4 days in the Garden City…how lucky are we! This year’s World Veterinary Congress was held a stone’s throw away from Hong Kong and many of our friends from Hong Kong were also able to attend so we knew we were in for a fun week. What we hadn’t expected was the level of fun. I have not laughed so hard in a long time. I feel that when likeminded people are together it is easy to relax and the conversation flows. We are all vets so we never run out of stuff to talk about and yes, it may be mainly work related, but it reminds us that we are all in this wonderful yet stressful profession together, and thus never truly alone even if it may feel that way sometimes.
On my first day there I took a walk with a friend from where I was staying at the Peninsula Excelsior Hotel (nothing special and would probably not stay there again – but its convenient location is why I chose it). We walked to the Marina promenade, crossed the Esplanade bridge, and headed towards Merlion Park. We stopped for a cocktail and a burger at Over Easy (the burgers a fab!) and carried on walking towards the Fullerton Hotel. We stopped at the Clifford Pier to have another drink and some dessert. The view here was amazing, less crowded, and the service top class. The view of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel was perfect and we watched their laser show. Laser shows are pretty average everywhere and this was no exception, but being in the area at the right time took very little effort and made for a great end to our evening. We walked back to the hotel via the new supreme court, Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall, and the National Gallery. All have such beautiful facades and are lit up at night. Lonely Planet Singapore has a very similar walk that passes some recommend sites.
We were not staying in the Marina Bay Sands but were very lucky to have friends who were, and as a result we spent a lot of our time in the evening lounging around their fancy pants infinity pool. With its epic views over the city, it is no wonder all the pool goers were hard at work getting the perfect instaphoto. We definitely tried our best but attempting this, with Chris in the mix, is no easy feat! The cost of the hotel is a little out of our normal daily holiday budget, but I reckon if I were to go back, spending a night there purely to use the pool would be worth it.
At their Skypark (that ship looking thing on top of the building), they have Ce La Vie, a skybar and club lounge. The club has a dress code but the bar didn’t seem to care what we were wearing, including the men! If you aren’t rolling with people who stay in the hotel, head to Tower 3. In the corner, there are a set of lifts going up to 57th floor. There is an entrance fee but that gets you a drink so actually it’s not such a bad deal, and you get to appreciate the view from the Skypark without having to fork out for the hotel room. We ate at Spago Lounge and it was actually a great meal; we shared multiple dishes between 6 of us and all of them were delicious, but remember you are in Singapore and you are 57 floors up in a hotel, so prices are a tad more than the norm.
We opted for sneaky option C…go to the roof top bar on the biggest Supertree and have drinks. Again, there is an entrance fee ($30) but you get a drink so it’s not that bad. We sat there and enjoyed the view as the evening turned to dusk. The Supertrees are not only for visual effects and are actually functional in that they harvest solar energy via the panels on their canopies which is used to light them up at night and help cool the conservatories.
From the rooftop I spotted the ‘Planet’, a floating baby sculpture made by Mark Quinn…pretty darn impressive and worth a look up close. We didn’t ever make it into the conservatories or the sky way but we did make it down to the bottom in time for ‘Garden Rhapsody’, the light show of the Gardens by the Bay. I was again assuming a less than interesting laser show vibe but actually this was magical and whimsical and absolutely fantastic, and would recommend this over and over again. It is basically a medley of really great classic songs with the lights on the supertrees flickering in time. We lay down right there on the ground and took it all in (Check out the video here of Garden Rhapsody). This spot was by far the highlight of our short Singapore trip! It was recently featured in the Crazy Rich Asians movie (another must if visiting Singapore).
After that we headed over to Gluttons Bay. This is basically a food cart/street food/communal table vibe. We all threw $50 into the kitty and that got us a bunch of meals – think spicy crab, gado gado, black carrot cake, Peking duck pancakes, satay skewers, fried rice, and a giant tower of Tiger beer, with money left over for the taxi ride home. A little pricier than normal street food but I put it down to 1: location – right near Marina Bay Sands, 2: being fairly touristy, and 3: a recent feature in a hit Asian movie.
So that was our first proper visit to Singapore! We had perfect weather, no rain, and just felt so happy while we were there. Maybe that was mainly because we were learning, which is always exciting and energising, as well as spending time with such great people.
- I got a StarHub sim card at the airport: 100 GB for S$ 32,; a little pricey but it is so worth it when travelling in a new city.
- Airport transfer, organised at the airport on arrival, to the colonial district was S$ 24; there is a taxi stand as you exit so it is just as easy to grab a taxi, but prices were a little more expensive. Note that there are also surcharges for certain times so ask the taxi driver if travelling at more obscure times.
- MRT (Underground train) ride from Bayfront station to Changi airport took around 50-60min and cost only S$4 for 2 people and was so ridiculously easy to use, I would definitely take this option next time we visit.
- You can calculate fare costs at mytransport.sg
