Travel writing by Cherry Qiu
On May 27, I went on my first trip to Singapore, also known as the Lion City, with my parents. We visited a lot of places during our stay there, many of them being famous destinations.
Day 1
Jewel Changi
Upon arriving in Singapore, the first thing my family did was to visit Jewel Changi.
Located within Changi Airport itself, Jewel is a place where scrumptious food, retail stores and unforgettable attractions and entertainment are gathered. I could not hide my happiness and amazement during the time I spent in Jewel. Standing flat in the centre of Jewel is the towering HSBC Rain Vortex. Thise centrepiece is the world’s tallest and largest indoor waterfall, pouring down from the sky. Visitors will also get to explore the Shiseido Forest Valley, an indoor green sanctuary comprising 2,000 trees—all within the airport itself. There are also many leisure facilities that kids could play with in Jewel Changi, such as bouncing nets, slides, foggy bowls, and a hedge maze.
My experience at Jewel Changi has forever changed the way I looked at airports. While a typical airport would just be a place to transfer or stop over, Jewel has turned Singapore’s Changi Airport into an excellent tourist attraction—something that Malaysia too could have done with our airports with proper financing and long-term planning.
Singapore Flyer
Somewhere around midnight, my aunt took all of us to ride up the famous Singapore Flyer.
The Flyer has about 28 comfortable air-conditioned viewing cabins that would take 30 minutes to fully rotate. The night view on the top of the ferris wheel was amazing. Since the weather was clear, we could see a bird’s eye view of many of the famous places in Singapore from the Flyer: The Esplanade Art Centre, the Marina Bay Sands Hotel, F1 Singapore Station track and the Science and Art Museum.
The cabin was big enough to stand on the side without being afraid of heights, and it can carry many people in one go. If visitors want to have dinner there, they can enjoy a sumptuous meal at the Flyer alone or as a couple in a private room while looking at the beauty of Singapore from above.
I strongly recommend every tourist coming to Singapore to visit the ferris wheel at least once. In fact, I would extend the recommendation to anything the locals are queuing for: if you see a long queue anywhere in Singapore, there is probably something good waiting at the end of that line.
Day 2
Gardens By The Bay
We are nature lovers, so we decided to visit Gardens By The Bay during our second day in Singapore. The lush oasis is composed of three distinctive gardens: Bay South Garden, Bay East Garden and Bay Central Garden. There are towering Supertrees, spectacular indoor waterfalls and the iconic Flower Dome.
We went there early in the morning. I was awed by the beauty and sheer size of the Flower Dome. The temperature and environment within the Dome were specially adjusted to replicate the cool and dry Mediterranean climate, allowing plants such as olive trees, magnolias and a variety of orchids to thrive. This conservatory also holds the Guinness World Record for the largest glass greenhouse, and is undoubtedly the premier attraction at Gardens By The Bay.
In addition to the Flower Dome, my family and I also had a great time at the Cloud Forest. Its indoor waterfall, while not as large as the HSBC Rain Vortex I saw yesterday, is still among the largest of its kind. Moreover, it was shaped as a lush mountain, completely covered in plants from all around the world. We got to walk along unique aerial walkways and get up close with exotic plant species.
The Gardens By The Bay was undoubtedly one of the most amazing places I got to visit in Singapore. Despite being located in a highly urbanised city, there were so many rare plants and beautiful greenery found in one place, making my experience there all the more otherworldly.
Day 3
Singapore Zoo
We went to the Singapore Zoo during the third day of our stay in Singapore.
I saw a lot of special animals that I had never seen before during my time there. The most memorable and special animal I have encountered for me, is the crested duck. It looks like an ordinary duck, but has a round crest on the top of its head. It looks so cute. Another unforgettable experience was my time at the African painted dog enclosure. I was coincidentally there when the dogs started fighting with each other. It was scary but exciting to watch.
My family and I explored the zoo mostly on foot. While touring the zoo via tram would have been the more comfortable option, we preferred to walk so that we would get to stop by each enclosure to admire and take photographs of the animals inside. Another recommendation I would like to give for those planning to visit there is to not miss out on the zoo’s animal shows. While I was a bit disappointed at not being allowed to take photographs of the performances, the talents of the performing elephants, giraffes, and zebras as well as their respective trainers were definitely amazing and worthwhile to watch.
Day 4
Sentosa – S.E.A Aquarium
For Day 4, we went over to Sentosa Island by light rail at Vivo City. There, we visited The S.E.A. Aquarium, which is one of the largest aquariums in the world. It is home to more than 100,000 marine creatures.
I saw many many amazing sea creatures during my visit in the S.E.A. Aquarium, such as the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin, moon jelly, sea nettle, scroll coral, reef manta ray and sand tiger shark. The aquarium is also home to a variety of corals that visitors can admire. Out of the many marine animals there, I like jellyfish the most. There is the phacellophora camtschatica that is also known as the fried egg jellyfish. I was also fortunate enough to watch divers swimming down to the Shark Ecological Zone and feeding the spectacular sharks as my visit there coincided with the sharks’ feeding hours.
It was really healing to watch all these exotic marine life swimming carefreely in their aquarium enclosures. The blue seabed and the quiet environment made all the fatigue I accumulated during the trip go away. I would love to visit the S.E.A. Aquarium again should I ever return to Singapore next time.
Day 5
Sentosa – Universal Studios Singapore
The Universal Studios Singapore theme park in Sentosa Island has a total of 28 rides, shows and attractions. It is the first movie theme park built in Southeast Asia.
The priority pass tickets were expensive, but my dad, who has always been thrifty, bought them decisively.
We walked around and tried all the rides we saw in the theme park. Thanks to the priority pass, we managed to finish all the rides in one day. Many of the games and rides, such as “Transformers”, “Canopy Flyer”, “Minions”, “Fairy Godmother’s” and “Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure”, are suitable for all ages. Some of these activities there are water-based, so it is important to wear raincoats when playing or going near those areas. I was also given a chance to watch and take part in some interactive performances during my day there. For those who are planning to visit here, do remember to bring along a good camera too so that you can take photos with mascots such as characters from Kung Fu Panda, Minions and Transformers.
Conclusion
All in all, I had an unforgettable memory of Singapore. I cannot believe that despite being a modern and prosperous city, Singapore could still offer places and destinations that nature and animal lovers would appreciate.
The only things that I would advise everyone to watch out for when in Singapore are the long queues and the importance of punctuality. My family and I actually missed our return flight to Penang because we underestimated the long queue at the subway. We did not expect that we would end up taking a whole hour just to procure the train tickets that would take us to the airport. In addition to having to stay in Singapore for another night, we were also fined for having to reschedule our flight to the following morning. But aside from that, I really hope that everyone would visit Singapore at least once and experience the things that I did there.
Hope you enjoyed my travel writing!
