On the way to Nepal we had a day-long stop over in Singapore, we could have made it only a few hours, but figured squeezing in another country for free wouldn’t do any harm. I’d already spent a few days in Singapore between my flights from Hong Kong and Vietnam but my travel buddy had never been.
The perfect Singapore stopover should be at least a half-day, including evening, (if you are staying the night and are too cheap to get a hotel and can’t check into your flight until the next morning please refer to my other Singapore post and make use of the 24hr Starbacks).
1st Stop: LittleIndia
This was a personal preference for me because I had a major soft spot for Indian food (perhaps because of my British heritage, they do say the national dish of the UK is chicken curry!). I would definitely recommend going, I’ve been to India and some of the temples in the area rivaled the ones I saw there. I think that’s because the first time I went it was in the evening so the temples were full with people making the atmosphere electric. If you can go at that time (after 4) it’s best because you get a real feel for the place and can have a nice meal for dinner!
2nd Stop:ChinaTown
It’s pretty close to Little India and is very quaint with a nice big Chinese style temple and then another Hindu one. I would go during the day because then you can go to the Buddhist Tooth Relic Temple and see all the monks chanting. If you’ve actually been to China or Hong Kong, or any major Chinese area this isn’t ground breaking, and doesn’t even feel THAT Chinese…more a better place to pick up touristy knick knacks.
3rd Stop: Bugis (Arab Quarter)
This is a lovely little area with awesome looking restaurants (unfortunately I didn’t get to sample any, I was still full from Little India), a mosque, bars, shopping, etc. I would definitely say to stop over if you have a little extra time, maybe even picking it over China Town because there’s also a cool market on the other side of the metro station.
4th Stop: Clarke Quay
This area is definitely better at night, when everything’s lit up and a crowd has built up at all the bars and restaurants. I would recommend walking to the bridge and buying an ice cream sandwich (Only 1 SGD! [about $1 CAD]) and people watching on one of the benches. If you’re fancy and rich then eating here would probably be nice, unfortunately I am neither so the ice cream sandwich had to do!
5th Stop:MarinaBay Sands
Super schmancy hotel, definitely have some time to walk around the shopping area ( where you can get boat rides on the indoor canals, like the Venetian in Vegas) and around the boardwalk to see the Merlion. The main attraction though is the water and light show, it may be commercialized but it’s still really cool, they project images into the water fountain and have music, fire, mist and bubbles!
6th Stop: Hawker Centre
You MUST visit one if you are in Singapore, they are the best invention ever. You can find similar venues in Beijing, etc if you look hard enough but in Singapore they’re everywhere. It’s like a food court with lots of different types of food, but instead of burgers and subs it’s Malaysian and Indian…as well as lots of other options. It’s also really cheap, especially considering Singapore isn’t that cheap in general, you can get a full meal for under $5. There’s a really nice hawker centre near Marina Bay Sands, in the financial district, it has lovely colonial architecture, all white and lattice-y with live music on a podium in the middle. I would recommend trying the carrot cake…it’s NOTHING like North American carrot cake, it’s more of a sweet-ish noodle dish, YUM.