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Published: December 30th 2022
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It seems a shame that Singapore is generally just utilised as an airport stopover, sometimes nipping into the city for a day or two, because there’s actually quite a lot to do.
I first went there 20 years ago on a year-long round-the-world backpacker trip, passing through twice during 4.5 months in Southeast Asia. I remember Singapore as being the most expensive place we had thus far reached, with one of the worst hostels; you passed through an Indian restaurant kitchen and went upstairs into permanently dripping wet (you couldn’t keep anything on the floor) multi-bunk-bedded dormitories. But I do remember liking it (the city/country, not the hostel), especially the way it was lit up at night when the temperature dropped a degree.
That trip was pre-travelblogging days but I returned at the end of 2019, just for 24 hours, while on my way from home in Japan to work in Nepal. I didn’t write a blog about it because I thought that I would do a collective blog following a few more stopovers on the way to Nepal. Alas, covid happened, Japan’s border closed, and now I sadly don’t live in Japan
or work in Nepal anymore. But during that Singapore flying visit I managed to climb up Bukit Timah, Singapore’s highest “mountain” at 164 m seeing a few snakes and monkeys, do a very moist parkrun (it starts at 07:30 to avoid the peak heat and humidity but I was already sweating before we even set off), stay in a very grotty hotel in Geylang (to be within a few kilometres of a parkrun), and accidentally do a 25 km night hike in flip-flops around some new parts of Singapore (Tanjong Rhu, Marina East and Marina South) that had been reclaimed from the sea since my last visit. The walk was lovely, especially the views across the water, reminding me that it really was lovely here at night.
In October 2022 I found myself in Singapore again, and again twice, these occasions bookending nearly a month holiday in Indonesia. Having a partner who has a sister who lives in Singapore meant the accommodation this time was a significant upgrade. A posh apartment block, swimming pool and tennis court replaced the bedbug-filled curry-stinking hole where I stayed before. Because it was a family visit and accommodation was
covered, we gave ourselves a week in total over the two visits. This meant the pace could be more leisurely and we could get a bit off the beaten track, if that is possible in such a small and crowded place.
We visited a few places where I had been before; I was interested to see what how it had changed. I don’t think it had. Raffles still seems a posh colonial relic, Orchard Road was still a packed and glamorous consumer-heaven, Chinatown still seems overly gentrified where we accidently ended up eating in a Japanese restaurant, Little India and Arab Street provided a welcome bit of grimier streets, and the business district is still huge soulless granite and glass edifices that are best appreciated at night from over the water. There seems to be a lot more street art than there used to be, and it is very good. There are also more abundant signs warning you of Singapore’s many rules and laws. They are clearly followed as the place is still safe and spotless, often seeming like an artist’s impression in a brochure rather than a real place.While zoos do make me sad, I was happy to
see that the night safari was still brilliant. I think it opens a bit longer than it used to, as it has been extended, but the animals still get about 18 hours of the day to themselves before the tourists arrive in the evening. The dim lighting means the nocturnal animals, mostly those native to the region, are active and it’s too dark for photos so you can concentrate just on watching them. Sulawesi’s jungle-dwelling babirusas were a highlight, like someone has played ‘stick-the-tusks-on-the-shaved-pig’ while blind-folded and got them mostly in the wrong places.
We additionally got to some parts that were new to me or hadn’t previously existed. The UNESCO-recognised botanical garden was an explosion of incredible orchids, as was, though to a lesser extent, the Cloud Forest enormous glass greenhouse at Gardens by the Bay. The Sky Trees are definitely worth a visit, especially for the nightly light show. The beach on Sentosa Island was nice enough, though strange to be laid on the sand with a view of countless container ships and oil tankers.
On our last day we visited Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve on the northern coast of Singapore Island. It is a mangrove
wetland, I like a mangrove wetland, with walking trails facing Johor Bahru across the water in Malaysia. We knew it was worthwhile as soon as we crossed the car park and a chap sweeping up leaves pointed out a huge monitor lizard basking on a log. It was the first of many we would see, often extremely close up as they were either too indifferent to shift from the middle of the path we were walking along or we didn’t notice as we stood right next to them gazing at other wildlife. It wasn’t only monitor lizards, one of my favourite creatures I remember getting very excited about when I first encountered them in the Sundarbans in Bangladesh is the mudskipper, but Singapore has giant mudskippers! These ~25 cm long little slimy beasts represent a key evolutionary jump as fish decided that an aquatic life was insufficient and so thought they’d have a crack at land as well. There were also a lot of nice birds, squirrels, fish and plants but it was the mudskippers that made it for me. It was a world away from downtown Singapore and nice to see that wildlife could still be found here. We
departed as a thunderstorm hit and sirens came on closing the walking trails due to the lightning risk. While sheltering under a tree from the downpour, a local old couple we had chatted to earlier took pity on us and drove out of their way to drop us at the nearest metro station.
As always on our trips, food was a highlight. Hawker centres are abundant, quick, cheap and delicious. Various Chinese, Indian, Malay and Singaporean spicy seafood dishes always washed down with juices made with tropical fruits I’d never heard of from endearingly impatient tiny old Chinese.
Overall, I like Singapore. It may be small but it can be varied and we covered miles and miles while ambling around. It’s still best at night.
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Katha Turbostern
Kathas World
What a great place Singapore is!
Thank you for sharing your impression of Singapore 20 years ago and now. Wow, a lot must have changed! And I could not agree more, one can see and do a lot in Singapore, and it is worthwhile staying for more than just a day. I lived there for a year and I have very good memories!