Hello friends!!  I finally want to tell you all about our anniversary trip to South East Asia.  We spent 10 days in Singapore and Bali and wow, what a trip!  We finally were able to explore every day and also  r e l a x .  Southeast Asia really abounds with gorgeous natural beauty, we found the people to be extremely friendly, and the cherry on top is it’s generally cheap by western standards!  But before I share all about our fabulous anniversary week in Bali, I wanted to share our time in Singapore first!

SE Asia is a bit far to get to, but worth the trek.  When we originally decided to vacation in Bali, we chose to fly in and out of Singapore since it had direct routes to Frankfurt and multiple daily flights in and out of Bali.  I’m so glad we did, this city was beautiful, unique, and easy to explore in a short time.

On getting there: we are huge advocates for the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card and have gotten countless flights around the world for FREE (like RT flights to Marrakech, Nice France, Malta, Tbilisi Georgia, and many more), not to mention you get free priority pass lounge access on international flights – and living in Germany, that’s basically every time you go to the airport!

We had enough Chase Points to book our RT flights between Frankfurt and Singapore, so our long-haul 12 hour flight was free! #winning.  This left us to just pay about 100€ RT flights from Singapore to Bali.

So with the flights out of the way, all we had left to do was explore a new-to-us region of the world, my favorite activity!

We left Frankfurt Thursday night after work and landed in Singapore around 4pm local time Friday.  We stayed at the Conrad Centinnial Singapore Friday night before our flight to Bali the next morning.  The Conrad was fabulous – a great location in the Suntec City area, and walking distance to the helix bridge, Singapore skyline, and Gardens by the Bay.

First order of business after we checked in was champagne at the Conrad lounge overlooking the city!  Views from our room on the 31st floor and at the lounge below.  Champagne is always necessary… but especially on an anniversary trip! 😉

After our free bubbly, we wanted to get out and see what this city has to offer!  We walked out of the hotel and towards the Gardens by the Bay and the Marina Bay Sands area.  We really didn’t know what to expect, and were blown away by the beautiful views on our way to the Gardens.

The Singaporean skyline is just beautiful, don’t you think?  The colorful city lights reflecting off the water are my favorite.  On the left side you can see the famous Marina Bay Sands hotel, with the best rooftop in the world.  Non-hotel guests can also enjoy the rooftop for about 30 Singaporean Dollars, but this evening we opted to admire it from below as we wanted to explore more of the city.

One thing we were pleasantly surprised to find out about Singapore, is everything is in English!  I did not do my research well, so I was shocked to find this out!  Singapore had been a British colony until 1963 and is now an independent country and city.  It’s long history with Great Britain means everyone speaks English, street signs are in English, and they drive on the left side of the road.  As a native English speaker, you might be shocked to find out how easy it is to get around Singapore.

To get to the Marina Bay, we crossed the very sci-fi looking Helix Bridge.  It’s a pedestrian bridge and designed with a double-helix, a real architectural wonder!  Each night it’s lit with different colors and was red for us.  Singapore is a modern city with some very unique architecture!

Next we finally arrived to the Gardens by the Bay, what I was most excited for.  It’s a ‘garden’ of modern tree-type structures, lit with more LED lights.  There are actual living greenery and plants going up the tree ‘trunk’, but the branches are only lights that change colors.  The trees up close are so amazing.  It’s a real phenomenon and we spent a long time wandering around in this area!

I do want to point out that Singapore is very HOT and HUMID!  I wore pants because coming from Germany in October, I couldn’t imagine wearing a dress or skirt at the moment, but I highly recommend doing so.  A skirt, even a long skirt, would be much better.  Shorts for guys are fine!  We had to slowly get used to the tropical climate in this part of the world 😉

We were amazed at this first area of the Gardens with the Marina Bay Sands behind it, but we kept meandering through the pathways…

…and finally stumbled upon the Super Tree Grove (yes, that’s actually the name 🙂 ).  Wow!!! Put simply, this area was magic.  The lights shift colors throughout the evening, and we couldn’t stop snapping pictures!

There is a ring in the air circling the Supertrees called the Skyway and yes, you can actually walk on it!  The grounds to the park are free, but you’ll have to pay to walk around the Skyway.  I am sure viewing the show from the Skyway it’s well worth it.  We spent all of our time admiring the trees from the ground this trip and were feeling quite fine let me tell you!

Our first time in South East Asia, first time in Singapore, and we were feeling happy and grateful to be here!

Unbeknownst to us at the time, the Super Tree Grove has a light and sound show at 7:45p and 8:45p every night.  We just so happened to be in the right place at the right time that night, and enjoyed the show.  There was happy music and the magical tree lights dancing to the beat.  A must-do in Singapore!  In a way, it kind of reminded me of a Disney World attraction, in the best way.  It had that special air about it.

You can see people watching from the floor and the Skyway.  If you go, let me know which is the best way to watch!

After the amazing light show, we were ready for a very late dinner.  It was close to 10pm but we were still off with jet lag.  We hailed a cab on our way to a set of Hawker Stands for some delicious grub!

It was so funny in our cab, we were chatting with our very nice cab driver (we have had some very fun and interesting ones recently!) and told him it was our first time ever to Singapore.  His response was, “Yes, I know.  You look very…. virgin.” Haha!!! I didn’t realize we looked that lost and confused! 🙂 #thattravellifethough. It must have been due to drivers on the left side of the road.  But he did later say we seemed like a very smart couple because we knew to come up to him instead of waiting for him to get to us.  I’ll take it as a win!

I have heard a lot of people say Singapore is very expensive, and while it may be to live in, you can do it extremely low cost if you’re visiting.  We didn’t spend a dime at the Gardens by the Bay as it was all free, and the Hawker Stands are somewhat infamous as delicious, cheap food where all the locals go.  Our first night we decided to go to the Golden Mile Hawker Stands, as it was closer to the Bay area and we had heard good things.

It’s a bit cafeteria style but a must-do when visiting.  You’ll get to sample as many local dishes as you want, each costing less than $5.  You really can’t beat it!

First up for us was two bowls of ramen, washed down with a gigantic local Tiger beer.

We ordered two bowls, and the shop owner told us to take a seat and he’d bring it out to us.  The ramen was $3 SGD each, even less in USD.  Two happy kids right here.

Next up we had a chili chiken dish with rice.  It was even better than the ramen, with just enough spice.

On our return trip to Singapore, we had about a 7 hour layover and hopped over to the Old Airport Road Hawker Stands, the largest Hawker area in the city.  There were tons of food options, but we only photographed our dumplings (simply amazing! I first had these in Japan) and a non-traditional curry laksa, this one a bit sweeter but still had spice and I loved it.

We could have sampled many more dishes but decided to walk down to find some nightlife.  We ended up finding a great street area right along Haji Lane.  There are plenty of bars, cafes, restaurants, and even shopping in this cute area with the nightlife spilling onto the streets.  It’s so mild outside that it’s quite nice to sit outside and catch up with friends or grab a drink.

We eventually found a jazz bar called Blu Jazz Cafe with a seven-piece band playing that night!  To our surprise they happily sat us inside, just in front of the band.  It was a wonderful night and we were feeling lucky to be exploring a great city.  We ordered two Singapore Slings, and enjoyed the music for the rest of the night.

More on our SE Asia trip coming soon… we had a week in Bali ahead of us!

 

Know:

• Singapore lies one degree above the equator, so it is quite hot and humid with a tropical climate.  I recommend dresses and skirts for ladies and shorts for men.  At first we felt weird wearing shorts around in a city but I found it was totally acceptable.
• Singapore was a British colony until 1963, so everything is in English here!  Locals speak Mandarin and English.  We were shocked at how easy it was to get around as native English speakers.
• Singapore is known as one of the cleanest and most beautiful modern cities.  I can definitely see why, they have some amazing, unique attractions!
• You don’t have to spend a lot of money to visit.  See the Gardens by the Bay and eat at Hawker Stands.  You will only spend $20 SGD total!  Perfect for a long layover or evening stopover.