Singapore Part 2

 

My love of green spaces is well established by now.  Singapore has a campaign that says ‘Let’s make Singapore our garden’ and they do an excellent job just judging by Fort Canning.  The park is situated on a series of tiers with the lowest tiers open to car traffic. Plenty of benches, some waterfalls and, for some reason, chickens.  Okay. 

On the last full day of my trip, I explored yet another garden area full of sculptures and hedge creations near the Marina Sands.  A very peaceful place with much to see.

I still don’t understand how this huge baby sculpture exists.  What’s holding it up?

I found my new favorite store/restaurant.  It’s a Singapore exclusive called Bread Talk, a bakery located in every one of the 300 malls I’ve been in.  They provide you with a tray and some tongs and you just pick out what you want then go to pay.  The bread is amazing and each store has a slightly different selection so seeking out the stores was something of a scavenger hunt for me.  A theme song plays in the stores that, if I had to listen to it for 8 hours a day, would make me start beating people with a loaf of bread, but other than that, the store is great.

Since I didn’t get a chance to see much of Changi Airport when I came in, I decided to dedicate a day to explore it.  I jumped on the train and got out at the airport along with a bunch of other people who didn’t have luggage.

Now why

would anyone

go to an airport

just to hang out?

The waterfall is located in a crystal-like building called the Jewel.  It is a massive multilevel (two commonly used words for structures in Singapore) garden with mini-waterfalls and seating areas everywhere.  As you can see, it currently has a Marvel theme – strange, but since I’m a big Marvel fan, it worked for me.  Even with the branding and all the tourists, the garden is a peaceful place to chill in.  There’s theatrical music playing, mist from the waterfall to cool the skin, and plenty of people-watching to engage in.  This is only one of the couples I spotted having a photo shoot in the airport.

This being Singapore, there is a full mall in the airport along with multiple food courts.  The free movie theater was showing one of the Mission Impossible movies (could have been the latest one, I'm not sure).

The top floor of the Jewel is set up like an amusement park.  There are attractions like a virtual experience game, a hedge maze, a mirror maze, and a bouncing net all for separate fees.  You can also access the train that goes past the waterfall and the walkway for a better view.

The airport is so well designed that you could wander around for hours and keep yourself entertained, fed, and broke.  All for the cost of a short train ride from anywhere in the city.  And hey!  Free air conditioning!

Remember how I said everything was connected in Singapore?  I was not exaggerating.  On my first full day, Google Maps led me on surface streets to get to the Merlion and the Marina Sands hotel.  Turns out, you can get there through subway tunnels.  Most of my time in Singapore was spent wondering ‘where does this escalator go?  I don’t know, but I’m about to find out.’ In keeping with that mindset, I started to follow a group of determined looking people as they went up one escalator near the City Hall MRT, around the corner, through a parking garage, up another escalator, on and on.  I was stunned when we ended up at the outdoor bandstand across from the Marina Sands.  I was curious about where else you could get if you knew how.  I was also curious to see if I could find my way back taking the same route since I wasn't paying attention (better than I thought as I only made a couple of missteps).

Besides the gardens and Fort Canning, there are so many other great gathering spaces around the city.  I saw numerous groups of people taking a lunch and a blanket to a shady spot and having some fellowship during the afternoon.  Even the evenings were full of people just walking around and enjoying the summer breeze.  And why shouldn't they?  Singapore is safe, clean, and gorgeous.  I loved this place.  And while it's too expensive to live there, I would definitely go back for another visit.