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Writer's pictureOllie

Singapore, the place (you have) to go


A nighttime city view from the Weir Open Space

Singapore is a city. In many ways it is the citiest city that ever citied, because it's a country which is almost exclusively a city and when it stops being a city it becomes Malaysia. Are you following?


In order to enter SEA from Europe you almost always have to go through Singapore, and in many ways this is the country's identity. It is a place of transition, sporting a uniquely diverse population, radiating a seemingly endless capacity to move. This is clear from the moment you land in the sprawling and impressively beautiful airport, all the way to the seemingly endless hole-in-the-wall style stores lining train stations, malls, subways and markets alike. A short stop, don't linger


It's clear Singapore is a modern city based on a modern and globalised view of the world. The infrastructure couldn't reflect this clearer. Whilst taking the metro, viewing skyscrapers and wandering through malls the architecture felt "well practiced." As if worked on by proven overseas architects and engineers who had got their mistakes out on other earlier projects. There are benefits to arriving late; and Singapore benefits from them; It's easier to move-on-up when your visionaries know the way.



The Jewel in Changi Airport, Singapore

This drive for movement is frankly amazing in light of the first thing you notice coming out of the cool, air con blasted airport; just how bloody hot it is. Singapore is a hairs breadth away from the equator, and that means H&H: Heat and Humidity. 30 degrees is fine, and 90% humidity is bearable, but smash them together and you aren't so much walking around the city as swimming in a kettle. The closeness was so all encompassing that sightseeing resulted in attrition. Often we found ourselves ducking for cover in metro stations, malls and subways for a brief few minutes respite - and actively braced coming out again into the wall of sticky heat.


And yet the city does not stand still. You can guarantee by walking along any of the spacious American style boulevards in central Singapore that you will come across at least two to three building projects, destined to shoot up into the already crowded skyline.


A skyline which is undoubtedly impressive, but throughout the elevated, glowing names of ICBC, BoC and HSBC inevitably betrays the cold hard truth of Singapore. That of course is money.


Singapore is expensive - a common symptom of small areas dominated by trade, transit and services economy - think New York or Switzerland. If you have enough well paid jobs and big businesses in a small area, inevitably this pushes prices up. It's not cripplingly pricey for a western traveller, but enough that if you've used the word "budget" in your planning you will probably be sticking to more humble enjoyment over the expat tax efficient experience.



In our case that meant hostels, cheap eats and sightseeing. A simple hostel for 2 cost £65 a night in the trendier part of town, and whilst it wasn't the Ritz it was clean for a hostel and the guests were respectful - largely Japanese and English in their 20s and early 30s.


For eating, the best budget bet in Singapore is either mall food, store-bought food or Hawker stalls, AKA street food with seating. Every guide to Singapore will rave about Hawker stalls, and whilst certainly charming they are pretty hit and miss. You are just as likely to pick up the same, decent quality food in the many malls or supermarkets which make food fresh daily, and I wouldn't treat either with the same stigma we are accustomed to in the west.


Pre-Lightshow in the Garden by the Bay

As for sights? There is no doubt about it, for such a tiny country Singapore has some spectacular city views. Whether it be from the top of the Marina Bay Sands, Gardens by the Bay or the Weir Open space, the blend of lights, people and art across the city create a constant mosaic of change with every photo.


A highlight of the trip for us was indeed the evening light show in Gardens by the Bay, a completely free experience set to the theme of fantasy music. I confess I am not a fan of light shows, which are often a lazy, low-cost way to keep tourists occupied for half an hour, but this free and fantastical experience felt like value they didn't need to add.




We did permit ourselves a small luxury, over at the Singapore Zoo. The tropical climate certainly allows the zoo to more easily accommodate a wide variety of animals (not the shivering tigers often seen in London Zoo). White Tigers, Giraffes, Rhinos, Elephants, Zebras, Komodo Dragons, Giant Turtles to name a few. It was a great day out, and though the £35 a head ticket was pretty steep, it's easily a 4-5 hour experience at a normal pace. Squeamish be warmed though, between the aggressive Mosquitos and sometimes roaming wildlife (largely monkeys, peacocks and large lizards) it's not as comfortably urban as the rest of Singapore. It was the first time I had truly felt out of my comfort zone, as if I were truly entering the far east.


To that end, Singapore is the perfect gateway to South East Asia, if not lacking a bit of traditional identity outside of being the perfect gateway to South East Asia. The amorphous nature of the city allows you to find the experience you want, even if some of those come at a high price. A clean, safe, English speaking environment, where an overwhelming majority of the population are expats of one form or another. To maintain that hotpot of cultures it must by its nature appeal to everybody in some way. To be fair, it does.


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