I chose Singapore for my first Asian destination because it is one of the safest Asian nations and it was one of the first to relax COVID entry restrictions so that testing was not required to enter.  Also, one of my friends from my year abroad lived in Singapore.  While we had not kept in touch, I decided I would look him up and see if we could meet for a meal or other get together.

Singapore is a multicultural society incorporating elements with Chinese, Malay, and Indian elements.  English is the official language and lingua franca.  I was led to believe that almost everyone in Singapore would speak English more or less proficiently, though perhaps with a strong accent. I found this not to be true.  Certainly workers in the hotels and tourist sights could speak English well enough, but employees in restaurants often did not, and taxi cab drivers were about 50/50.  I was generally able to get by as needed, though I spoke none of the local languages.

I was there during Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights.  This was not planned, and I only saw some limited activity related to the event.

I chose to stay in Little India, largely because I like Indian food a great deal.  My hotel was called Wanderlust, and was a very nice establishment, but I found Little India a bit on the dirty side compared to the stories I had heard of Singapore’s legendary commitment to cleanliness.

I was there during the rainy season in October, but generally did not mind the rain, and it didn’t really affect anything I did (other than having to carry an umbrella).

The Singapore Botanic Gardens were one of my first stops. The Gardens were beautiful, especially the National Orchid Gardens.  Singapore in general is an astoundingly green, beautiful city which stood in contrast to another student from Manchester’s description of it as a “concrete jungle.”  Certainly, there are sections of Singapore meeting that description, but it not hard to get away from them.

I spent the better part of my first day in Gardens by the Bay.  The Cloud Forest, while manmade, was a beautiful collection of flora.

Being a somewhat avid fisherman, some of the large gamefish held in tanks were interesting to me.  This is an alligator gar, a large fish from the USA.

Marina Bay Sands hotel.  I chose not to go the top, and only take in the view from the ground, as I do not enjoy high places.

The next day I visited Singapore’s Chinatown to view some of the Buddhist and Taoist temples, and try some of the hawker stalls.

Having heard the stories about the Durian fruit, but not wanting to try the whole fruits I saw for sale as they are larger that I could eat on my own, I had to try one of these.  It tastes awful, and left a taste in my mouth I could not get out for hours.

Off to the Esplanade, to see the merlion.

And a performance of the Singapore National Symphony Orchestra.  I have not seen many of the world’s great orchestras, but I enjoyed this performance enormously.

Kampong Glam is the Malay/Muslim area of Singapore, with many nice shops, some street cafes and restaurants, and the Sultan Mosque, built in 1824.  I am not sure if this is the largest, oldest, or just most important mosque in Singapore, but it was a visible and beautiful landmark.  Kampong Glam was my favorite urban area in Singapore.  It was as clean as I expected Singapore to be and had a nice relaxing feel.

I did a morning kayak fishing tour with Kayak Fever, and one of the other participants suggested going to Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve.  I caught several small reef fish, most of which were Indian whiptails if I remember correctly.

As I had by this point seen most of what I wanted to see, and was not sure at that point what else to do, I decided to take her advice, despite it being a long cab ride.  It turned out to be one of the biggest highlights of my trip after my dinner with an old friend.

These snails are huge, and they are everywhere.

Saw a lot of these…monitor lizards, smaller cousins to the Komodo Dragon.

Well, the warnings about crocodiles are appropriate.  I saw several, but this is the closest.  Most of the others were swimming out in the strait between Singapore and Malaysia.

Malaysia, viewed from Sungei Buloh.  I think this is Johor Bahru.

And that evening met my friend for a dinner.  I think this meal is called Steamboat, but you cook your own meal in the container over the flame in the metal pot.  Here much of the damage is already done.

That was the end of my trip to Singapore.  I was there for about five days, and had seen what I wanted to see.  My friend did drive me down Orchard Row just so I could see it, but I was not particularly interested in shopping so did not go there on my own.  I would have liked to have had another 2 or 3 days on my trip so I could have taken a short side trip to Malaysia or maybe Indonesia, but I did not plan the trip that way and at this time international travel was still complicated by COVID restrictions.  I enjoyed Singapore, and it stands as one of my favorite destinations to date.