We flew to Singapore from Penang for the final part of our journey before flying home. We stayed at the New Otani in Singapore near to Clarke Quay. The hotel was very central being a 10 minute walk from Orchard Road. Singapore is a great city with lots to do and is mainly used as a stopover destination for people travelling to Australia and beyond. We booked 3 nights at the hotel and found there was plenty to do. Singapore is known for being a shoppers paradise, but there is more to do than just shop.
As we only had 3 days there, we had planned what we wanted to see and do, and anything else was a bonus. We were pretty much shopped out by the time we got to Singapore so did not really do much and things are more expensive here than in Malaysia. We spent one day at Raffles Hotel, which is something that must be done on a visit to Singapore. You cannot leave without enjoying a Singapore Sling in the Long bar. There are beautiful gardens to wander round and some shops selling things like tea and Raffles Souvenirs. You can also have afternoon tea and scones.
We booked a hop on hop off trolley tour, which is a good idea if you want to spend more time at places that interest you. We also booked a trip to the Night Safari which costs approx £17 or SGD45 entrance fee. The night safari is actually three parks in one being the Zoo, Bird Park and the actual Safari. It is well worth the money and you will need a few hours there. You are not allowed to take photographs in the safari, so as not to scare the animals but you can purchase photo book souvenirs.
The night safari is by tram within the park and takes approx 45 minutes. There are lots of different walks that you can take within the zoo and hundreds of species of animals and birds. When we were there, there was a baby leopard on a lead with its keeper and snakes that you can have your photo taken with. I gave the snake a miss!!!!!!. It takes about 30 - 45 minutes to get to the Zoo from Orchard Road by Bus or taxi depending on traffic, which can be very busy.
There was a food festival when we were in Singapore at Clarke Quay which was close to where we were staying. The food festival was a carnival of exotic foods and food tasting as well as much more. Clarke Quay is full of shops, bars and restaurants and is just a great place to hang out. Singapore is known as the food capital of Asia so has every kind of restaurant to suit every pallet you can imagine. From Chinese and Malay to American and English (including unfortunately McDonald's and Burger King!!!) They are everywhere!!!!!
Some local favourite dishes include Chilli Crab, Laksa, Rojak, and fried Carrot Cake among others. We had booked to go on a Chinese Junk Cruise which is recommended and you can get great views of Singapore and the Harbour as you leave the dock. We chose to go on the evening cruise which is approx 2 1/2 hours long and includes entertainment and a Singaporean Buffet. The evening Cruise costs approx SGD39 of £15.00. There are day cruises as well as the evening cruises. I would recommend that you take jumper or something warm on the boat as it can get cold. I was fooled into thinking I would be fine as it was so warm when the boat left the dock. Singapore is one of the busiest Ports in the world, so you will see hundreds of boats from all over the world.
If you enjoy museums, then Singapore has plenty including the Art Retreat Museum, Chinese Heritage Centre, Mint Museum of Toys and the National Museum of Singapore among others.There are also Ethnic Quarters such as China Town, Little India and Geylang Serai (which is the Malay District). Singapore has lots of places of worship that are worth visiting as the buildings are so magnificent. There is the Abdul Gaffor Mosque, Armenian Church, Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Central Sikh Temple among others.
The best way to get around Singapore is either by taxi, bus or MRT Rail system. I would not recommend driving as it can get very congested and the drivers are a bit mad!!!! Our last full day in Singapore was spent at Sentosa Island. We only went for the day, but I would recommend that you at least stay overnight as there is loads to do and see and it has amazing beaches. Unfortunately for us we just did not have the time!!!. Sentosa is approx 10km from the centre of Singapore and you can get there by cable car, ferry, bus, taxi or train (Sentosa Express).
We decided to travel by cable car as you get amazing views. Sentosa does have hotels on it should you decide to stay over such as The Shangri La Sentosa, Costa Sands Resort and Treasure Resort among a few others. One of the attractions that you will first see on arriving at Sentosa is the 37 metre Merlion which is the symbol of Singapore. It is half lion half fish and you can go inside the Merlion and will be rewarded with a 360 degrees view of Sentosa and Singapore. There is also a mouth deck viewing gallery, which on a clear day you can see Singapore's skyline.
At the back of the Merlion is a 120 metre walk way called Merlion Walk. It is approx SGD8 or £3 to enter the Merlion. There is an animal and bird enclosure and Butterfly and Insect Kingdom. There is also Dolphin Lagoon which is approx SGD20 or £8 entrance fee. You can feed the dolphins, and watch demonstrations and training sessions. You can also pre book a swim with Dolphins packages prices start at a cpmparatively cheap price of about SGD150 or £50.
We decided to take a walk on the Dragon Trail Walk which is a nature trail and is a beautiful walk recreating remains of dragons. There are suggested photograph areas, places to eat and souvenir shops along the way. There are other nature walks on Sentosa, but as we were only there for the day, we were trying to cram in as much as we could. Another attraction that we visited that I highly recommend is the Songs of the Sea. Which is where the fountains come alive to tell a story and there are lasers, captivating music, bursts of fire, a live cast and dramatic effects.
There are 2 shows nightly and as it is first come first served, it can get busy. There are just too many attractions to be able to list them all, but you might also like: the Flying Trapeze, Sentosa Luge and Skyride, Sentosa 4D Magic, Cinneblast and Skytower among many more. There are 3 beaches on Sentosa consisting of, Palawan Beach, Siloso Beach and Tanjong Beach, and they are all really nice and clean.
There are plenty of shops on Sentosa from shops on the beach like Billabong to the Merlion and Butterfly and Insect Souvenir Shops. There is also a shop selling Chinese Curios among many others. There are lots of restaurants and beach bars/cafes as well as fast food outlets and convenience stores to buy food (if you fancy a picnic!!!!). Sentosa also has its own golf club which houses 2 courses Serapong and Tanjong. This will be home to the Barclays Singapore Open said to be Asia's richest golf tournament.
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It is easy to get around Sentosa Island, we did most of our exploring by foot, but there are buses which operate from 0700 until 2300 daily, beach trams and The Sentosa Express. The buses run every 15 minutes and the trams and Sentosa Express every few minutes. We left Sentosa around 10pm that evening by bus back to Singapore for our last night. We were tired but it was good tired as we had a great day.
The weather in Singapore and Sentosa is hot and humid most of the year and there is no rainy season as such but there tends to be more rain fall from November to January. The currency is Sinagapore Dollar. I would definitely recommend a stay over in Singapore and if you have time have a break at Sentosa as it is a great place to visit. There are direct flights to Singapore from the UK with British Airways, Singapore and Qantas. There are flights from Europe with Lufthansa, Air France and Swiss among others. There are plenty of hotels in Singapore to suit every budget including Holiday Inn, Marriott and Hyatt. There are online companies such as Asia Rooms who offer discount rooms when booking online. We flew with Lufthansa from Singapore via Frankfurt for our journey back to the UK.
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