The last part of my trip was to Singapore. I had thought about going a few times, but now it makes sense since I was also going to Malaysia. I only had a few days here, but I still managed to get some decent photos. Get ready for more plant life.

Singapore has different animal and plant exhibits, but my time was limited. I like going to the zoo, but I’ve seen plenty of zoos, so I decided I wanted to see what kind of gardens they have.

Day One

My first day was going to the Botanic Gardens in the middle of downtown. This place was quite lovely, and it could give any other city’s gardens a real run for their money. They also have an orchid garden, which was my favorite part.

The city is also full of modern and attractive architecture, including the famous “Merlion” fountain statue, the Marina Bay Sands Hotel (aka the “Helix”) with a rooftop infinity pool overlooking the city, and the riverfront restaurant area.

Day Two

Since I loved seeing the Botanic Gardens so much, I decided to check out the other gardens in the Bayfront area called Gardens by the Bay. There are two conservatories: one is called the Flower Dome, which houses many cacti and other flowers, and the other is the Cloud Forest, which contains a huge garden tower that you can take an elevator up to and explore coming back down. They’re both worth seeing.

The first group of photos is from the Flower Dome.

This next group is from the Cloud Forest.

The other places I visited were the Super Tree Grove and the OCBC Skywalk, where you can overlook the surrounding areas. It’s quite beautiful. Apparently, at night, the tree grove puts on a light show, too.

The garden area is quite large, and you can walk through many little paths where you can see other things like the river and other small gardens and exhibits. There is also a place called “Satay by the Bay” that is a long walk away down the bayfront but offers many great fruits, drinks, and meals from hawkers.

I also managed to go to the top of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel (for a fee of SGD$23) to overlook the city on two sides. There is also the Infinity swimming pool, which is only for hotel guests. Perhaps if I manage to have enough money to come back here, then I’ll stay at the hotel (though that will cost a pretty penny).

I found Kuala Lumpur to be perhaps the most multi-cultural city I’ve ever been to in Asia so far. It is not as clean as Singapore, but it too has a mix of old and modern architecture, much of it inspired by Islamic design. The people seem friendly, though everyone seems to be doing their own thing, so it might not appear that way at first. Though the majority of the citizens are Muslims, KL seems less strict compared to Muslim areas in the Middle East. Many people speak English (in addition to the other languages spoken here), though the local accent can be thick. It certainly has its own look and feel to it, as do its people.

I found Singapore to be just as clean, modern, and expensive as I was told it was. I’ve heard some say that people think that because Singapore was such a meticulously planned-out city, it lacks real authenticity from the people that live here. While I see what they mean, I still greatly appreciate the fact that it is as clean and modern as it is, with fantastic plant life and interesting architecture all around the city. In order to keep it this way, they enacted very strict rules about eating, drinking, and even chewing gum in public and on the subway. This would definitely be an easy (albeit expensive) city for first-time visitors to Asia to experience. Despite Singapore’s population and metro map, people always describe it as being small and not needing more than a few days to explore. This is mostly true, though I think there are more things to see and do here than many tourists realize.

I would go back to the jungle areas and other beaches in Malaysia and Singapore to explore more.