Singing the Praises of Singapore (aka Happy Birthday to Me)

We have officially lived in KL for six months.  SIX MONTHS!  Now that we are settled, time seems to be getting faster. We hadn't left KL since we arrived, so we decided to take a quick weekend trip to Singapore for my birthday.

Because we don't have a car and we planned this trip very last minute, we decided to take the bus.  Not just any old city bus, but a chartered bus that is a straight shot from here to Singapore.  We hopped on the bus about two blocks away from our condo, and with a handful of others, departed at 6am.

Enjoying her hot chocolate.  She passed on the local breakfast provided.

The ride was comfortable and easy.  Big wide seats and personal movie/music players added to the comfort.  In fact, the girls said that they wanted to travel by bus from now on.  (Ok, that may limit our future travel destinations, so they may end up rethinking that idea.)

In less than 6 hours we were in Singapore and ready to hit the ground running.

We checked in at the Intercontinental.  It was beautiful and we were all able to stay in the same room which was a huge bonus. In Asia, once you are 12 you are considered an adult, at least when travelling, and it seems the majority of places will not allow 3 adults in one room. Anyway, that problem was avoided.  We dropped off our belongings and headed out for lunch.  We found a great little shaded outdoor bistro and then set off to find the Raffles Hotel.

When in Singapore, one has to head to the Long Bar at The Raffles Hotel for the obligatory Singapore Sling.  The drink was invented there in 1902 and now tourists flock from far and wide to sample the fruity beverage.

The Singapore Sling is made up of gin, cherry brandy, cointreau, grenadine, bitters, pineapple and lime juice.  I thought it was pretty tasty!

After finishing our cocktails and soft drinks, we headed out and jumped on a Hop On/Hop Off bus for a tour of the city.  It was nice to see old architecture intermixed with all of the contemporary new buildings.

This is the performing arts center that the locals call the Durian, after a SE Asian fruit.  

After a loop around the city, we hopped off at the marina area and headed for the Singapore Flyer.

The cars are quite large and some even have restaurant and night club seating.

The trip around took 30 minutes and the views were great!

We then headed to the Gardens by the Bay, the large waterfront garden area consisting of many parts. There are areas of this park, both indoor and out, but we only went to the area with the Super Trees this time around.

Amongst the lush gardens are the super tree structures that not only house plants, but they mimic the functions of real trees (i.e. absorb and house rain water for irrigation and absorb solar energy)  At night they light up as part of a light show, but we only caught a glimpse of it from a distance.

The Marina Bay area is also home to the famous Marina Bay Sands hotel, as well as the helix bridge and the ArtScience Museum.  All together they make for a nice photo.

Everything around the bay seems a bit extravagant. Louis Vuitton even has it's own floating island.  We didn't go in, but I hear that besides the two floors of LV goods there is also and art gallery and a book store inside.

We stayed and walked around after dinner and everything looked just as beautiful at night.

Chinese New Year was still in full swing, and on The Float, the world's largest floating stage, was a  CNY celebration.

(I think he is the God of Wealth)

We walked to the other side of the bay to see the Merlion, the national symbol of Singapore.

The walk was pleasing on the eye, but our legs and feet were beyond tired so we walked back to the hotel.  Unfortunately, we departed a few minutes too early, because before we made it back we could hear fireworks.

The next morning we headed a couple of blocks from our hotel to Waterloo Street to see a historic Chinese temple and the adjacent market.  Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple is a historic landmark and dates back to the late 1800's. The temple was packed with devotees, so we decided to keep walking towards the market.

The Sri Krishnan Indian Temple was a couple of doors down.

We also stumbled across this place that seemed to house all sorts of statues that people would rub on and present gifts to, as well as take candy from.

The market was bustling with Sunday morning shoppers.  You could buy fruit/vegetables, clothing, flowers, rice cookers, toys, electronics, etc.  There was lots to be discovered, but since we had to be back on the bus to KL at 1:30 we still had places to see.

We took a long stroll down Orchard Road, which is know for being the most popular shopping area in the city.  After looking at what looked to be shopping mall after shopping mall, we made one purchase, hopped in a taxi and took off to our last destination of the trip.

I figured our trip wouldn't be complete without a trip up to the Marina Bay Sands Skypark.  The Marina Bay Sands hotel is the 2nd most expensive building in the world and the most well known structure in Singapore.

The sky deck had incredible views, but since we weren't staying at the hotel our access was limited.

The beautiful rooftop infinity pool is for guests only, so this was as close as we could get.

The views were incredible from all sides.  

Soon it was time to jump on the bus and head home.  The ride home was a little more challenging as the family in front of us insisted on playing Twinkle-Twinkle on REPEAT to keep their young ones quiet. Not recommended folks if you want to keep your fellow travellers sane and happy.

KL is a pretty easy Asian place to live, or so I am told by those that have lived around the region.  However, Singapore seems like an oasis.  Why?  It is orderly.  It is clean.  It smells good.  It has charm and character.  Oh, I could go on and on and on.

It was a lovely birthday trip and weekend away.  As much as I would love to go back, there are so many other places on our East Asia bucket list.  Until then, it's back to KL.