In further praise of Singapore (Part 1)

As you well may know, I really enjoy visiting Singapore.  In fact, I'm threatening my family with running away to join the Buddhist College of Singapore (the temple complex of which I actually visited) if that's the only way the country would let me live there.  

Oh dear, I see I've actually missed the cut off age by 27 years, and I'm not a devout monk of one year's standing.   But what a bargain this is - a four year degree course for free, by the sounds:

All meals, accommodation and daily necessities will be provided by the college. Students will also receive a monthly allowance during their period of study at BCS.

Oh well, back to reality.

The recent week in Singapore was my first post COVID travel overseas since COVID reared its ugly head, and was in fact pretty much like a Part 2 of the last overseas trip I made with the family in December 2018(!).   This time, it was just with my wife, but the similarities were high:

a.    very cheap flight on the cut price, but pretty reliable, Singapore based airline Scoot out of the Gold Coast (I strongly recommend keeping track of their sales for all destinations in Asia);

b.    flew again on their bendy winged 787 Dreamliner (a comfortable enough aircraft, even though with Scoot there is no such thing as an inflight entertainment centre.  It's a case of load up enough material on your fully charged phone or tablet and entertain yourself for 7 to 8 hours.)

c.   even stayed at the same hotel, Amara Singapore near the Tanjong Pagar MRT station on the edge of Chinatown.   The hotel needed a bit of renovation since we last stayed there:  mould in bathrooms is the perpetual enemy of every hotel in the country, I'm sure, and it did feel a bit understaffed as I think all hospitality businesses in the world currently are.   But despite this, I found it still a comfortable hotel in an excellent location.  (They were also completely understanding when on the second day I asked for a top sheet for the bed, instead of just relying on the extremely annoying but now ubiquitous hotel habit of expecting guests to sleep directly under a covered doona, making temperature regulation during sleep an "all or nothing" affair. I hate that this has become an industry standard, but travel infrequently enough that I always forget about this problem between holidays.  Anyway, as long as on request the hotel gives me a sheet to use, I'm happy.)

So, what did we do and see this time around?    Let a series of photos illustrate:

Of course, the place is just architecture heaven:

This precinct is opposite the Suntec shopping centre, and the impressiveness of that long, louvred roof thing is hard to capture in a photo. Trust me, it's huge in real life. 

 

 Another big awing thing, a short walk from our hotel:
 

This the public area outside Tanjong Pagar MRT station, where if turn around, it looks ridiculously green and luscious:

This is a planted footpath back near Suntec:

It's just the very definition of lush, in so many parts of the city.

Including on the tops (and in the middle) of skyscrapers.  It's a lovely, Green futuristic, trend:

That's a herb and fruit garden on the 51st floor of the new CapitaSpring building, where you get awesome views like this:

And from the middle part of the building, floors 20 to 17, another garden/recreation area like this:

 

Slightly oddly, I thought, while they put high barriers up on the 51st floor that would make jumping from there difficult, they seem to have no concerns at all about putting anything other than normal railings on this 20th floor area.  I know, it's not usual to have apartment buildings of that height with normal balconies, but having this larger, open area still just cordoned off with normal height rails seemed a bit risky to me.   Incidentally, both the roof garden and this area are open to the public from 8 to 10.30, then 2 to 6 pm.  In the middle of the day, it is supposed to be reserved for the workers in the building as a lunch break relaxation place, with charging stations built into the seats, and these amusingly named things:

 

  

 

 

 

 Which, it turned out, was just these birdcage-y sitting spots:

Anyhoo, this is the building from the ground, with the bent metal giving the impression of something large having recently escaped from within:

It's so impressive.  (And there is a cheapish, clean hawker centre on the ground floors too.)

Of course, it's the mix of the old and the new that makes it special, too.  One side of the street is Raffles (now fully opened, and with a heap of high end shops and courtyards you can walk around:

 

And this across the road:

I had photos of Marina Bay Sands, the most iconic building in the city state now, in my last holiday post, so I won't specifically repeat it.  But I did make a trip to Gardens by the Bay again at night to see the very family friendly mid Autumn festival light displays:

 

Young woman with spoilt looking doggie (an increasingly common sight in Singapore) here:

  This was 9.45pm on a Sunday night, and the place was busier than the photos might indicate:

It's just a ridiculously impressive public space.   Like this, the "satay street" at Lau Pa Sat hawker centre:

I've been spending too long on this post, so I must make a part 2 later...