To do in Singapore

SINGAPORE which was once a jungle and a barely inhabitant island has become one of the wealthiest & economically powerful country in the world and it attracts millions of tourists annually.

If we look back the history of Singapore, it started its life as a humble fishing village and its modern history dates back from 1819 which is just less than 200 years. This island gained importance after the introduction of trading port by East India Company and the person responsible was Sir Stamford Raffles. Today we could see the statue of Sir Stamford Raffles in the eastern bank of Singapore river and this place is named as 'Raffles Landing Site'.

Singapore river Then & Now

The city planner during the British colony time used river as a division between civic & commercial activities. Thus in the eastern bank, we could see all civic buildings and in western bank all the commercial high rise buildings. 

One such building  in the west bank is the Fullerton Building, this is one of the important building in Singapore's history. When its construction was completed in 1928, it housed 5 tenants; The General Post Office, Singapore Club, Import & Export Dept and few others. During World War II, it even served as hospital for wounded British soldiers.

Today this Fullerton building is a five-star luxury hotel, and the new year count down laser light will be on this building. This also have a Fullerton Heritage Center with free entry to public. Do not miss to roam inside the Fullerton building, from other side of the exit we could reach Merlion Park.

There is a bridge called Anderson Bridge which is adjacent to this building. This was constructed during British colonial period and today it is part Formula One Singapore street circuit.

Fullerton Building Then & Now

Anderson Bridge constructed in 1910 and part of Formula One Street Circuit

New Year 2016 countdown in Fullerton Building

If we exit Fullerton building from Fullerton Bay hotel then we would reach Merlion Park which has the Singapore iconic statue the Merlion. I went on a walking tour with Singapore Footprint team, they are a group of college students who step out during weekend for free walking tour to tourists. 

With fellow tourists in Singapore Footprint walking tour

From Merlion park we could see the Marina Bay Sands, another 57 floors luxury star hotel with 2500 rooms. Marina bay sands has a skypark in 56th floor for bird eye view of Singapore city and they charge S$23 for the same, in 57th floor they have infinite swimming pool. 'The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands' is luxurious mall situated north of Marina Bay Sands and it houses top brand showrooms and more dining experiences. The lift will reach the 56th floor in 40 sec and the velocity of movement will create ear block for few!! Since it is a 2500 rooms hotel, they have more than one reception and entrance to welcome the guests.

One beauty of Singapore MRT (train) is their MRT station will be part of iconic places, for ex: If we exit the Bayfront MRT station, they have direct underground subway to reach Maina Bay Sands, Gardens by the Bay and few other attractions; we don't have to exit the station in street level and walk in the road. 

1. View of Marina Bay Sands from Gardens by the Bay
2. Marina Bay Sands in night
3. The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands
4. Receptions in Marina Bay Sands

Panoramic view of Singapore city from 56th floor of Marina Bay Sands 

Gardens by the Bay is another tourist attraction, it houses trees and plants from all over the world under a dome. There are two dome, one is called flower dome and other one as cloud forest dome. The full dome is air conditioned. I personally didn't like to spend much time in this place. Since it was Christmas and NewYear time, lots of decorations was there inside.

1. View of Gardens by the bay from Singapore Flyer
2. Inside Flower dome
3. Inside Cloud Forest dome

One thing I would suggest to go in Singapore is the Singapore Flyer. It is an engineering marvel and is the biggest one in the world till now. The giant wheel moves slowly and we need to board and deboard when it is in motion. They arrange for dining experience inside the flyer capsule on a special rates. In few of the attractions, as soon as we enter they take welcome photo and will ask us to give different poses. Later in the exit we can print those photos as souvenirs.

1. View of Singapore Flyer in night from Marina Bay Sands
2. One Flyer capsule kept out for display

Simple Fact: The only animals which have been boarded the Singapore Flyer were Orang Utans and Dogs

Interesting Fact: Most of these new attractions like Singapore Flyer, Gardens by the Bay, Marina Bay Sands etc etc were constructed on the land reclaimed from sea for the purpose of city expansion

Wallet Friendly Fact: For buying souvenir, Bugis Street & Chinatown are the best places. Near all the attractions, souvenir shops will be there but priced at high cost.

Chinatown & Bugis streets for shopping souvenirs

There is a fountain in Suntec city mall which was once the largest fountain in world. The fountain and the whole of Suntec mall is constructed based on Chinese's Feng Shui principle. In this fountain the water flows inwards which signifies preservation of wealth. The fountain is opened for touch session where people can go and touch the fountain to absorb the positive aura.

1. Fountain of wealth opened for people during touch session
2. Inward flow of water to preserve wealth

During leisure afternoon time, it will be good to spend time in East Coast Park, this park has 13kms of beach and contains lots of activities like cycling, skating, fishing, barbecue pit, playground and much more to spend even whole day there.

East Coast Park

Singapore is a friendly place to roam around independently without anyone's help. But if we are alone or in a small group then joining any of the city tour group would always be a fun. There are so many guided tour options, I chose one from HopOn HopOff Singapore sightseeing (http://www.ducktours.com.sg/hippo.php). They have a kind of tour called ducktour, in this tour they will take us in a retired war vehicle which  goes both in land and in water, so we can enjoy attractions from land as well from river.

In City Sight seeing bus

Retired Vietnam war vehicle which goes both in land and in river

Planning tip:  I use http://www.viator.com/ to shortlist the places I am interested in

Walking tours: If interested in walking tour then below are the useful links. Be aware, for few walking tours we need to book in advance.

http://singaporefootprints.com/http://www.indiesingapore.com/

Group in Singapore footprint walking tour

Foods to try in Singapore

As Singapore is a multiracial & multicultural country, we could see many different native cuisine. Also since it is a tourist attracting city, we could find cuisines from all around the world from West to Europe to Asia.

Singapore chicken rice is one of the most popular & must try food among the people who live here and also for tourists. It is also considered as national food of Singapore. Unfortunately I could not try this as I follow vegetarianism.

Singapore chicken rice

There is a place called 'Singapore Food Trail' in Ground floor of Singapore Flyer complex in Raffles Avenue Road. The concept of the trail is to bring back the nostalgic feel and experience of Singapore in 1960s, so the theme of each shop looks different to give the best possible old charm.

Singapore Food Trail

I did a full round around the food trail and again my bad luck, I could not find a type a food I wish. The shopkeeper will not understand the definition of vegetarian food, we should ask for food which has 'no fish, no chicken, no meat, no..' then based on our luck, he would say YES or NO. Finally I found one Subway nearby and asked for Veggi Delight. I guess the subway guy use to get so many Indian customers, he was asking me 'Kaise ho' while billing !!

If wanted to try seafood then Boat Quay is the best place to visit, here we could see number of restaurants lined up in the bank of Singapore river. 

1. BoatQuay captured from other side of the bank
2. Restaurants lined up in BoatQuay

If looking for Indian cuisine then 'Little India' is the perfect choice. If we enter 'Little India', we will get a doubt whether we are in India or in Singapore. As soon as we get down from bus or MRT, we will start hearing tamil songs from petty shops, hotels & garments shop; this makes us feel more localite and closeness to Singapore. Even we could see pure vegetarian restaurants and few restaurants even serve jain foods. In this area we could see all popular food chains like Hotel Saravan Bavan, Anjappar, Ananda Bavan and more.

1. Chennai Flood relief
2. Little India main street

Andhra meals in one of the Indian restaurants

Another popular snacks which we could see in most of the places is corn flour chips, this they serve with flavored cheese to make it more delicious. This would be a quick, healthy & yummy eat to break us from hungry.

Corn flour chips with flavored cheese

I wanted to try some Chinese food too but majority of it are meat, pork, chicken and fish. Still I explored each and every shop in ChinaTown area to find out veggi options.And my exploration didn't turn me down this time, and found a new, completely different food called Pau; Pau literally mean bun. We could explore the ChinaTown food centers only if we can bear the smell the meat.

1. Pau in the steamer
2. Pau in the basket
3. Sliced pau

 I do not know how to explain the taste of the pau but it was completely different taste to me. The outer surface was so soft like sponge and stuffing inside differs. The one I tried was Lotus seed pau and red bean pau, both are sweet and tastes yummy.

Another new snacks I tried was roasted chestnuts and Chinese Veggi Pancake.

1. Seller roasting the Chestnut
2. Closer look of Chestnuts

Chinese Pancake

If going to Bugis streets then do not miss this cool yogurt roll. It is a Thailand dish and taste was yummy, more that the taste the preparation was awesome. We could see the live preparation of the yogurt roll, after each order, they start making it freshly and each preparation time take 5 mins atleast. So patience is important. It is prepared by pouring fresh yogurt in freezing pan, spread equally, cut it & roll.

1. Pour fresh yogurt with fresh fruits in freezing pan
2. Smash the fruits and mix
3. Spread it equally on the freezing pan
4. Cut it and roll

1. Shop name
2. Cool Yogurt roll

I tried coconut chips in AirAsia flight. When I saw the name initially, I thought they would have just added coconut flavor to normal chips. But when I opened, they literally fried the coconut slices and the taste was heavenly. Its a Thailand snacks, almost all tropical countries have lots of Coconut tree and different countries different food out of it.