February 18th, 2025
As mentioned previously, we’ve decided to do our second visa run early as we feared that by the end of the 90 days that we’re allowed, we would not be near an international airport. So we are basing ourselves in Singapore and from there doing return trips to Indonesia and Borneo.
Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and a city state in Southeast Asia. The country’s territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets and one outlying islet. It is about one degree above the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula. It is smaller in size than the state of Rhode Island or roughly the size of Malta in Europe.
In its early history, Singapore was a maritime emporium known as Temasek and subsequently a major constituent part of several successive empires. Its contemporary era began in 1819, when Stamford Raffles established Singapore as an entrepot trading post of the British Empire. In 1867, Singapore came under the direct control of Britain as part of the Straits Settlements.
During WWII , Singapore was occupied by Japan in 1942 and returned to British control as a Crown Colony following Japan’s surrender in 1945. Singapore gained self-governance in 1959 and, in 1963, became part of the new federation of Malaysia, alongside Malaya, North Borneo and Sarawak. Ideological differences led to Singapore’s expulsion from the federation two years later; Singapore became an independent sovereign country in 1965.
As a highly developed country, it has one of the highest PPP-adjusted GDP per capita. It is also identified as a tax haven. Singapore is the only country in Asia with a AAA sovereign credit rating from all major agencies. It is a major aviation, financial and maritime shipping hub and has consistently been ranked as one of the most expensive cities to live for expatriates and foreign workers. Singaporeans enjoy one of the longest life expectancies, fastest internet connection speeds, lowest infant mortality rates and lowest levels of corruption in the world. It has the third highest population density of any country, although there are numerous green and recreational spaces as a result of great urban planning. With a multicultural population and in recognition of the cultural identities of the major ethnic groups within the nation, Singapore has four officlal languages: English, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil. English is the common language with exclusive use in numerous public services. Mutlirascism is enshrined in the constitution and continues to shape national politics.
Singapore is a parliamentary republic and its legal system is based on common law. While the country is de jure a multi-party democracy with free elections, the government under the People’s Action Part, (PAP) wields widespread control and political dominance. From 2017, the Constitution requires that presidential elections be “reserved” for a racial community if no one from that ethnic group has been elected to the presidency in the five most recent terms. Only members of that community may qualify as candidates in a reserved presidential election.
The name of “Singapore” is an anglicized version of the native Malay name for the country, “Singapura”, which was in turn derived from the Sanskrit word for “lion city”.
The Singapore flag’s colors and symbols each have a specific meaning. The colour of red represents universal brotherhood and equality and the white represents purity and virtue. As for the symbols, the crescent moon represents Singapore as a young nation on the rise and the five stars represent Singapore’s ideals of democracy, peace, progress, justice, and equality.
CURRENCY: Singapore Dollar: SGD = $0.75 USD / $1.06 CDN
DIESEL: ($2.66 SGD per litre – $7.42 USD gallon)
MOST POPULAR BEERS: Tiger, Anchor, Carlsberg
LICENSE PLATE:
We were quite pleased with our Singapore Airlines flight; efficient, professional staff and baggage claim was amazingly fast.
The direct flight was just over 4 hours; immigration was quick – all automated: (you have to do an online arrival card before landing)
and then we found a SIM card kiosk (100G with roaming in Malaysia and Indonesia as well) for $40 SD (less than $30 USD) for 30 day; Doug found an ATM to get a bit of cash and then we used his Grab app from Vietnam to get a ride to our hotel. The time went back 1.5 hours upon our arrival here so we are back on Western Australia time.
We are staying three nights at the Aloft Marriott hotel on Fran’s points. We are in the Novena neighbourhood of the city. We have a king room with a bathroom, Wi-Fi and a city view.
View from our room: 
Wednesday morning, we awoke to cloudy skies and the weather here seems similar to Darwin but somewhat less humid. Doug went off to see about getting some blood work done to check his levels since he’s gone off all his meds due to his all vegan diet and when he found a place that was open he called Fran and she’d already had black tea with stevia so she will go tomorrow. Fran has not gone vegan (loves her cheese and the odd piece of meat too much) but has greatly reduced her intake of animal products (no dairy milk, we’re using soy, hardly any eggs, some cheese and meat maybe once a week). So she’s curious to see what, if anything, has changed.
By 9am we had a loose plan for at least the morning; Doug had made us a booking at the SkyBar Observation deck at the Marina Bay Sands Hotel and Casino (see photo above). There was a hotel shuttle bus leaving for the MRT station in ten minutes so we took that hoping to purchase a 3 day pass once we got there; turns out you can only buy that at certain stations, so we had to use our credit card to get on the train, go two stations, get off and then purchase the pass at a machine anyway; why there are not machines at every station (or at least at the stations that are transfer points), we don’t understand. Anyway, for $29 SGD each we got an unlimited use 3 day pass.
We had a few things we wanted to shop for so we’re keeping our eyes peeled for those as we roam the city.
We hopped back on the train and went down to the waterfront. We took a stroll along the promenade and were quite loving it all. We are not usually fans of big cities, but this was quite something, not too opulent like Dubai, well maintained and lots of eye candy and a desire to give its residents a good, healthy place to live and thrive.
Note: A strange thing we noticed for an Asian country is a lack of motorcycles everywhere – it seems they are super expensive to buy, operate and keep licensed here.
We made it over to the Bayfront Centre near the Marina Sands Casino looking for something to eat without much success as the sit down restaurants were not going to be fast enough as it was now almost 11 and our ticket was for 11:30. We decided to skip eating right away and headed over to see if we could be “let in” early. There was a longish line up but it moved quite quickly and we were sent on on our way. It was down one escalator, across a hallway to another hallway then to an elevator to the 56th floor. From there you could walk about 80% around the entire deck and go up one more level to a smaller area.
We spent about a half hour up there quite enjoying it – probably one of the best observation decks we’ve been on; highly recommend it. It cost $31 for a senior and $34 for Doug (we thought Singapore might be a stickler on ages so Doug didn’t risk trying to get two senior tickets but it seems we could have!).
Then it was back down to the underground to check out the casino. Well, this was quite the hassle; residents have to prove their identity and pay a fee to enter! Foreigners have to show the arrival card with the end date on it (that was not easy to find as the digital form we used to enter the country didn’t show that) and it took a while to find that correct email with that piece of information in it. Then they take your photo and copy your passport before you can go in. By now it had taken us over ten minutes to get in and we were a bit frustrated but thought free drinks might cheer us up. Well, turns out, like in Macao, they only serve tea, coffee, milk and water – not our “cup of tea” while gambling. So we left without spending a penny, again have to show our passports and faces to a camera to exit.
Now we went to find the food court, each got some lunch at a Chinese place, drinks had to be purchased at a different kiosk and it was all just okay.
We had been told Doug might find a new phone case in the Bugis area so we decided to first head over to the Raffles Hotel to go to the Long Bar which is the birthplace of the “Singapore Sling” cocktail. We took the MRT to the nearest station and walked two blocks over to the hotel which was quite nice looking.
Upon going to the second floor we saw a huge line up on the terrace and thought it was too muggy to be standing in that just for a drink and gave up.
We returned to the MRT and took it one stop to Little India where we got off and walked around for a few blocks and found our Singapore souvenir and Fran got some sunglasses. We found a pharmacy for contact lens solution Fran needed as well.
It was now around 1:30 and the humidity was building and wearing us down a bit. We were awake early this morning due to the time change and thought we’d call it a day. We walked back to the MRT, stopping for a snack and a drink or two and switched lines before reaching the nearest station to our hotel; turns out the shuttle doesn’t operate between 2:40 and 4:30 so we had to walk the final kilometre to the hotel. There was a Pizza Hut near the hotel and we just got take away for dinner that night.
This is what the pedestrian light controls look like: 
So after a day here, we are happy we came, some things are costly, other not; depends which shops you go into (7-11’s are small and more expensive for a cold drink but they are well air-conditioned!).
Wednesday, we awoke to partly cloudy skies but it improved a great deal. Fran went over to the clinic early for her blood work. Upon her return, she asked at the front desk for a late checkout tomorrow as our flight is at night. Very kindly they gave us until 2pm. That gives us time to go out in the morning and come back to shower and pack after having lunch.
We headed out later today as we are going to be out later to do a couple of things at night so we again caught the hotel shuttle, this time around 11, to the MRT and went directly to Chinatown to wander around and have some lunch. On Google we found a highly rated Chinese restaurant and with the waitress’s help we ordered what turned out to be a yummy and filling meal complete with Tsingtao beer.
We saw a couple of temples, some shop houses and generally the usual Chinatown type shops and businesses. Doug tried again to get a new case for his phone (we have already ordered on Amazon.au and it should be there before we leave Darwin but just in case….) with no luck.
What is a shop house? Shop houses in Singapore are traditional buildings that are used for both residential and commercial purposes. They are a key part of Singapore’s heritage and architecture. They were built from the 1840s to the 1960s, they are usually two to three stories tall based on Chinese courtyard houses, but modified for the tropics. They have a long and narrow floor plan, with internal courtyards, open stairwells, and skylights built in contiguous blocks with common party walls. They are set back from sidewalks, with a sheltered pedestrian way at the front. Today they are used as shopping malls, hawker centers, and are also sought after for hipster restaurants, bars, boutique hotels, and dining spots. Many shop houses have been gazetted for conservation by the Urban Development Authority (URA).
We check out the Buddhist Tooth Temple (we’d seen one in Sri Lanka) but there Fran could not enter in shorts so just took a photo from inside.
We took an elevated walkway across “The Hill”:
where we learned this area used to be covered in clove and nutmeg plantations.
There plenty of Chinese murals on walls too:
We then caught the train to the National Museum of Singapore to learn more and understand about its long history.
Note: the seniors age for pricing in Singapore is 60 and we’ve never had to show proof so it’s saved us a bit.
It felt like it was time for a break and a cold drink; the museum had a cafe so we sat there and rested for a bit.
Then it was back on the move once again. This morning Fran had purchased us tickets for the “Gardens by the Bay” – THE tourist site to visit when in Singapore and since we wanted to see the night show, we didn’t want to go too early in the day. It was now about 4pm so we took the efficient train system to the station right inside the gardens. The grounds themselves are free (as is the evening light show) but the domes and a few other attractions have a fee.
The Gardens by the Bay is an urban park spanning 260 acres in Singapore, adjacent to the Marina Sands Hotel/Casino/Sky Deck. Gardens by the Bay was part of the nation’s plans to transform its “Garden City” to a “City in a Garden”, with the aim of raising the quality of life by enhancing greenery and flora in the city. First announced by Singapore’s prime minister in 2005, Gardens by the Bay was intended to be Singapore’s premier urban outdoor recreation space and one of the country’s national icons. It’s a popular tourist attraction in Singapore with 6.4 million visitors in 2014, 20 million by November 2015 and over 50 million by 2018.
The conservatory complex at Gardens by the Bay comprises two cooled conservatories – the Flower Dome and the Cloud Forest, situated along the edge of Marina Reservoir. The conservatories are intended to be an energy-efficient showcase of sustainable building technologies and to provide an all-weather edutainment space within the Gardens. Both are very large and the Flower Dome is the world’s largest column-less glasshouse. The construction of glasshouses is special: having such a large glass roof without additional interior support (such as columns) and aiming to minimize the environmental footprint. Rainwater is collected from the surface and circulated in the cooling system connected to the Supertrees. The Supertrees are used to vent hot air and cool circulated water.
The Flower Dome is the largest greenhouse in the world as listed in the 2015 Guinness Book of World Records at 3.0 acres and replicates a cool-dry Mediterranean climate. It features a changing display area, the flower field, and eight other themed gardens. These eight gardens exhibit exotic flowers and plants from the Mediterranean and semi-arid regions from five continents.
The Cloud Forest is higher but slightly smaller at 2.0 acres. It replicates the cool moist conditions found in tropical mountain regions between 1,000 m / 3,300” and 3,000 m / 9,800” above sea level, found in South-East Asia, Central- and South America. It features a 42 m / 138” “Cloud Mountain”. After ascending to the top by an elevator, visitors descend the mountain via a circular path which crosses underneath the 35m / 115” waterfall multiple times.
The “Cloud Mountain” itself is an intricate structure entirely clad in plants such as orchids, ferns, abd bromeliads. There are many levels, each with a different theme, including The Lost World, The Cavern, The Waterfall View, The Crystal Mountain, The Cloud Forest Gallery, The Cloud Forest Theatre and The Secret Garden.
The Supertrees Garden consists of 18 tree-like structures that dominate the Gardens’ landscape with heights that range between 25m / 82” and 50m / 160”. They are vertical gardens that perform a multitude of functions, which include planting, shading and working as environmental engines for the gardens. They are fitted with environmental technologies that mimic the ecological function of trees with photovoltaic that harness solar energy which can be used for some of the functions of the Supertrees (such as lighting), similar to how trees photosynthesize, and collection of rainwater for use in irrigation and fountain displays, similar to how trees absorb rainwater for growth. The Supertrees also serve air intake and exhaust functions as part of the conservatories’ cooling systems.
There is an elevated walkway, the OCBC Skyway, between two larger Supertrees for visitors to enjoy a panoramic view of the Gardens. Every night, at 7:45pm and 8:45pm, the Supertree Grove comes alive with a coordinated light and music show known as the Garden Rhapsody.
The Supertree Observatory is housed inside the tallest Supertree, which is 50 metres tall. It comprises three levels, the ground floor, the Observatory Space and the Open-Air Rooftop Deck offers 360-degree unblocked views of the Gardens and the area.
We got off the train and walked over to the Marina Barrage; this is where the Marina Bay Reservoir is blocked from the sea.
Marina Barrage is a dam built at the confluence of five rivers. First conceptualized in 1987 by then prime minister to help achieve greater self-sufficiency for the country’s water needs, the barrage began construction on 22 March 2005, and was officially opened in October 2008. It provides water storage, flood control and recreation. It also turned the previously salt water Marina Bay into fresh water for the first time in its history.
The S$3 billion project, with $226 million for the structure itself, provides water supply, flood control and a new lifestyle attraction. After its opening, the Marina Barrage quickly became a tourist attraction. By keeping out seawater, the barrage formed Singapore’s 15th reservoir and first reservoir in the city. It increased Singapore’s water catchment areas by one-sixth of Singapore’s total land area. Marina Barrage also acts as a tidal barrier to keep seawater out, helping to alleviate flooding in high-risk low-lying areas of the downtown districts. When it rains heavily during low-tide, the barrage’s crest gates will be lowered to release excess water from the coastal reservoir into the sea. If heavy rain falls during high-tide, the crest gates remain closed and giant drainage pumps are activated to pump excess water out to sea.
As the water in the Marina Basin is unaffected by the tides, the water level will be kept constant, making it ideal for all kinds of recreational activities such as boating, windsurfing, kayaking, and dragon boating.
On the second floor you can see a model and explanation of how this sort of dam, works.
There very good city views from the top level – this is the Gardens by the Bay in front of the Marina Sands Hotel/Casino:
Inside the building are displays about climate change and recycling in an attempt to make Singapore more environmental. The city does a good job of keeping itself clean and there are plenty of green spaces.
Then we walked into the gardens along several mostly shaded paths, stopped for a cold drink (the sun is now out in full force, it’s muggy and hot!).
Our first Supertrees: 
Then we made our way to the Cloud Forest Dome – we spent about an hour here and it’s quite impressive. When you first walk in you are greeted by an indoor waterfall
There plants and trees everywhere, sculptures from around the world and it’s all very well done – display names were missing at times but that would be our only complaint. It was busy but not overly, we didn’t feel too crowded.
You walk around on the ground level and then take an elevator up to the two elevated walkways. The huge waterfall at the entrance helps keep the place cool. It was most comfortable in there.
It has an orchids section which Fran loved and couldn’t stop taking photos in.
We took both sets of upper walkways and kept stopping to marvel at plants or views.
Then it was on to the Flower Dome – not quite as impressive and it was mostly trees – a bit late for spring blooms. We only spent about 20 minutes here – there are no upper walkways.
By then it was around 6 so we decided to have some dinner. To our surprise, there was a Shake Shack from the US and we decided to be bad. Doug got crinkle fries and an ice cream dessert while Fran got a salted caramel shake and a beef hot dog. Sometimes you have to fall off the healthy wagon!
After eating we made our way to the OCBC Skywalk not realizing we needed tickets, but we were able to purchase them at $14 per senior. This was pretty cool too. It’s a suspended bridge attached at either end to a Supertree and then cables from other Supertrees hold up the middle. There were some awesome views all around.
By 7:15 the sun was beginning to set and we wanted a spot from which to watch the show and many of the seating areas located at the bases of the Supertrees were filling up. We found at spot near the back with the plan to move onto the ground in the middle just before 7:45 and lie down to watch the show. This proved a great plan (and we were not alone!) and we loved it! The music theme was opera this month and it was well choreographed.
The show lasted about 15 minutes and then we left the gardens to head back over and through the Marina Sands to get out in front of the Bayfront Shopping Centre to catch the 9 pm Spectre Light Show.
Turns out we made it to see the last few minutes of the 8pm show but we did not have a good view as we were quite far back. Once all the 8pm show people left, we grabbed spots at the front on the upper level (so as not to get wet and be able to see over all the people below) and stayed there till 9. Doug went to get us a couple of beers while we waited and we chatted with a German lady beside us (Angelika) for a while before the show began.
Here’s some lit up city views while we waited for the show to start.
It takes place over the water in front of where we were standing and started on time.
This show too lasts 15 minutes and was also quiet good (also free) and this wrapped up a long day of sightseeing nicely. We walked back into the mall to get to the train station and seemed to be ahead of much of the crowd so the trains weren’t too crowded yet. We were back at our room by around 10 and a bit too wired to sleep so we watched and show and then crashed.
We have to say we are impressed with the trains here; they run often, efficiently, on time and the signage is pretty good. We were thankful our tourist passes came with a map which helped direct us in the right direction of the lines. Our mapping app also has a train option on it and it was great at telling us which lines to take to get where we needed to go.
Tonight was the big final game of the 4 Nations Face-Off with Canada playing the US. The 4 Nations Face-Off is an international best-on-best tournament featuring NHL players from the Canada, the US, Finland, and Sweden. The CN tower and Montreal’s Olympic stadium were lit up red and white ahead of the game, and the Empire State Building was lit up red, white, and blue. While the game took place at TD Garden in Boston, an influx of Canadian fans were there to support. And the nation that was the birthplace of hockey prevailed! We wish we could have watched that game – so exciting and so good for Canadian patriotism – we did hear that through the tournament the American anthem was booed due to the recent shenanigan of its president.
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Friday, the skies were pretty clear; Doug went over to get his “consult” on his blood work and got them to just send Fran’s electronically so she didn’t have to go back. Fran was happy with her results; all numbers were down and Doug had mostly good news too. We have emailed our doctor to advise her of the updated numbers.
By 9:10 am we took the hotel shuttle to the train once again (second last time) and made our way to the Singapore Botanical Gardens – these are free and are supposed to be quite good. Well, they were better than Darwin but not the best we’ve seen but it made for a pleasant morning walk and thankfully many of the trails were shaded. It had some flower gardens (we skipped the orchid one after seeing SO many yesterday) but mostly trees, a few water features, walkways in the rainforest and Swan Lake.
We caught the train half way back to the hotel to stop at Orchard Road to check out the underground shopping at Ion, got some lunch and then make our way back to the MRT station where the shuttle could pick us up. We stopped at a 7-11 for drinks to take on the next leg of our journey as we’ll be at a resort on an island with no access to shops. Turns out they don’t even have coke zero so we’ll pick up some before we take the ferry in Sorong.
By 1:30 we were showered and packed so we checked out and once again, caught the shuttle to the Novena station, boarded the red line and switched to the green to get to the Jewel Changi International Airport. Now we’re super early but wanted to check out the world’s tallest indoor waterfall known as the HSBC Vortex – this was very cool as well. (Seems to us we could have come earlier and spent the day wandering the terminals – they are awesome!
This part of the airport is huge and has many levels of shops and restaurants. From the outside it’s a sort of multi faceted glass dome.
It’s free to view it and if want to go up on the upper causeway you can pay a fee to do so.
We walked back to T3, found the check in desk and it was open as there were earlier flights to Jakarta so we could check in and drop our bags. Nice! We then went to find a bar; not easy at this airport but we did find “Harry’s” and here Fran could have a Singapore Sling finally. There was supposed to be a Raffles Long Bar here but we never could find it so this sufficed and was $10 cheaper!
The Singapore sling was invented by Ngiam Tong Boon, a bartender at the Raffles Hotel in Singapore in 1915. Singapore sling typically contains gin, pineapple juice, grenadine, Benedictine, lime juice, and bitters. Other ingredients that might be added include cherry liqueur, triple sec, and club soda.
We had some dinner at this bar and then sat plugged in online until it was time to head over to the gate to board. The flight to Jakarta left about 20 minutes late which concerned us a bit as we have to retrieve our bags after going through immigration and re check them. The itinerary had a two hour and twenty minute layover but that was getting smaller.
We really enjoyed Singapore which we can’t say about a lot of big cities, but to be fair, we weren’t trying to travel in an RV through it! The city is super clean, organized, taken care of and the government really tries to make it a nice living environment with good public transport, lots of green spaces, lots of trails and bike paths, lots of clean public bathrooms and garbage cans and, not sure we mentioned this but there are shopping malls all over! This is a city we could come back to for sure. It’s not cheap by Asian standards but also not all that expensive in the scheme of things – you don’t have to stay downtown as it’s cheap and easy to get there by train.
For ALL of our photos taken in Singapore (and there are a lot!), click here.
Fun Facts about Singapore:
- There have never been any lions in Singapore despite it being known as “Lion City”.
- Singapore found the “World Toilet Organization”.
- Trees cover almost half of Singapore.
- Singapore hosted the first Formula 1 night race in the Marina Bay Street Circuit.
- Singapore is both a city and a country.
- Singapore is nick-named the “Fine City”, due to is many strict laws, like chewing gum. Only those with medical prescriptions can chew it.
- There is a height restriction on buildings in the city of 280 m/ 918′ with one exception: the Tanjong Pagar Centre was granted special permission in 2016 to be built ten metres higher.
