One of the best things about living in South East Asia is how close everything is to you - what was a 7.5 hour flight to Singapore from Sydney is now only a 3 hour flight from Manila. I thought we'd be crazy not to take advantage of this and go away for the Chinese New Year long weekend.
The husband was able to get a couple of extra annual leave days approved so we flew out on the 30th Jan for Singapore on Jetstar Asia - we got a last minute return flight for only $250 per person!!!
We arrived in Singapore at 2:30PM and checked into our hotel - Park Royal on Beach Rd. This hotel was a nice 4* hotel located closed to Bugis MRT and Little Arab town. We had a good room, it didn't have much of a view but I expected that as we only booked the room 2 days before we arrived with a last minute deal on Expedia.
Once we dropped our bags off in our room we headed out straight away and checked out where else but Orchard Road. Oh wow ... shoppers heaven!!! Prada, Fendi, Chloe, Louis Vuitton, the list goes on. Unfortunately my bank account didn't quite give me enough funds to shop here so I stuck to H&M, Topshop, & my favourite Sephora. I was a happy girl.
After working up an appetite on Orchard Road we jumped back on the fantastic MRT (Sydney, take note. This is how you do public transport) and ended up at Clarke Quay. This is an awesome restaurant precinct located along the Singapore River. Being 'New Years Eve' we had a delicious Chinese meal, and headed back to our hotel to have an early night. Travelling is hard work you know.
Over the next few days we visited loads of great sites across Singapore: Marina Bay, Singapore Flyer, Chinatown, Orchard Road (again) River Safari, Singapore Zoo, Night Safari, and Sentosa Island. We ate at some yummy restaurants, my favourite was definatley Din Tai Fung... oh so many amazing dumplings!!! A must try when you are in town.
The only real disappointment was the Night Safari - far too crowded. Yes we probably should of done the Night Safari as a separate attraction (we did the River Safari, Zoo & Night Safari all in one day) however the Night Safari was ruined by the overcrowding there. We waited in line 45 minutes to get in the zoo - by the time we got in the line for the tram was 1.5 hours long so we decided to go and see the show instead. We waited in line for the show for half an hour, then sat in the stadium for another half an hour for the show to start. When we got out from the show the tram line was still a 1.5 hour wait so we decided to walk the trails instead. This is fine but you only get to see about 70% of the zoo - some animals such as the Elephants could only be seen by the tram. For a massive animal lover like me, I found the whole experience a let down. To add insult to the injury we then had to wait in line 45 minutes for a taxi home!! Very poor organisation and no care on its visitors - they just let as many people through the door to make more money (Sad face). However the River Safari made up for what the Night Zoo lacked as I got to see their Panda JiaJia - I was so overwhelmed I nearly burst into tears!
I was a little bit sad to say goodbye to Singapore, it was so clean, so quiet and so easy to get around. A very different contrast to Manila. However as nice as the people were and as clean as the city was, I must admit I did feel like I was 'home' as we jumped out the cab and walked up Legaspi Village to our condo.
We are hoping to do another getaway in March for the husbands birthday, but we cant go too far or spend too much money as we plan to make the most of the Easter Holiday in April with a possible trip to China or Japan. I think for our next short getaway we should go somewhere local - I'm thinking Cebu or Palawan??
Oh and Gong Xi Fa Cai - may the year of the horse bring you lots of luck and fortune
Jacs xx
