Sweating in Singapore
Place: Asia
Country: Singapore
Towns/Cities: Singapore
Time of Year: June 2026
How we got there: One long plane journey!
I have to say that this was the most spontaneous trip we have experienced to date! Not to say that we won’t do it again although the jet lag really kicked our butts! You may wonder how a trip to Asia was spontaneous and how we ended up Sweating in Singapore. Here is the story:
Cesar has been traveling for work for the last 25 plus years and we had recently been talking about the countries that he has been to that I have not. The list is getting smaller but there are still a few in Asia I need to conquer and Singapore was one of them. Cesar’s international business travel has become less over that last few years however over a weekend in June he started talking about needing to go to Singapore. Monday he texted me saying he just booked his travel to Singapore and told me to book myself a flight to go with him. Thursday morning we were on a long haul flight to Asia! After a 2 hour flight to San Francisco, we settled in to a 16 hour flight straight to Singapore.
At 6:30pm the next evening, we landed at the most beautiful airport in the world! Changi Airport has so much to offer!
The Wonderfall is a huge digital art display making you feel like you are under a massive waterfall! It is located in Terminal 2.
Everywhere you look there is tropical paradise! It is an indoor nature park and it is hard to leave even after a 16 hour flight!
The luggage you see in the picture is all I took on this trip! It is so easy to pack for Singapore! Hot and humid means light weight clothing, walking shoes and a light jacket for indoors! It gets super cold in the AC after sweating to death outside!
I was not going to leave that airport until I got a glimpse of The Jewel! At the center of the airport connecting the terminals to an amazing shopping center sits a massive waterfall under a glass and steel dome. The Jewel!! Surrounded by the Shiseido Forrest Valley (a tropical indoor rainforest) it is a sight to behold!
The monorail passes through taking passengers from terminal to terminal and there is live greenery from floor to ceiling!
There is a light show every so often.
There are 10 levels of eateries and retail shops and a reformed pilates class right next to the waterfall in the rainforest! We spent another 2 hours exploring! Just incredible!
We used GetGo, a ride share service, to get to the Courtyard Marriott where we were staying. It was kind of nice to arrive in the evening so we could go straight to bed and wake up ready to explore! The breakfast buffet at international Marriotts are fantastic! We always look forward to them and of course we overeat!
We checked out the rooftop pool before we started our day!
Day 1
Holy humidity! We survived our first day in Singapore dripping in sweat! Luckily, we were up and about early when it wasn’t so bad. The MRT was super easy as it is tap & go so we hopped on and got off near Marina Bay.
We loved the signs on the trains! #StandUpStacey
This one was my favorite! We got a good laugh out of it!! #BagDownBenny
The smartest thing we did was to download the HelloRide App and pay $5 each to rent city bikes for 7 days! This is how it works: It costs S$1 for 30 minutes normally. You use the app to unlock a bike and ride for 30 minutes, then scan the QR code at the next parking spot to park it and end your ride. By buying the 7 day pass for S$7 ($5 USD) we got unlimited rides while we were there. We still had to check in the bike every 1/2 hour however most rides were less than 30 minutes. The app showed us where the closest parking spots were and if we needed to ride longer, just check it in and unlock it again all in one stop. Have a look here: https://www.helloride-global.com/.
I have to say that riding a bike felt much cooler with the air moving by you!
First thing on the list was to visit the Merlion before the crowds! After getting our bikes, we rode over to Merlion Park on the waterfront. Not only did we get the Merlion to ourselves, there was also an awesome view of the Marina Bay Sands and the Helix Bridge!
The Merlion is the official mascot for Singapore. The creature who has the head of a lion and body of a fish represents “Singapura” meaning “Lion City”. The fish body honors the humble fishing village that Singapore used to be.
We rode our blue city bikes over to the Anderson Bridge which is a pedestrian bridge at the mouth of the Singapore River.
Then rode over the pedestrian Helix Bridge which snakes over the river linking the Marina Centre with Marina South. This cool bridge lights up at night!
Along the Marina Centre waterfront you will find the ArtScience Museum. It is shaped like a lotus flower!
From there we rode into Chinatown just getting the feel for the area. By this time is was sweltering hot! Walking would have been miserable!! Thank goodness for the breeze created with the movement of the bikes!
We rode through the Chinatown Heritage Centre past the Sri Mariamman Temple and had the famous chicken and rice at the Maxwell Hawker Centre.
The restrooms in the hawker centre had fun gender signs! If you haven’t noticed, I am fascinated with restroom signs from around the world! I think these bathrooms are for supermodels only! And by the way, every public restroom we used was super clean and fully stocked unlike many European bathrooms!
It was interesting visiting the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple. While in Taiwan, we had visited Fo Guang Shan where another of the 4 tooth relics reside. I was given a long piece of brown material to wrap around myself like a skirt to cover up. I also had to put on my longsleeve shirt to cover the shoulders.
You can hear the chanting on the video below. Such a beautiful temple.
After lunch we took another long bike ride to the colorful streets of Kampong Glam. This is Singapore’s Arab Quarter. On the way we passed cool street art and the famous Raffles Hotel!
Kampong Glam’s colorful vibe on Haji Street is made up of textile shops, casual dining and street art.
The golden domed Sultan Mosque sits at the end of the street.
The late afternoon heat really was suffocating so we decided to ditch our bikes and take a GetGo back to the hotel for a nice cold shower and rest before our evening activities!
Using https://www.getyourguide.com/ I bought us tickets for the SkyPark Observation deck on top of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel/ Casino. The Marina Bay Sands is the focal point of Singapore. If you have seen pictures of Singapore it is most likely that the Marina Bay Sands is in the background! We choose the 5:30 pm slot so that we could see the views in daylight, during sunset, and at night. I love the shadow of the hotel over Gardens By The Bay.
We could see basically the whole country from up there! The landmarks we visited during the day such as The Helix Bridge and the ArtScience Museum were visible as well as the Singapore Flyer!
We learned the history of the Merlion and could see its fountain in the distance. This time of day it was crawling with tourists!
We were blocked from the infinity pool side. Several years ago everyone was able to access that side as well. Seems its guests only now. Doubt I will ever get to see it because the rooms are $1400 a night!
There was a great view of the Super Trees in Gardens By The Bay.
Sunset was incredible!
The night lights are amazing! The Helix Bridge was all lite up!
At 7:45 pm was the Garden Rhapsody which is the light show with the Super Trees!
And on the other side was the Spectra- A Light & Water show put on every night at 8pm & 9pm by the Marina Bay Sands. Once both light shows concluded, we booked it down to the ground then over to the Gardens By The Bay to watch the 2nd showing of Garden Rhapsody, this time from under the Super Trees! We laid on our backs under the trees and enjoyed the show again!
Day 2
Starting day 2 with our delicious buffet breakfast, we again jumped on our bikes and made our way back to the waterfront for our visit to Gardens By The Bay.
I bought us multipass tickets to the Flower Dome, Cloud Forest & Super Tree OCBC Skyway which we found to be much cheaper on https://www.getyourguide.com/ as a combo ticket than purchasing individually at the ticket office.
First stop was the Flower Dome which to our great pleasure was air conditioned! The flowers were so beautiful and it holds the Guinness World Record for the largest glass greenhouse.
I loved the art sculptures tucked in amongst the blooms.
The dome was featuring a spice market exhibit while we were there with spices from around the world!
Our next stop was the Cloud Forest which is the other glass dome next to the Flower Dome. The Cloud Forest is a Jurassic Park themed indoor rainforest featuring the world’s largest indoor waterfall at 114 feet tall!
I loved the Treetop Walk and Cloud Walk where you can get up close and personal with the dinosaurs and foliage!
And there were more unique wood art features!
The next stop within Gardens By The Bay was the ariel OCBC Skyway. We had seen the trees lite up at night, now it was time to see them in the daylight and walk between them!
Believe it or not, it was much cooler on the Skyway with the breeze! Watch out for all the Instagrammers!
Not included in our multipass was the Super Tree Observatory which is an observation deck on top of the tallest Super Tree and costs about $10 each. There is a little cafe with seating at the top where we relaxed with refreshments and an awesome view!
The tip top was very hot but worth it for the cool picture with the Marina Bay Sands!
It was now time of an awesome lunch at Satay By The Bay which we got to by riding the bikes over from the Super Tree area. We passed the suspended baby sculpture on the way which we had spotted from the Super Tree Observatory!
We choose the authentic looking stand off to the side to ordered our chicken and beef satay with peanut dipping sauce. Our lemongrass juice helped cool us off!
We needed an afternoon break to cool off and a shower but on the way we stopped at Fort Canning Park to find this Instagram worthy tunnel! Just a heads up, there was a long line of people waiting to take pictures and people are not very courteous in the time they spend taking their pictures. There is nothing to stop you from using the tunnel stairs as they were intended; getting to the top! So just walk around the line and walk up or down the stairs.
It is quite gorgeous with the vines growing down and the tree visible through the opening!
Our hotel was connected to a mall, the MRT, and a hospital believe it or not! It was quite easy to come down the hotel elevator, walk through the hospital lobby, down the hall to the mall, then down an escalator to the MRT! We had done this several times before we realized that we were walking past a tiny little Din Tai Fung! If you have read any of my other posts, you know that is our favorite restaurant and we have even eaten at the original in Taipei, Taiwan! So of course, it would be our dinner choice. After an afternoon siesta, we were ready for a night out!
Dinner was just as good as always and they had a new dessert item not available in other locations around the world; Chinese Layer Cake! Yum!!
Tonight we were headed to Clarke Quay for an evening river cruise on a traditional bumboat! Known for its vibrant colors and active nightlife, Clarke Quay is the place to be in the evening!
The bumboats date back to the original fishing village that Singapore once was.
We purchased our tickets right on the dock and elected to go right away instead of waiting for the later boats which would take you past the Marina Bay Sands during the Spectra light show for more than double the price! We saw the show the night before so we were fine going on the same route but before the show started.
Everyone sat in the uncovered back of the boat where it was hard to hear the tour guide/boat driver so we moved up under the covered area and were alone with the driver and guide. They offered to be our personal photographers!
After our cruise we took an evening stroll through Clarke Quay to Boat Quay to the Merlion. Walking throught Clarke Quay was peacful and lovely…
I do not recommend walking through Boat Quay unless you are ready to sit down for a meal and a drink! I wanted to see the historical shophouses discussed on our bumboat tour and wasn’t expecting to be accosted by every staff member from every restaurant we passed! The restaurants do offer great night views of the river and financial district but I couldn’t stop thinking that you would pay more than necessary!
Coming up on Merlion Park right as the Spectra Light and Water show was about to start across the water, we sat down and relaxed under the lion’s fountain.
Day 3
My last full day in Singapore would turn out to be my favorite day for many reasons! The plan was to spend the day at Sentosa Island known for its amusement parks and resorts. Not usually our thing but little did we know that we would find so much more!
There are two ways to get to Sentosa Island; Monorail or cable car. Since the cable car takes you above for the views, we elected to purchase tickets on https://www.getyourguide.com/ and arrived for the first crossing of the day. We arrived at HarbourFront Station and first rode the cable car up to Mount Faber to have a look. Thunder and dark clouds were rumbling in the distance so we only stayed 20 minutes not wanting to get stuck there!
The Happiness Bells made us laugh!
Then we rode the cable car back across and all the way to Sentosa Station with the views of the resorts below us.
Sentosa Island has entertainment such as Universal Studios, Singapore Oceanarium, a luge, race cars, ziplines, mini golf and resort life. There is something for everyone. We decided to take the Sentosa Line Cable Car which only runs on the island itself and head toward the beach access looking for the Southernmost Point of Continental Asia. Right outside the cable car station at the western beaches, we found our beloved blue “HelloBike” rentals! We opened our app, grabbed a bike and were off!
Riding along the quiet coastal beach we spotted the suspension bridge that would take us to the Southernmost Point of Continental Asia. A bike check-in spot was conveniently located on the side of the road.
There was a lookout tower on this tiny island and views of the ocean lined with cargo ships!
And a sign advising us not to feed the monkeys. There are MONKEYS here?!!!
Back on the bikes we came across two monkeys!
As we were riding further up the coast, I couldn’t believe my eyes! There on the beach was a Thomas Dambo Troll! Now if you are not familiar, Thomas Dambo is a Danish artist who builds trolls all over the world out of recycled materials. We have been hunting these trolls in the last few years so you can imagine my excitement! https://trollmap.com/
Meet Curious Sue!
It was hard to leave Curious Sue behind but we continued our ride to the end of the coastal road and stopped to dip our toes in the warm South China Sea.
Turning around, we headed back to the area of the cable car where we saw signs for Fort Siloso which is the only preserved coastal fort in Singapore. We took the elevator up to the Fort Siloso Skywalk then did a self guided tour through the WWII tunnels. We educated ourselves on the Japanese occupation in buildings with interactive dioramas some of which had AC!
They even had the original coastal guns on display.
To head back down, we took a nature trail through the jungle with a view of the city across the water!
And there on the trial was a huge Monitor Lizard minus his tail! Not sure how he lost it but he looked healthy enough!
Check out his super stealth walk!
Back at the cable car station, ready to leave, Cesar had a thought to check to see if there were any more Thomas Dambo Trolls in Singapore. And what do you know, there were 3 more (for a total of 4) right on this island!
Hot, tired and ready for a nap, we jumped back on the bikes in search of the 3 allusive trolls! These 3 were not in plain sight so we had to ditch our bikes in the trees and walk through sandy trails on Palawan Beach to find them!
Meet Reef the Chief! He was my favorite with his recycled trash necklace!
Meet Little Lyn. She is holding a ball of plastic bottles that had washed up on the shores of Palawan Beach.
Dreamer Dee is unique because you cannot access him up close as the natural ground around him is eroding. He can be admired from afar!
All four of these special trolls are known as The Explorers of Sentosa!
Satisfied that we have seen all we can see on this side of Sentosa Island, we boarded the Sentosa Line cable car back to the entertainment side where we hopped on the Monorail that took us back to the mainland and Harbourfront.
For lunch we watched Chinese Beef Roti being made before buying a few!
Fascinating to watch! Even better to eat!
There was one more bucket list item on my Singapore list and we had to travel by MRT to Orchard Street to get it! The Singapore Ice Cream Sandwich! Uncle Chieng’s is the best spot! Rainbow bread with a block of ice cream makes this a simple and delicious treat for only S$2!
I got rainbow bread with coconut ice cream and Cesar choose rainbow bread with mango ice cream!
What a great way to top off my spontaneous trip to Singapore! I would fly home the next morning by myself as Cesar had to work. It was very weird leaving him in a foreign country and flying 20 hours alone but it was all worth it in the end!
Hopefully you too will get to say you were Sweating in Singapore! Travel responsibly and respectfully!
If you want to read more about our trips with Thomas Dambo Trolls check out: https://dawntillduskaz.com/obsessed-with-olympic-national-park/
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