Kuala Lumpur was very enjoyable for our layover, but the city we have been anticipating most was Singapore. During our Vietnam trip one-and-a-half years ago, we spent four days in Singapore, and both found it to be an incredible city. Run under a strange authoritarian regime, Singapore is extremely strict and controlled, in many ways I don’t quite agree with. Once in the city, however, it is easy to forget about the city’s structure and become enamored by its brilliance.
Singapore, upon gaining independence over half a century ago, has been meticulously planned. Any development is controlled and approved by a powerful development department. The skyline was designed well before the skyscrapers shot up, and 90% of housing was developed by the city to ensure it was high enough quality. The city is full of huge buildings and cheap amazing food and large parks that make you feel that you are in the middle of a jungle.
We arrived at about 4:00pm after a very quick flight, and rushed out of the airport. We caught an Uber to the city, and within an hour of landing we were checking in to our hotel.
When we last came to Singapore, Bryden and I were brought up to the top of the Marina Bay Sands, a spectacular $8bn hotel overlooking the city and Singapore Bay. This hotel, comprised of three 57-story columns elevating a boat-like structure containing an infinity pool, hot tubs, viewing decks, and restaurants is beyond belief. After seeing this hotel in 2016, Bryden and I decided that if we ever were to return to Singapore we would spend a night in this hotel. We booked a room for our first night in Singapore on this trip, so we were anxious to arrive.
Upon arrival we checked in quickly and headed up towards our room on the seventeenth floor. When we arrived in our room, we put a key-card in a slot, and watched as the lights turned on and a curtain opened, revealing a panoramic view on the city’s skyline.
We quickly changed and headed up for the pool. While in the taxi to the hotel I was emailing two people; Marcelo Wang, who works with my neighbor and showed Bryden and I around last time we were in Singapore, and his colleague Sanjeev, who leads BlackRock’s Singapore office. They were free to meet that evening, so we spent about 25 minutes in the pool, enjoying the beautiful views and taking photos before heading out for delicious drinks and dinner with them. We then returned to the pool, and stayed in it and the hot tubs until they closed at 11:00.
The next morning, after not enough sleep, we awoke early to see sunrise from the roof of the hotel. After heading up early, we relaxed overlooking the Gardens by the Bay, and watched the sun slowly rise over the many ships sitting outside of Singapore’s bay.
We spent the rest of the morning at the hotel, enjoying it in all the ways we could. I went to the gym, which had nice treadmills and spin bikes and looked over the city from the 55th floor. It also had free water, snacks, and chilled wash-clothes. It was very nice.
We checked out at about noon, and summoned an Uber to take us to a dim sum place we had been to before and loved. While in the car, the driver told us about a different dim sum restaurant that he preferred. We went there instead, and it was great. We were the only non-Chinese people there, and from our seats it was impossible to know that we were in Singapore and not Hong Kong.
Next, we went to take a tour of the BattleBox, an underground WW2 war room, which was excellent. During this tour we learned about how Japan overtook Singapore from the British. This was a massive blow to the British colonial structure, and also led to many changes in Singapore.
Next, we realized how warm it was outside and decided that to cool down we would look for a beach. As this was our second trip to Singapore, we had already seen most of the touristy sites, but Sentosa Island, a small island off the southern tip of Singapore, we hadn’t seen yet. This island contains Singapore’s only resort, and a Universal Studios theme park, and some manmade beaches. We caught the metro to the Marina Bay Sands to pick up our swimsuits, and then another metro and a monorail out to the island.
We found a small beach on the island which was quite pretty, although fairly artificial, and swam around in the warm water. After about fifteen minutes, some dark clouds started approaching us, and after about thirty minutes it started to rain lightly. Eventually the lifeguard told people to come out of the water, so we did and after rinsing off we packed up and headed back to Singapore. Hungry, we set out to eat.
During our time with Marcelo and Sanjeev we were recommended a chicken rice shop that was supposed to be the best in Singapore. Chicken rice is essentially Singapore’s national dish. It is exactly what it sounds like; chicken on rice, but the rice is cooked in thick chicken stock and the ensemble is covered in a delicious soy sauce based sauce and hot sauce, making it so tasty. We found the hawker market (essentially a large covered area with lots of cheap but well regulated food stalls) that contained this restaurant and looked for food we wanted.
We first got papaya smoothies, which were extremely good, and then we set out to find the chicken rice stall. Sadly, we discovered that it was closed, but we saw a stall selling duck rice nearby with a huge line. We figured that it would be good.
The duck rice was extremely good, and it was run by an extremely charismatic Singaporean man. We were still hungry, but wanted to go see the light show at the Supertree Grove, so we found a different chicken rice stall that looked good, ordered a meal to go, and took the metro back to the Gardens by the Bay.
We made it to the gardens just ten minutes before the show started, and after eating the chicken rice, which was absolutely delicious, we found a place to lay down and watch the show. The supertrees, which are large, metal trees covered in lights and vines, are absolutely spectacular. They played a show based off of the music of Asia, which we enjoyed while relaxing.
We then said goodbye to Singapore as we returned to the hotel to retrieve our bags, and catch an Uber to the airport. After a few weeks away, I was still not ready to return to school, but the trip had been one to remember.