Singapore Journal

The idea of visiting Asian countries has never been a good idea for my wife. As a result of my intense desire and my wife's adjustment we changed our route to the Far East again. We arranged our annual leaves for the middle of April and began to research months before. According to the plan that we prepared this time, the number of destinations to be visited was too many but the time was relatively short. We would have to use our time very efficiently.

The first stop of our second Far East adventure was Singapore, "The City of Lions". After the flight with Turkish Airlines that lasted approximately 12 hours, we arrived at Changi Airport. We allocated 5 days for this country. As I planned before, we went the bus stop terminal by using the electronic railway line. We managed to reach the bus stops on the second basement floor by using only the guide sides. We got on the first bus to the city center from the perfectly designed bus platforms. Without saying a word, we were filled with admiration for watching around along the way. The road between the air port and the city center was the most beautiful road I've ever seen. Singapore was a model city with its plant diversity offered by the tropical climate, cleanliness and organization of environment. People we came across on the bus were dressed very stylish and chic, away from the typical Asian appearance. The British Touch hinted itself immediately in this country too.

Singapore is a small island country on the southeast of Asian continent, surrounded around by the Indian ocean, having borders with Malaysia on the north and with Indonesia on the south. Like Hong Kong, trade is the main source of income. The world's second busiest port after the Port of Hong Kong is also in this country. The traffic keeps the left side of the road both in Hong Kong and Singapore. Turkish citizens do not require a visa to Singapore, and there are direct flights to Singapore carried out by THY and Singapore Airlines together. Tropical climate conditions are prevailing in Singapore, located approximately 145 km away from the equator line. The temperature is around 28 - 32 ºC all the year round. Due to the effect of high humidity, the air is often muggy. Light cotton clothing will be appropriate for this trip. I recommend you to take plenty of clothes as you will sweat while you are outside. You also should be prepared against tropical rains starting at the very time on the trips to the regions close to the equator. In Singapore, you won't have any problems about food. Besides quality restaurants offering international cuisine dishes, you can find all fast food restaurants in shopping malls. The three cheese pizza of Pizza Hut was the favorite food of our trip.

  

After half hour- long bus journey, we got off the bus in front of the Esplanade cultural center looking like a hedgehog. Although we have baggage, we decided to drink something on the coast down instead of going to hotel by a taxi. I felt so fresh by the time we sit on benches at the side of the sea and I took my camera in my hands. Immediately I fixed my wide angle lens and began photographing. I would have not left there until sunset if my spouse had not wanted to go to hotel. We got on the taxi to go to our hotel that would make us disappointed later. Hotel Re! at Pearl’s Hill, located near a large park in a green garden.  The location is not too close to the city center but within walking distance to the metro station. We chose a mid-grade hotel as hotels in Singapore are too expensive when compared to other hotels in other Asian countries. (Hotel Re! We paid SGD150/room per night , 1 USD = 1,39 SGD) Although I emphasized particularly before, a windowless room in the middle section of the building was left for us. We had to spend our first night in this room. As land prices are too high in Singapore, hotel builders estimated every single section. Rooms are quite narrow. People thinking about to travel to Singapore can choose Pan Pacific Singapore Hotel without a doubt. The little amount of difference will get back to them as a wonderful city view, a central location, spacious rooms and service quality. If I had not done all of the payment, we would have moved to Pan Pacific Hotel. (www.panpacific.com/singapore/) Although they changed our room with a room with window, we were not satisfied.

Singapore River separates the city into two and on the both sides the life never stops. Clarke Quay, famous with elegant restaurants and nightclubs and in the center there is a Maras Ice Cream Shop. The fun hits the ceiling as you enter into Clarke Quay at nights. "The Clinic" attracted the most interest of ours among the nightclubs with different themes. When the lighting is an operating room lamp, seats are pushchairs and bottles are serum bottles, of course waiters become nurses and doctors. (http://www.theclinic.sg/) As well as tourists, Singoporean youngs also spend their time in here. This part of the city never sleeps. You can join the tour so-called "Duck Tour" and go on an enjoyable and instructive trip on the river. I suggest this tour particularly for those that are in Singapore for a short time. At the point where the river meets the sea you meet the view of ‘’Singapore Skyscrapers’’ of which everyone has got a photo. You can photo this scene from Merlion Park and have your souvenir photograph taken in front of the Merlion Statue which has got a fish's body and a lion's head. You can run across people taking photos in this park for 24 hours. I had difficulty in finding a place for myself when I went to take photos of the sunrise. I recommend everyone with an interest in photography to do so. After the sunrise, you can stroll along the river and have your breakfast with a croissant and a glass of fresh orange juice on a bench among the friendly people doing sports. This was one of the most peaceful moments I've ever lived and I cannot wait to repeat it.

Sentosa Island is an activity island located on the south of Singapore. You can use the cable car, bus or Sentosa Express MRT line for transportation to the island. As the cable car was out of service, we used Sentosa Express. You can get on MRT from the third floor of Vivocity Mall. Meanwhile, Vivocity Mall is a spectacular shopping mall. National Geographic store on the ground floor drew my attention. The island consists of three separate stops. If you get off at the first stop, you can go to Universal Studios.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Studios_Singapore) Here is definitely a place to visit. In order to participate in all of the activities, I recommend you to spend a full day at Universal Studios. Especially Shrek 4D Adventure show in the Far Far Away section is an important activity to understand the progress of technology. I strongly recommend you to eat pizza at Loui’s NY Pizza Parlor in the New York section at Universal Studios. As there are many activities to do in Sentosa, I recommend you to make your selection from brochures or the internet beforehand. There are beautiful beaches in the south of island. Do not forget  to take your beach equipment with you as you may be exhausted from heat. You can reach southernmost point by crossing the suspension bridge.  (Southernmost Point of Continental Asia) There are wonderful palm trees outstretched towards the sea which forms a photogenic image in here.When you arrive here, you will not regret and want to go back despite the long walk. You can find the version of Merlion Statue in a giant size in the middle of the island. You can take the lift up to the top of the statue and before lifting up, the origin of Merlion symbol is shown with an animated film. If you lift up at the local time of sunset, you can watch great views from the head of Merlion. Another activity for photo enthusiasts may be the light show, Songs of the Sea. This show is performed over the sea at 19.40 and 20.40 everyday. The activities in the island are innumerable. I recommend you to spend a day by participating in activities on this fun island. If you feel thirsty, you can find any drink from 7 Eleven stores. You cannot even imagine how tired you will get at the end of the day. (http://www.sentosa.com.sg/en/)

The name of the famous road hosting shopping malls that are full of famous stores is Orchard Road. Walking through this road, the symbol of Singapore, having shopping bags in hands would be very pleasant for those who loves shopping. With the Tax Free receipt you may get from the shopping mall on SGD100, you can get a portion of the tax you have paid back from the counters at the airport. The prices of world- known clothing brands are same with the prices in Turkey; but the same situation is not valid in electronics. You can save up to 30% in electronic stores in Lucky Plaza and Sim Lim Square on Orchard Road. After visiting several stores, I found the cheapest Blackberry 9700 in SGD650. However, you should visit a few stores for a few hours at least and price it out. Prices are unstable and you may need to make hard bargains. Prices that they tell you may be non- tax prices or after deducting tax free (10%). I recommend you to pay attention to these details, when making comparison. Hard Rock Café parallel to the road is also very colorful in here. I think you should shop from Hard Rock Shop and drink a ice-cold Mojito in the bar. Orchard Road is definitely a place to visit in Singapore.

Singapore Night Safari is an activity worth spending an evening. You are taking a 45 minute tour accompanied by a guide by sitting down on trailers connected to the back of a tractor, sightseeing among the animals that are difficult to be encountered in nature. What interesting is that there is not a cage or a separator in between. Tigers, lions and many other  animals walking around you very close. The use of flash is strictly forbidden. You can watch the show on the hour after the tour. Trained animals mostly take part in this show. You can walk on pathways in the park and can analyze animals in the huge tropical forest until 12 o'clock. My wife and I accidentally approached to a large crocodile approximately 2 meters. It was very exciting and enjoyable. You can visit Singapore Zoo, next to this park, during the day. You can return with the last tour bus returning to the city center at 12.

Singapore Flyer is the world's biggest ferris wheel and one of the most enjoyable activities in Singapore. In one of the 28 capsules of this 165 m high ferris wheel, you can take the 37 mins tour and observe 45 km as long as the sight distance allow. We did not try but there are special tours with dinner (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapore_Flyer) I found Boeing Shop on the second floor of 3 storey shopping mall under the Singapore Flyer more interesting and enjoyable. The interesting part was my flight training given by a real pilot on  Boeing 737-800NG, a real flight simulator. We paid great deal of money for the shopping from Boeing Shop and training giving a basic flight train certificate but it certainly deserved this. Of course we did not forget to buy the DVD in which the entire flight was recorded. (http://www.flightexperience.com.sg/) Marina Bay Sands Casino and Hotel costing 5.5 billion dollars are places to visit. Especially it is pleasant to spend time in the 200 m high pool and garden  on the top floor.

Pages of articles can be written about Singapore's organization, cleanliness, livability and safety. This small country consisting of one city is so regular that it is not a surprise for this country to take place in the ranking of places to live in the world. People are incredibly respectful and friendly. After getting off from Metro on the first day, the young girl whom we asked the direction of hotel showed us a direction and after 2 minutes, she began to apologize out of breath. In order to tell us that she showed the wrong direction without an intention and apologized for many times by clasping her hands. Although taxis are relatively expensive, we mostly used them. Because time was so important to us and the way to the hotel after getting off Metro was a steep ramp. Taxis have got high standards like all other transportation systems. When you get on from crowded places, call a cab and make reservation about time preferred, you pay an extra fee. This whole tariff is explained in a detailed way. (http://en.wiki%20pedia.org/wiki/Taxicabs_of_Singapore) All taxis have navigation systems and you can watch them from the screens. When the taxi passed the corner of hotel accidentally, he reset the taximeter immediately the moment he realized and apologized to us.  This city is also called "Fine City"; because there are fines for spitting, chewing gum and even using a dirty car. The country is so regular that you can find an answer to any question by only looking around without asking anyone. Singapore is an admirable and enviable country.

We could not visit everywhere although we allocated 5 days for this country. Singapore is the most livable country in the countries I've ever seen. We are going to reserve a few days more for Singapore, the transfer point, when we travel to Australia and New Zealand. I recommend you to visit this country at least for 5 days in your combined trips. You can spend good time around the Singapore River especially in the evenings, and you can have fun at night clubs until dawn. Even though Singapore is an expensive country in comparison with other Asian countries, it is a country to be seen with its cleanliness, organization, orchid gardens, activities and beauty.

 

THANKS !!!

Please beware your time and effort to read my blog is highly appreciated. Hopefully, tips provided for your next trips will save you some time and money in addition to quality of time you will spend. I will be more than happy to share my experiences from my future trips to continue being a small guidance for you to spend a quality of time with your family, friends and partners. Giving a tiny contribution to your great memories will give me enough spirit to do so. If you think my tips were useful and would like to support my case, please donate a small amount from your heart by clicking the “donate button” below within the minutes. Hence, I can improve the content of my website with more trips. I appreciate your support.

Many, many thanks.

Oktay.