Today I share with you the second vlog from our stopover in Singapore. On this particular day hubby had work meetings and so I headed into Singapore's CBD (central business district) with him. I thought it might be interesting to show you some of the architecture of the CBD area. In and amongst all of the high rise office blocks there are streets of traditional shop houses which have now been converted into office spaces, cafes and and restaurants. There are also places of worship for the different religions within the CBD area including a mosque and the oldest temple in Singapore, the Thian Hock Keng Temple which is dedicated to Ma Zu, the goddess of the sea and protector of seamen.
Thian Hock Keng Temple
One of the things that struck me the very first time I walked through Singapore's CBD area, back in 2011, were the palm tree lined streets and green spaces. There are lots of small parks and gardens for people to enjoy and have their lunch. When we lived in Singapore hubby always used to say that it was a real joy to step outside at lunchtime, after being cooped up indoors with the air conditioning, look up and see bright blue skies and palm trees, and just feel that initial heat rush. Aside from the shop houses and green spaces, there are also numerous water features, some with koi carp, and art installations around the CBD area.
Water and art feature
Shop houses in the CBD
From the CBD, I jumped on the MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) which is Singapore's subway system and headed to Orchard Road - the famous mall lined street for a spot of shopping. Singapore's subway system is very easy to use as it is in English. Hubby
and I still had our EZ-Link cards which we just topped up with cash upon our arrival back to Singapore.
With the EZ-Link card you simply tap on the entrance and exit gates at the MRT stations. It is a cashless travel card which can be used on the buses
too, and is available for tourists to purchase. Apparently the Oyster card system that we now have on the London
Underground is based upon the Singapore EZ-Link card. You can see more in the vlog below :o).
Once at Orchard I went to one of my favourite malls, ION. This mall is full of lots of familiar brands like Zara, H&M, Victoria's Secret, Mango, Uniqlo, Muji,and the mothership aka Sephora aka makeup heaven ;o). It also houses a lot of the designer/higher end brands too. The basement levels of most malls in Singapore are full of food courts and lots of different restaurants and cafes. I stopped off at IndoBox for a spot of lunch and to rest my joints.
Malay food for lunch at IndoBox
Orchard Road is home to numerous department stores such as Tangs, Isetan and Takashimaya, as well as all the malls. The road is tree lined and is particularly beautiful at Christmas with all the decorations and lights. If you're not a fan of crowds then the best time to visit Orchard Road is definitely during the day in the working week as it gets very busy in the evenings, and ridiculously busy on weekends. There is always something going on at Orchard Road, be it pop up exhibitions, promotions, events or temporary art installations. On this particular day there was a display of Gundams. The Gundam Series is a Japanese science-fiction anime series featuring giant robots and these were absolutely huge!
The shopping malls in Singapore offer a good mix of western and Asian brands, and every year there is annual two month sales event, known as The Great Singapore Sale, which just happened to be on when we were there :o). After lunch I made my way down Orchard Road to Plaza Singapura which is another mall that I use to go to when we lived in Singapore, and this mall had a huge dinosaur display at its centre! I didn't vlog the rest of my day as we were meeting some friends that night for dinner and I didn't think it would be that interesting for you.
I hope this blog post and the accompanying vlog gave you a bit more of an insight into what Singapore is like. Have you ever visited Singapore? Did you enjoy it? I'll be back with the third and final part soon.
When hubby and I left Japan, we did a stopover in Singapore where we had lived prior to Japan, before returning home to the UK. It was an absolute joy to be back in Singapore. It felt so familiar and comfortable, and best of all communication was easy :o). Singapore has four official languages of which English is one. Although living in Japan was an unforgettable experience, I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy being back in a country where I knew my way around, could order things of a menu without having to resort to a translation app first, and use public transport with such ease that it was as natural as breathing. Oh Singapore, how I missed thee!
The Gateway Building
The Gateway looks two dimensional from certain angles
I vlogged bits of our time in Singapore so that I could share some of the sights and architecture with you. Singapore is a great place for modern, contemporary architecture and is home to some iconic structures. I love The Gateway building which you can see in the photos above. These two structures actually look two dimensional from some angles, almost as though they were made from a thin sheet of paper due to the particularly sharp angles. You can see the first of the three Singapore vlogs below.
As we arrived on the weekend, hubby and I spent some time catching up with my cousin and a couple of our friends. In this particular vlog, we headed out for dinner to the Arab Street area of Singapore where there are lots of colourful shop houses. We had some delicious Turkish food, including this vermicelli dessert that was topped with crushed pistachios and sat in a pool of ever so slightly sweetened cream - yummy! After dinner, we headed to one of Singapore's oldest tea places so that hubby could have his favourite teh tarik - a milky sweet tea made with evaporated/condensed milk that is served in a plastic bag with a straw! The elderly man at this stall has been serving teh tarik for decades and his little stall is always busy.
Vermicelli Dessert
Now no trip to Singapore is complete without a night time visit to the Marina Bay area. This part of Singapore is home to some of it's most iconic buildings and the whole place looks incredible when it is all lit up. I've always felt that Singapore looks particularly beautiful at night, and it's so much easier to enjoy when the temperature and humidity has dropped a little, although I was still a sweaty betty ;o).
Singapore Flyer (ferris wheel), Helix Bridge, ArtScience Museum (white lotus flower shape) & Marina Bay Sands Hotel
Whilst walking off the calories from dessert, we saw that there were numerous Ferrari cars parked outside the iconic Fullerton Hotel (which is a stunning building and used to be the old general post office), and naturally the boys wanted to go take a closer look.
Ferrari on Tour
I hope you enjoyed this little peek into our stop off in Singapore and I hope to have the next post up soon :o).
I hope you’re all keeping well. It certainly has been a
while since I sat down to write a blog post! Life has been all sorts of
craziness these past couple of months but things have finally settled down,
albeit only for a short while ;o).
As you may know, our Japan adventure came to an end in May.
Japan was always going to be a short term thing, and I know some people may
question whether it was actually worth it for just nine months. Moving to a new
country requires a significant investment of time, energy and money but for us
it was totally worth it. Japan is sooo unique and different to anywhere else in
the world that we just couldn’t pass it up when the opportunity arose. Having
visited Japan a few months prior to moving there, I can tell you that living in a
country is a completely different experience to visiting
the country as a tourist.
Mount Fuji
Once we found out that our Japan adventure was coming to an
end, there was one trip that we just had to make, and that was to go see Mount
Fuji. This famous sacred mountain is visible from Yokohama, where we lived, on
a clear day but we just had to go see it closer up. Fuji-San (as it’s known
locally) is surrounded by five lakes to its northern side, and so hubby and I
planned a two day trip to the Fuji Five Lakes. This is what will be coming up
in subsequent blog posts and on my YouTube channel.
Our last sunrise from our Yokohama apartment
We spent most of May in a bit of a whirlwind. We had days
where we were drowning in bubble wrap as we started to pack up our belongings
into shipping boxes, and days where we were rushing around taking in some last
minute sights. I tried to capture as much as I could on my vlogging camera so
that I could continue making videos about Japan once we returned to the UK. My
arthritis riddled body can capture footage more easily than it can edit it into
vlogs so please bear with me.
We also had the challenge of selling all of our furniture that we’d
only recently bought. We soon learnt that Japan does not have a big second hand
market and recycling furniture is a very costly affair. If we hadn’t managed to
sell our furniture, we’d have had to pay a lot of money to have it collected by
a recycling firm. This explains why expats often give their
furniture away for free on the local Craigslist. Luckily for us, we managed to
sell everything, albeit at a fraction of the price we paid, with just a week to
go!
This meant that we then had to spend our last week staying in various
hotels. We spent three nights in Tokyo and used it as an opportunity to visit a
few of the sights (I’m sure there will be a blog post &/or vlog coming soon). The rest of the week was spent in Yokohama liaising with the local authorities and
utility companies to wrap things up before we left.
On our way back to the UK, we stopped off in Singapore for
six days to de-stress as the last couple of weeks in Japan were pretty taxing, and
to catch up with friends. It was sooo good to be in a country where we could
speak the language and get vegetarian and halal food ;o). I did do a bit of
vlogging whilst in Singapore and will post that on my YouTube channel soon.
Marina Bay Sands Hotel in Singapore
The iconic Singapore Merlion
We adjusted to being back in Singapore so easily that it was a
bit like coming home, although I had forgotten just how hot and humid Singapore
was! The heat definitely got to me, as did the stress of the move and
consequently I spent a couple of days on bed rest as my body started to react
to the past few weeks. The six days went by way too quickly and before we knew
it we were on another plane making our way back to the UK.
Cora the Caravan - our current home
We’ve not been back a month yet and already Japan and Singapore
feel like distant memories, more so for me, as hubby has had a trip
back to Singapore for work purposes. It feels strange to be back in the UK
after four years of living in Asia. And what feels even stranger is living in a
caravan…that’s right, hubby and I are currently living in a caravan. Not something I ever
imagined doing but then again, I never imagined living in Japan either ;o).
If you’re lucky enough to be in Singapore, then a visit to
City Space bar is a must. Cited as one
of the 50 Best Bars in the World by The Sunday Times newspaper (UK), City Space
situated on the 70th floor of the Swissotel The Stamford, offers panoramic
views over western Singapore.
The west
facing aspect and floor to ceiling windows make for stunning views as the sun
sets over this city state, and day turns to night. Watch the shipyards bask in an
orange glow whilst traffic streaks down infamous Orchard Road leavings trails
of red and white light, or tourist boats cruising down the Singapore River as
the waterfront bars and cafes come alive… there’s so much to see that a seat by
the window is highly recommended.
But the beauty of City Space is not just the view, the bar
itself is a combination of muted colours, paired with over sized red velvet
chairs gently illuminated by soft lighting.It’s no surprise then that a piano occupies one corner with live easy
listening performances every night.
With an extensive drinks menu including classic cocktails often
with a modern twist, wines and spirits,City Space also caters for the
non-drinker with a selection of mocktails, in addition to teas and coffee. The
food menu consists of gourmet bites representing cuisines from around the world
with portion sizes that may leave you struggling to find room for a sweet
ending.
With the relaxed ambience and mellow music, many hours pass by with
surprising ease as you take in the views so I wouldn’t put down the dessert
menu just yet ;o)
