SOUTHEAST ASIA PART III: SINGAPORE

Hello there,

I hope you're all having a luverly Sunday and aren't too hungover from Longitude. This is my final blog post of my trip to Southeast Asia and if you've managed to stick around to read them all, I salute you!

Our last leg of the trip was Singapore. I had wanted to visit Singapore after watching David Attenborough's Planet Earth 2. Two million trees have been planted here in the last 45 years alone and the city is now richer in species than any other in the world. It's a perfect example of city and nature colliding and working together. We couldn't get over how clean the city was, it feels like a giant park with buildings. 

We stayed at Hotel Boss, near Little India and everything was very close by. The easiest and cheapest way to get around Singapore is the bus and also the subway. You can opt for taxis as well if you like, but unlike Thailand and Malaysia, Singapore is very expensive. With 1 Euro = 1.57 Singapore Dollars, the currencies are almost on par and prices are on the same range as Dublin.

We started our journey by going to Gardens By The Bay. The bus leaves you right outside the Marina Bay Sands, which is a 5 star hotel and an iconic piece of architecture in Singapore. You have to cross the hotel lobby to get into the gardens. The gardens span over 100 hectares and here you find many of the city's attractions such as the Supertree Grove, Cloud Forest and Flower Dome. This is where you really get a feel of what the city is about and it's nothing like you've ever seen before.

Marina Bay Sands

Supertree Grove

The Supertree Grove is definitely the most spectacular thing to see in Singapore and probably one of the best things you'll see anywhere. These 150 feet high metal structures are full of life, with creepers being planted to grow on the outermost branches. There are over 160,000 plants of more than 200 species. The thought behind them is to create an urban jungle to attract life and bring it back into the city. Walking around, it feels surreal. You can hear the noise of so many birds chirping and different animals, and it feels like you're in a jungle, not the city. For just five dollars, you can go up and take the OCBC Skyway atop the trees for incredible views of the city.

OCBC Skyway

The grove looks even better when the sun goes down. At night, the gardens transform from a jungle to a scene right out of Avatar. You can witness a free light and sound show in the grove at 7:45pm and 8:45pm daily.

The avatar magic continues in the Cloud Forest. Here, you can take in breathtaking mountain views surrounded by 60,000 plants and flora from the Tropical Montane regions. There's a 35-metre man-made waterfall and you descend through a mist-filled cloud and treetop walk. 

Cloud Forest

Next, we took a trip to Singapore Zoo. Known to be the best zoo in the world, you can't miss this and it didn't disappoint. The zoo occupies 28 hectares of rainforest and houses more than 315 species, some of which are endangered. Unlike other zoos, the animals have vast amounts of space and land. You can also take a night safari of the zoo. There are some unique animals here which I'd never seen before such as kangaroos and polar bears. The highlight was getting to feed the elephants and baboons!

Singapore, much like Malaysia (and once part of it) houses a fusion of different cultures and nationalities such as Chinese, Malaysians and Indians. The Indian influence is strong, particularly in Little India which was close to where we were staying. We took a gander here one of the days, and the explosion of colours, smells and markets really makes it feel like a compact version of India. This has definitely made me put India on my bucket list.

Off the coast of Singapore, there is a little island called Sentosa. It's here where you can find Universal Studios. The easiest way to get to the island is by Monorail. I had never been to Disneyland or Universal elsewhere so this was a bit of a childhood dream coming true. Sadly, I didn't bring my camera here and rarely took out my phone as we spent the majority of the day upside down in roller coasters. 

The food in Singapore was incredible. You can find markets, restaurants and street food with food from different countries in Asia such as Korea, India, Japan and Malaysia. 

Tandoori butter chicken with naan & iced tea

Char Sui pork with noodles & pak choi

An authentic street food chicken satay

Korean BBQ - pan fried chicken with veg, served with anchovies, beansprouts and kimchi

I'll conclude this post with some views from the Waterfront Promenade which features beautiful views of Singapore's skyline.

That's a wrap on my Southeast Asia blog posts, I hope you enjoyed reading and it's given you some travel inspo if you're planning on venturing to that side of the world. This was truly the trip of a lifetime and it's left me with some amazing memories. Best of all was the people that I got to spend it with. 

A little personal note: Before leaving for Asia, I had let life and stress get to me and I was a bundle of nerves and anxiety. I wasn't sleeping, my heart rate was constantly elevated and panic attacks were a common occurrence. I was worried that I was always going to be like that from now on - I was wrong! It's important to take time off, put your phone down, go out and do things out of your comfort zone, eat foods you've never eaten before and immerse yourself in the culture of wherever you're going. You will come back with a much more open mind and also some much needed inner peace. This has only wet my appetite for more traveling and I will be back to Asia for sure! Until next time :)

Tom.