We first went to Singapore in early 1993 and hadn’t really liked it, to be honest. We felt it lacked the soul and vibrancy of Hong Kong and had too many fancy hotels, high rise buildings and shopping centres. However, recently we’d seen clips showing Singapore today and decided we’d like to visit it again and see how it had changed. We definitely liked it more, and there are some amazing places to visit there.
We stayed at the Amoy Hotel in the Central Business District, in a great location close to Chinatown and right next to Telok Ayer metro station. As we’d found when were were there before, Singapore is really expensive compared to other countries in South East Asia and it was a bit of a shock to the system compared with Vietnam and Laos. We knew that hotels were very pricey and reckon the Amoy is great value for money. Our room was very nice, although small and quite dark, the bed was comfortable, the shower good and there was a fridge and coffee machine. The staff on Reception were very nice and super helpful. Our room rate included breakfast which was served nearby at the interestingly named Offbeat by Coq & Balls! The breakfasts were nice and there was a good selection including full english, eggs benedict, shakshuka, french toast, poke bowl and scrambled egg, all served with coffee and fresh fruit juice.
We didn’t like the area right next to the hotel at night, Far East Square. It was pretty frantic with different music coming from every bar, all competing to be the loudest! Also, we couldn’t believe the cost of alcohol! At Blu Jaz Cafe a pint of beer varied from about S$12 – 16 there and service charge and tax was added to that! We did have a very tasty snack there – Samosa Chaat for S$14.90.
We were lucky that Lau Pa Sat Hawker Centre was just 10 minutes walk from our hotel. It was a really good food court with a huge choice of different types of food – indian, chinese, malay, indonesian, mexican, turkish ….. We had an interesting meal, trying Thunder Tea Rice Special with chicken patties (see last photo above). Thunder Tea Rice claims to have lots of health benefits – we don’t know if it was healthy, but it was tasty. Whatever you have for your main course here, we recommend you leave room for dessert. Butter & Cream do the most amazing Burnt Basque Cheesecake on a brownie base! After having it once, we had to go back and get one to go to have with a coffee in our room! They had lots of other delicious looking cakes, croissants, etc. If you like satay, don’t miss Satay Street every night just outside the food court. The evening we were there it was rained off but seems to be very popular.
There are many interesting neighbourhoods in Singapore. The first we visited was Little India and it felt like we had actually been transported to India! There was a real buzz about the place and lots of colourful buildings.
Haji Lane in the Kampong Glam area is one we’d looked forward to visiting. Unfortunately it was pouring rain when we were there, but we could still appreciate the beautiful, colourful buildings. There weren’t as many shops around as we’d expected, but it was still worth a visit. Chinatown was another interesting place to stroll around with interesting buildings including the Sri Mariamman, Singapore’s oldest Hindu temple. Bugis Street is another shopping area which has an interesting street with murals
The Supertrees Show at Gardens by the Bay is a must see if you’re in Singapore. It is usually a free show which takes place every day at 7.45pm and 8.45pm, but we were there close to Christmas so they had a special event on, in place of the usual free show, which cost S$13. It was quite magical, the light and music show was spectacular and they even had some fake snow at the end!
After watching the Supertrees Show we walked round to the Merlion to watch the Marina Bay light and water show which was also quite impressive. It takes place every night at 8pm and 9pm.
We returned to Gardens by the Bay the next day for the Flower Dome and Cloud Forest with Jurassic Park displays. Both were very impressive. There was again a Christmas theme at the Flower Dome, with lots of ponsettias, christmas decorations, and model trains running through festive floral displays, in addition to the cacti and many other plants and flowers. The entrance to Cloud Forest has an impressive indoor waterfall, and there’s a high walkway that takes you round past the displays which includes dinosaurs, etc. It feels like walking through a misty, cool rainforest, but inside a giant glass dome. Our only complaint was that it was really cold in the Cloud Forest – we wish we’d had sweatshirts or jackets with us!
We walked to most places as our hotel was pretty central, but we did use the metro a few times and found it great value, easy to use (you don’t need to get tickets – just tap your phone or a contactless credit card at the gate) and very efficient. We also used Grab a few times and found prices good and cars arrived very quickly.
Changi Airport is pretty incredible. It’s worth giving yourself some extra time so that you can check out this airport that is different from any other. There is a huge waterfall at Jewel in Terminal 2, so be sure not to miss it even if you’re flying out of another terminal. There is a huge shopping centre too and a big selection of places to eat. There’s even a rooftop swimming pool which you can swim in for a cost (free to guests at the Aerotel Hotel). There are various gardens and floral displays. Just make sure you don’t miss your flight!
