Since we only had a day in Singapore, we wanted to make every moment count. So, we were up early, had a small breakfast at the hostel, stowed our bags in the lobby and headed out. The day was sunny, hot and - you guessed it - humid. Singapore has the highest density of any city in the world - 19,000 people per square kilometer. And I think most of them were out that day, traveling to work, walking the streets, driving in the crazy traffic. Even with all those people, it's a clean city and seemed to be well-organized and well-run. There are cameras everywhere and lots of rules and regulations accompanied by the disclaimer that if you don't follow this rule, there will be severe consequences. I might be being overly dramatic, traumatized by my first run-in with the immigration officers :).
One thing we noticed is how expensive Singapore is compared to how inexpensive Thailand and Kuala Lumpur, to a lesser degree, was. And how geographically close those countries are. We're thinking we might have gotten spoiled with the inexpensive pricing for food and lodging and our budget might need to stretch as we get to Greece and Spain and the weak dollar against the euro.
Armed with a map and a camera - yes, we looked a little like tourists - we spent the next 12 hours touring the city on foot and by train. We visited the Botanical Gardens which were absolutely beautiful. As always, we promise pics when we can post them again. Within the Botanical Gardens was the National Orchid Garden which, if you can imagine, had every kind of orchid I'd ever seen and many I've never seen. Colors, aromas everywhere. Sometimes walking along, we got a whiff of some perfume and just stood there for a second enjoying it.
Another highlight of the day was the Singapore Flyer, the largest "Ferris Wheel" in the world. To call it a ferris wheel, though, doesn't do it justice. In fact, they call it an observation ride because instead of the usual open seat you'd find on a typical ferris wheel, here about 10 of us stepped into a gondola-like car that moved slowly around so that we had a 360 degree view of the city. From this vantage point we were able to see the Sky Park at the top of Marina Bay Sands hotel. The sky park spans the length of three buildings and is shaped a bit like a cruise ship. It sits a top these three buildings - an oasis of green, over 75 floors up in the air. We timed the ride on the Singapore Flyer to be able to see the city lights in the dark and so got off the ride about 8:30.
And after that amazing ride, we high tailed it back to the hostel to pick up our bags and make our way to the airport for our 2:00 AM flight to first Doha, Katar (a small middle eastern country just east of Saudi Arabia) and then a connecting flight to Athens. We enjoyed our time and now are ready for the second leg of our trip: Greece, here we come!
One thing we noticed is how expensive Singapore is compared to how inexpensive Thailand and Kuala Lumpur, to a lesser degree, was. And how geographically close those countries are. We're thinking we might have gotten spoiled with the inexpensive pricing for food and lodging and our budget might need to stretch as we get to Greece and Spain and the weak dollar against the euro.
Armed with a map and a camera - yes, we looked a little like tourists - we spent the next 12 hours touring the city on foot and by train. We visited the Botanical Gardens which were absolutely beautiful. As always, we promise pics when we can post them again. Within the Botanical Gardens was the National Orchid Garden which, if you can imagine, had every kind of orchid I'd ever seen and many I've never seen. Colors, aromas everywhere. Sometimes walking along, we got a whiff of some perfume and just stood there for a second enjoying it.
Another highlight of the day was the Singapore Flyer, the largest "Ferris Wheel" in the world. To call it a ferris wheel, though, doesn't do it justice. In fact, they call it an observation ride because instead of the usual open seat you'd find on a typical ferris wheel, here about 10 of us stepped into a gondola-like car that moved slowly around so that we had a 360 degree view of the city. From this vantage point we were able to see the Sky Park at the top of Marina Bay Sands hotel. The sky park spans the length of three buildings and is shaped a bit like a cruise ship. It sits a top these three buildings - an oasis of green, over 75 floors up in the air. We timed the ride on the Singapore Flyer to be able to see the city lights in the dark and so got off the ride about 8:30.
And after that amazing ride, we high tailed it back to the hostel to pick up our bags and make our way to the airport for our 2:00 AM flight to first Doha, Katar (a small middle eastern country just east of Saudi Arabia) and then a connecting flight to Athens. We enjoyed our time and now are ready for the second leg of our trip: Greece, here we come!
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