If ever you fancied a taste of the far East but were put off the idea, perhaps because of the crowds, the heat, the monsoons, or perhaps it’s the millions and even billions of people going about their day to day lives. Or perhaps it’s the sheer scale of some of the countries that would take a lifetime and more to explore….well here’s just the place that you can experience a bit of the exotic far East, all wrapped up in one small bundle. Welcome to Singapore!
It may be one of the smallest countries in the world but it’s an Asian powerhouse and one of the wealthiest countries in the world. Add to this, it’s spotlessly clean, organised and virtually crime free. It’s got world class museums, amazing outdoor amenities, fantastic weather and most of all, it’s a culinary hot spot with some of the best food you’ll find in South East Asia.
For this trip, we’re staying near the marina at the Fullerton Bay hotel across the marina from the ginormous Marina Sands hotel, which funny enough was our second choice of hotel (after Raffles which was booked out:), but, after a little more research it seemed as if it was not for us, as we had no interest in the casino and the sheer scale of the place did not appeal.
We were happy with our choice and even though the Fullerton Bay is a good size hotel it was a lot more personal. Our room was big with a nice balcony, mini bar, big walk-in shower and a large bathtub.
As we arrived at lunch time, we grabbed a bite to eat before hitting the streets for a wander around. Along with the usual arrival drinkies…..
Our first stop was a visit to the famous Raffles to have a Singapore Sling which was invented here so it’s on most visitors “to do” list, sort of like visiting Harry’s bar in Venice for the Bellini.
The hotel proper is strictly for guests so you won’t even get past the doorman, however, there is a separate bar called the Long Bar which is pretty much for the rest of us. The bar is very old-school looking and the place was busy when we arrived. As expected, everyone was pretty much having the Singapore Sling.
There’s two options, the original created in 1915 and a newer version created a few years later. C went with the newer one, I opted for the original…..the newer version, was much nicer. They also have a bag of peanuts on every table and the thing to do, is drop the shells on the ground – yep, I did not get it either.
After our cocktail we visited the Mint toy museum of all things, it was small but delightful and had pretty much every famous toy ever created, it passed about an hour or so. After we headed to Chinatown for a wander around and to try and arrange something for dinner……
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A place called Burnt Ends, is “the” place right now to eat in Singapore and at our hotel earlier, we asked the concierge what were the chances of getting a table, he pretty much smiled and said unless you’ve booked several months in advance, I’m afraid there’s really no chance. We had actually tried to book several months previous but had no luck. However, our concierge did say, you could just call around at opening and see if by a slim chance they have a cancellation.
Which is why we’re visiting Chinatown as Burnt Ends is close by and they open at 6:00pm. So we arrived to find a line outside waiting, not to get in, but also to see if a cancellation had come up, we were not confident of getting a table. When the waitress came to us and asked were we dining, we said no we’re looking for a cancellation. She looked over her clipboard and said, can you come back at 9:30 – we were in!!!
With dinner sorted in Singapore’s hottest restaurant, we checked out the many stalls around Chinatown before heading back to our hotel to rest up for a bit before dinner.
As planned we arrived at Burnt Ends at 9:30 and were seated straight away, there’s only about 30 seats in all at a long table facing the kitchen, we were seated at the end, but we were not bothered. We ordered some drinks and decided to go with the “chefs choice” menu. Basically the chef comes down and asked what takes your fancy from the menu and they go off and cook it all up along with several other dishes. Here’s a few snaps…..
Needless to say, we ate our fill, however, I felt the food overall was a little underwhelming, it’s as if they’re famous for the way they cook (using open fires) rather than what they cook. We enjoyed it for the most part, but for us, it’s not worth a return visit.
The next day it was an early start, once again I was going to get my theme park fix, the plan for the day, a trip to Universal Studios Singapore.
As it was a Friday, the park was not as busy so the lines for most of the rides were actually ok, it helped that we got fast passes, essential when visiting a theme park, it can save, not just minutes waiting in line, but sometimes even hours waiting to get on a ride. We started off easy, Shrek 4D, followed by Puss ‘N’ Boots coaster.
C passed on the two BattleStar Galactica coasters which were great, we also went on the Jurassic Water rapids and managed not to get too wet. As well as the Stunt show and several other attractions, the ride of the day was Transformers, it was really cool.
After a full-on day at Universal, we grabbed a cab and headed back to our hotel. Later that evening we had booked the Night Safari tour at the Singapore Zoo. The Night Safari is probably the biggest tourist attraction in all of Singapore. Basically it’s a tour of a zoo, but at night, as a lot of the animals you see are nocturnal. While zoos may not be everyone’s thing, it’s an interesting tour nonetheless as a lot of the animals are not caged so as you travel around a lot of the animals come up close to the transport bus that you are riding on, which are open trolley car type things. Photos did not really work so here’s the one shot of the stage show setting.
After a full-on day it was back to the hotel where we dined at the lobby restaurant before a nightcap and hitting the hay.
The following day we had planned on hitting the National Gallery museum which is a mammoth of a place, we also booked two tours to maximise our time there. The first was about an hour long, which talks about the history of the museum and visits the modern art section.
After we grabbed lunch at the museum, then made our way to the start of the next tour, which was going to be about two hours long. The museum used to be the old courthouse, so you get to visit other parts of the museum that are off-limits to people not doing the tour. The tour guide was very informative and the tour while not the most exciting we’d been on, it was interesting.
For dinner that evening we ate at a small Italian place just on the waterfront, the food was decent but nothing special.
Our last full day in Singapore was spent window shopping in the main shopping district called Orchard Road. Basically it’s a mile long street with huge malls, designer stores, dozens of places to eat and add to that, it’s crazy busy. Other than a few bits and pieces we bought very little. After lunch we grabbed the metro and headed back to Chinatown to wander a few of the side streets that we missed previous and like Orchard Road, it was busy.
For the evening we headed over to visit the behemoth that is the Marina Sands hotel to visit the famous gardens. However it’s also possible to have a drink on the roof-top bar, it’s free so to speak, you just have to pay to get to the top but once up there you get two drinks for free. Once we got to the top, the view is impressive, plus you can also see the famous infinity pool, which is the longest in the world apparently. We were fortunate enough to get a table so we enjoyed our drinks while enjoying the view.
After our roof-top drinks, we headed towards the gardens. As well as dozens and dozens of plants and trees, it’s mainly famous for it’s giant man-made mushroom-tree type things. Add to this there’s plenty of places to eat and it also has two huge biodomes. You can take a lift up to a series of suspension bridges connecting the trees which offer some fantastic views. Then at 8:00pm every evening they put on a light show, with the trees changing colour in sync to music, it was pretty cool.
For the evening we ate at a place called Over Easy, basically a diner come bistro, which was fine, we kept it simple, just burgers and a drinkies.
For out last day we have just a few hours to kill before having to make our way to the airport. We decided to visit the Science museum to pass a few hours. It’s housed in a very unusual lotus-shaped building right outside the Marina Sands mall. The museum was smaller than expected but had a few somewhat interesting displays, however, the “fish tank” was very cool. Basically you go over to a table and draw a picture of a fish, jellyfish, whale, whatever you like, then you scan in your creation and within seconds, your fish is swimming in the huge screen, you can even touch the screen and watch the fish scatter, it was great fun, even for adults.
After playing with the fishes, we left the museum, grabbed a coffee and browsed a few of the many shops in the mall. We grabbed lunch in Bread Street, one of Gordon Ramsey’s places, we kept it simple, just a burger for me and some salmon for C – it was fine, we’ve had better burgers, however, the service was excellent.
Once we finished lunch all that was left to do was take a leisurely stroll back to our hotel, grab the bags and get our transfer to the airport. Our few days in Singapore has come to an end, it’s a fascinating country, despite being the size of a large city. We may stop off again at a later date.
We had one more little treat for the end of our trip, when we got to our plane, we got to turn left…..which is always nice.
Until next time,
C&J
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