Singapore 2023

September might not be the best time to visit Singapore as it’s the end of the southwest monsoon – which means hot, humid weather. For us though it turned out to be quite an enjoyable, short holiday.

The night we arrived was the day after the blue moon of the 31st of August so there were lots of serious photographers around trying to get a glimpse of the red full moon rising behind Marina Bay Sands.

There were lots of yummy offerings to choose from

and beautifully coloured lights all around us.

Some people chose to take in the views from the comfort of a bumboat.

Singapore is an interesting mix of cultures and architectural styles. We thoroughly enjoyed walking the streets, taking in the views and learning about its history. We were pleasantly surprised to see how much greenery there is in this really busy and built-up city. Most high-rises were designed to have vegetation areas and they look really well maintained too. On this trip we wondered mainly around Chinatown, Central Quay and then the central area around Raffles Place, Fullerton Hotel, Marina Bay Sands.

There is no need to pay to see art in Singapore as there is a lot of street art around in the form of murals or statues. Many of the murals tell stories about the initial immigrants to Singapore and pay tribute to them – Samsui women were a group of Chinese women who immigrated to Singapore and worked as labourers in construction and other industries. You can notice them in the murals wearing the distinctive squarish red hats.

Marina Bay Sands is quite a unique building / commercial complex and the shops inside definitely fit in.

Since it was summer, and weather seemed appropriate, we decided to sample a Singaporean beach so we went to East Coast Park beach. We were surprised to see so many ships waiting to enter Singapore harbour and also felt particularly lucky to live in Perth – the difference in the air and water pollution was quite obvious. Whether it was because of that, the added warning signs about recently sighted box jellyfish or the saltwater crocs residing on neighbouring islands, there were not many humans enjoying the balmy waves, they prefered exercising along the beach.

We paid a visit to Republic of Singapore Yacht Club as well, and saw a copy of the Lipton Challenge Cup that was gifted to them by Thomas Lipton – yes, of the Lipton teas fame. The original now resides at the Singapore Sports Museum.

It was refreshing to see that moms still look after the nation.

The Raffles is still a nice building, witness to Singapore’s colonial past and a distinct type of wealthy travellers. Their high tea did not dissapoint.

Gardens by the Bay are always nice to visit. They were getting ready for the Mid-Autumn (Moon) festival and also had an orchid (and carnivorous plants) exhibition on.

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Not convinced though that they should be proud about breaking stalagmites in other parts of the world just to have them on display here.

There was an Avatar-inspired section in the Gardens that was quite well done.

Water varans can be pretty big – enough for us to be able to see this one from the top floor of the Gardens.

We walked across to Marina Bay Sands

through the hotel, admiring another Antony Gormley sculpture

before going upstairs to the sky deck. There are amazing views from the top over the city, marina and harbour, and people tend to spend quite a few hours there so you need to book in advance if you want to go.

We went to Sentosa Island as well – it was only about 20 min drive from our hotel and we were surprised by its small size and the proximity of everything on the island. It was a pretty hot day so the cicadas were quite loud.

Fort Siloso is an interesting place and the exhibits are quite well done. It was meant to protect Singapore from a Japanese invasion in WW2 – and it did that to an extent, until the Japanese decided to invade by land.

Madame Tussaud’s was the next destination. While much smaller than its London counterpart, I found it much more interesting as it had quite a few stories around Singaporean history and people.

The central part of the touristic area on the island is quite colourful, with lots of street art and food joints.

We went to Palawan Beach to see the Southernmost Point of Continental Asia and we were pleasantly surprised to see another two of Thomas Dambo’s giants, siblings of the ones in Mandurah.

One could spend a whole day walking around Singapore Botanical Gardens. They have a special rainforest section and also an orchid nursery where they crossbreed different types of orchids, and then name them after famous personalities.

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At the airport we went to see the famous butterfly garden which was hot, humid and extremely pretty.