As we arrived in Singapore on our cruise ship, the Norwegian Jewel, in March 2019, the morning views were spectacular. Although we felt a little sad about our 19 day cruise ending, our excitement and enthusiasm to explore this city increased with everything we saw. During the taxi ride to our hotel, the Holiday Inn Express Singapore Clarke Quay, we peppered our driver with questions. “Is it true chewing gum is illegal in Singapore?” “Yes, so is spitting.” It’s also illegal to litter which accounts for the squeaky clean appearance of the city. ” How’s the traffic?” Not really too bad because the number of cars allowed on the roads is limited by a system of auctioning expensive permits to own a car. Voting is compulsory in Singapore. The population is diverse, comprised predominantly of Chinese in addition to Malays, Indians, and Eurasians. Fortunately for us, one of the four official languages is English. Our driver was very responsive to our curiosity and volunteered a great deal of information about this city-state of 5.7 million inhabitants.
Because it was too early to check in, we deposited our bags in the hotel’s storage and set off to the nearest stop for the Ho Ho (Hop-on Hop-off) Bus. We decided to use the Ho Ho for transportation to some of our “must see” tourist attractions. Our first goal was a morning visit to the Singapore Botanic Gardens before the heat and humidity in this equatorial city completely drained our energy. After a longish wait during which we questioned whether we were in the right place, the bus finally arrived and we were on our way.
Designated the first UNESCO World Heritage site in Singapore in 2015, the Gardens were originally established in 1859 by the Agri-Horticultural Society on an abandoned plantation. Admission to the 60 acres of tropical gardens is free but there is a small charge to visit the National Orchid Garden which is totally worth it to enjoy more than 600 varieties of orchids.
Back on the HoHo bus, we enjoyed the drive along Orchard Road, the famed shopping district, which boasts the flagship Apple store, flagship H&M, and numerous other high end shops where crazy rich tourists love to shop. We, however, had no interest in shopping. We were intent on finding our number 1 tourist attraction, Marina Bay Sands. If you saw the movie, Crazy Rich Asians, you can’t forget the scenes of the infinity pool on the 57th floor of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel.
After some confusion and wandering, we finally found the entrance to the hotel and asked where to buy tickets to the Sky Park Observation Deck. A helpful employee told us we could pay $26 to spend an hour at the observation deck or we could go up to the Cé La Vi Skybar for drinks and enjoy the view for free. Well, that was a no-brainer. We headed up to floor 57 in Tower 3.
The bar wasn’t crowded and we felt no pressure to give up our comfy seats so we lingered over our drinks and appetizers while we savored the views of Singapore. I don’t remember exactly what it cost us but a beer was around $15, a glass of wine was around $18-$20, and cocktails around $20. We felt the price was well worth it for such a memorable experience.
Directly outside the Marina Bays Sands Hotel we discovered Gardens by the Bay, home of the 16-story tall Supertrees and the world’s tallest indoor waterfall. We didn’t have enough time to do justice to this 100 hectare park so we contented ourselves with the views below.
Singapore is proud of their environmental responsibility; over 47% of the island is covered by greenery including rooftop gardens and green walls; they recycle over 20% of their waste; and they are one of the 20 most carbon efficient countries in the world. I also recently read Singapore is one of the 10 cleanest cities in the world (clean meaning green.) An impressive record, to be sure. We saw these examples and many more from the HoHo bus.
Singapore has an excellent subway system called Mass Rapid Transit but we preferred to discover the city using the HoHo. For $35 we bought a 24 hour pass which oriented us to the city while we listened to the audio commentary about all the major landmarks. Although we preferred to sit on the open-air upper level, it was nice to have the optional air-con down below when the heat and humidity threatened to overwhelm us. Our hotel is circled in white on the HoHo map below so when we were done seeing the city, we disembarked and had a relatively short walk to our accommodations.
We chose the Holiday Inn Express Clarke Quay for its location, amenities, and price and we were delighted with all three. For 2 nights, we paid $325.79 which included an outstanding breakfast, wifi, rooftop garden with infinity pool, and workout facilities. And, we were close enough to walk to many of the tourist attractions we planned to see the next day.
Singapore has much more to offer. Come back and read what these crazy (but not) rich tourists saw on day 2 in Singapore.
Based on events from March 2019.
