Day 30 - Singapore
Our plan of an "Eco friendly"-trip ended very early with us boarding an Air Asia plane heading for Singapore. It did feel nice to recover with some comfort after a quite strenuous start on our trip through Indonesia.
The second we landed in our new destination everything felt very different. Singapore and Jakarta are worlds apart. It was like going from one extreme to the other. Singapore is extremely clean, safe and convenient. After we checked in to our hostel we jumped on the MRT and visited the Islamic and Indian quarters.
If Seoul is convenient, Singapore could best be described as an adult Disneyland. We were blown away by how clean and pretty the streets were, and this in the rougher neighbourhoods of the city. We ended our evening by having a picnic on top of Mount Emily. It seemed fitting.
Our first full day in Singapore was our walking day. First we checked out the shopping street Orchard road (very posh), Clarke's Quay and the colonial district. The entire day was filled with beautiful weather. Come to think of it we have been very lucky with the weather everywhere we have gone on the trip so far.
In the evening we met up with a professor from summer school at Sungkyunkwan, Raymond. He took us to Holland Village where we talked and talked over beers and Mexican food. Raymond is a very nice and interesting guy with quite a few stories. He apparently has animated Scooby Doo and was chased down by Tom Cruise back in the day.
On our last day in Singapore we went to Sentosa Island. I did not quite know what to expect before arriving, but when we got there I was surprised. It is a place where everything is so extremely beautiful and put into place, with long white beaches, nature walks with waterfalls, a monorail (feels like Disneyland again), zip lines, huge statues and fountains, etc. Everything on Sentosa is very pretty, but feels plastic and artificial. A very cool place to go to though. On the island they have an aquarium with a dolphin show with pink dolphins. It was a bit expensive, so we decided not to enter. Instead we went for a nature walk. And suddenly 5 minutes in, we heard a loud noise right next to us. It was the dolphin show that we could see right into. We felt quite lucky as the pink dolphins showed us their tricks.
After we left Sentosa, we went wandering through the city again on another beautiful day. We had dinner at one of the famous Hawker centres and then we went walking by the Singapore river all the way to the Merlion Statue, the symbol of Singapore. A half lion, half mermaid creature. Seeing the sunset next to it felt like a perfect end to a short, but packed visit to Singapore. One of the more futuristic and pretty cities I have ever been to.
The second we landed in our new destination everything felt very different. Singapore and Jakarta are worlds apart. It was like going from one extreme to the other. Singapore is extremely clean, safe and convenient. After we checked in to our hostel we jumped on the MRT and visited the Islamic and Indian quarters.
If Seoul is convenient, Singapore could best be described as an adult Disneyland. We were blown away by how clean and pretty the streets were, and this in the rougher neighbourhoods of the city. We ended our evening by having a picnic on top of Mount Emily. It seemed fitting.
Our first full day in Singapore was our walking day. First we checked out the shopping street Orchard road (very posh), Clarke's Quay and the colonial district. The entire day was filled with beautiful weather. Come to think of it we have been very lucky with the weather everywhere we have gone on the trip so far.
In the evening we met up with a professor from summer school at Sungkyunkwan, Raymond. He took us to Holland Village where we talked and talked over beers and Mexican food. Raymond is a very nice and interesting guy with quite a few stories. He apparently has animated Scooby Doo and was chased down by Tom Cruise back in the day.
On our last day in Singapore we went to Sentosa Island. I did not quite know what to expect before arriving, but when we got there I was surprised. It is a place where everything is so extremely beautiful and put into place, with long white beaches, nature walks with waterfalls, a monorail (feels like Disneyland again), zip lines, huge statues and fountains, etc. Everything on Sentosa is very pretty, but feels plastic and artificial. A very cool place to go to though. On the island they have an aquarium with a dolphin show with pink dolphins. It was a bit expensive, so we decided not to enter. Instead we went for a nature walk. And suddenly 5 minutes in, we heard a loud noise right next to us. It was the dolphin show that we could see right into. We felt quite lucky as the pink dolphins showed us their tricks.
After we left Sentosa, we went wandering through the city again on another beautiful day. We had dinner at one of the famous Hawker centres and then we went walking by the Singapore river all the way to the Merlion Statue, the symbol of Singapore. A half lion, half mermaid creature. Seeing the sunset next to it felt like a perfect end to a short, but packed visit to Singapore. One of the more futuristic and pretty cities I have ever been to.
Happy, clean, clean!
Nice to read that you liked Singapore much more than we did :)
Great that you met up with your professor from SKKU!