First Day in Singapore- Tour, Shops & Gardens

When planning for Singapore, I think I over planned. I gave myself two days here thinking it was enough, but it really wasn't. Here is my itinerary of what I did the first day: First I took a nap because I got to the hostel really early. I woke up around 12pm, had a shower and got ready to start my day. I decided to do the hop on hop off bus since I didn't know anything about the city and I could just pick a place that I want to see and get off the bus.

​Hop On, Hop Off Bus

At the hostel they sell tickets for tours, so I bought a ticket for the hop on, hop off bus, which cost  39 SGD. I think I waited about 20 mins for the bus. Conveniently the bus stop was right outside the hostel! The weather was beautiful of course, so I sat on the top of the bus. I had no idea what stop it was going to or where I wanted to go first, so I decided to just sit on it until I was something that made me want to get off.

Driving around Chinatown

Apparently there were earphones you could get and plug into the earphone jacks on the bus to get information about each place that we passed, but I didn't get the memo. I just used the map I got from the bottom floor. We passed through Chinatown which was so beautifully decorated. Chinese New Year is coming up, so they have all these decorations and lanterns up.
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As were along I saw a building with a Korean BBQ sign.... I thought I left Korea behind??? Guess not lol.

Finally I see where I want to get off, Marina Bay Sands. Originally, I wanted to stay in this hotel for a night, but it costs $500 CAD, which is NOT in my budget. Only hotel guests get to go in the infinity pool, which is one of the top pools with the best views in the world. Behind the hotel you can see the gardens.

Marina Bay

Shoppes at Marina Bay

Marina Bay Sands is at the top of my list so I am so excited I decided to come here first. It was really humid outside and I hadn't eaten breakfast or lunch, so I went int the mall first.

This is the most beautiful mall I have ever seen, but they did spend hundreds of millions on it so it should be beautiful. As you can see it's got a river in the middle of it. You can even go for a gondola ride though the mall. I kinda wish I did it, although it might make me look a little lonely that I'm on a romantic gondola ride alone.

There is even a restaurant on top of the river, looks fancy. As you can see this mall has lots of luxury stores like Gucci, Prada, Louis Vuitton, etc. But they also have store like Gap, Banana Republic, Victoria Secret, etc. I even found a Michael Kors, and of course I was a bad girl in that store! In Korea Michael Kors is WAYYYYY overpriced, for example a wristlet that cost me $80 in Canada cost 200,000 won ($200)here because it is imported goods. But the priced in Singapore were similar to North American prices, which is why I went and bought some stuff. Since Singapore is more multicultural I could also find my foundation colour for make-up, too bad I didn't need any at the moment. But it feels nice knowing i'm in Asia and can find make up for my skin tone.

The gondola ride ends here, which is the food court.Then it goes back around to the pick up spot. The food court had a great variety of food from different countries; Thai, Indian, Chinese, Italian, etc. I had Chinese food which was delicious, and about 8 SGD.

As I was leaving the food court I noticed the signs...Skating.... Museum? I saw the casino as I came into the mall, and I saw the skating rink as soon as I left the food court but a museum? I did not see that one. There were a few kids actually skating on the ice and there is a rental store for skates there as well. This mall is great for everyone. Since most men don't like to shop they can go do one of the other activities the mall has to offer. After my shopping and walking around the mall it was time for the gardens.

​Gardens at the Bay

After spending about an hour and a half in the mall, I decided it was time for the gardens. I've seen pictures before and it looked beautiful, so I was really excited to go. It was about a 5-10 minute walk from the mall, you can either take the underground path by the MRT or walk through the hotel and around to the park.

The gardens are free, and have very beautiful trees and views.

View from the garden bridge

You know when you're all confused and don't know where to look or where to start because of excitement? That was me, so I just started snapping some selfies. I was so sad, I lost the part on my selfie stick that keeps my camera from falling off the stick, so now I can't use it. By the time I found a new one it was already too late and I didn't need it anymore.

As you can see the Garden is very beautiful. There are 3 gardens; Bay East, Bay South and Bay Central. I basically stayed in Bay South because that is where the Supertrees are. The Supertrees are the trees in the pictures below. There are lots of different exotic plants living on these trees. The Supertrees collect solar energy and rainwater which helps the plants to grow. They are very environmentally friendly.

Supertrees

The bridge around the Supertrees is the OCBC Skyway. It is 128 m long, 22 m above ground and it gives you a great view of the gardens. I got lots of great shots up here. There is a fee, it is 5 SGD, which is like $4 and change in CAD $. But it is well worth it!

OCBC Skyway from the ground

This is my beautiful view from the Skyway....

On the OCBC skyway

It was so hard to actually get a non selfie, but I met a fellow solo traveler, so we helped each other out and took pictures for each other. I love this picture! Except my hair is a mess because of the humidity and wind. 

I love this picture too because it's got the Marina Bay Sands Hotel in the background.

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