Singapore – Day Three. Up in the trees 

Awesome day! 

Met Kieran at downtown as unfortunately Ka Lei had a conference. We walked to see the Merlion and all around the waterfront in search of food – nothing! Nothing opens until after ten. All the workers are still wandering around in their suits heading to the office. It’s definitely a late start community. 

After fighting with tourists for a Merlion spot and finding some awesome art installations we arrived at Marina Bay Sands shopping centre. The shopping mall is HUGE with all your biggest luxury brands fighting for top spots. We found the food court and shared some Hong Kong BBQ and dumplings. 

We went into the hotel itself, I didn’t find it that impressive inside during the day but it is incredible at night. We looked around and decided to check out the Gardens by the Bay. This is hands down my favourite activity so far in Singapore. It transported me back to my childhood happy place. Where I always dreamed of living. 

The flower dome is cool but the most amazing place is the cloud dome. It’s a cloud Forrest, like a vertical tropical rainforest. It’s spectacular. There’s a giant waterfall, lush vegetation and its all interactive. You go up the top and walk around, learning about the installation. Soooo cool. I was just thinking I would tell the MD of the company I work for that we should design our office like that when he commented the same thing on my picture on FB. There’s an incredible data dashboard when you come out too to teach about the warming of the world and the importance of plants etc. 

Super impressed. 

And then there are the Supertrees. SuperTree grove had me going back to my childhood to. They are giant vertical growing trees basically. They reach for the sky. For an extra $5 you can take the elevator to the top and walk around. WELL worth it. Extensive views of the city, just breathtaking. 

For lunch we stopped at Satay Kingdom, which I’m sure would be great if everything was open. We had a beer each (oh so refreshing) and shared chicken roti with bread which was quite delicious. 

We walked around the rest of the gardens and took the shuttle back as we were quite exhausted from walking all around. 

We shopped for a while, myself in awe of Celine bags and Chanel clutches, Kieran seeking inspiration for his wedding band. 

We planned to look around the casino but they wouldn’t let us in without our passports. The Singapore government does not endorse gambling and have very strict policies for their permanent residents. I heard (unconfirmed) they have to pay $100 per hour or similar that they are in there. 

We took the MRT back and went straight to Din Tai Fung for their famed Xiao Long Bao. I wasn’t that impressed to be honest. I’ve had better elsewhere. The truffle xiao long nap was a taste sensation though! The soup was delicious. Afterwards we walked back to our respective hotels, charged our phones so we could contact Ka Lei after her conference and rested our aching feet. 

We regrouped back at the MRT and met Ka Lei at the Marina Bay Financial towers where she was having drinks. 

We perished Marina Bay Sands shopping centre again and stopped at Osterio Mozza for a ‘snack’ which ended up being dinner. We shared some burrata which was beautiful, duck ragu which was also lovely and another pasta that I wasn’t fussed on at all. I don’t think it was an amazing meal and it was $150 without drinks and a full meal each. Anyway, we tried it and the cheese was good. Go there for cheese and wine. And maybe a ragu. 

We went through the hotel foyer again which has now gained a lot of depth with dramatic lighting and the art popping out. We went to the sky bars and admired the incredible landscape, from the city high rise lights to the gardens below and the ships waiting to go in port. Beautiful. 

We lined up for a thorough screening of our passports at the casino and I found it very underwhelming. It wasn’t as beautiful as I had expected and many were smoking and none were drinking. 

MRT home and crashed in bed after a massive day!