRT. Please share links to your favourite posts.
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