After a wicked long travel day we finally arrived in Singapore and didn’t even get to appreciate the amenities of the airport due to how tired we were. We started the day at 3:15am in NZ, flew to Sydney and had a 6 hour layover and then flew to Singapore on an 8 hour flight. Now if we were flying “normal” airlines this would still suck but would be much more doable, but we flew budget airlines that didn’t serve any food or beverages and even charged for water!!! Regardless, we made it to Singapore by 8pm that night and were greeted by good friend Joe and great food (more on this later).
We spent the next three days exploring what we think was nearly the entire city. The city is divided into about five different sections each servicing a different culture. On our first day we explored Little India and Chinatown, Fort Canning Park and Orchard. Fort Canning Park is a historic park located in the Colonial District and includes many of the original British settlements. The Orchard neighborhood is a massive shopping street with mall after mall with the most luxurious name brand stores you can imagine. I would venture to say it rivals 5th avenue, if not exceeds it (how many Louis Vuitton’s can you have on one street). We ate amazing food in Little India for a ridiculously cheap price and in Chinatown sampled an abundance of tastes at a food centre. Food Centres are located throughout the city and include hundreds of different stalls, all offering different items. They are all covered and have tables and chairs and often “a/c” (fans). The prices in the food centers are around $2-8 per meal; therefore you can try many different foods for a small price. However, you should know that low cost food is not necessarily the norm in Singapore. Many sit-down restaurants prices rival U.S. prices, if not exceed them.

Our second day we went to East Coast Park and rented bikes and rode around the 185 hectare park. As the name suggests, the park is located on the coast, the coolest part was being so close to all of the freighters and seeing hundreds of them waiting to get into port. That night we visited Marina Bay Sands, known to be the most expensive hotel ever built as well as home to the longest and highest infinity pool. However, since we were not paying $600/night to stay there, we just went to the bar on the 57th floor to check out the amazing views of the city at night ($20 beers anyone?)

On our last day, we visited the Arab Quarter, the Colonial district and the Garden by the Bay park, which is composed of authentic and manufactured vegetation. The Arab Quarter had a great temple, while we strolled through several very cute shopping streets. The Colonial area had amazing architecture from its days of European occupation. The city is truly a mix of ultra-modern and historic buildings.
A few things to note:
The food is amazing
Gum chewing is illegal and can’t be purchased except for medical reasons
You are not allowed to eat or drink on the subway or in the station ($500 fine)
No one jaywalks