Cruisin Marys

Wow, what an amazing place! It was very different from our last stop in Jakarta. Singapore is the densest country in the world. Most of the 6 million residents live in government subsidized, high rise housing which ranges from $500,000 to $1 million. (abt $750K US) for a 3 bedroom apartment. The vast majority of residents utilize BMWs for transportation – Bus, Metro, Walking – as car ownership is exceptionally pricey. Therefore, there was very little traffic. This spotless city has old, historic areas next to extremely modern ones. The new buildings are very interesting visually, and they strive to be sustainable and green.

We went on 3 different tours in Singapore, and we were on our best behavior since they are sticklers for rule-following. We somehow had lots of fun while managing to stay out of jail!

We started off with a bus tour where we went to Marina Bay and visited Clifford Pier and Merlion Park. From there we had a great view of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel complex as well as “Little Wall Street.”

We stopped in busy Chinatown for a quick drink and a bit of shopping.

In Chinatown, we saw a beautiful Hindu temple.

Later, we went on an evening tour to see Singapore at night. Our first stop was Marina Bay…again. We saw a lot of this area during our time here, but it is absolutely lovely, and it never got old.

We then went on a boat tour on the Singapore River and then back to Marina Bay to view it in the dark!

This was followed by a trip to the Long Bar at Raffles Hotel where the tasty Singapore Sling cocktail was invented. Peanut shells are actually discarded on the floor there. This is the only place in Singapore where littering is allowed!

The next day we saw more Singapore sights. We actually went to the top of the Marina Bay Sands and had an amazing overview of the entire area.

Later, we visited the Gardens by the Bay botanical gardens. There was an orchid show going on, and we spent time in the stunning Cloud Forest. We were wowed!

Singapore was definitely one of our favorite stops so far. On to Malaysia…