Singapore Sights!

I was recently in Singapore, as I have mentioned in my last two blog posts.  It occurred to me that some of you may not know where Singapore is.  That would have been me last year!  If you look at the bottom of this map, you see part of Malaysia, where I live.  Just below that, is the island city/state of Singapore.  Above Malaysia, you can see Bangkok, where I was last month.

We have been wanting to visit Singapore for a while.  It is just hard to find a free weekend between four schedules.  Well, our good friend from Oman, Julie, ended up in a hospital in Singapore, so off Joe and I went!  He just happened to have February 19 and 20 off for Chinese New Year.  We booked a cheap, short (45 minute) flight on Air Asia.

Wow, how cool, the dashboard of a taxi!  No, look out of the windshield.  We drove on this beautiful tree and flower-lined road out of the airport for a while.  I did not expect all these flowers.

Our hotel lobby

We stayed at the Intercontinental Hotel, which looks nothing like the Intercon in Muscat.  This hotel reminded me of staying in your grandmother's house.  Albeit an Asian grandmother with extremely good taste.  :)  I loved the hotel.

This is really where I wanted to stay-- Marina Bay Sands Hotel.  But the CNY room rates were TRIPLE the normal weekend rate.  The 'normal' rates are pricey enough.  A little info on the hotel.  It is the word's second most expensive building, at 5.5 billion USD.  It opened in 2010 and the complex has a casino, theater, convention center, stores, restaurants, and clubs.  And a famous infinity pool.  That is all I really wanted to see-- the infinity pool.

 I cheated and found this on the internet.

We divided our time in Singapore between the hospital and sight-seeing.  Marina Bay Sands hotel from a different angle.

We had lunch at the bar on the 57th floor.  You don't have to stay at the hotel to eat there, of course.

But you do have to stay at the hotel to swim in the pool, pictured in the background.

View of harbor from the top.

This is Gardens by the Bay.  That clam-shaped building is one of two conservatories.  We didn't actually see it on this trip.  With Singapore being so close, I will get more chances to visit.

View of the world's largest container port.

View down into Marina Bay.  ArtScience Museum in the center.  The Float in the upper right of museum.  The Float is where people were gathering for a big fireworks show on CNY's eve.  That is the day we flew in.  We would have stayed if we had any idea how to escape the masses of people and get back to our hotel.

Is this not the coolest museum building you have ever seen??  I wanted to save this museum for when I come back to Singapore with my kids.

Here is The Float, with it's giant peacocks.  I have no idea if the peacocks are a permanent fixture or not.

I thought this was very interesting.  Look what was to the left of the museum.  Loius Vuitton!  A Louis Vuitton store on the water!  I will have to visit that next time.

We walked from the MBS to the Singapore Flyer.

The Singapore Flyer is Asia's largest observation wheel.  I don't know how many observation wheels are in Asia, though I did see one in Bangkok.  A full rotation takes 30 minutes.

There are a ton of malls in Singapore.  Orchard Row alone has 22 malls in its 2.3 kilometer stretch.  KL also has lots of malls.  I was looking for a different shopping experience.  We were able to walk to Haji Lane from our hotel.  It is a quaint alley full of boutiques.  So I am told.  All the stores were closed for CNY.  

We were warned not to go to Singapore on CNY.  Being predominantly Chinese, most places would be shut down.  We were there to see Julie, so we took our chances.  We found it delightful.  Because all the offices and many businesses were closed, traffic and crowds were pretty light.  All the tourist attractions were open though.  I was not inconvenienced one bit.  Until we came to this street and all the shops were closed.  That's when Joe said, "Wow!  This really is the perfect time to visit Singapore!!"  Just wait till I hit that Louis Vuitton store next time!  :)

I am going to take back what I just said.  Huge crowds at the Night Safari.

Hard to take pictures in the dark when flash photography is not allowed.  The Night Safari is a neat idea of how to see animals that are nocturnal.  We did see some cooler animals, I promise.

It is hard to avoid all malls, however.  This one was by the hospital and had a Starbucks in it.  Here is one example of Asian fashion.  Overall, I am a fan of Asian fashion.  It is usually colorful, whimsical, and fun.  As long as I don't have to wear it.  :)  Which I literally could not do.

But I really don't know what to say about the $3000 crotched plastic panda purse on the right.

We did a Hop On Hop Off bus tour.  I snapped a quick picture of the Merlion on the other side of Marina Bay.  I had no idea what a big deal the Merlion is until I saw it pictured on the Starbucks Singapore mug!

I was surprised at how many parks and trees are in Singapore.  Not sure why, but I was.

Mark and Joe.  The guys went out the evening of New Years Day.  They got these t-shirts at one of the bars.  There may have been a minimum beer consumption requirement for the free shirts.

Mark and Julie were such a huge help and support to us last year when Joe suffered a brain hemorrhage while living in Oman!  We were so happy to spend time with them while Julie was in the hospital.  

I am going to start a new feature in my blogs.  One day I will have enough for a whole post, but here is the first "Ridiculous Reality of Expat Life".  These are things I normally would not mention because, well, they are ridiculous to most people.

Ridiculous Reality of Expat Life #1:  Not all air ambulances are created equal.  The four of us sat around the room, discussing air ambulances.  Who had the better one.  Julie won.  Joe only got a Lear Jet 45 while Julie got a Gulfstream!  They could actually stand up in theirs.

(Julie was in Nepal when she needed to get to Singapore and Joe went from Oman to London)

This evening we walked from our hotel to the Raffles hotel.  Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles founded the city of Singapore in 1819.  There are lots of things and places named Raffles.  This hotel is the most historic in the city, dating back to the 1880's.  It is the setting of several novels.

The Long Bar in the Raffles Hotel is the birthplace of the Singapore Sling.  The one on the right is the  original (and yummy) version.  Joe got the Spring Sling on the left.

One of my books described Singapore as "the perfect antidote to the region's trademark grit".  I couldn't agree more!  After seeing Bangkok the month before, I loved how clean and beautiful all of Singapore is.  I end this post with a video of the beautiful 'Kinetic Rain' sculpture at the Singapore airport.  It is formed from 1216 metal droplets.  One of the best pieces of public art I have seen!