The last time I was in Singapore was Christmas break of 2006. My friends and I rang in the new year on the streets of downtown Singapore, and then I spent the first few days of 2007 wandering the town, poking my head into temples, and sampling the wide range of Asian food.

It was a welcome break from the freezing temps of my then home, Seoul, Korea. I was excited to visit Singapore again after all these years since I’d always thought fondly of that vacation and the city.

So we arrived in Singapore on my birthday and hailed a Grab taxi to our moderate hotel in Chinatown. Singapore is not a cheap city! But for our budget, Hotel Mono was great. It was a few steps from the subway station and if you tripped leaving the hotel you’d fall right into a plastic chair of a restaurant since there were so many on our street.

Our first day in Singapore did not go smoothly. Because the Westerdam cruise ship was going into dry dock, virtually everyone (passengers and crew) had to disembark and go through immigration. The lines were insanely long, and so we just stayed on the ship for hours to wait for it to die out.

Then we tried to use Grab for the first time (think Uber for Asia), and managed to select a driver who only took cash (before we had a chance to get Singapore dollars). I was desperately adding credit cards to my profile and none of them were working. Our driver stopped at an ATM but it was a hassle with one way streets!

Then when we got to the hotel, we learned that we had messed up the hotel reservation: One room had the correct dates, but the room for Corey’s parents had been booked for the wrong month! (Yes, they were still traveling with us!) We are not living in the past and I won’t name who messed up the reservation. I will say the name starts with a “C” and ends with a “y”. 😂 Luckily, the hotel had a spare room available but it was not what we had booked and was the size of a janitors closet with 2 twin beds.

The last hiccup was the surprise flowers Corey had ordered for my birthday – they were not in our room. Surprise! Thankfully the flowers were delivered that night and everything else in Singapore went more or less according to plan. Phew!

After checking in, we went over to Raffles Hotel for a round of drinks. Singapore Slings are a great birthday treat, and Raffles is where the drink was invented!

Marina Bay Sands Complex

From there we elevated our happy hour by ascending to the rooftop of the Marina Bay Sands hotel.

This complex was built in 2010. Each of the three towers are 55 stories tall, and as the photo shows, there is a vast connecting area at the top. We were able to grab a table with no reservation for a round of drinks and nibbles. The best part was the view!!

Adjacent to the Marina Bay Sands complex is Gardens by the Bay, a large park where every evening there is a light show featuring the Supertrees structures. We got there just in time to watch these giant “trees” dazzle us with lights and music.

After the show we walked around the garden viewing the various displays for Chinese New Year. There were several air-filled designs lit up in anticipation of the new year holiday.

It was easy to get back to Chinatown from the garden using the subway. In fact, Singapore is fairly small and the public transportation is well designed. In general, going from point A to B is simple.

Looking back on that first day, we were really fortunate to have such great weather. It rained hard and heavy about half the time we were in Singapore which put a dampener on our outdoor plans. Even with five nights, we did not get to some of our plans because of the rain.

Overall, Singapore was a great place to ring in the Year of the Rabbit. There were displays throughout the city, and countless community events such as lion dances.

Little India

The next day we toured around Little India. We mostly dodged the rain while visiting the Indian Heritage Center. It’s a lovely historical museum. We timed it correctly and received a free docent tour in English. We all really enjoyed learning about Singapore’s history through the eyes and artifacts of Indian immigrants. Most of the Indian-Singaporeans are Tamil-speakers, and they comprise around 8% of the Singaporean population.

After that we walked around the stores and markets. The spices and incense tickled my nose and the brightly colored flowers gently swayed in the breeze.

Then of course we made time to have a delicious lunch at the Tekka Centre hawker stalls. This was our first time dining at a Singapore hawker center, and it can be an overwhelming experience!

Imagine a mall food court but shrink the size of each establishment to a closet, and each one sells delicious foods. Then imagine that there are employees throughout, each pointing to their menus and calling for you to order from them. So while you’re gawking at all the signs trying to see if you recognize any of the foods, you’re also searching for an empty table to claim so you have a place to put your plates. Exhausted yet?

Well the experience is worth it! Each item equated to about $2-5 and was bursting with flavor. We ordered mutton briyani and murtabak (like a stuffed roti pancake) for the four of us to share, each from a stall that specialized in those foods. We followed that up with mango lassis for dessert. So delicious!

After lunch we wandered to the Kampong Gelam neighborhood to see the enormous Sultan Mosque.

Unfortunately, we had forgotten it was a Friday, the Islamic day of worship and the one day that the mosque is completely closed to visitors. It was still a sight to see from the outside, and the surrounding streets were fun to walk around. I appreciated popping into shops to avoid occasional downpours.

The small streets in this historic quarter are super cute and had a large variety of options: bakeries, cafes, retail boutiques, and bars. We wandered around in the afternoon. I would like to go back someday and experience this neighborhood in the evening.

After walking around for a bit we decided to head back to the hotel and relax for a bit.

That night I meandered through the streets of Chinatown. The decorations were so pretty!

The next morning I took advantage of the clear skies and walked through the Raffles Garden. Corey was sleeping in that morning. I had not visited before and it wasn’t far from the hotel.

The garden is part of a Fort Canning Park, a large hill with a long history. It was likely the center of ancient life in the area, and has been the home to palaces and fortifications. Once the British founded “modern” Singapore, it was similarly used for government buildings and military uses. It currently has several different gardens, playgrounds, a cemetery, hiking trails, and an excavation site. Yes, you read that correctly. Since there is so much history they are still finding items from centuries ago!

I had left without insect repellant, and my legs were getting attacked so I didn’t stay as long as I had wanted to.

I headed back to Chinatown for daytime exploring. There was a lot more to see in daylight and without thousands of umbrellas blocking the view.

Luckily, I spotted a foot reflexology place. Corey joined me for a relaxing 60-minute foot treatment.

We then made our way to the famous Maxwell hawker center for lunch. I grabbed Thai and Corey feasted on sliced fish bee hoon, a creamy noodle soup made with fresh fish. Again, the prices were inexpensive and the food made up for the no-frills environment.

We then headed out on foot to do some “checkbox sightseeing”.

We walked along Boat Quay admiring the views.

We made it to the Merlion.

We walked along the water and enjoyed the city from various angles. We ended up at Clarke Quay, an area that was dead during the afternoon but looks to be a spot for nightlife.

That night we headed out to witness the countdown to Chinese New Year. Corey had researched festivities but it was hard to find particular information. Events were scattered around the city and there was no centralized schedule. So we went out with high hopes and fingers crossed to catch a lion dance!

After first looking over the vast crowd at the square outside the large Buddha Tooth Temple, we decided to take a walk to a smaller temple in a historic area, Thian Hock Keng, which was built in 1839 and is Singapore’s oldest Chinese temple. A chorus of chanting monks provided the soundtrack, as a small crowd moved around the clouds of burning incense. We toured the temple, enjoying the architecture and sculptures, and rang the bell after throwing a coin into the well.

Right before midnight the lion dance started! We watched it until the lion went into the temple, where it was enveloped by the crowd.

The next morning we took a bus out of the tourist area to a community center to try to see a different lion dance. It was kind of a bust, as again the crowd was heavy and the dance itself was blocked by the standing people. So we wandered through the rabbit-themed displays and read about our horoscopes for the upcoming year. Things are looking good for me!

After that I had a mediocre McDonald’s breakfast snack and we jumped back on a bus to spend time in a museum.

Museums

Some of the museums we had wanted to visit were either temporarily closed or the hours did not work for our schedule.

We were able to visit a museum that was high on my list. We used Klook to buy tickets to the Asian Civilizations Museum. Before entering we got a bite to eat at the café. I splurged on a yummy concoction: a gummy bear margarita! Wow! I have to make this at home. It was perfect and sweet.

Then we actually went to visit the exhibits. I was blown away by the density and amount of artifacts!!

Some quick highlights:

Shipwrecks

There were thousands of times on display from various shipwrecks, with one particular ship’s collection being found mostly-intact. The dishes and items offer information on what maritime trade was like hundreds of years ago.

Deities

One entire floor was dedicated to artifacts, artwork, and statues from all over Asia related to religion. From Buddha to Asian Jesus, there was a lot to see and learn.

Body and Spirit

A corner of the museum laid out the history and processional garments related to a Tamil holiday widely celebrated in Malaysia, Thaipusam.

This was significant for us as we will be in Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia during the Thaipusam holiday. We were thrilled to get a taste of the significance and history of this event, providing us with context before we experience it in person.

Accessories

On the top floor of the museum there was a beautiful display of jewelry and garments from around the Malay and Indonesian area. It was a mix of photos and jewelry pieces that created an interesting vibe that really displayed the items well.

After the museum we waited around in the porte cochere for the pouring rain to let up, but the skies had opened up and there were no signs of respite. We tried going back to the museum cafe but all the tables were filled. We ended up walking (and wading) along the river to the bus stop but we got drenched. We looked like drowned rats by the time we got to the covered bus stop!

National Museum of Singapore

We also spent a half day at the National Musem. There were about five sections spread out over two floors and a historic glass rotunda. Visitors are walked through Singapore’s history, through the eyes of individuals, communities, and in the case of one exhibit, through the history of 17 important trees. I only took one photo but thoroughly enjoyed the half day we spent there.

Istana, the Presidential Palace

The Istana was originally built as the residence for the British governor. When Singapore gained independence, it was converted to the official residence of the president (although the president rarely resides there in practice, and it is mostly used as offices, and especially for ceremonial purposes).

It is only open to the public 4-5 days per year, and so we were lucky to be in town during one of these open dates. We braved the tropical rain as we walked up the long driveway to the main building, passing by gorgeous well-maintained gardens and ponds. We would have spent more time exploring the extensive grounds (which are also typically closed to the public), but the rain made this a miserable proposition.

We narrowly made the cutoff for a self-guided tour of some of the rooms inside. Photos were not allowed so I only have pictures of the outside of the residence.

We were able to tour the four rooms in the front where dignitaries are entertained and meetings are held. The rooms were all filled with displays of gifts from various nations. There were vases, figurines, sculptures, notes, and precious rocks and jewels.

Sentosa Island and Mount Faber cable car

On our final morning, we packed our bags and left them in the lobby of our hotel. Corey and I laced up our hiking shoes for a walk around Mount Faber. We put in far fewer steps than we anticipated!

We took public transit to the highrise building where the cable car starts. First we rode up the mountain and we were a little freaked out. It was tall and the car was swaying in the breeze.

We exited the car at the top of Mount Faber to check things out. The rain was coming down pretty strong so we didn’t walk around much, and it seemed more like a development than a hiking opportunity. However we did visit the classiest bathrooms I’ve ever walked into.

We then took the cable car back down the hill all the way to Sentosa Island. The island is like a fun-filled artificial mega complex with a sandy beach. We travelled down a nature path that snaked its way to the beach. With the rain still coming down, we then rode the cable cars around the island until it was time to head back for lunch and get on our way to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Singapore Arts and Creativity

Singapore is a beautiful city bursting with elegant, funky, modern, and traditional design concepts that can be seen through architecture, gardens, and public art. Here are some photos from our six days that highlight the creativity and beauty that seeps out from every direction in this city-state.