Spotted in Singapore

Our flight back to Europe was from Singapore, as we thought this was a good central location in South East Asia to get back to from anywhere, and we were right, the flight from Bali to Singapore was good value, and gave us 2 nights for some sightseeing in the city.

We landed in the morning and got a bus from the airport into the city centre. Accomodation (and in fact EVERYTHING) in Singapore is super expensive, so we were staying in a pod/dorm-style hostel with a double bed called Hipstercity, which was just off Boat Quay near the centre.

After checking-in we went for a walk around the city, first to the mall for some delicious food, and the most amazing vegan nuggets ever! Then we walked towards the marina and towards part of the city which was used for the F1 grand prix. It was only a couple of weeks ago and a lot of the infrastructure was still here. We are both quite into F1 at home, and actually a little bit gutted we seemed to have missed one of the best seasons in recent history! Only a “bit” gutted, I think we’d both rather be travelling than at home watching F1 haha!! But being on the track here was very cool!

The sun was starting to set, and as you can see above, the track was right next to the Singapore Flyer, which is the huge ferris wheel here, so we decided to take a ride. It started with the “time capsule” which we thought would be a little naff, but actually it turned out to be really interesting learning about the history of Singapore. The flyer was very good, but finished before the sun set fully, so we walked back and caught the sunset by the marina instead.

That evening was an absolute MONSTER of a thunderstorm, the thunder felt like it was shaking the room it was that loud! It continued into the following day, which was OK as Dave was feeling a little ill, so we mostly chilled and by the time the rain stopped we were feeling well enough to venture out. We had booked to go up the Marina Bay Sands building, the views from up there are amazing. We went up at 5pm, which meant we got to see the city scape in the day (well, just about with the cloudy weather) and then watch the sunset.

When we got down it was dark and we stayed in the marina enjoying the night-time city scape and waiting for the “light show”, which was a bit underwhelming really. We walked back to the hostel enjoying the views.

The next day Dave got up super early and headed out to the marina in search of the otters we had seen signs for, and he was very lucky to be treated to an otter having it’s breakfast 🙂

Today was also the day of our flights back to Europe, so we spent the rest of the morning repacking our bags to check out. We left our bags and headed out to the National Gallery and walked around this historic quarter.

Then it was time to go to the airport and leave this region (for now) and return to Europe. What an amazing 4-months of travelling. The biggest question you get asked after travelling is always “what was your favourite bit” or “what was the ‘best’ bit”? Honestly, we don’t know, there were SO MANY best bits. Swimming with Mantas and the giant corals in Fulhadhoo, the road trip into Nubra Valley and the sunsets in Ladakh, trekking with orangutans in Sumatra, sunrise over Bromo and looking into Bromo crater, seeing wild elephants and hornbills in Thailand… there were so many. We will have a little rest and relax with our families now until Christmas, and see what next year holds in store for us… watch this space… and send tips for Central and South America 😉