To be honest, I know little about Singapore. My only source of knowledge of this city-state comes from Crazy Rich Asians, for whatever that’s worth. I was going in blind, expecting it to be sort of like Hong Kong I guess. I can honestly say there’s nowhere quite like Singapore.
When my flight arrived, the first thing I noticed was Coronavirus was no joke here. As the virus continues to spread across Asia, Singapore took no chances. Body scanners and temperature checks awaited around every corner. I noticed I was the ONLY person in the airport not wearing a surgical face mask and made a mental note to stop at a pharmacy and pick some up for myself (this turned out to be easier said than done as people were panic buying face masks. I eventually did find some available but paid about five times the normal cost. Worth it to not feel like a leper and stick out even further than my five-foot-nine self already did).
Public transportation in Singapore is only rivaled by that in Japan. Traveling around Indonesia was a nauseating and —easy, clean, affordable, and always on time.
For the first few days in Singapore, I stayed in a Capsule hotel, a sort of hostel but each bed has its own door and lock. It was very heavily themed – although I couldn’t really tell you what the theme was—Atlantis/Cyberpunk maybe? The free breakfast left something to be desired (essentially toast with a community jar of peanut butter) but overall the capsule was quiet and comfortable.
Singapore has four main languages – English, Chinese, Malay, and Tamil. I was relieved to discover that just about everyone in Singapore that I encountered spoke English and communicating was far easier than it had been in Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines.
The first thing I did in Singapore was visit the Tiong Bahru Market and Food Centre. I wandered through rows and rows of food stalls. It was by far the most food I had consumed in months and left me stuffed. I couldn’t tell you what I ate, I just pointed at whatever looked good and handed over my money. The street food was cheap and delicious and a definite highlight of my time here
I would be very interested in what percentage of Singapore’s total square footage is made up of shopping malls. I spent a lot of time wandering around Clarke Quay, a shopping district and nightlife hub on the river. I needed somewhere to walk off all of that food.
Seeing as I knew nothing about the country or its history, I visited the National Museum of Singapore. Singapore spent one hundred forty-four years under British rule before being handed over to Malaysia in 1963. This only lasted two years, however, due to ideological differences. In 1964, race riots broke out in Singapore between the local Chinese and Malays. As a result, Malaysia expelled Singapore in 1965, giving it independence. This ended up benefiting Singapore in a huge way, as the country underwent rapid industrialization and economic growth, becoming one of the Four Asian Tigers (not my term—it’s used to refer to Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and South Korea, four Asian countries that developed into high-income countries by the early twenty-first century).
My last night in Singapore, I said goodbye to the capsule hotel and hello to the opposite— the Marina Bay Sands. If you’ve seen a photo of the city, you know which building I’m talking about. It cost almost seven billion USD to build and features a hotel, luxury shopping center, casino, museum, convention center, art exhibits, celebrity chef restaurants, and a Skypark that connects all three massive towers, complete with an infinity pool.
The building is as beautiful as it is massive, built in such a way that the building’s features are meant to mimic the waves and water that surround it. A small river runs through the basement of a shopping mall, and the outdoor pavilion is known for its massive nightly light show.
Also, the hotel rooms are pretty dope.
Singapore was the most ‘commercial’ place I visited, but its beautiful architecture, fascinating history, and—most importantly—street food made it a worthwhile stop on my journey.