Our first 36 hr-visit to Singapore happened during Monsoon season and we had a fabulous time exploring the area surrounding the Intercontinental hotel. We even managed to miss all the downpours as we were either on the train or inside when they happened. What to do in those few hours? First we connected with an old university friend of my husband’s and were invited to meet her in a bar on the roof terrace of the Marina Bay Sands hotel. It is that remarkable building of three towers connected on the top by a level that looks like a canoe. Visiting the Sky-park level costs about 23 SGD (Singapore Dollars) and can be applied to drinks and food at the restaurants. “Spago” requires a reservation, but CeLaVi is usually accessible in the late afternoon without. On our way we visited the world famous Raffles hotel to enjoy a Singapore sling cocktail which had been invented right there. Unfortunately, the traditional Long Bar was under renovation and we went to the Bar and Billiard room which took over in the interim. Not a bad choice as our most expensive drinks (32 SGD for the Singapore Sling and 28 SGD for the Gin Fizz, another Raffles signature drink) came with a complementary bag of peanuts.

Raflles Hotel main entrance

directions to the bar

Singapore Sling (pink) and Gin Fizz

The peanuts settled the slight peckishness we were experiencing at this point and tied us over until we arrived at the CeLaVi bar at the Marina Bay Sands hotel.

Marina Sands hotel building

Art work covering a generator and parkade

artist

Despite the humidity and heat we decided to walk from Raffles to the Marina Bay Sands hotel for about 45 minutes. It was hot and we were delighted to be able to cool off in the air-conditioned hotel before taking the elevator up to the 57th floor for some beer and snacks. We happened to be there on May 5th and the entire bar was being decorated for the Cinco de Mayo-party later on. We couldn”t stop smiling and thinking about our dear Canadian-Mexican friends in Vancouver who would be celebrating their own party that evening.

The views were amazing! We had a wonderful time connecting with our friend and cooling off in the slight breeze. Since we were in town for only one night we were invited to a family dinner at a Tamarind Hill Thai-restaurant in an old, colonial “black-and-white house” – a whitewashed structure accented with black beams – and located on a hill surrounded by a park. It was a magical place with excellent food and we were sad not being able to see much in the sparsely lit darkness. It must have had a lovely view during the day time. When we returned to our hotel we were not tired, yet, and decided to walk around its neighborhood. To our surprise we discovered that one of the smaller roads had been closed for traffic so the mostly Chinese and Korean restaurants were able to have seating on the pavement. We were looking for a small, sweet treat, but were a bit overwhelmed with the selection of pastries and sweet dumplings that we just ogled all the places and their customers. What a nice surprise…

For the next day we planned a train trip to the Botanical gardens and were even more smitten with the public transit system and its underground walkways lined with stores and services. We could have walked half of our distance to the Marina Bay Sands hotel in this much more pleasant area had we known the day before. The train delivered us right after a heavy rain shower and we could admire the rain drops on the grass and plants surrounding us. The Botanical Gardens are huge and free for the public with the exception of the National Orchid Garden. The entrance fee of 5 SGD is absolutely worth this marvel of an orchid exhibition. We couldn’t stop taking picture of evermore beautiful flowers and did not even see them all.

Entrance to the Orchid Garden

Gardeners tools-beautiful

A colonial black-and-white house

Even the garden tools fashioned from bamboo were beautiful and added to the serenity of the surroundings.

Orchids in all imaginable colours and shapes! After feasting our eyes it was time to meet for a good-bye lunch with our friend in a one of the small restaurants across the road from our hotel and enjoy some food with tiger beer in the shade. Soon after we headed to the airport with the wish to visit soon again. There is so much more to explore!

Until our next adventure! Cheers, Maike