Singapore, The Fling

Over toast and coffee on a Sunday morning in late January did the newspaper fortuitously open itself on the weekly travel section. Among the ridiculously cheap post-covid deals was a 7 day trip to the Maldives just too tempting to pass up. With the island nation never entering our sphere of travel possibilities, a phone call to Lyndall quickly confirmed “…of course, lets go.” By the end of the week we’d packaged the deal up to our standards, added a 4 day stopover in Singapore, and laid a deposit confirming the trip for September 2022.

Now when you walk the path millions before have taken, the question begs, “is there anything new to add?” The images will be familiar and even the tale somewhat conventional. So why Blog Singapore? Well, we have to put the bangers somewhere and perhaps our curated words will be somewhat entertaining. But mainly, because we like to.

A 3:00am start couldn’t dampen the joyous expectation only a globally induced pandemic could create, and by 6:00am we had cleared customs, dabbled in some duty free shopping and scoffed our 2nd cup of coffee and a light breakfast. On board our Singapore Airlines flight we were offered a second breakfast, and more to our presupposition, a seemingly endless supply of gin and scotch. Of course it was only just 9:00am, but to be fair, this is a Fatpaparazzi trip…

Fatpap is a seasoned Singapore visitor however this would be Lyndall’s first taste of the Lion City. You hear much hype about a city like Singapore. In fact of any of the “stop over” cities of the world. Buoyed by the tourist dollar and a focal point for world trade and tax evasion, they are known to be grandiose cities either old world or sparkling jewels surrounded by slums. And then there’s Singapore. An economic giant that for over a century has been the most modern city in southeast Asia. An eclectic blend of Malay, Chinese, Arab, Indian and English culture and religions, who’s unique ethnic tapestry affords visitors a wide array of historical treasures, the beauty of period buildings, and values and traditions surviving profound social and geographical change. Singapore melds every culture to ever grace its shores, is architecturally stunning, environmentally on point, vibrant, colourful and surprisingly soulful.

We alighted the aircraft through the bustling Changi airport and were swiftly transported to our hotel just in time for a 3rd breakfast. The Park Royal Pickering is a marvel of architecture designed to be a hotel in a garden. Our home for the next three nights featured all the standard mod-cons, but boasted 15,000 square meters of tiered “sky gardens” creating a natural oasis against the city’s heat and humidity. In familiar Fatpaparazzi fashion, we jumped a quick shower - there you have it good reader, the gratuitous bum shot in only the third stanza of the blog ! - and changed into our best walking shoes and headed out to explore the city.

Wandering north towards the Singapore River we snapped obligatory tourists shots while absorbing the warmth and vibrancy of the city in mid afternoon. Passing the Parliament buildings, the statue of Sir Stamford Raffles and the Asian civilisations museum green, we soon crossed the Cavenagh footbridge to the gorgeous Fullerton Hotel and the 5 Boys By The River. Making our way through one last underpass, we emerged into Marina Bay right on the footstep of the icoinic Merlion.

Synonymous with the city, the part lion, part fish Merlion is a mythical creature created in the 1960’s. Drawing from Singapores rich fishing heritage and an old tale of a Malay prince once shipwrecked on the island claiming to have spotted a lion, this monument is now world famous. Backdropped by the architectural wonders of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel and the stunningly beautiful lotus shaped Art Science Museum, the historic buildings on the western shores are a juxtaposition to the quirky spherical Apple store floating in the bay. At first glance the jumble of old and new is jarring. It shouldn’t work, however somehow it does. We could have stayed and marvelled all afternoon had we not had a deadline to meet - watching the sunset from the observation deck of the Marina Bay Sands hotel.

The distinctive building opening in 2010 was initially inspired by decks of cards and features a roof terrace spanning 340 metres covering 3 acres. We flagged a taxi which conveniently dropped us into the hotels forecourt where we hightailed it up the 56 floors to the ship-like deck. Wilting after more than 18 hours on the go, we fortuitously found a terrace bar serving icy cold beer. Here among the fading light of a sun setting only one degree from the equator, we spied panoramic views of the city in every direction. As the temperature wained and lights came to life, so too did the city from this lofty height and we reluctantly returned to terra firma to catch the 8:15pm showing of Spectra.

The world renowned light and water show displayed within the shadows of Marina Bay Sands was a perfect way to round out our first sunset. We strolled westward toward our hotel in view of exploring Chinatown for some much needed sustenance, but by-chance stumbled upon Pekin Street, a funky little strip of eateries and cocktail lounges right up our, pardon the pun, alley. Here we grabbed a fantastic feed of satay fish, deep fried chicken breast and a red tuna salad. Whilst exorbitantly priced, the servings were enormous with Fatpap the closest he has come to conceding defeat in many years. Waddling only a few hundred meters back to our hotel, all that remained was a couple of Darth Vader cocktails and Dry Martinis in the outdoor lounge before midnight. Pushing 24 hours since waking in Sydney, it was time to rest, reset and prepare for day 2.

Singapore, The Bling