I know, I know. That sounds crazy. How could we possibly spend more money during our 3-day visit to Singapore than the 2.5 weeks we spent in Borneo, where we visited Malaysia and Brunei. I mean, we saw so much: the caves at Mulu National Park, various animals near Kuching, the water village in Brunei, and an authentic longhouse in Kapit.
It is kind of sick to admit, but yet, we did. I have to say that our time in Singapore was amazing. We ate fairly cheap; however, Singapore is a lot more expensive than its Asian counterparts. Other than that, we definitely lived vastly outside of a backpacker’s budget. I can’t imagine being a traveller that always behaved this way while abroad.
So, in 3 short days, we spent more than our 2.5 weeks in Borneo. I guess the big question being asked is was it all worth it?
Feel free to skip ahead to what you want to read what interests you!
- Arrival into Singapore
- Free Sightseeing in Singapore
- How to get the Best out of Universal Studios Singapore
- 1 Night at the Marina Bay Sands Hotel
Arrival into Singapore
We arrived in Singapore last Saturday in the early afternoon with a direct flight from Kuching. Right away, we knew that Singapore was vastly different than the rest of Asia. The airport was way too clean, and much alike Vancouver International Airport actually!
Everything just seemed so efficient!
Since we were actually trying to save some cash, we took the local city bus to our hotel. We ended up staying at Reddoorz Plus Victoria Hotel, which was conveniently located via bus and metro throughout the city.
Once we tried to board a bus, we realized that perhaps Singapore was not as efficient as the airport imbued. Our bus driver did not speak English and we worked out that we had too much money for the bus and the bus does not give change.
So, we naturally decided to wait for the next bus and try to find change or a ticket counter in the meantime. That was a fail, so when the next bus pulled up 10 minutes later, we found a local to help break up our bills and rode the bus towards our hotel.
The lesson of the story, carry coins and small change for bus rides, or else you will not get money back. The good news is that if you take the metro (MRT), there are ticket stalls that give change up to 4 dollars and the MRT is very easy to navigate.
We did not buy a SIM card in Singapore since we were there for such a short amount of time. It was a bit annoying at times but we managed.
After we relaxed a bit at our hotel, we decided to do some free sightseeing. We thought that we may as well see a bit of the city before our planned outing to Sentosa Island (where Universal Studios and a bunch of other fun stuff is found) on Sunday.
Free Sightseeing in Singapore
Haji Lane near Little India
We headed first to Haji Lane, which was recommended as an Instagrammable spot by Daniel’s friend. Haji Lane is located right beside the neighbourhood, Little India. The street is narrow and filled with bright colours, hip bars (am I getting old if I am using the world hip?), and clothing stores. I can imagine that this would be a nice place to eat or have a coffee, but we had other plans.
Two views of the streets of Haji Lane, a cute shop that sells ornament elephants for conversation purposes, and a sight that I loved telling the people strolling by to go upstairs and shop
Central Perk Cafe
We then hopped on the MRT and rode that to Chinatown. We would return to this neighbourhood later for dinner, but I had one goal in my mind, and that was to find the official Friends’ café.
I have no clue why there is an official Friends’ Central Perk in Singapore but I read about in a blog and I knew that I had to seek it out. It is located about a 10-minute walk from Chinatown MRT station.
Much needed selfie outside of Central Perk Singapore and a view of inside the café
As you approach it, you are greeted with the Central Perk sign—very exciting. We entered in a noticed that the iconic orange sofa was reserved, which we assumed was due to the fact that it was just there for taking iconic pictures. However, after we were there around 20-minutes, a group came in and took that table. I was shocked. I hadn’t even taken my picture on the Friends’ couch yet. However, sneaky as I am, I noticed all but 1 in the group got up to go to the bathroom. So, I snuck in and politely asked if I could take a picture on the couch. I think I may have shocked the guy a bit but nonetheless, I got my photo.
We did end up ordering overpriced drinks, just because I simply had to drink something called the Rachel Latte. Danne had a Joey Cappuccino, a dark Italian roast, of course.
There is a continuous stream of Friends’ episodes being played. So, Daniel and I just relaxed a bit and watched some TV.
Chinatown
We left Central Perk and made our way back to Chinatown. This area of town is quite touristy. We first walked through the main market, Chinatown Complex, and ended up buying a fan since I read in a blog that I could be good to have while waiting in lines at Universal Studios. We ended up buying express passes so the lines were non-existent. However, who is sad over a few bucks?
We then walked down the Chinatown Food Street and saw tons of tourists eating at the restaurants. Daniel and I have lived in China and were quite appalled by the prices. 15 SGD (14 CAD/98 SEk) for Spicy French Beans? That is madness! In China, that cost at least half the price at a fancy ass restaurant.
We really wanted to eat in Chinatown so we headed back down to Chinatown Food Court at People’s Park Complex that we had passed by earlier. This is a giant hawker centre full of locals.
The prices here were a lot more reasonable. For example, my favourite Spicy French Beans, which I was desperate to have, was 1/3 of the price, much more price friendly. We ended up getting 2 meat dishes, my beans, plain rice, and 1 large bottle of water for 22 SGN (21 CAD/144 SEK). It was not super cheap but we took our leftovers to go which ended up feeding us for lunch on Monday.
Daniel awaiting our meal at People’s Park Complex and the delicious food we got—we could have just ordered one meat dish but we had cravings!
In Chinatown, I would suggest to walk around and take in the sites. But do not eat at the overpriced restaurants near Chinatown Food Street.
How to get the Best out of Universal Studios Singapore
Finally, it was happening. I love amusement parks, and I had just recently made it to Disneyland Paris (my first time in Disneyland!) in the spring, so I was pretty damn excited for my first time at Universal Studios.
I did manage to read some blogs giving me some excellent details about Universal Studios Singapore. Here is a summary of what I learned:
- Get there before opening hours. They opened at 10 am, and we got there shortly before to take a picture with the globe. We ended up being quite alone in the park for the first hour, which was sweet!
- If it is busy, buy the express pass. Seriously, it was so worth it. We were a bit worried at first since it was quite dead the first hour and we road 3 rides without needing to use our express pass. However, around 11 am, they came in handy. We rode almost every ride and never had to queue more than 5 minutes. I felt a bit guilty passing swarms of people, but we did pay 40 SGN (38 CAD/261 SEK) each, so we deserved it! We could even use our express passes when seeing Donkey Live. I love not waiting in lines. I also liked that you could use your express passes for both the duelling roller coasters (Battlestar Galactica), Human and Cyclon. They were the best rides and it was so fun to do both. We were there on a Sunday, so it was busy. I have read that it gets less busy during the weekdays.
- See WaterWorld. Luckily for me, Danne has been to Universal in Los Angelos, and he knew this show was really good. There were only 2 shows daily while we were there. We tried to make the first show, but it was cancelled due to the rain. Thankfully, the second show ran (even though it was still raining) and OMIGOD it was so good. It is a stunt show where they perform a live show. I really, really enjoyed it. I love watching plays, so for me, this was great!
- On that note, plan your day around the shows. Pick which shows you want to see, and then plan the rides you will take around that. Some of the shows we wanted to see got cancelled due to the rain, so that kind of sucked.
- Don’t buy water in the park. Bring a bottle of water and fill it up at the water refill stations near the bathrooms and in queues.
- Wear runners. You will be walking around a lot and your feet will hurt.
- Bring a rain jacket or poncho. It rains quite frequently in Singapore. We had to use our rain jackets a lot during the day. You can buy ponchos there but they are overpriced.
- Take lots of pictures. I found the sets were so well done and really cute. I really enjoyed all of the picture-perfect moments!
Daniel and I about to wander around the Lost World
Danne and I had a great day! We headed straight to The Lost World (Jurassic Park) to ride Canopy Flyer since that ride is not included in the express pass. There were no lines for Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure so we did that as well. We then headed to Ancient Egypt to ride the indoor roller coaster, Revenge of the Mummy. We did both those rides without even needing our express passes since there was no line at all. Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure was really good! I definitely got a bit nervous in the dark and can’t even imagine a child being on this ride. I also loved Revenge of the Mummy, so we ended up doing it later in the day again, with our express passes this time to beeline past everyone.
Then it was time to have a coffee and plan our day a bit. We had coffee at Loui’s NY Pizza Parlor since it was a tiny bit cheaper than Starbucks. The food and drinks at Universal Studios Singapore are really expensive. While we drank our coffees, we looked at the show schedule and planned out what we wanted to do and what meet and greets we wanted.
The streets in “New York” looked a bit freaky since they had the Halloween special on during the evenings
We saw Lights, Camera, Action!, which was really cool. I loved the sound effects for a live hurricane. They even had all the props move around so it was quite realistic. The show was narrated by Steven Speilberg which was neat!
We watched A Date with Marilyn and went to the Transformers meet and greet. However, I expected real actors like Daniel saw in Universal Studios in LA.
We rode the Transformers Ride, which was amazing. I mean, for being a 3D experience, I did not expect it to be so good and realistic. Glad I got to help the Autobots!
Visiting Bumblebee in Autobot and car-form
We had lunch at Discovery Food Court. This is a food court that replicates the food court in Jurassic Park. The food here was overpriced and so-so. Like a child, I ate a kid’s meal since I was in the mood for Western food. Sometimes you just need to calm your stomach down.
My kid’s meal came with a free gift, a lunchbox made for children
After we ate, we tried to see WaterWorld, but it was cancelled. A slew of other rides were closed down, so I was a bit sad. I really wanted to get the most out of our day.
We saw Donkey Live! which was way better than I expected. It was hilarious and I really enjoyed a cute kid named Storm who told Donkey that his favourite animal was a lion and then when asked what his second favourite animal was he replied monkey. The kid was really young and totally did not get that he was supposed to say donkey.
I don’t quite get how they did this show but all the answers were done live based on what the audience said. It was actually really good.
We also got to see Shrek’s (and Fiona’s!) house
We decided to also do Madagascar: A Crate Adventure, which was very similar to Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland. It was boring but the sets were cool.
I am actually a huge fan of this movie, so I did enjoy the antics and voice-overs in the ride
The rain was still coming down, but for some reason, some of the rides opened again. We rode Cyclon and Human, one right after another. I would say that Cyclon was better. You were hanging instead of sitting, and it had loops. Human was pretty good too, but if we did not have express passes and we had to choose just one, I would have chosen Cyclon. It was here that we walked past a 1-hour line-up for both Battlestar Galactica roller coasters and ended up being on the ride within 5 minutes. The express passes were worth it, once again.
Cyclon and Human, the duelling roller coasters
We decided to try to see the second WaterWorld show and this time it was on! Now that I have seen it, I am so happy since I would have been devastated to miss this show. I don’t want to write too much about it, but to summarize, it was amazing. It was my favourite thing here, inclusive of all rides and shows. It is a stunt show and it is like watching a play. If you go, you must see this show!
We then rode some other rides including Puss In Boots’ Giant Journey, Sesame Street Spaghetti Space Chase, and Enchanted Airways. We also saw the show, Shrek 4D, which was just a 4D movie, but it was well done and we enjoyed it.
I had blocked into our schedule a meet and greet with the Minions. This was the only meet and greet I really cared about. The line-up went so quickly compared to those at Disneyland Paris. I guess since the characters did not have to focus on hugging all the kids. Universal is definitely more adult-orientated. I got to meet the minions, which was a highlight for me!
We wanted to watch Madagascar Boogie!, but it was cancelled. This was the only show that I actually wanted to see but did not. However, I saw all the best shows, rode the best rides, and took amazing pictures, so I think we did pretty well for an 8-hour day at Universal.
At around 6 pm, we decided to head out to go eat and head home. We had an exhausting but good day at Universal Studios Singapore.
1 Night at the Marina Bay Sands Hotel
We checked out of our hotel on Monday and after eating lunch, we took the city bus directly to Bayfront. From the bus, we got a pretty impressive view of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel.
The Marina Bay Sands Hotel is famous for its infinity pool that is located on level 57. The view overlooks the entire city of Singapore. It is also the most Instagrammed hotel, a pretty cool accomplishment.
The “mermaid shot”, a very Instagrammable picture, which Danne had to try out (he succeeded at looking dashing)
We only entertained the idea of spending 1 night here since we have been together for 5 years and we thought it would be a memorable way to celebrate it. Danne and I do not do super fancy things so often. We prefer to travel and use our extra money to eat good food. So, this was a real luxury for us, especially compared to some of the places we had been staying at in Borneo.
But seriously, look at those views!
We arrived at the check-in desk early, maybe around 1 pm. Check-in is at 3 pm, but if they don’t have a room earlier, guests still have access to the infinity pool. Knowing this, I would have gotten there even earlier.
We were lucky and they had our room (city view, level 37) available. When we got into our room, we had to drop our jaws a bit since it was so pretty! Our luggage got delivered to us, something that I have never had the luxury of before, and we chilled for a little bit before heading up to the infinity pool.
Some pictures of our lovely city-view room
The pools are really nice. On one side, you have the iconic infinity pool that stretched across the entire 57th floor. On the other side, you have some hot tubs, which view the Gardens by the Bay.
We chilled in the adults-only section and drank a smoothie since we had a small lunch. We wore sunscreen but we still got burnt, so remember to take sunscreen up with you if you are there during the day. Since it was already around 2 pm by the time we made it up, the sun was facing the wrong way for good pictures. It is all about lighting, right? But no worries here, I had a plan that you will read about shortly!
Danne and I relaxing at the infinity pool
After chilling for a little bit, it was time to eat dinner and then take another dip in the infinity pool. Here you can get some cool night shots. The city is completely lit up and it was so pretty. You can watch the Supertree Grove Lightshow and Spectra Lightshow (done by Marina Bay Sands Hotel) from up here, but it won’t be very good since you don’t hear the music.
Some views from the infinity pool at night that overlook all of Singapore and me in a hot tub with the Supertree Grove below me
We left the pools around 8 pm to make our way down to event plaza to watch the Spectra Lightshow. We sat front and centre and it was a pretty experience. The music and lights synced very well so we enjoyed it.
After the light show, it was time to sleep, since we had an early morning…
If you have seen amazing pictures of the Marina Sands Bay Hotel’s infinity pool, they are almost always taken in the morning. This is for 2 reasons:
- The sun is positioned correctly.
- There are way fewer people there since it is so early.
Token pool selfie and Daniel with the incoming sunrise
Danne and I woke up just past 6 am and made our way down around 6:30 am. There were more people than I expected that early in the morning but we still had a huge section of the pool to ourselves. We set up our tripod, something I was too embarrassed to do the day before, and took some cute pictures.
It was nice to feel like we actually had some space in the infinity pool to ourselves
We got to take pictures right before the sunrise and after it as well. It was really pretty up there and so quiet since most of the city was still sleeping. As tired as I was, it was totally worth it to wake up early and have some alone time.
One of us is more tired than the other…
However, we got hungry quite fast and after ditching our original plans of working out (haha, no way!) we headed back to our room for room service. We ended up sharing the American Breakfast since 45 SGD (43 CAD/294 SEK) is just crazy expensive per person. It was still pricey but you have be fancy once in a while, right?
Breakfast in bed
After breakfast, we decided to head back up to the pools and enjoy our last views up there. It was only 9 am, but it was already so busy compared to the morning.
Then it was finally time to say goodbye to our beautiful room at the infinity pool and check out of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel. We did walk around outside towards the Gardens by the Bay before we needed to hop on the MRT to say goodbye to Singapore and hop on a plane to Indonesia.
Those tall metal structures are part of Supertree Grove, where the light show at Gardens by the Bay takes place
A quick note, eating at the Marina Bay Sands Hotel is expensive! We ate dinner at the Shoppes, the mall that the hotel owns. In the basement, there is a food court with much more affordable food.
I love spicy dry pot (aka Ma La Xiang Guo). The basement here has a pretty good one. It is not cheap, but cheap relative to the prices you will pay at the restaurants in the hotel.
So, Was it Worth it?
Danne and I are budget travellers so it is very unlike us to spend so much money while abroad. We budgeted this amount, so the price was not a huge shock. However, I can imagine the argument from many other budget travellers: why not just stay in Borneo for double the time? Why not travel longer or somewhere else that is cheap?
So, was it really worth it?
The answer to your question is YES! HELL YES! All of the other adventures I have had blur into one another and I definitely never rave in this much detail about the accommodation.
Would I do it again?
Honestly, probably. Why not? But maybe I will try to find another amazing hotel the next time I have the urge to live outside of my means.
Would you spend all that money to stay at the Marina Bay Sands Hotel? If you have already done it, was it worth it?
The next adventure awaits in Indonesia!
xx
Jasmine
Like what you are reading and want to read more?
- Make sure you subscribe to my blog, so you get a notification whenever I write a new post!
- Follow me on Instagram! I post many pictures there which sometimes don’t make it into the blog!
- Check out my blog posts! Don’t forget to comment! 🙂