Exploring Singapore

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I had written a great blog entry about hostel life the other night when my internet decided to crash and not keep the entry I'd spent about an hour writing. I was rather cranky about it at the time. Hopefully I'll come back to that in the near future.

Tuesday was a pretty action packed day, so we decided to each buy a day pass from SMRT (Singapore Mass Rapit Transit -- but I bet you also thought of Homer Simpson singing the 'S-M-R-T' too). It was $18, but you got $10 back if you returned the card within five days. I thought that was a really smart idea to encourage reusing materials. Singapore was generally pretty good about recycling, with the exception of our hostel that didn't recycle. What the heck? Who doesn't recycle these days? Grumble.

Anyways, so our first stop was the Singapore Girl Guides office. I was quite excited about this. Their building was only partly enclosed, letting it naturally heat and cool itself. The Guide Shop was air conditioned. I picked up some crests, and walked out before I spent any more money.

Then we headed downtown to plan out the rest of our day. As we exited the MRT station, it was sprinkling rain a little bit. No big deal. My raincoat was in the hostel, but whatever. About two minutes later, it was POURING! Griff and I were soaked and dripping from head to toe within seconds! We decided to continue our walk outside anyways, since we were already sopping wet. We decided to purchase a package deal to go on a Duck Boat tour (similar to what I did in Boston in 2010) and go on the Singapore Flyer (like the London Eye, but taller). We were hoping to do the Night Safari as well, but time was tight, especially since the Flyer suspended their flights due to thunder and lightning.

We decided to do the Duck Boat tour first, since it was less weather dependent. We drove around the city and cruised through the river, taking all the sights in. The tour guide had a very heavy accent (Indian?), so he was difficult to understand. I didn't get to drive the duck boat like I was able to in Boston, but that's okay. The tour guide seemed quite fascinated with us foreigners*.

Afterwards was the Singapore Flyer. I was especially excited about this, as I regretted not going on the London Eye when I was in the UK in 2005. Did you know that the Singapore Flyer is not actually round? It's a 56-sided polygon. The view from the Flyer was awesome! We were in this pod with about half a dozen others, and we had a 360 degree view of Singapore. It was expensive, but definitely worth it! I'm glad that we waited for the weather to clear up first.

*Note to self: write about the time you got mobbed by Chinese people at Tian'anmen Square for being white.

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Photos

Be Prepared...
Kate is a Guider, wherever she travels.

The DUKW Boat!
DUKW boats are on both sides of the Pacific Ocean (as seen from the Singapore Flyer).

Singapore Flyer
The Singapore Flyer, right before our rainy visit (as seen from the Captain Explorer DUKW Boat).

Seeing the Singapore Skyline
Try saying that five times fast!
Griff and Kate in a pod on the Singapore Flyer.

Comments

[anonymous]

Off the beaten track
Girl Guides Singapore is a rather unconventional Singapore tourist spot. Nice choice, though!

[CanuckTravels]

Thank you! I am a Girl Guide leader back home in Canada, so I thought it would be a nice stop in my travels.