MY SINGAPORE TRIP: PART ONE
Hey folks! Welcome
back to my blog. I am pretty sure you weren’t expecting to see me so soon. But
here I am with another adventure story to tell you. And this time, the country
as you may have seen in the title, is Singapore.
This time too, I went
along with my mom. But unlike Japan, we did not hire any tours & travelling
company for our itinerary. Simply because Singapore is a super-easy country to
navigate. English is their official language, it is not a city where you can
get lost in because of its small size, and generally the people there are also
very helpful. Simply put, Singapore is a global hub which is a fusion of many different cultures and religions, where acceptability rules high.
Our flight left from
Mumbai airport on 1st January, 2026. And we reached Singapore Changi
Airport pretty early in the morning. A fun fact about Singapore is that the
people who live there often times visit the airport just to have fun and
hangout with friends and family. You don’t necessarily have to have a flight to
catch. The airport is pretty well laid out with a lot of fun activities to try.
Although we did not roam around the airport right when we arrived. We had it
planned for another day.
One advice that I
must give to the reader is that, in case you plan a trip to Singapore anytime
soon, be sure to check out the websites of all the tourist destinations. Many a
times they undergo maintenance and are unavailable to the general public. A lot
of those places also require pre-bookings as the lines can get super long.
Our first stop was
Arab street where we had lunch. Now, I must tell you that Arab street is a
place best enjoyed at night. When we went it was 2 PM in the afternoon so the
sun was scorching hot, and most of the shops were closed. Regardless the food
was still as tasty as ever.
After checking in to
the hotel and having lunch, we decided to go visit one of the most famous spots
of Singapore immediately – The Marina Bay Sands hotel. And that is the thing
about me. Whenever I visit a country, I have trouble holding in my excitement
and as a result I always tend to go to the most famous place first. I did the
same thing in Paris and I would have done the same thing in Tokyo had I planned
the trip on my own.
I lived in Mumbai where seeing tall skyscrapers was an ordinary thing for me. But standing at the foot of the Marina Bay Sands (MBS), just observing its expanse and height, it felt dazzling and magical. I was stunned by it’s enormous structure. Truly, the architects were geniuses.
We took a couple of
photos and then decided to visit the Super Tree Grove park. A tip for the
reader – in case you are travelling by metro, then get down at Gardens By The
Bay or Bayfront station to visit the MBS. The super tree grove is also right
next to it!
The whole place was
clearly looking artificial yet real at the same time. It was amazing how they
had blended nature and urban architecture. The Gardens by the bay had a few
places that were interesting. We decided to go to the Cloud forest first.
So basically, the
cloud forest was a large dome-like structure which had a controlled environment
where different kinds of trees were grown and large animatronics of dinosaurs
were installed to create the feeling of nature. The moment you stepped in you would
feel a cold gust of wind and at places they had installed machines which would
emit cloud like foam onto you. The entire experience was surreal but due to a
very large crowd, it also felt slow and boring. You couldn’t fully enjoy the
activities because there were just too many people around you.
Next we visited a
flower garden which was equally good. If you’re fond of flowers be sure to
visit it. There was also a separate ticket to walk on the super tree grove, but
we forgot to purchase it beforehand.
By sunset we went
back to the bridge that connected the gardens by the bay and MBS, and watched
the super tree groves light up. We also took a stroll inside the hotel so that
was a great experience too.
The next day, was the
big day. It was Universal Studios day. To all my readers, if you ever visit
Singapore, do not miss out USS. It is extremely fun and has so much to do that
by the end of it you will be exhausted. Although that was not the case with me
and my mom as we skipped most of the rides due to motion sickness. But even
then we had a lot of fun.
Let me also give you
context with respect to the travelling part. During our whole trip we only took
the metros and nothing else. So if you want to reach USS you need to go out of
the city to a place called as Sentosa Island. Firstly, get to the Harbourfront
station via metro. And then inside the Vivo City Mall, you will find the
monorail that will take you to Sentosa Island, called as the ‘Sentosa Express’.
If you want you can also take the cable car but I will reserve that for the
next blog.
USS has a lot of
areas that you can explore such as the Sci-Fi city, Hollywood, Minions, etc.
Firstly we decided to go and try the infamous Transformers ride. It was around
10 AM in the morning so there was little to no line. And that was our best
decision. The waiting area itself for the ride was so big that one could easily
expect at least 2 hours of waiting time during peak.
The ride itself was
very innovative. I shall not spoil it for you but for my Transformers geeks out
there, you will definitely have fun. It builds upon the base created by Michael
Bay and then adds its own lore to it. You are basically being hunted by Megatron
and you have to escape before he blasts you. It was also really unusual for me
as we could carry our bags with us. No one told us to remove our accessories.
Next we visited the
Mummy area where there was a super fast ride which we had to skip. The other
ride was for children but we still waited in line for about half an hour. If
you don’t have a problem of motion sickness and can do the bigger rides then it
is my advice to you to skip the smaller rides as they are not worth it.
Next up we went to
Lord Farquaad’s castle where there were a couple of rides of the Shrek
universe. We sat in the 4D theatre which was pretty good and had a few laughs
here and there. We also had lunch right there.
Later on, we were
just roaming around the park here and there. We went to the Minions place but
by then peak hours had started so there was a really long queue everywhere. So
we just purchased a slushie, took a few photos and went elsewhere.
I wanted to try out
Hollywood because obviously. So we went to a Steven Spielberg themed
attraction. The line was long there too but in the waiting area we were
patiently admiring all the movie posters of films produced by Universal such as
Fast & Furious, Van Helsing, A Beautiful Mind, The Bourne movies, etc. The
attraction in itself was a small amphitheatre wherein a virtual Steven
Spielberg would set the stage for a disaster sequence. And then the whole room
would show us how practical effects are generated for a scene. There was fire,
water, fire on water, extreme wind, loud sounds, fluctuating lights, etc. I
felt as if I was almost transported to the ending sequence of Cape Fear by
Martin Scorsese. For a movie buff such as myself, it was magical.
And then finally in
the late afternoon we decided to go Jurassic Park. There was a famous waterboat
ride there whose waiting was 2 hours! My mom was dismissive about water rides
so I went and stood in the queue for 2 hours for a 10 minute ride. For any of
you who have been to Imaagica, the ride Rajasaurus is just exactly what was
present in USS. If Jurassic Park was a 10/10 then Rajasaurus was at least 6/10.
Another tip for the
readers – USS rides generally have a separate line for singles. That means if
you are alone you can go in that line instead of regular people and get
admitted to rides faster. Although that day unluckily for me, the singles line
was closed.
After that, we bid
farewell to Universal Studios and went for the cable car ride. Just FYI, the
cable car station was a little far away from USS entry/exit and you have to
climb up a lot stairs to get to it. And if you have a round trip then do NOT
get down in the middle (like we did accidentally). But if you want you may exit
at Harbourfront cable car station, take the lift, go downstairs and the metro
station will be a stone’s throw away. Else, you may choose to get down at Mount
Faber, enjoy a few snacks and drinks and complete the round trip.
Later on, we went to
Chinatown to have dinner. That was a surreal experience too. I have always
wanted to go to a Chinatown in any big city. Singapore was my first and it did
not disappoint. I hope New York can live up to it one day.
Thank you folks for
reading. This article covered 2 days of our trip. The next 2 will be covered in
the second one and the last 2 in the third one. See you again!
