The Hairy giraffe… IN SINGAPORE
The city-state was the tenth stop on our world tour. As a major airport hub, Singapore sees millions of tourists transit through its airport each year, all potential tourists on its streets. While most visitors see Singapore in just a few hours during a layover, we decided to spend four days there to explore every corner of it.
We’ll tell you all about this journey in this former Malaysian province that has, since its independence, found its own identity.
How long? We stayed in Singapore for 4 days.
When? Early May. This way, we avoid the rainy season and typhoons that start in June. The climate is equatorial. Therefore, it’s hot (between 25 and 32 degrees Celsius) and humid all year round. There are thunderstorms almost every other day throughout the year, but even torrential rainfalls can give way to bright sunshine in a matter of minutes.
Ease of independent travel: 4 giraffes 
Singapore positions itself as a major tourist hub and offers travelers the opportunity to stop over for a few hours to visit the city. Public transportation is therefore very useful for getting around. The numerous metro lines crisscross the city and serve the main tourist attractions. The metro is inexpensive (about 2 euros to travel between the airport and the city center) and everything is indicated in English. It is also air-conditioned, which is significant when it’s 30 degrees Celsius and 80% humidity… The only downside: foreign credit cards are not accepted for transportation payment. Cash is required.
Costs: 4 giraffes Singapore is a wealthy country and a tax haven. Accommodation is expensive, and rooms are often basic (small and without windows). Public transportation is affordable. Regarding food, there is something to satisfy every budget. Alcohol is heavily taxed and can be very expensive.
Ease of communication: 4 giraffes Singapore is a country that prides itself on being multicultural, where everyone can live according to their culture and beliefs. Thus, the city-state has four official languages: Malay, Tamil, Mandarin, and English. In daily life, it’s English that is used. You won’t have any problem making yourself understood in English. However, expect to hear many different accents.
Safety: 4 giraffes The political regime in place ensures that violent crimes are rare in Singapore. Penalties are very deterrent, and the death penalty is still regularly practiced.
Pedestrians, be vigilant. Driving in Singapore is on the left, and pedestrians are never given priority. Moreover, several intersections have neither pedestrian crossings nor traffic lights, making crossings dangerous. Some streets also lack sidewalks.
In terms of weather risks, thunderstorms hit Singapore more than 180 days a year. Be cautious of lightning and falling trees and branches, as vegetation is abundant on the island.
Health: 5 giraffes 
Singapore’s healthcare system is one of the best in the world. Hygiene and sanitation standards are upheld everywhere, and the water is drinkable. Given this and the country’s multiculturalism, it is undoubtedly the best place to enjoy Chinese, Indian, and Southeast Asian specialties without fearing food poisoning.
Gay friendly: 3 giraffes 
The decriminalization of male homosexuality only dates back to 2022. The LGBT communities have increasingly gained rights, but there is still much work to be done. We advise you to remain discreet.
Travel ease: 5 giraffes No particular concerns for visiting Singapore.
Highlights: The architecture, which is a mix of New York with huge stylized buildings and colonial city, the Merlion, and the view of the marina.
Letdowns: 
Orchard Road filled with luxury brand malls that are completely uninteresting to us, the lack of warmth from people: we have rarely seen such unkind and unwelcoming customer service, the Botanic Gardens which are more of a “concrete” garden.
Check out our Travel Reflections articles on Singapore:
4-DAY ITINERARY IN SINGAPORE
Here is the detailed itinerary of our four days in Singapore:
Day 0: A flight of nearly 7 hours from Tokyo.
We arrive in Singapore in the mid-afternoon where we have lunch (the low-cost airline didn’t serve us any food or drink during the entire flight, so we are famished). We then partially visit the airport, ranked among the top airports in the world. In fact, as soon as we pass through the arrival gates, we find ourselves in a huge shopping center. We quickly forget that we are in an airport because of the impressive array of shops. There is something for every taste and budget (for once, there are not only luxury brands in an airport, so we’re not going to complain). We see the Rain Vortex.
Its 40 meters make it the highest indoor waterfall in the world. The surrounding greenery makes us forget that we are in an airport. We feel more like we are in a well-stocked greenhouse. It’s very pleasant.
We make a detour to the Disney Store and the Pokémon Centre (yes, another one!), the only one in Singapore and the last one we will visit on this trip (Benjamin is delighted).
We arrive at our hotel in the late afternoon, dripping with sweat.
Day 1: We take the metro to Merlion Park.
We see the famous fish lion fountain, symbol of Singapore. The statue is lovely and the view of the city and its stylized skyscrapers is quite enjoyable.
From our vantage point, we can also see, on the other side of the marina, the ArtScience Museum, shaped like a lotus flower, and the Marina Bay Sands, a luxury hotel with iconic architecture featuring three towers topped by a ship.
We then walk towards Chinatown. We stop several times to take photos of skyscrapers with various and original shapes, as well as smaller and colorful buildings. The architecture is eclectic. The huge New York-style buildings coexist with old colonial houses. The whole, although atypical, is really pleasant.
In Chinatown, we feel like we have traveled back in time by a few weeks. We find the same decorations, smells, dishes, and souvenirs that we encountered throughout our stay in China.
We also discover new flavors like laksa, a typical spicy soup from this part of the world. Made with coconut milk, curry, rice noodles, vegetables, and protein (chicken for us), it packs quite a punch!
We even find the ice cream brand we used to eat almost every day, Mixue.
We then visit the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple, a Buddhist temple similar to many we saw in China.
We take the metro to stroll along Orchard Road, Singapore’s Fifth Avenue. On either side of the street are mainly luxury brand shopping malls. The architecture is also less attractive than what we saw this morning.
We walk about two kilometers before heading back to the hotel, stopping at a McDonald’s to try a sweet potato ice cream (indeed sweet, but not bad at all).
Day 2: A storm keeps us at the hotel all morning. The rain eases off in the early afternoon, so we take advantage of the lull to visit the Gardens by the Bay, free gardens behind the Marina Bay Sands.
The free part of the gardens offers a walk under dense and sometimes towering greenery. It’s also possible to stroll along the pond.
One of the main attractions of the gardens is the Supertree Grove, an area where tree-shaped structures are located. In the evening, there is a free light and sound show. It’s also possible to climb to the top of these trees and walk along the skywalk that connects some of them to have a view of the gardens and the Marina Bay Sands. However, the high cost cooled our desire to go up.
The park also houses two floral domes (Flower Dome and Cloud Forest). The flowers inside look beautiful based on the photos we’ve seen online. However, once again, the high cost of the ticket doesn’t fit our tight budget as world travelers. So, we’ll skip it.
Day 3: The blue sky convinces us to return to the Gardens by the Bay to take more photos under the sun.
We also take some photos of the shopping mall located at the foot of the Marina Bay Sands.
Then we take the metro to Little India, the Indian quarter, known for having some of the most beautiful architecture in the country.
Our visit there is very brief. As soon as we exit the metro, the smells, the noise, and the density of the population bring back very bad memories to François. He quickly feels very unwell, and we decide to change neighborhoods. The trauma caused by our time in India evidently hasn’t faded yet…
We return to Chinatown for lunch before taking the metro to the Botanic Gardens, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The garden itself is free to enter, with only the Orchid Garden requiring an admission fee. Once again, the high price prompts us to stick to the free section. The garden is primarily composed of trees and shrubs, with lush greenery all around. Unfortunately, there’s a lack of flowers and colors. Moreover, the asphalt pathways dominate the landscape, making the stroll nearly unbearable in the oppressive heat.
We take a quick tour (as quick as possible in 40-degree heat) and come out disappointed by what resembles more of a public park than a botanical garden.
Day 4: We spend the morning strolling around the city.
We see some famous buildings like the Parliament and the Victoria Theatre.
We also visit the Sri Mariamman Hindu temple, located near Chinatown. Even in Rajasthan, we didn’t see a temple as beautifully adorned and decorated.
We arrive at the airport in the mid-afternoon to conclude the visit…
…and to do some shopping there.
It’s already the end of our adventure in Singapore. We leave the city-state in the evening for a flight to Kuching, on the island of Borneo, in Malaysia, the next stop of our world tour.
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