SE Asia,  Singapore

A Day in Singapore

April 7, 2019 / 7,848 Comments

“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.”  

— Henry David Thoreau

Quick Layover

I arrived in Singapore after leaving the temples and volcanos of Java Indonesia. This was my last stop in Asia before heading home for a few months. It’s really just a prolonged layover really. I was barely in the city for 48 hours. Not nearly enough time to see everything, but it’s a start and it will have to be enough.

Get in. See some shit. Get out. Go home.

This will be a relatively short post. For me.

City Living Again

My first impression when I got to Singapore was – it’s weird to be around white people again.  And you know what, there aren’t even that many white people in Singapore. The population is mostly Chinese, followed by Malaise and Indian. Less than 1% of the population is anything other than these three nationalities.  But from day one, I spotted a lot of pale people walking around. Seeing them made me realize it had been a few weeks since I’d been in a crowd of anything but 100% Indonesians.

Singapore is a large city.  A modern city.  When I arrived, I also hadn’t been in one of those in a few months either. I felt an unexpected culture shock from walking down the perfectly landscaped sidewalks and city parks, and looking up at fifty story buildings with a giant HSBC logo lighting up the sky. Maybe it’s a good thing. Stopping here may have lessened the shock of returning home to DC after so many months away. 

  • Look at all those Banks
  • Only in Singapore

In Singapore, I’m just another tourist.  Or really, I could just as easily be a local.  While Malay and Mandarin are common, English is the preferred language of international business and therefore of Singapore. This makes it easy for a tired American world traveler to get around.  The subway system is of the cleanest and most efficient systems I’ve ever used. It’s like being back home.  But with a lot more Asians. 

Walking Tours

I kicked off my stay with a three hour walking tour of Chinatown the morning after I arrived. I used to love these tours.  They are ‘free’, in the sense that you only need to tip the tour guide when it’s over. It’s a great way to meet people and get to know your way around a new place. But I’ll confess, I felt tired for this one. I’ve taken a good dozen or so of these tours across just as many countries, and my brain is full of historical facts of different world cities.  My feet were tired of mapping new city streets, and I wasn’t feeling particularly social and in need of new friends.

Despite my impatient child-like ADD, I still managed to learn a few things about Singapore history on the tour. Like how Britian colonized Singapore int he 1800’s, and how it’s Chinese population grew exponentially in the mid- to late- 1800’s out of a need for cheap migrant labor. The island got pulled into the conflict between Britain and Japan during WWII. Ultimately the failure of the British empire to adequately protect Singapore helped factor into its movement towards independence shortly thereafter.

The Thian Hock Keng Mural in Chinatown

In three and half hours, the tour guide talked about a whole lotta other stuff too, but the basics are about all that I remember. That and food. We walked through one of the famous Chinese food halls known as Hawker Markets in Singapore and sampled some treats. If I ever find my way back to Singapore, my main purpose will be food related.

  • This lime slushie drink thing was amazing

We walked through some temples and I learned and forgot all about how the Singapore government subsidizes the housing for a huge percentage of its residents, giving families places to live on 99 year leases. Something like 80% of Singaporeans live in these apartments. I’m sure the guide told me the exact number, but I already forgot.

All Things Super

For visitors with limited time in Singapore, the main attraction looks something like this.

These are the Singaporean Supertrees, located in the famous Gardens by the Bay. Tourists come here from far and wide to see these trees, and walk the surrounding gardens and greenhouses. There’s a whole promenode, and two famous bio-domes to explore, the Flower Dome and the Cloud Forest.

Here’s a weird sculpture of a giant baby in the surrounding gardens

With limited time and resources, and even more limited motivation, I came here to watch the light show that happens every night. I walked around the nearby mall and park for a bit, but the light show is the box I came to check. I’ll just have to come back to see the rest, hopefully sharing the experience with some company next time.

The Supertrees do a free light show twice a night, synchronized to changing pieces of music akin to the Bellagio fountain show in Vegas. Families and tourists alike gather up just after 7pm for the first show set to begin at 7:45, finding a spare ledge to sit on or often putting down a blanket to lay on like it’s a Sunday picnic.

As you can see from the picture above, there is an elevated walkway, between two of the larger Supertrees for visitors to appreciate an even better view of the gardens from up high. I meant to go up here, but there was a really long line. So I didn’t.

Still, I found the light show impressive. It’s free to see, so it also fit right in my budget.

Heading Home

That’s about all I have to say about Singapore. Short and Sweet. I know, I didn’t do it justice, but what can I say. I was only in the city for a day and a half and I was tired.

My travels aren’t completely done. I’ll be heading back to Central America, specifically Guatemala, for one last short travel stint in the spring for yoga teacher training. But after Singapore I took a break and spent a few months at home.

When leaving Singapore, I still wasn’t sure what going home meant for me yet. I was (an am) still scared and uncertain, and at times anxious, worried, stressed, and I guess just human. But the future ahead of me is bright, because for once I don’t know what it holds.  And that is a beautiful thing.  I look forward to the adventure of figuring it all out, and spending time with friends and loved ones I care about.  I’m ready for the next chapter of this thing called life. 

You’ll be hearing from me again soon.

Last Day in Singapore

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