Days 61-64: Side Trip to Singapore

 Why you ask?  Because we can. Because we've never been before. Because we were in Darwin and close by. And, just because.  And no, we didn't take the camper! Pete hasn't yet redesigned it to be amphibious.

Day 61: An early start of 3:15am wasn't early enough apparently. When we arrived at Darwin Airport, we were 3rd last in the queue and despite the fact that we had nothing but carry-on, we had to wait in line with everyone else.  Too few staff meant that our deadline-of-45-mins-before-takeoff to check in came and went with still many people in front of us.  We started to suppose that we might not get to Singapore, but apparently the problem was with the airline and we did get checked-in and we did get on the plane. Phew!

After arriving, we took a few wrong turns at the airport having no idea what we were doing or where we were going, but we did work out where to catch the MRT (Mass Rapid Transport - Singaporean for train) to the station nearest our hotel.  Given the humid, hot weather, we wanted to drop as much luggage off as possible. The trip to the hotel (1.5km from the MRT station) gave us our first opportunity for sightseeing. Temples and concrete block community halls, high-rise condominiums and Peranakan (Sino-Portugese style of architecture) houses, a real mix.

       

Most people seem to live in condominiums like these.            The Peranakan houses

The MRT has obviously undergone some changes because of COVID. Have a look at these signs. The signs also reflect Singapore's four official languages: English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil.

     

Our first destination in Singapore was Raffles, the famous Singaporean hotel where Singapore Slings were invented and where you get to throw peanut shells on the floor – apparently. We were not particularly interested in either, but we were interested to see the building.  It is of that very pleasing-to-the-eye colonial architectural style and is set in lovely gardens.  The Indian doormen were a bit over the top and it was disappointing not to be able to see more of the interior – but that is reserved for guests only, unless you want to dine in one of the restaurants.

 

After wandering around the outside of Raffles for a bit, we embarked further into what was going to be a 30,000+ step day.  We walked there, passing many buildings of interest and getting our first real look at the main city/bay area of Singapore.

Our next destination, the famous Marina Bay Sands building. I still can’t work out whether I like it or not. It looks much better from some angles than others.  It looks like a surfboard on top of three rocks, a stranded submarine, something from the Stonehenge or just a strange thing on top of three pretty ugly towers.  Whatever you think, it is impressive.  So are the shoppes (yes, that is what they are!) in the complex opposite. As you can see, I fitted right in!  You name your BIG BOUTIQUE brand and it is in here. I wasn't impressed to see that none of the mannequins had masks on to set off their attire - a mandatory thing indoors in Singapore

                           

Our eventual destination was Garden By the Bay, an incredible landscaped garden that Singapore has built in part to fulfil its dream of becoming a ‘city in a garden’ rather than ‘a city with beautiful gardens’. There are three main features other than the beautiful gardens themselves, the Cloud Forest, the Flower Dome and the Supertree Grove.

  

We first visited the Cloud Forest, a multi-storey forest within a glass conservatory, complete with its own waterfall!  It mimics the cloud rainforests that grown in mountainous areas of tropical countries. The climate inside was beautiful, welcome relief from the hot humidity outside. It is amazing what they have done. You can wander around the base with its orchid garden and tall trees, gazing up at a wall of bromeliads, ferns and other rainforest plants. Then you catch a lift up so that you can spiral your way down, viewing the different types of plants that grow from the tops of the mountains to those that grow where the clouds hang lowest. Hidden among all the plants are a variety of sculptures, often depicting animals that may inhabit the forest.

                       

Another feat of engineering is the Flower Dome which, over two or three levels, contains gardens that are arranged in geographical areas including an Australian one. Again, there are sculptures within the gardens, sometimes of fantastical creatures, sometimes of things you would find in a garden. The highlighted exhibition was a Netherlands garden of hydrangeas. What an incredible variety of colours and sizes! And plenty of spots for selfies.

                                                                                                HUGE hydrangeas. That’s Pete’s hand.

              

                                                                      Not very clear – a Safe Distancing Ambassador

After visiting the two conservatories we experienced our first meal from a hawker stall before continuing to what is known as The Barrage, a weir built to protect The Bay water areas. This is a great sunset viewing place and also a good place to view Singapore’s harbour with its gazillion ships!  Many others were ut enjoying The Barrage, with kite flying and picnics in full swing. Some people even had LED-lit kites that they could enjoy once the sunset faded. From here at sunset, the Marina Bay Sands building looked more like Stonehenge. 

         

    
We ended our Gardens By the Bay experience by heading to the Supertree Grove which is lit up at night and were surprised to arrive there to a music and light feast. The lights on the trees danced to a medley of classical tunes ending, as do fireworks, with one almighty flourish. Pretty impressive.

      The Supertree Grove during the day                       and at night

Battling crowds is part of Singapore and getting out of the Gardens after the Supertree Grove performance was a time when we had to put ourselves through this. Instead of going straight to an MRT station though, we decided to head for one further east so we could walk past the Art Science Museum building and cross the Helix Bridge, which we had noticed on our walk from Raffles to the Gardens. We passed another music/light display and then walked over a brightly lit Helix Bridge before wending our way back to the hotel via MRT and bus.

Day 62: We had heard about an island called Pulau Ubin that lies in the waters between mainland Singapore and Malaysia. It is meant to be more like Singapore in the 1960s with only 100 residents, most of whom are farmers or tourism operators. In the past there were a number of quarries on the island and after they passed their use-by date, they were converted to marvellous wetlands within a much larger national park. Some of the park has old monsoon forest and mangroves that of course are now protected within the national park. There is a Butterfly Hill that has been planted out with numerous butterfly-attracting plants and it was certainly working as butterfly habitat – many, many butterflies there.

 To get to the island we had to go on a hour’s bus ride, followed by a short ‘bumboat’ ride.  

    

These are known as bumboats

When we arrived, the village did indeed look like a less modern/well-to-do part of the world than mainland Singapore.

Once on Pulau Ubin, we hired bikes and rode around the south-eastern part of the island on what was a very hot day.  We experienced a downpour but luckily had brought our rainy weather ponchos with us! 

We were fortunate enough to see monkeys, wild pigs, monitors, and hornbills. No great pictures though since I only took my phone as a camera. We didn’t see the mud lobster that builds mounds in the mangroves much like a brush turkey builds mounds in our bush, although we did see its mounds. The mangroves were unlike those I am familiar with in Australia, with very large trees and a particular species of palm, the only palm whose natural habitat is the mangrove.

   

   

    

       The mud lobster mounds                                                   Mangrove palms

A late lunch in front of a very large fan was a welcome relief once we’d finished riding. Another bumboat ride back to the mainland and onto a bus, this time to go to the Changi Museum and Chapel. We had just happened to see this from the bus on our way to Pulau Ubin and, given its links with Australian POWs, thought it would be worth visiting. It was. Distressing and uplifting at the same time. The will to survive is an amazing thing.

The whole Changi area is a bit of an eye-opener really.  It seems like one huge prison/armed forces section of the island. We passed kilometres of curled barbed wire fences and the local Changi prison.

On the way back to the hotel, I stopped by at some markets that I had noticed in the morning. In the morning, the fish markets looked amazing, but by the time I got there, they were cleaning up. It was in a very Muslim part of town, and the upstairs part of the market housed the biggest array of stalls of Muslim women’s attire that I have ever seen (not that that says a lot). Rows and rows of them. The food markets contained so many things I didn’t know, but I was a bit shy in taking photos.

   

I enjoyed looking at a few more Peranakan buildings, this time shops, for which our hotel area (Joo Chiat) is famous.

For the evening, we decided to head into Little India and so hopped on the bus which was supposed to take us reasonably close.  However, this bus was not a newish one and did not indicate the upcoming stops.  Therefore, even though we counted stops, we ended up near Raffles, a looong walk back to Little India.  Long, but interesting.  You always see more on foot.  We passed through part of Chinatown, past a pretty amazing university building and finally found ourselves in the thick of Little India.  Sooo many gold jewellery stores and all the staff dressed in pink! Maybe they are all really owned by the same people.

   

All sorts of sides streets, a temple or two and a mosque further up the street. 

We saw what looked promising as a food side alley and went up it – only to find we were in the middle of Muslim Little India and there were NO women.  Pete hadn’t noticed until I pointed it out. 

Feeling a little uncomfortable, we wandered back to a different area and found a little place to eat.  Nice food, lousy service.

Day 63: Today we met my future sister-in-law, Susan, and spent the day wandering the Botanic Gardens and getting ourselves to and fro over Sentosa in monorails and cable cars.  It was wonderful to meet Susan and to get to know her a little.  I hope for my brother’s and for her sake that visas can be arranged before too long.  

We began by visiting the Singapore Botanic Gardens which are world-heritage listed for good reason.  They are huge, containing an incredible range of plants set out over 82 hectares, only some of which we passed through.  Being in a tropical climate, the gardens grow massive shady trees so the area is a haven for Singaporeans and visitors alike. There are lakes, children’s play areas and the world’s largest collection of orchids. We visited the Orchid Gardens and they were amazing. They have been built so even in the conservatory (with a much cooler temperature than outside) the plants are arranged in a way to reasonably mimic the sorts of places they would be found in the wild. That being said, some of the showier bloomers have their flowers trussed up for better viewing.

                

We were fortunate to see a Malay Water Monitor swimming in one of the lakes at the Gardens. We thought at first that it was a baby croc, but on a closer look it was clear that wasn’t the case.  Still, wouldn’t want to meet an angry one. This was larger than most goannas. When it swims, it holds is back legs completely still.

Following the Gardens, we battled crowds and the MRT again to make our way to Harbourfront, a shopping nightmare (or dream I guess – it depends on your point of view) and made our way up the top for lunch before boarding on a monorail that takes people across to Sentosa, Singapore’s island of leisure that has a water park, Universal Studios, a luge, beaches, bungee jumping and lots of walking. We took a cable car that went towards the west from which you get fantastic views of Singapore Harbour, of parts of the city we hadn’t really seen, and of the mad bungee jumping people. 

We then swapped cable cars to go to Mt Faber Lookout where we donged a bell for happiness and saw one of Singapore’s merlions, a symbol of the nation. Again there were wonderful views. 

                                             

From there we walked to Henderson Waves, an amazing pedestrian bridge spanning a valley and built to resemble waves. 

After cooling down with a cold drink, we decided against the luge.  It was too hot. So we travelled back to our hotel and farewelled Susan.

After a bit of a rest, we explore our neighbourhood a bit better.  It seems we are in 'pampered pet central'!  

 

We took ages to choose a place to eat for the night! Ended up at some bar with hawker food stalls all around.  A good dinner, followed by ice-cream from some ice-creamery that Pete had found.

From there we headed to East Coast Park, a parkway along the harbourfront, to view the extra ‘city’ of Singapore – the one in the harbour.  Soooo many ships. The park itself is obviously used for picnics, for playing in the water if you want to brave stingers, and the pathway along it is used by many cyclists.

 

    

Many Singaporeans are Christian and churches like this are not uncommon.  Very monolithic and forbidding in my humble opinion. A far cry from the original missionary churches. The photo on the left is of an old one built for Methodist missionaries near Chinatown.

    
A very hot day and 22,000 steps later we collapsed into bed.

Day 64: Our last day in Singapore was spent mainly in the ArtScience Museum and negotiating bus routes to get to the National Design Centre.  The first is an amazing building, appearing like an opening lotus flower.

 
We saw two exhibitions in the Museum. One was FutureWorld, where light art and interaction were the key features. Many of the exhibits changed according to how people interacted with them. I was able to add a turtle to a under-the-sea video exhibit. One installation had been operating for 12 years, in real time showing the changes to the earth caused by climate change. An exhibit that you need to see once or twice a year to notice anything.

              

In this digital garden, flowers grew if you stood on bare (black) ground.

The next exhibition we saw was one about Buckminster Fuller, an American inventor/designer/architect know best perhaps for his invention of the geodesic dome.  It was a fascinating insight into a man I barely knew about. He was interested in creating energy efficient, use-less cars/houses way before it was a thing.

Our next destination was the National Design Centre. We saw four small exhibitions there. One was an exhibition about print – I didn’t find that very interesting. Another, about clothing designed for people of disabilities was. Highlighted was a belted dress, designed so that someone with a stroke or use of only one hand could easily put it on and then look dressed up.  Another was an outfit designed in such a way as to accommodate and hide a catheter bag for someone who has to use one.

Upstairs another exhibition showing how pineapple leaves can now be used to make material was fascinating. Pineapple farmers in parts of south-east Asia are now earning more and wasting less, with the leaves of their pineapple harvest being used in a viscose-cotton mix to make beautiful materials made and printed in the country of pineapple leaf origin.

Lastly, we viewed an exhibition about 50 years of Singaporean Design.  It made you realise what a young place modern Singapore really is.  An interesting exhibition with all manner of designed objects, ranging from the Tiger Balm labelling, to chairs, to buildings and jewellery.

For our very, very late lunch we found some shopping mall and upstairs found a place specialising in Korean pizza.  Yum!

                                                 

Finally, off to the airport. We decided to go by MRT then bus so that we could see more of Singapore.  It took an hour and a half but was an interesting ride through the ‘burbs of Singapore. Condominium after condominium, interspersed with parks and shopping malls.  A shame most of the ride was in the rain.

After a less than exciting Japanese dinner at the airport, we were farewelled from Singapore by a light show in the Rain Vortex, a central feature of a part of the airport known as The Jewel.

What do I think of Singapore?  I can't say I love it, but then I'm not a city lover. However, I feel I have only scratched the surface of what Singapore has to offer. It is a fascinating place but in parts it feels overly artificial. It feels as though its main focus is on money ... and an effort to somehow enhance the environment because the people in charge obviously realise that a greener environment is important.  I guess in such a tiny country (less than the land area of Sydney), with a population of over 5.5 million people, having places to chill, places that feel as if you are in nature, is extremely important - let alone for global environmental reasons. Would I want to live in the middle of condominium-ville?  Definitely not. So, in summary, I'd love to visit Singapore again.  I would visit completely different places (although I would probably visit both lots of gardens again) and hopefully see different angles to this fascinating place.  Pretty amazing how this tiny country has built itself into a world powerhouse.