As me and Jess couldn’t agree on just the one place to go on holiday this year, we each chose somewhere in Asia to visit so it would work out a week in each. I went with Indonesia as truthfully; I’d seen a lot of the Kardashians Instagram stories and thought it looked beautiful where as Jess chose Singapore. As a self-proclaimed city girl I was looking forward to Singapore but nothing could have prepared me for the absolute versatility and beauty of the place. It had everything from giant skyscrapers and massive shopping malls to sandy beaches and little market places. I’m pretty sure it’s impossible to get bored here ever (you definitely can be ridiculously overheated though because the humidity is through the roof). Singapore really smashed all my expectations out of the park and here’s a list of my top 3 places to visit. I was going to include Universal Studios because we had a wicked day at the park (especially during the Halloween night) however as I included it in my Osaka post I decided to give it a miss this time.
Sentosa Beach – Living in England when someone says the word ‘beach’ your mind automatically thinks of murky grey waters, more rocks than sand and a raincoat because it’s usually chucking it down. You see all these lovely pictures online of clear blue seas and white sandy shores but they don’t seem real. Just fragments of imaginations of what we wish beaches could be so showing up to Sentosa was mind-blowing. Golden sand, clear blue waters, palm trees, a watch tower, etc… all the elements of the perfect beach. If you didn’t know it was man made you never would be able to tell as there’s not a thing out of place. We walked for 10 minutes to get there in the heat which was a mistake as there’s free air-conditioned bus shuttles to take you around the island so save yourself the trouble and just hop on one. It was relatively quiet when we went so, we were able to grab a spot underneath the trees whilst we whipped off our outer layers to be in our bathing suits and relax for a little while before heading into the water. I will pre warn you the sand is absolutely scorching so make sure you take flip flops or something otherwise you’ll end up sprinting across the beach like an absolute lunatic (yes I am speaking from experience)
It was so refreshing to be outside and simultaneously have a break from the sweltering heat by dunking ourselves in the water. There was not a piece of rubbish or seaweed in sight and as the water is so clear we could relax without having to worry about anything touching our legs. There are little fish near the surface but don’t pay them any mind as they stay out of your way for the most part. If you cross the rope bridge to the other side of the island there’s an observation deck which overlooks not only the man made beach but also the ocean too and it’s all shaded so you can spend as much time up there as you want taking in how beautiful everything is. Alternatively, if you’re looking for a bit more adventure you can catch the shuttle the opposite side of the island to the other beaches where there’s ziplining, bungee jumping, giant swings and more… Originally we were going on the giant swing however after thinking over going head first at full speed over land seemed a bit too extreme for us so we went ziplining over the forest and beach which was amazing and over far too quickly for my liking. We went half way up the mountain to a tower where we were strapped in and dangled over the edge before whizzing all the way down to a platform in the middle of the sea. Overall, I think it was my favourite place in Singapore of all and would highly recommend it to any planning a trip there
Next up is the Gardens by the Bay which consists of quite a few attractions however due to timing we only visited the Super Tree Grove, The Flower Done and the Cloud Forest. The Super Tree grove consists of huge electronic sculptures in the shape of trees that light up different colours at night ranging from blue to green or purple. We saw them both in the day and at night and it was so so beautiful. We spent a lot of time walking around after sunset admiring them and taking more pictures than were probably necessary. My only regret is that we didn’t go up to the observatory to get a view up close but there’s always next time. The flower Dome as you’ve probably guessed was a large glass conservatory filled with all different types of exotic flowers along with wooden sculptures of animals from sloths or dragons dotted around. There’s even a little Alice in Wonderland section completed with the Queen of Hearts and her red roses and a little shoe house. You could easily spend a couple of hours admiring the flowers and finding the hidden creatures dotted around – I mean as of 2015 it’s been listed as the largest green house in the world! My only criticism of the place is that when it gets dark the lighting inside is terrible so you can kiss good pictures of yourself surrounded by beauty goodbye. There’s probably a science behind it in that it protects the plants but even so day time is your friend here.
The final visit we made was too the flower dome which was a huge mountain of exotic plants which you view on a spiral platform starting at the top and walking down. To get i you have to pass a huge indoor waterfall which was all lit up in purple before getting a lit to the very top. We spent far too long at the waterfall because my friend made me take what felt like 1.5 million pictures of her in front of it but we did eventually make it to the beginning. This attraction was probably my least favourite of the three just because the spiral bridge was rickety and it put me of edge. For the most part I don’t care about heights but when bridges or rollercoasters shake when too many people are on them my fight or flight response is triggered bas. So as much as I did appreciate the beautiful plant mountain, I was definitely trying to speed walk to get off it as soon as humanly possible since trying to punch it would have been futile. Overall though I’m really glad we went to the gardens of the bay as it’s one of Singapore’s pride and joys which you can tell as clearly a lot of time and money has been spent to build it. If I ever go back, I’d really like to go to the observation deck, their brand new floral fantasy park and in general just a stroll along the ponds outside in the sun.
The third place I would recommend in Singapore is the the National Museum of Singapore. Now I love history big time so whenever we’re abroad I am constantly dragging my friends to different museums much to their dismay and Singapore was no different. I can’t remember whether it was free or not but even if we did have to pay it wasn’t that expensive at all and considering it’s got five floors of Singapores history from Birth to the modern era it’s worth it. There are a range of artefacts inside from art work to a replica of a fishing village and old tanks inside so there’s something there for everyone even if they’re not so big on museums. It’s also really easy to follow the story of Singapore as everything has been put in order and there’s little arrows and placards pointing you in the direction of how to read everything.
What was good as well is that they managed to fit in all the key information needed without having massive essays written all over the walls unlike some places so it’s very hard to get bored there. What was weird for me though is that there was a lot of positives with regards to the British Empire plastered everywhere because from what I’ve learned since school it was a pretty shitty thing for everyone that was invaded (maybe not economically but for the general population that were enslaved most definitely anyway.) There were a lot of comparisons to Japan though which were also pretty shitty to them as well by the sounds of it so maybe Britain was the lesser of two evils here. Regardless it was really interesting and if I ever go back I’d like to spend a little more time there going over everything in more detail.
So there you have it my top 3 favourite touristy places to visit in Singapore!
The Becca Diaries 