After the excitement of doing an Amazing Race style flight booking I was completely exhausted and all I could manage for the rest of the day was getting into a cab and heading to the hotel. However, even with that little experience I could tell Singapore was extremely different than any other country we’ve been in. Singapore is a first world country in that its infrastructure, cleanliness, and modern buildings is more similar to the U.S. than any other country we’ve been in. It is very different from the U.S. though in that it has even more laws than we do! One of the most famous laws is that chewing gum is illegal. Leaving the airport we saw signs for other interesting illegal things – all nicotine based products are illegal including cigarettes, Nicorette gum, and vaporizers or e-cigarettes. All these laws though result in an amazingly clean city that has a surprising amount of well-groomed vegetation.
After a goodnights rest I was ready to explore some of Singapore. I called this post ‘Singapore My Savior’ because with how sick I was feeling it was just what I needed. Unlike other South East Asian countries there are no Durian (stinky fruit) street vendors or weird smells wafting from sewers, trashcans, or random storefronts and this was great because my stomach could no longer take that. We decided that our first stop would be Singapore’s number one tourist attraction Gardens By the Bay, which is a cool mixture of nature and engineering.
The gardens are massive and are themed around different types of landscapes and terrains from around the world. We started by going into the two large domes that are essentially massive greenhouses. The first was the Cloud Forest Dome and it simulates a rain forest on a mountain that gets humidity from cloud formations. When you walk in there is a large simulated mountain with a waterfall falling from it. From there we took an elevator up to the top where there was a large display of carnivorous plants interspersed with Legos made to look like them.
From the top we made our way down walking along bridges jutting out into the dome so that we could get better views of the various trees and other plant life. At the bottom there were tiny succulents and orchids as well as some incredible woodcarvings.
The second dome was the Flower Dome and it is the largest greenhouse in the world. We saw more orchids here than I have ever seen in my life! They were also starting to setup a harvest theme which had a pretty creepy farmer made out of different vegetables but it did make us a little nostalgic for Halloween with all the pumpkins.
Probably one of the most recognizable parts of the Gardens By The Bay are the Supertrees which are man made and have a sky bridge among them. We took the elevator up and got some amazing views of the entire garden.
Our final stop in the Gardens was an art piece called ‘The Planet’ which is a giant sculpture of a floating baby. We saw it featured in a photo contest show so we had to see it.
Then we walked across a bridge into an iconic Singapore building that has a large garden on top of it and into a mall. The mall is unique because in addition to a bunch of high-end stores it also has a canal running through it and you can get a gondola ride. Since we did a gondola ride in Venice we decided to forgo the mall one but Andrew did get lots of good pictures.
The mall sits on Marina Bay so we decided to walk around it and soak in some of the great views. There were tons of people out running, biking, and enjoying the nice weather. We made our way to Merlion Park where the famous fountain sits along the bay edge. Andrew had lots of fun taking funny pictures but at this point I had run out of energy so we decided to head back to the hotel so I could rest.
That evening we went across the street for dinner and enjoyed some live music. The next morning we decided to head to Orchard Road a huge commercial avenue with a massive mall. While I was sick in Kuala Lumpur I saw a commercial for an awesome brunch spot called Wild Honey, which originated in Singapore so we decided to check it out. It was located in the massive Orchard Road mall and had a slight wait time so we were able to check out the mall a little bit. Wild Honey definitely did not disappoint! I got the Parisian and Drew had waffles – both were delicious!
After brunch we went to the Singapore Botanic Gardens and if I thought I saw a lot of orchids the day before I was wrong! We walked through garden after garden of beautiful orchids and then went to an area where they create new hybrid orchids which they name after famous people who have visited the gardens including Laura Bush and Michelle Obama.
We strolled through the rest of the gardens and saw some squirrels (that Drew swears were chipmunks but weren’t), the famous Singapore tree which is on their 2 dollar bill and a lake full of cat fish. The highlight though was when we were exiting the garden and saw a massive lizard.
We headed back to the hotel and relaxed poolside for a bit while Drew enjoyed a Singapore Sling – when in Rome right? Then we headed to the airport for a late night flight. It was a short trip to Singapore made even shorter by missing a day due to my illness but we got a lot in!
One thought on “Singapore My Savior”
ace52
We’re glad we’re up to at least a short visit to such an amazing city! Ahhhhh….now for some r&r😌. Happy birthdays guys🥂🍰🍚🍦🍨🍫🍧🎂. Love you!
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