Singapore Sling

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Let me recap

We spent hours just admiring Singapore's absolutely gorgeous skyline.  With a metro system more efficient than the tube, English everywhere and most things a bargain, we had a fun filled, action packed, two days in town. Not long enough of course with Vietnam beckoning, but we will be back!

Our first day was spent immersing ourselves in the must do activities - the serene botanic gardens, complete with a lake full of turtles, the seemingly endless strip of mega malls along Orchard Road, visiting the resident Merlion, and spending the evening crossing the river back and forth on foot and by boat amongst the multitude of restaurants, bars and vistas.  And OMG that skyline at night.  We stumbled along some free live music at the Esplanade after our evening river cruise and gazed happily at the light spectacular put on by the Marina Bay Sands resort and impressive collection of other skyscrapers.

After a delicious, bargain curry in Little India the next day, we headed for Sentosa.  A short ride from the mainland on a cable car, monorail or foot bridge, Sentosa is an island resort full of attractions and fun.  The resort packs in a host of hotels, Universal Studios, beaches, amazing views, a replica of the infamous Merlion, restaurants, shops, shows and bars.  We enjoyed a swim in one of the artificial beaches, the views from the top of the island (accessed by escalator!) and a mechanical crane dance!

You can't talk about Singapore without mentioning the food.  A food market called La Pau Sat is famed for its chicken satay which we hungrily devoured, their food courts offer endless variety and we even indulged in a disgusting desert (read more from Si on this topic here at manversusworld.com.) It was all just so fresh, fast and cheap.

With lots more to do on our next visit including the night safari, downing a Singapore Sling, going up the Marina Bay Sands skypark, the flyer and the Sentosa cable car and sampling a truckload more food, I cannot wait to return!

Singapore is among the most impressive cities in the world – and we’ve seen a few at this point.

Vibrant, exciting and oh so big and shiny, Singapore’s skyline is at least the equal of New York’s and probably a bit bigger. Buildings that would be impressive skyscrapers in any other city are dwarfed in this one, as the sky and the global recession prove no match for the city-state’s rapid expansion.

Meanwhile, shoppers escape the heat underground in labyrinthine shopping malls along Orchard Road – the city’s main shopping district. You need more than bread crumbs or string to find your way out of these monstrosities, as we found out several times.

The food in Singapore is excellent. The challenge was not so much finding a cheap place to eat as deciding on what kind of Asian cuisine we wanted.

We did manage to visit the city’s famed Sentosa resort, which is basically an island with a bunch of theme parks and a man-made beach. In typical backpacker fashion, we did it on the cheap – posing for photos outside Universal Movie World but not going in and swimming at the beach (free).

Despite its straight-laced and very business-conscious image, Singapore still has the capacity to surprise, as we found out at Sentosa. We stopped for a rest somewhere along the harbor, where Nic decided to have a little nap while I read my book.

Half an hour later, I had to shake her awake as a large square in the water transformed into a pair of mechanical birds and did a little dance.

Seriously, could you imagine if I had let her sleep and then tried to explain it to her afterwards? She would have called me crazy.

Click here for pics of Singapore