My Trip to Singapore with Ken

Today was our first full day here in Singapore. We hadn’t really planned to do anything other than Universal Studios and The SkyPark Observation Deck. I had a look at the map last night and found somewhere where I could buy souvenirs and we headed to the metro in that direction. We got off around by the harbour area and found a Starbucks (you may notice a theme in the posts from this entire trip) and went and had something to drink in the cooler air (it was baking Dave. Ken was loving it, and I was not). It seemed to be a maze getting off the metro and getting out to street level. All the buildings seemed to be interconnected.

Once we were done in Starbucks, we headed in the general direction of where the souvenir stores were. We saw across from Starbucks there was some sort of mall and we had a wander in and it was this quaint food hall. We were in the financial district so it was full of business people going about their daily lives and I didn’t dare get in the way of them. I was having minor stress at this point because of all the people here.

I had to get out as quick as I could. We found our way out and went across the road to where there was a 7-Eleven. I was hoping for a Slurpee here but sadly not many of the ones I had seen did them. I was disappointed. I had to settle for bottles of Sprite instead. The best thing about this is that they were on offer for S$1 per bottle. We had a lot of Sprite on this trip at those prices. They would be the same as paying around 60p back home. A win if ever I saw one.

I got our drinks and then we headed out walking again in the general direction of where the map said the souvenir shop was. I like having a wander because you can get lost in side streets and discover off-the-beaten-path stuff. We stumbled across Thian Hock Keng Temple and we spent about 30 minutes there. It was pretty cool to see it and to see all the architecture and ornaments and wall decorations too. It was also a welcome relief from the beating sun (another theme you may spot here).

We headed to where it said the souvenir store was but I couldn’t find it. I had a quick look at the map and found where there was another one and we headed in that direction. There weren’t really any side streets here that stood out to us so we just walked in the general direction of the store.

We found the street and it was in Chinatown. There was a huge temple here called Sri Mariamman Temple and it seemed quite popular. I think we didn’t go in because neither of us could be bothered to take off our shoes and put them back on again. Also, you had to leave the shoes out on the main street and we were both uneasy about that. With that, we found a side gate that we could look through and we took some pictures and then headed to where the souvenir shop was. There were several on this street and I got magnets only here. I couldn’t find a lanyard or a flag. I was a little sad at that. I had a look at most of the stores here and none of them carried them. I guess I’ll have to look online to buy the ones I missed.

As we were walking down this street, we could see we were definitely in Chinatown so we had a wander around and came across some pretty cool things. We found some cool buildings and some street art and we came across a big market hall. I could see the light in Ken’s eyes when he spotted it. It was mostly tat on the ground floor and then food on the first. I wasn’t overly keen to hang around but I knew Ken wanted to try some local food so we had a wander for what seemed like seventeen hours before he found somewhere that did dumplings. I stood there and watched them make them (you can see this in the video below).

Ken loved them. I was very weary about eating something that didn’t look too good and I didn’t want to eat food that I didn’t know what it contained. I didn’t want to have a bad stomach and have to stay in the hotel. After he was done, I was getting hungry and we had a wander around and went back out into Chinatown and had a walk around. I was just going to go to the 7-Eleven but then I found somewhere that did western food so I headed there. I had fish and chips but it wasn’t the fish and chips we get back home. The batter on the fish was more of a crumbed batter. It still tasted good though.

We were at the square that had the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and we went in here and had a walk-through. It was really cool. They had prayers and chants going on and I took some pics and videos here.

After we were done there, we headed out to walk some more. We didn’t really have a direction that we wanted to go in so I said which way we should go – and that was purely based on the street architecture that was there. It looked pretty cool – so we headed in that direction. After a while, I saw a park and the park had a double swing in it and I made a beeline for it and we sat in it for about half an hour. Truth be told, my feet were killing me and I needed some respite. It was the kind of swing where you would both move and it would start to swing. Ken thought it would be fun to see how high we could go. I tried my hardest to stop it from moving as I didn’t want to go too high. We got off said swing and I decided to just carry on walking – I couldn’t decide at first whether to get the metro or not. We found a 7-Eleven and we got some Sprite and some chocolate (well, I got the chocolate).

We carried on walking in the direction of the waterfront as we wanted to see what the bay area was like. The walk seemed to take forever and I’m pretty sure that was due to my dead feet. We just took a gentle stroll in that area. We got to the quaint food hall and we stopped at a shop there to see if they had sandwiches and what drinks they had. There were two old women in there and we asked them about the Tim Tam flavours they had. Ken wanted caramel flavour but they didn’t have it. One then proceeded to flirt with him. She asked him something and he responded that he was sweet enough and she said she’d like a taste to see if he was sweet enough. Yuck. We hot-footed it out of there and headed to Starbucks for the cold air and a cold drink for me and a coffee for Ken.

We left from here and headed towards the harbour. As we rounded the corner, the Marina Bay Sands hotel came into view. It was an awesome sight to see – as was the whole harbour. We saw a guy with a drone and it was cool. We stopped and chatted with him and we decided that a drone would be a cool thing to have. We carried on our walk constantly stopping for pics and views because it was so awesome. I’ve only ever seen this in pictures so it was surreal to be here in front of it. We took a nice steady walk around the harbour to the shopping centre that was here and we had a nice chilled walk through it. We decided we would go and see if there were any tickets available but a sign was up saying they were all sold out. We both decided we would look online to see if we could get some.

We had a walk around the harbour and got some cool night shots too before heading toward the Helix Bridge and then into the mall to go to the metro station to get the metro home. We decided a stop at McDonald’s and Starbucks was in order. We went and got our tech so we could look at tickets for the SkyPark Observation Deck and then headed for food and coffee. As we were looking for tickets for the observation deck, I commented how cool it would be if we could go to Bangkok after we got to Kuala Lumpur. We had a look for tickets and they weren’t super expensive so we just decided to book them there and then. We both figured after missing out on Tokyo in 2018 (we were in Seoul and the flight was about an hour between the two. We were wounded. Anyway, read about Seoul here, here, here and here) we wouldn’t do that again. Tickets and hotel booked, it was time to head back to the hotel to get some much-needed sleep before our random walking around day tomorrow.

Total steps: 21,036

Total miles: 10.23

Below are some pics from today

Today I woke up not feeling 100% but I didn’t say anything to Ken as I didn’t want to stay at the hotel and I wanted to go out and explore more of the bay area here.

We went and got some embassy breakfast and then headed towards the metro. We headed back to the financial district and went to Starbucks. It was eerily quiet (of course it would be on the weekend). The guy told us they were closing early on a Saturday owing to this and we decided to leave and head towards the Boat Quay area. I wanted to walk in a different direction than we had yesterday and we did just that.

The buildings and street art were just as cool. I love Singapore. It’s so pleasant on the eyes. We got down to the boat quay and the smaller quaint buildings were pretty cool to see too. The shops had seating around the quay so you couldn’t really get any views unless you were sitting in there. We found a couple of spots on this side to get some pics though. We decided we would walk around it and then cross the bridge and walk in the direction we came from but on the other side.

The views of the buildings we walked by were better appreciated from this side of the quay anyway. I decided I would test out the camera on the phone to see if the stabilisation was as good as Apple said it was. You can view the video below and make your own decision on it. The video is of me walking as the boat is sailing in my direction.

We walked around by the parliament and the concert hall and across the Anderson Bridge so we could find somewhere to powder our noses. We found a super posh hotel and we just walked in and found a bathroom. As Ken was in there, I waited in the lobby and saw there was a Koi Carp pond downstairs and I called Ken over because I knew he would like it. We spent about 15 minutes down there just looking at the fish and taking some pics and videos.

We left the hotel and walked to the main road and then across to the bay and we found our happy place (Starbucks to you peasants :p) and we had to get a seat wherever we could as it was crowded. We left here and then walked around the bay towards the concert hall (I saw there was a 7-Eleven and that meant cheap Sprite and chocolate). We stopped by the Merlion fountain for a few pictures. Of course we each got a picture where it looked like we were spouting the water out.

We headed to the top of the concert hall and the views around the bay were really cool. As we were up there, there was some sort of concert going on down below (it wasn’t the greatest). We headed back down and carried on walking around the bay and across the Helix Bridge. We went back to the mall and went to the Apple store. We love Apple, and we love tech. It was a no-brainer for us to go there.

After we were done here we were both getting hungry so we decided to head back to the metro and head towards the hotel and then to the food place we found on our first day here. I was pretty hungry so I got the same but also some extra pork fried rice. I could barely finish it all – same with Ken. We then got some Sprite for the super long (ha) walk around the corner to the hotel.

I decided I needed some more sleep so we could have a full day tomorrow too. We both decided that we wanted to go to Gardens by the Bay and have a wander around there.

It was good to not have to do as much walking as the day before. My blisters were getting blisters on them too. It wasn’t fun. I was also so ready for a good sleep.

Total steps: 17,209

Total miles: 8.43

Below are some pics from today

Our plan today was to go to the Gardens by the Bay and have a look around there. Ken was telling me he had been looking at it and that it was something he wanted to do. We got up a little later than usual today – I’m putting it down to jet lag and lack of sleep.

We headed out and went to the metro. The metro station was inside a mall and we had a look around here to see what there was. We didn’t spend a huge amount of time here before jumping on the metro and heading to the financial district to have a wander around there. We got off the metro and walked upstairs to head out and it was raining really heavily. I really like it. I went for a little wander in it. I didn’t mind as it was warm enough that I would dry quickly once the rain had stopped. At one point, the rain was so heavy that it was tough to see very far ahead. I was really loving it. It was needed to help cool the air a little.

Once the rain was done, we headed towards the Gardens by the Bay. I said we should go to the area where they sell the tickets for the observation deck. We had looked online and Ken had gotten some tickets but no money had come out so we were unsure whether the tickets were reserved for us or not.

We headed to the hotel where the entrance was for the observation deck. The hotel is like nothing else I have seen before. It is massive and very posh inside. This council boy was definitely out of place. We went to the observation deck area and he said the tickets weren’t purchased but that it was a timeslot for us to come back and purchase the tickets. We left and I said I would just look when we were in Kuala Lumpur and I would purchase them there.

We followed the signs for the lift to get out of the hotel towards the gardens but the lift took us downstairs towards the mall. We turned around and went back up. We found someone and asked them. We had to go outside and round the corner to get the lift. We got the lift up and walked towards the harbour first. The views were amazing. I kept grabbing every bit of shade I could to help cool me down as it was so hot. The views made up for it though. We walked around one side and realised it didn’t go right the way round so we decided to go down to the mall and then walk back to the hotel and then to the lift to go to the gardens.

We got to the gardens and it was so cool to see them. They had pods up on poles and a walkway too. We walked to get some pictures and as we were there, there was a couple taking pictures and doing some singing/dancing. I stopped for a while and got some pictures and videos of them.

We then headed into the gardens and had a walk around. The gardens are quite extensive and have different areas depicting different parts of the world. We were in the Indian gardens and saw some people taking pictures. Ken asked if they wanted him to take a picture and it was like he asked them if he could have their firstborn. They refused and we carried on walking. We found somewhere to sit for a drink and I drank almost a litre of water in one go – I guess that’s what happens when you get too hot.

Ken said he wanted to go up into the trees they had and we went and got some tickets and then went to queue. It turns out he wanted to go up the observatory and not the skywalk. The skywalk was pretty cool though. I enjoyed it. It was a nice walk and had a bit of a breeze. The views from atop were cool too. The view of the hotel just overshadowed everything but it was awesome.

We went and got some souvenirs and headed towards where it said the metro was but it wasn’t and we just had to walk around until we found it.

We went back to the stop at Novena and had a look around in the mall for some food but nothing seemed appealing.

We found a mobile phone stall that did screen protectors. I wanted to change mine as I had dropped the phone and there was a little crack in the corner. It wasn’t noticeable but I knew it was there and it was bugging me.

We asked this guy how much it was and he showed us several different ones. A one from Singapore that was ok and one from Japan that was awesome. He showed us how strong they were by stabbing them with a screwdriver and both me and Ken winced. I decided to take the Japanese one even though it was almost S$40 for it. I managed to get him down to S$30 by saying it was my birthday. We walked away and Ken decided he wanted one so we went back. The guy had to do Ken’s a second time because a bit of dust got in. It was cool how they do it. The protector was precision cut for the type of phone you have. He then put it on and then put it under UV light to make it stick. Watch the video below to see.

After we were done with this, we just headed back to the area of the hotel and had some coffee and then went back to the hotel as we wanted some decent kip ready for the day tomorrow at Universal Studios (a one-time-only deal).

Total steps: 16,942

Total miles: 8.41

Below are some pics from today

Today was probably the day Ken was most looking forward to. It was the day we went to Universal Studios. He wanted to go to a theme park in Seoul but I wasn’t down for it at all. It isn’t my thing. He asked me before we left if I would consider going and I messaged back and said to him we could go. The anxiety was building the closer we got to the day we needed to go. It’s ok though. I knew I could say no if I really wanted to and he still would have gone.

We decided to get the bus this time and it was nice to sit on the bus and chill for a little bit. Ken wanted to sit at the front so we did. I enjoyed taking in the scenery of the drive to the stop we needed. It took about 45 minutes and we went to the VivoCity stop to catch the monorail to Sentosa Island. We had a wander around the mall first and had some food and drinks as the park didn’t open until 11. One of the things I was worried about was taking drinks with me and then them confiscating them at the park. This wasn’t the case at all and I was so glad I bought drinks outside the park as I can only imagine how expensive they are inside.

We got the monorail to the park and they crammed you on and it was standing room only and you were intimate with your monorail neighbours. The closer we got to the park you could see Ken’s eyes light up.

We went inside the park and just walked around and went on some of the rides. We went on a ride of some sort (I don’t even know which one) and it was pretty cool. We did the single-person queue for the rides as you get on quicker (for the most part). We didn’t mind if we weren’t sitting together on the rides. We got off that one and walked around some more. We got a picture of Ken with Hello Kitty for one of the people we know at Starbucks in Peterborough. We sent it to her and she loved it.

As we were walking around, they started the parade so Ken said we should move quickly so we could go see it. We did and I got a good vantage point at the front. Part way through, they decided to do the Conga and were asking people if they wanted to join in. Ken jumped at the chance so he joined in. I managed to get a video of it (see below).

We walked around to the Egyptian part of the park and Ken went on the Mummy ride they had. I wasn’t overly fussed about it. You weren’t allowed to take your bags in with you and you had to put them in a locker but they started charging ridiculous prices after the free 30 minutes. I said I would wait outside with his bag and he could go on. I found somewhere to sit and have some chocolate and a drink, it was in the shade and it was pretty nice just to listen to the rides and watch the roller coaster pass every so often. He came and found me and we walked around some more.

We walked around to where the water rides were. I stood there and just watched people come through the end of the water ride. It was cool to watch them get wet. I took a video of it to see how wet they got as I wanted to go on it and wanted to know if I would be soaked or just a little wet. I didn’t really care though I just knew I wanted to go on it. You can see how wet they were or weren’t in the video below.

We went and found a locker to put our bags in so we could do that ride. We went into the single-person queue and waited for our turn. We didn’t have to wait too long thankfully. I loved this ride. It was water and I love water. What wasn’t to like about this?

After we were done here, I wanted to do the mini rollercoaster they had here. This is what ate up our time. There didn’t seem to be odd numbers wanting to do this ride. We decided that I would go first as I could then go and get our bags so we didn’t get charged more than we needed from the lockers. It was my turn to go on and I made sure I was on the seat that was facing forward so I could get a video. They made me put my phone away but as soon as we were moving I got it out to take the below video.

We were done on this ride and then had a walk around some more and went to the Shrek part of the park. We waited a while for them to open the doors so we could go in and get an intro and then into the auditorium for the 4D movie. It was really cool. I’m pretty sure I got whiplash from the seats moving though. Haha. We were getting nearer to the time of the park closing so we carried on walking around a little bit more and then headed out to go get something to drink and eat before getting on the monorail to head back to the mall.

We got back to the mall and had a walk around and got some drinks and sat for a little bit before heading to the bus. I took us to the bus stop but got us on the wrong bus. We ended up getting off at Chinatown and then walking around and heading to a bus stop to pick up the right bus. I was shattered at this point and was desperate for some sleep. We got on the right bus this time and got off by the mall and went and had McDonald’s and Starbucks before going back to the hotel. We were checking out in the morning to head to Kuala Lumpur. I packed this evening as I didn’t want to pack in the morning. I just wanted an easy morning.

All in all, the park was good. Too many people for my liking but I’m glad I did it. I can’t envisage doing another park again though.

Total steps: 15,045

Total miles: 7.35

Below are some pics from today

Today was our last full day in Singapore and the last full day of the holiday. The only plan we really had today was to go to the observation deck.

We had a lie-in and then headed to get breakfast and a drink before going for the bus to go to the mall at VivoCity. I wasn’t feeling 100% so we hung around the mall by the hotel for a little longer before getting on the bus to the mall. We had a walk around the mall to kill some time before our entry to the observation deck.

I ended up getting a mag-safe (not Apple) power bank here. I don’t even know why. I didn’t need one. Oh well. It’s just money right.

I told Ken after we were done at the mall that I wanted to go by the Chinatown area as I had seen somewhere I wanted to have a quick walk around to get some pictures. We got back on the bus (the right one this time) and went to that area. We got off and I thought we were in the wrong area. We weren’t, it just didn’t go down the street I thought it would as it was a one-way street. We wandered around that area and we came across a food hall. I didn’t really want to walk around it so Ken went in and I went across the street to take some pictures.

I then went in to find Ken and we found him some food. I wasn’t really bothered about getting food there and I just wanted to find a 7-Eleven to get something there. I wanted a Sprite. Sadly they were back to the regular price of S$3.50.

We then jumped on the metro and went to the harbour again to go and find a Subway so I could get something substantial to eat. Subway here is way more expensive than at home. After I was done eating we headed to the hotel to go to the observation deck. The place was crowded. It was crazy. We got up there and got some pictures and had a walk around. I thought you could walk around the entire thing but it was only 25% of it as the rest was for the hotel guests.

As we were walking, I found a bench to sit on and Ken sat on the ground near the glass. The couple next to us left and he sat on the bench too. As we were sitting there, a couple asked us to take their picture. I obliged and the first picture I took was a selfie before taking pictures of them. They took it in good humour when they saw my picture. They asked for a couple more and then went on their merry way. I went to find some drinks but they were super expensive. S$5 for a 330ml can of Sprite. I don’t think so. I went back around and sat on the bench. When the sun was starting to set, I took some pictures and then went for a walk around the other side. The setting sun was awesome. The pictures were amazing. I went back around and told Ken he should go around and he did and he got some pretty awesome pictures too.

We then walked around to the other side as they did a water show at 20:00 and we wanted to see that. You can see it in the videos below. Both videos are about 15 minutes in total.

I took a video of the sunset and you can see how awful it is in the video below

Once we were done here, we had a walk across the Helix Bridge to a 7-Eleven to get a cold drink and something to eat before heading to the bus stop. We got on the bus and then got back to the hotel. We had to pack everything up ready for a VERY early start to check out and head to the airport. I knew we wouldn’t get much sleep but I wanted to try anyway. As most of my stuff was already packed from the day before when we got back to Singapore from Kuala Lumpur, there wasn’t a whole lot to pack and it took no time at all. Thankfully. It was time to sleep – very much needed.

Total steps: 17,026

Total miles: 8.48

Below are some pics from today