Singapore, Singapore

Singapore is a tiny island nation across a river south of Malaysia. It’s a seven-hour flight from Tokyo or a little over twice as long from LAX. It is known for its weird laws, like it being illegal to chew bubblegum or sing in public.

“The Garden City.” When I heard Singapore was called that, I imagined that there would be a few incredible gardens in the city that we could wander through. While this was entirely true (see the Singapore Orchid Garden for proof), I did NOT expect its real meaning was that the entire city was partially claimed by very determined nature. Apparently, "The 'garden city' vision was introduced by then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew on 11 May 1967 to transform Singapore into a city with abundant lush greenery and a clean environment in order to make life more pleasant for the people" (https://www.singaporegeographic.com/singapore-biodiversity). What this means in reality is that entire sections of buildings are built so gardens and other green space can exist in them. A skyscraper with 45 floors? The 20th floor is just 2 floors of open space that is actually a massive outdoor garden you can see from other skyscrapers. A walkway between two buildings? Chances are that the walkway is actually a nature path as they have let the massive plants take over both sides of the walkway. - David

Picture taken from the top of Marina Bay Sands of Gardens by the Bay, note the SuperTree Grove, greenhouses, and the busy Singaporean port!

Singapore is only 290 square miles with a population of 5.5 million. Singapore is less than one third the size of Tokyo, and has half the population density per square mile (20k vs. 40k ppl/sq mi). For reference…

• Smallest state: Rhode Island is 1,033 square miles (population 1 million)

• Capital of Japan: Tokyo, Japan is 847 square miles (population 14 million)

• My Hometown: St. Mary’s County, Maryland is 359 square miles (population 115 thousand)

• Capital of the U.S.: D.C. is 68 square miles (population 672 thousand)

So, Singapore was much smaller than Tokyo and even smaller than the backwoods county I grew up in, and had a smaller population density than Tokyo (but obviously Not St. Mary’s). The nation is also only 59 years old and celebrated its birthday shortly after we left with parades, flags everywhere, and all kinds of events. We did get to see fireworks over Marina Bay Sands during one of the dry runs for the later festivities. Our food tour guide described growing up and walking along the fishing piers with his father, with little formal education and a very slow, relaxed life, in shocking comparison to the now bustling, independent sovereign nation that Singapore has become. He told us how after World War II, Malaysia tried to reunite with Singapore, but Singapore is an immigrant nation with a majority Chinese descendant population, and the two countries quickly decided to part ways. Singapore, having no natural resources, quickly turned to manufacturing, finance, and tourism to survive. Today, it is a wealthy, powerful, and beautiful country.

While I am certain that the movie Crazy Rich Asians may have played a significant part in Singapore’s current tourism boom (though every country is experiencing one, so maybe not), my interests in Singapore actually go back further to when I was in college and my ex was looking at cities to study architecture in. We had an acquaintance that left Clemson to study abroad there, had learned about their very intriguing public housing policy, and about their very modern architecture. A significant amount of Singapore’s architecture and development happened after the advent of modern steal work, and unlike the cities of the west there was little intricate existing structure to dismantle and replace. And so, Singapore’s incredible skyline was born.

Picture taken from the top of Marina Bay Sands, note the two "durian shaped" buildings that make up Esplanade music hall, and the edge of the "white lotus" ArtScience Museum. I swear it's more like a giant garlic, and I personally would not pair durian and garlic together...

When I set out on my adventure this year, I thought, “Hey, I’d like to go to Singapore. The architecture is pretty cool.” That was it. That was the entire thought.

Well, it was nothing like Japan, that’s for certain. Nor Spain. Nor Columbia. It was like no where else I had ever been. Singapore is a tropical rainforest, and the city coexists beautifully with the foliage, vines dripping from buildings, gardens protruding from skyscrapers, green rooftops like lily pads across the landscape. The Changi Airport boasts a central seven-story indoor waterfall, surrounded by lush trees and shrubs. Truly, it was the garden city.

Despite being a tropical rainforest, it didn’t feel nearly as hot as Tokyo did, maybe due to the sheer abundance of plants cooling down the concrete jungle. I couldn’t say for certain. My best friend from middle school, Naomi, joined David and I during the first part of this trip, and we traveled all over Singapore (by train, like an hour, both ways…).

Airbnb is, you guessed it, illegal in Singapore. We stayed at a budget hotel (had budget in the name and everything), with a single double bed, the smallest desk I’ve ever seen, and a five-gallon hot water shower. Since we planned on being out and about every day, the accommodations were fine, and I’d honestly recommend them for anyone else traveling on a budget.

On the first day, we hiked the Southern Ridges of Singapore. This is a park area that spans the country just above its southern coast and has amazing hiking bridges called skywalks that allowed us to hike above the ground near the tops of the trees. It was amazing, honestly one of the best strolls I have ever been on. Though, you may want to keep in mind I have a thing for well maintained paths that allow us to experience nature without coming in full face contact with it. Somewhere along the lines, we did run into a sign warning about the wild otters, which both Naomi and I misheard David say, “Don’t trust the otters.” So, don’t trust them. If you ever see them because we unfortunately didn’t.

We had breakfast at the cute little Wildseed Café at Alkaff Mansion in the Southern Ridges, meandered across, ran out of the park into another park called Hort Park, continued through Kent Ridge Park (may have also been considered part of the Southern Ridges, I’m unsure), and finally ended up at the national Botanical Gardens and Orchid Park. As orchids appear to be the national flower, the extra cost is well worth the visit to the park within the greater gardens.

The next day, Naomi, David, and I went to Marina Bay Sands Gardens By the Bay. If you’ve ever seen images of the giant, colorful, metal trees of Singapore (or again, watched Crazy Rich Asians), you are likely familiar with the Supertree Grove. We walked along it, saw the observatory, and went into the Cloud Forest. All of the tickets for different parts are sold separately; if I could only do one, the Cloud Forest was incredible. It felt like a miniature mountain with live plants and a waterfall inside of a greenhouse. And you can take a walkway up and around the mountain.

The day after that, we did another treetop hike and suspension bridge in central Singapore, somewhere in or around Windsor Nature Park. We ate at a hawker center, another thing Singapore is famous for, where dozens of different vendors occupy stalls in a building and you can pick from any arrangement of interesting Asian cuisine.  We visited the National Gallery, which is unique for taking two historical buildings from Singapore’s past and melding them together under one roof.

The day after that, we went to Sentosa Island near Universal Studios to the south of Singapore. Unfortunately, a nearby oil spill caused all beaches and surrounding areas to be closed, but we had an enjoyable day of walking around and seeing sites.

At 6:30 A.M. on Thursday, we had breakfast with Naomi at an all-night dim sum place, before sending her on her way back to Tokyo. All of us were used to being up early, but it felt like Singapore had never gone to sleep. As one of the safest countries in the world, walking around in the dead of night was bizarrely fine. The streets were still bustling with activity, people still came and went. It was unclear if some of them were just starting their days or stumbling home from their nights. It wasn’t quiet nor loud, just cozy as the sun came up.

At this point, we had seen at least two thirds of the entire country on foot. We took a few days to just relax, meandering between hawker centers and gardens, playing Monster Hunter on the switch in new and interesting places, reading and writing when time allowed. In retrospect, I may have allotted a bit too much time to such a small island nation.

We finished up our trip by visiting the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, which is in the northern most area of Singapore, just south of Malaysia. We saw a giant monitor lizard crossing our path and then staying in the shade close enough to get several good pictures. We decided to take one last stroll along the bay promenade to see their iconic Merlion sculpture and Marina Bay Sands hotel, and were able to catch a preshow of Singapore’s National Birthday fireworks.

Overall, I really enjoyed Singapore. Despite fun being illegal, it was a lot more relaxed than Japan in many cultural ways. I loved the architecture and the way the rainforest blended into the city. Most buildings seemed to set aside at least one entire floor for a garden, it was wild. I’m not certain if I’ll make it back there someday, but if I did, I would happily walk amongst the treetops again.

10/10 – It’s not a city in a garden, it’s a garden city.

The science park pictures are because we didn't - then did - find the science park. 0/10 would not recommend (Singaporean work building with do not approach or take pictures signs, not actually a fun place). Enjoy the wild monkeys. Cute to look at, actually evil.