My Singapore Experience so Far!

I recently departed for a 3 month trip to Singapore on business and thought whilst I was there I should try and blog a little bit about my time here. I have done a lot of stuff in the first 2 weeks, so here is a bit of a summary of what I have seen and done. Apologies for the shaky photographs, I didn’t have a camera until today so was solely reliant upon my Blackberry!

Big thanks to my colleague Chow Wei for supplying me with a camera loan.

Departing – Airbus 380

In coming to Singapore I got the opportunity to sample the relatively new Airbus 380, which is an absolute beast of a plane. I have to say I was largely disappointed by it but perhaps I am being unfair. For such a huge plane, you certainly don’t seem to get any more room, but the usual TV’s in the head rests and selection of DVD’s, games etc is pretty amazing.

Due to crying children though I didn’t get a wink of sleep and ended up watching 4 films.

The Heat

Wow, something we aren’t used to in the UK in summer let alone October time. The humidity is insane, and the temperatures never really duck below 29 degrees c. In the UK you’ll get cold outside, and warm up inside, whilst in Singapore you get cold inside and go outside to get warm such is the usage of aircon here.

Development

The level of wealth and development in Singapore is quite amazing. They will knock down perfectly healthy buildings just for an excuse to build something new. Where I’m staying in Katong, East Singapore it’s quite traditional and heavily residential. In the city however its a lot more built up than I expected.

I only wish the new casino was finished in time…

Crazy Laws / Punishments

One of the things I hate about the UK is that its become to much of a democratic society that accepts bad behaviour and has gone over board on political correctness. I love that in Singapore even minor infringements are punished severely. This image below is on all underground walkways for example. $1000 SGD is about £500 roughly!

Its amazing to me coming from the UK how much people living in Singapore respect the country. This means the streets are clean and safe, and you can happily walk around well after dark without any trouble.

SimLin

If you like technology you’ll love this place. 6 floors of tech shops rammed full of cameras, TVs, Laptops, Motherboards etc. If you know what you want, and what the price of the item is before you go then you can get some great deals, but don’t buy something without doing your research because they’ll try and pull a fast one on you.

Esplanade and the Lion

The Esplanade was designed to launch Singapore onto the world arts stage, and apparently it did just that. I’m not surprised because the design is quite something.

The Lion head is the symbol of Singapore, and they have pretty cool water feature down by the river near the Esplanade.

Botanical Gardens

I really want to explore these a bit more, but its a place you should visit if your ever in Singapore. Close to Orchard Road its a huge expanse of park land and its quite something when compared to the UK equivalent. Full of a wide range of plants and trees which have clearly been manufacturer to grow in a certain way and sculpture the landscape.

I went there to watch The Last Emperor on a Sunday evening on the big screen they have in the gardens. Certainly not something you can do in the UK!

I have done a few more places such as Sentosa Island, and some great eating options, but I’ll get some better photographs up before I post about those.

I plan to visit Singapore Zoo on Saturday, and then maybe cycle East Coast Park on Sunday. In between i’ll probably have to do some work…..