Marina Bay – Old & Lost

Our plans for today were to walk back to Gardens by the Bay and tour the Flower Dome and Cloud Forest. We are certainly getting our steps in, here in Singapore. This city is just so beautiful. Will definitely need to come back here one day. So much to see on the way. Some of the tunnels were painted with murals.

They had these informative signs around. Tourists can’t say “we didn’t know!”

Passed by lots of restaurants, but these guys caught my eye, even if I am not a big seafood fan. They were HUGE, I think.

We saw many statues all around Singapore, but I thought this one in particular was just so whimsical. I am sure that there was probably a sign around somewhere telling people NOT to jump in the river.

First Generation Sculpture at Boat Quay, outside of the Fullerton Hotel made in 2000 by the artist Chong Fat Cheong

The Bird by Fernando Botero, is located in Boat Quay, outside the United Overseas Bank (UOB) by the riverfront at Raffles Place, Singapore.

Never get tired of seeing this view.

A few more random pictures of buildings and artwork around. It was everywhere.

We cut through the same hotel as we had cut through last night and saw this. They think of everything over here. They are plastic umbrella bags to keep the water from dripping off your umbrellas on to the floors everywhere. Seemed to be free of charge.

We were heading to the Marina Bay Sands Hotel to check out the upper levels. The view from the observation deck, Level 57 on the roof was amazing.

Flower Dome and Cloud Forest buildings, Supertree Grove

Art Science Museum (top left), The Merlion (top right), The Float@Marina Bay (bottom right), Singapore Flyer (bottom right),

Since we had paid to go up were we allowed to go into the Cé La Vi bar for a drink. Not an inexpensive place, but had to do it at least once since we were in Singapore.

We were able to catch a glimpse of the roof top pool of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel. I can’t imagine paying the prices for this place and having a pool this crowded.

We headed over to the Flower Dome and Cloud Forest and bought our tickets. This place is absolutely breathtaking. If you ever get to Singapore and you like plants of any sort, this place is a must. I took hundreds of photos in here. Actually for the whole day I took 786 photos! In one day!

The cactus area of the gardens.

Here are just a few of the many, many art pieces in the gardens.

This was the walkway that I went up on and the view below was spectacular. If I recall correctly, it is the Lost World or maybe this is the Cloud Forest or maybe it is the Lost World in the Cloud Forest? I have no idea what it was called! But it was breathtaking.

The blossoms were phenomenal and plentiful. This is only a few of them.

The cherry blossoms were magnificent.

We caught the MRT from the hotel to a Fort Canning, which is the station nearest our hotel. We are pros at this now, now that we are leaving tomorrow. This will be hard to believe but we grabbed dinner at the hotel’s bake & cook takeaway café. Tonight however, we ate in the courtyard.

Time to pack up for our trip to Bali, Indonesia tomorrow.

We had a great sleep and enjoyed our breakfast that was included. They had a good selection of food I would eat, which is always a bonus, as you never know what the breakfast options are going to be. Coffee was okay also.

We were fed and out before 10:30 which was great as we wanted to do the river cruise.

Just down the street from our hotel was this temple. Not sure what they had lit, but they looked like giant firecrackers to me. Believe it or not, we did NOT stop to check it out.

We crossed over the river to book a river cruise.

Tickets in hand we went in search of washrooms before the cruise tour began. Always seem to be searching for washrooms. Our dollar is almost on par with the Singapore dollar, which makes it great for conversion in my mind.

Headed right back and boarding was just about to begin. We headed to the back of the boat to sit outside. Hoping we would get great views of everything. Thankfully today was a little overcast and we shouldn’t be fried, like we often are.

The River Cruise would take us from Clarkes Quay to the Marina Bay and back.

The sky was starting to clear and the sun was trying to come out

We got back to the dock and decided to wander around riverside area checking out menus of the cafes and pubs. We thought we might come back one evening. That never did happen, but if we ever go back, we will make it happen.

Doug’s favorite wine, Shiraz. YUCK!

By now it was afternoon, as in after 1200 hrs, and we were getting tired and thirsty. Only so much water a person can drink, right? So we looked at a few menus and found a place we could afford. This place looked nice and had cheap beer for Singapore.

We relaxed and enjoyed a couple of cold beers on the riverside.

Wandered up the side streets to see what was around.

Some streets were better than others. Came across this cool vending machine. Can’t say we have ever seen a Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice vending machine before.

We found a Starbucks, but not only was it a Starbucks, it was also where the Canadian Embassy is. Okay Paden, we have found the place for you to get a job so we can visit.

Here is a picture of the old with the new architecture.

We had ended up in Chinatown again and yes, there was a temple that was calling our names.

This was the Sri Mariamman Temple. A Hindu temple and looked very similar to the temple that we had visited in Kuala Lumpur a few days ago. After a while, all these temples start to look a like.

We headed back to the hotel and had an early dinner at the little cafe, the baker & cook, again. I had the same as last night, quiche and salad. Doug also had the same tonight. Did some laundry, as they had laundry facilities, which is always exciting, and chatted with an Aussie couple in the laundry room. It was some nice down time. Then back to the room to relax for a while, but not for long!!!

We were heading to the Gardens by the Bay for the night time light show that was in the Supertree Grove.

We were going to take the MRT there. Unfortunately, but fortunately, we got off at the wrong stop and felt totally lost. Fortunate thing was, apparently a lot of people got off at the wrong stop, so we just followed the crowds. We were on the wrong side of the river and had to cross over the Helix Bridge that is pictured above. As we were crossing over, the light show on the Art Science Museum started. It was awesome. I only got a few photos though as we were walking across the bridge and still a little ways away.

The music and light show was INCREDIBLE. Here are just a few photos that I took. The first one shows the Marina Bay Sands Hotel.

You could pay to go up onto the walkway that you can see in the photo below. I would love to to do this some time, but Doug won’t do it. I really hope to get back here one day.

This is my most favorite photo of the night

We followed the crowds and found the correct MRT stop to get back to the hotel. Of course you had to cut through a shopping mall to get to the MRT, but talk about a cool shopping mall.

If it hadn’t of been for following the crowds, we still may be wandering around looking for the MRT stop. We managed to find the right train line and get off at the correct stop! We should be proud of ourselves, especially after a long day. 15,468 steps to be exact, but who has been counting? Here is what we saw walking back to the hotel from the MRT stop.

Once we got back to the hotel, we sat in outdoor lounging area, and Doug enjoyed a pint of very expensive draught beer. He said “it was worth it!” I must have been very tired, as I have no pictures of it or the bill! Called it a night!

Tag: Marina Bay

31 March 2018 – Singapore – Day 2 – How Did We Do So Much in One Day?