My schedule in Singapore was very tight, to the point I only had a few hours to roam around the city on the last night before I flew out on Thursday afternoon.
I first went to Singapore with my parents and sister when we were kids. This business trip was my first visit in nearly 20 years. The city had changed immensely. I had expected it to be very similar to Hong Kong but as it turned out it was a lot more like my other home Sydney than Hong Kong!
After work I grabbed something quick to eat from the shopping center next to Mandarin Oriental. Then I started walking over to the Marina Bay Sands direction which involved crossing a foot bridge. The walk gave a great view of the harbour. Luckily there weren’t too many tourists.
I researched beforehand and decided I had seen enough shopping centers in Hong Kong so I had no plans to go inside Marina Bay Sands. Instead I was heading for Gardens by the Bay. In honesty, I felt skeptical about the giant man made tree feature at first. It was a breezy fine night and the Garden was literally ‘a walk in the park’. The giant tree structure was larger than I expected. They had some light show going on.
There were giant trees everywhere. The central part of the garden had one tree that doubled as a bar as well. I didn’t bother paying the entry fee and ended up sitting at the bottom of one of the trees. The bar tree looped very tacky Kenny G music.
Gardens by the Bay is huge. I made the mistake of entering and exiting at two ends. The side where I exited from was relatively quiet at night. There were hardly any taxis coming by. I waited for at least 15mins before I got in one. So plan well for your visit!
Buddha Explores 