Singapore is a unique place that somehow transformed from a third world country to a first world country within a generation. It stands as a thriving hub of business, language and culture.
With this in mind, I thought that exploring Singapore within 16 hours would be a piece of cake (... or as I should say - of durian - since they love it so much). Taking out necessities like eating and sleeping, that left me with nine hours.
It was 7:30pm when we landed, and we finally got out of the airport by about 9pm. Travelling to the hostel via the MRT (Singapore's Metro) at this time in a foreign country was surprisingly easy. Our only problem was trying not to grab to much attention from our many pieces of luggage. The train was so fast that our luggage started to slide down the corridor! With the announcements being in English, Chinese and Malaysian, I was also able to test my Indonesian for the first time (Malaysian and Indonesian are very similar). Given that I travel almost everywhere via public transport in Sydney, this was pretty exciting. Sydney - get on Singapore's level!
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| The homies who chose to experience Singapore as Singaporeans with me - Joanna and Carol! Thanks guys! |
At the top of my checklist of places to go was Gardens by the Bay and the Merlion. Sadly, Gardens by the Bay was slightly far and we realised we wouldn't be able to both finish looking around the Gardens and get back to the hostel in time for check-out. The Merlion was also under renovations, so, once again, I wasn't able to get the elusive, typical tourist photo with it. Nevertheless, we woke up bright and early and caught the MRT to have a look around the heart of Singapore and Marina Bay Sands.
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| Top of the Marina Bay Sands Shopping Centre (This photo says 'I'm not impressed' but I really am!) |
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| Looking up from top of Marina Bay Sands Shopping Centre to actual Marina Bay Sands building |
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| Let's stand around and take awkward sweaty photos in this 36 degree heat |
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| The ArtScience Museum - inspired by the locus flower |
My attempts of seizing Singapore by the hands may have fallen short, but it was still nice to know I was in a brand new country. 16 hours may not be much, but for a country like Singapore, it is almost enough (unless you go to Universal Studios - that place needs about a day). Thanks Singapore for giving me 2 hours in total on the beautiful MRT, Corn-in-a-Cup from McDonald's for breakfast, money currency opening hours at 11am (WHY SO LATE?) and good ol' 35 degree weather.
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