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Published: July 21st 2016
Singapore is only 3.5 hours away from Manila by plane but this is the first time I've been to Singapore. I think it's mainly because I often travel alone and I could't imagine myself going to Singapore alone since most of the sites they have there are theme parks. I've had a traumatically depressing experience visiting a theme park by myself in Canada.
A friend of mine was celebrating his 30th birthday and has never been outside the Philippines before. Our birthdays are only two days apart so I invited him to join me on my birthday trip so he can leave his 20's in a memorable way. I was rather introspective on my 30th and wished I had something going on, so I wanted him to have that. I might also just be making an excuse for him and myself to go to Singapore.
I've heard many great things about Changi airport. The best airport in the world! Yes it was nice but I did not enjoy being there. An airport is just an airport no matter how nice. Everyone just wants to get out of there asap. The free massage machines were awesome though.
The first
glimpses of Singapore impressed me. It indeed is a first world country at par with some of the best cities I've seen. I thought it looked like an Asian/Tropical version of Sydney. Somehow I did't feel like I was in a different country. It felt very familiar. Perhaps because most people were Asian, the weather was the same, and there was no communication barrier. I felt right at home.
We met up with a couple of friends who are now working in Singapore. They treated us to dinner at Makan Sutra. They liked Singapore. The convenience of a great public transportation system, minimal traffic, no pollution, world class facilities etc. The working environment though, was something they needed to adjust to. It's normal for Filipinos to be chatty and sing along to the music we're listening to while working. This is frowned upon by Singaporeans according to them. You need to look serious and busy all the time. No wonder Singapore has the highest rates of depression in South-east Asia! Laughing, some chit-chat and singing won't hurt your productivity people!
My injury made the trip extra challenging. My limp would become more apparent after a day of walking.
I got tired faster and often had to take breaks. Food was not too expensive. A meal at the hawkers near the hostel in Lavender only cost $4 SGD. Not bad at all! There are some hawkers where you can get $2 meals but I did't want to eat there. If you're inside theme parks of course you typically pay $10 for each meal. Hostels are also cheap. Only about a third of the price of the ones in the States, Japan, and Australia.
It was pouring hard when we arrived in Sentosa. So instead of going to Universal Studios first, we hit the SEA Aquarium instead because it's indoors. The place was okay. Big aquariums. Meh... The Sting rays and Manta rays were pretty cool though.
We should have gone to Universal studios first because the lines for the good rides were more than an hour long when it stopped raining. Not all the rides were worth our time. We did't know any better at first so our first stop was Madagascar which is similar to that train ride in a cave in Disneyland where dolls sing "It's a small world". They also had that transformers 4D
thing which I did't find so fascinating. T'was interesting but it really wasn't anything new either. It broke while I was on it. I thought it was their schtick but after about five minutes I realized they were having technical problems and we might have to be rescued from the cave. They gave us express tickets for the inconvenience. We used those express tickets to get on the express line for the roller coaster which had the longest line. I just wish I was able to sneak in my Narrative Clip 2 camera to record the roller coaster ride. You have to put all your stuff in the lockers so I couldn't sneak it in. I love this new camera because you just clip it on your shirt or wear it as a necklace and it takes photos automatically every 30 seconds by default, which you can change using the app. Two taps would snap a photo and 3 taps will record a video. The quality of the photos are not good of course because it won't frame the photos for you. But it's cool that at the end of the day you'd have lots of photos that will surprise
you. I didn't bring my SLR camera because it's too heavy. Plus I'm now satisfied with the quality of the photos my Samsung Galaxy S7 takes.
Gardens by the bay was nice but I din't think it was worth the money I paid for. It's an indoor exhibit of flora not found in the tropics. It was cool to see Baobab trees in person because I like The Little Prince. I also didn't expect olive trees to look like that. Other than the flora they have stalactites on display and the worlds tallest man-made falls. I've seen real caves and waterfalls aplenty so I wasn't fascinated by those. The Super Trees were cool and looked alien. It costs $8 to walk on those bridges.
It said in the guides that Orchard road is a must see so we went there. Only to find malls and luxury stores like LV and Prada. Why is that a must see? You can find Louis Vuitton stores anywhere in the world. We only walked about 50 meters in Orchard before deciding it wasn't worth our time.
Little India was very interesting. It was crowded and noisy. It's Singapore so it wasn't
dirty but it's still the messiest place in Singapore. Many people sat on the floor. 90% were men. Maybe that's what made the place intimidating. The lack of women. It was a little overwhelming. Made me think twice about wanting to visit India because I know the real thing would be much more intimidating if I found little India to be overwhelming. But it was very interesting nontheless.
I was too tired when we got to Chinatown after Little India but I loved Chinatown. It was also crowded but the buildings were prettier and more colorful. Unlike little India everyone was doing something and not just lounging and nobody was sitting on the floor. Maybe Indians are chill like that. In contrast to the Chinese who are always on the go. Even at the plaza in Chinatown the women were dancing or wushu-ing and the men were playing Chinese checkers. So even when they're chilling they're doing something. The Indians in Little India talk over food and tea. Different ways of relaxing. Makes me wonder how we as Filipinos chill. I think most of just eat and have coffee with friends. Dancing and playing mind games like chess and
Chinese checkers is not our idea of chill.
Singapore Zoo is far from the city. About an hour and a half by bus. I was surprised to see a lush tropical forest. My buddy wanted to take the train but I insisted on taking buses because I want to see the city and not the tunnels. Also the bus stop was much closer than the train station. It's been a while since I've traveled abroad with other people. On the plus side I have good photos of myself and I got to visit theme parks. On the downside we don't always agree on what to see and how to see it.
I don't think I've seen any homeless people in Singapore. I saw one who clearly had mental problems but I'm not sure if he was homeless. About cleanliness, it is clean but not as squeaky clean as Japan. I was only there for five days but I really enjoyed my trip. What I loved most about Singapore was their food. I was thinking about all the calories I burned after all that walking. But I also ate a lot so I didn't lose five pounds like I
thought I would have with all that walking. I've already gained about 17 pounds since my injury because I can't play sports and hike nor dance yet.
We went to the local Seventh Day Adventist church and I thought they were rather conservative. The potluck was amazing though! Adventist churches have potlucks after church. Since Singapore is a multicultural city, they have different cuisines on their potluck table. All the food is vegetarian and visitors get to be the first in line. I like going to church when travelling abroad because the potluck is always interesting and it's a great way to meet the locals. They're much nicer in church than they are outside.
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Dancing Dave
David Hooper
Great to see you are back on the road
Welcome back Harold but sad to hear you have a limp. Super pics and super to see the Harold with the fabulous smile and enthusiasm is back!