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Singapore

A connection between Asia and Oceania.

By Javi Lorbada

September 17^th, 2018

We stayed in Singapore for one main reason, it was convenient. Often used as a flying hub to connect many countries around and we found the best flight combination from Thailand to Australia.

We stayed five days in total, coming from the chaos of India and the touristic Thailand (will write about that country later) we found Singapore very warm and cozy, which in fact made us really enjoy the city. Let's jump into the details!

We arrived just after Chinese New Year

Chinatown - The Pinnacle@Duxton

Started this day taking off from Phuket at 10:40, landed 15 minutes before schedule. That didn't really matter, we had to get the visa, picked up luggage, got a SIM card, transportation card and finally the train towards Chinatown, where we were staying.

Our stay here was very peculiar, we stayed at these pods in a shared room, very futuristic. But one thing is expensive in Singapore, it's accommodation.

Anyway, we arrived past 3 o’clock, check in and headed for lunch straight away. Afterward headed out exploring the hood.

Immediately we were amazed by it, very clean and tidy, local style decorations unique house facades and streets. The architecture is similar to Hong Kong, huge apartment buildings which are quite impressive too.

We were following Lonely Planets itinerary, which took us to this 50-floor building complex, The Pinnacle@Duxton, and as soon as we got out of the elevator, I saw it, spectacular view, incredible skyline.

We were there longer than 2h, and I could have stayed all night long, but Clara was hungry, so we went for food.

We found out that in our neighborhood there were also really good restaurants, and not so expensive, so we just tried one with dumplings and Oh.My.God! The food was delicious!

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Singapore couldn’t have started in a better way.

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Little India - Haji Ln - Esplanade - Merlion - Chinatown

I was supposed to wake up for sunrise, but I didn’t, sleeping inside the pod wasn't as comfortable as it looked.

Around noon we went out towards Little India, I had better expectations of this area, but maybe how warm the temperature was didn’t help. On the other hand, it really reminded me of a month ago, when we were in India, the food, the people… amazing!

After lunch we walked, little India, temple here and there, some of this skyscrapers as well, ended up at Merlion, this half lion, half fish fountain, and the view was spectacular, I could be there for hours admiring the Marina Bay building, the boats, the lights show. It really reminds me of Hong Kong.

For dinner we went back to Chinatown, we really liked what we ate the day before and thought it was a cheap yet delicious food, this it time it was good, but nothing else.

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Tiong Bahru Market - Marina Bay - Gardens by the Bay

Quite relaxed in the morning we went out to Tiong Bharu Market around lunch time, cool to see locals eating there, and for food, it’s quite nice to try something new every day, some Chinese - Thai stuff, delicious as usual.

After lunch started to rain, a bit heavy actually, so we had to look for shelter. At first, I thought, oh no! We are not lucky at all, it’s gonna be cloudy and sunset is gone. But as soon as the rain ended… oh yes! Puddles everywhere! Photography dream right there, reflections everywhere which made meet some other photographers looking for the same, how cool!

We moved on, we headed to the Gardens by the Bay, and I kinda regret not to have visited this area before, we were totally amazed by it, so clean, so green, unbelievable, it looks from the future.

And that’s pretty much what we did until late dinner.

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The storm.

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By this point I was exhausted. Singapore has a lot, I found myself stopping by every corner looking for the great capture.

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Marina Barrage - Cloud Forest - Flower Dome - Clarke Quay - Supertree Grove

We woke up early for the sunrise, it was tough though, but we did it. Straight we took a bus to Marina Barrage, where I could fly the drone without any issues, so I did. Afterward, we had planned to visit the Cloud Forest and Flower Dome.

We started for the Cloud Forest and fell in love, the place is amazing, so perfectly built. On top of that, they present to the world videos and tips about climate change with a lot of evidence that it is real, super cool to see that.

The Flower Dome was beautiful too, but too crowded, we walked around but didn’t really spend much time there. Finished those two touristy spots and after lunch, we went back to bed for a few hours.

Around 16:30 we headed out again, Clara didn’t feel well, so she went back to the pod to recover, I went once again to the Marina Bay area, entered again in the Cloud Forest, amazed by it once again, saw the light show at the Supertree Grove, and went through the Marina Bay hotel.

That was a long day, it felt like a hammer, too tired, so I ate something and headed back to the pod but on the way… more pictures. What a day! For some reason, I find Singapore quite nice.

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Orchard Central - Emerald Hill - ION Orchard Mall - Airport

Finished the previous day exhausted, and I woke in a similar way, very tired. The pod we were sleeping in didn't really help me rest.

At 11 am, everything packed we checked out, and we headed to this Orchard Central, that was supposed to be among the most beautiful malls in Singapore, to me, just another mall where people buy stuff. So I left Clara looking for stuff, and I went out, I found this little high standard houses at Emerald Hill, those were beautiful, looks like a completely old city in between the jungle of skyscrapers and metal malls.

We met an hour later and headed for lunch, following Lonely Planet recommendations we went to this Chinese amazing restaurant, Dynasty Paradise, oh my! The food there was delicious, in particular, de pork buns never tried something like that before, will look for this restaurant wherever I go from now on. After coffee, we had to go back to the hostel and pick up our stuff, not much on the way.

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Arrived at the airport not so soon as we expected, with a bit of time to get a tea and sweet delicacy. Then we embarked our plane from Jetstar, up next? Australia.

That's where we headed after Singapore :)

Next blog? Somewhere in Thailand.

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Thank you! ❤️

Please share your thoughts in the comments, or contact me at my email for any question.

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Footnotes

Fujifilm X-T2 + 16mm F1.4 + 18-55mm F2.8-4 + 55-200mm F3,5-4,8 + DJI Mavic Pro

FootNotes

Fujifilm X-T2 + 16mm F1.4 + 18-55mm F2.8-4 + 55-200mm F3,5-4,8 + DJI Mavic Pro

© 2026 Javi Lorbada

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