Singapore: Fun All the Way

There’s lots to see and do in this city. Singapore may be small- a country that’s just an island can’t be considered large by any standards- but it packs in quite a bit. For those who are culturally inclined, beautifully ethnic quarters like Little India and Chinatown are must-sees; and for those who’ve come here for the more simple pleasures in life, there’s everything from an evening ride in a noisy bumboat, to be followed up with a dinner along Boat Quay or Clarke Quay. Dip your hand in the water of the world’s largest fountain, at Suntec City and your wish may just get granted; or head off on a shop-till-you-drop (clichéd, but appropriate in this case) spree along Orchard Road.

Or if you’ve got the kids along, go off to Jurong Bird Park and get a neat and very enjoyable lesson in avifauna. Spend a day at Sentosa Island, walk through a glass tunnel and gaze up at sharks and rays swimming above you in Underwater World; or watch a fabulous Musical Fountain Show. And top the trip off with a nocturnal tramp through the Night Safari. Get to be a kid again- come to Singapore!

Quick Tips:

When in Singapore, be good. Don’t smoke unless you’re absolutely sure you’re in a place where it’s allowed. Don’t chew gum. Don’t carry a durian on the MRT. Don’t litter. Don’t pee in a lift. Don’t do lots more. Singapore hasn’t been called a ‘fine city’ for nothing- they have massive penalties for any infringement of the country’s extremely strict laws- you can end up paying fines of up to S, or you can get jailed and caned. And yes, drug trafficking can cost you your life. So watch out. Other than that, this is a nice city, easy to get around in, because everybody understands English, and despite the fact that it’s pretty touristy, you won’t have your footsteps dogged by touts and hawkers all the way. One last bit of advice- when you arrive in Singapore, pick up a set of Singapore Tourism Board brochures at the airport or the railway station, wherever you first enter Singapore. The brochures are prominently displayed, and are an excellent guide to the city- very informative and entertaining.

Best Way To Get Around:

Getting around Singapore is never a problem- it’s a fairly well-laid-out city without the pollution and the horrendous traffic of places like Bangkok; and the public transport system’s very efficient. The fastest, of course, is the rail network- the MRT (Mass Rapid Transit, just in case you’re interested). It covers most of the island, is squeaky clean (like all of Singapore) and is pretty economical too. Other than the MRT, the bus service is good, and has the advantage of reaching further into the city than the MRT does- there are lots of places buses go where the MRT fears to tread. And for all those times when you’re too rushed for either a bus or a train, catch a cab- Singapore’s taxis are a refreshing change from the rattletraps that usually masquerade as cabs across much of Southeast Asia! What’s even better, you don’t need to haggle with the cabbie about the fare- meters always work and drivers never try to fleece you (they’ll get fined if they do!).

Jurong Bird Park is one of those ‘not-to-be-missed’ sights in Singapore: everybody goes there, and although it’s primarily a children’s attraction, even adults can have a great time here (well, we did, at least!). It’s a lot of fun, and really quite spectacular- a huge spread of 50 acres of parkland, in places almost as thick as a rainforest- teeming with birds. The park has all of about 8,000 birds, of 600 species. There are separate areas for flamingos, hornbills, toucans, parrots and macaws, cranes, spoonbills, storks, birds of prey, and more- an ornithologist’s dream come true!

We spent a decent four hours or so in the park, walking through it all- among the sections we liked the most were the World of Darkness (a special on nocturnal birds) and the Southeast Asian Rainforest (where there’s a thunderstorm every noon- we managed to get there in time for it, even though it’s really more a misty little drizzle rather than a storm). The Southeast Asian Rainforest is a huge enclosure, with wire mesh all around and plenty of greenery inside- and what’s best is that the birds wander about freely. We fed some birds- the lovely blue Victorian Crowned Pheasants, especially, though stunning, turned out to be shamelessly persistent when it came to begging for birdfeed.

After the Southeast Asian Rainforest, we went through the Waterfall Aviary, with a 100-foot-high waterfall, the highest artificial one in the world. In it are a huge number of fascinating birds- gloriously colourful macaws, Caribbean flamingos, and the scarlet ibis included (the interesting thing about these gorgeous birds is the fact that the colour of their plumage depends upon certain pigments in the bodies of the crustaceans they eat- the more, the brighter).

By the time we’d finished with the Waterfall Aviary, the Southeast Asian Rainforest and the World of Darkness, it was time for a break- which we took at about 10:30am, when we stopped off at a small outdoor ‘stage’ where bird shows are held. We saw part of the first one, the Fuji Hawk Walk, a performance showcasing birds of prey, especially hawks; and we saw all of the second performance, the All Stars bird show, which features birds- mainly macaws and cockatoos- doing everything from stunning nosedives and exquisite mimicry to neat little games akin to basketball. Both shows were good fun, and gave us time for a breather before we went on to the next part of our Jurong experience- a guided tour on the Panorail (the Thai Airways-sponsored monorail which runs through Jurong).

On the whole, a must-see: great if you’ve got kids along, and still a rewarding way to spend time even if you haven’t.

Orchard Road is where Singapore shops. And not just shops, but also eats, drinks, and makes merry. This busy, glittering street is a bustling thoroughfare full of malls- a mad whirligig of shops stretching from crazy party ideas to baby clothing, art to heavily sequined laces to quick-stitch kits, Swarovski to Timberland, cameras to lingerie, books to food to music and- well, virtually everything else you could possibly think of!

Orchard Road draws its name from the fact that it was once, during the mid-1800s, lined with plantations of pepper and nutmeg. About the only people who actually lived in the area at the time were wealthy British planters. In the 1900s, a disease killed off most of the pepper and nutmeg trees, and a series of natural disasters- including floods- put an end to the plantations once and forever.

By the 1970s, Orchard Road began to come up in life, and snazzy buildings were constructed to house shops, cinemas, restaurants and more. The Orchard Road of today is a far cry from what it was a century ago- a sleek, fancy place with lots of opportunity for everything from shopping and dining to people-watching. Some of the biggest malls along the street are Palais Renaissance, Tanglin Mall, Tanglin Shopping Centre, Far East Plaza, Wisma Atria and Plaza Singapura. We wandered through quite a few of them, trying desperately to restrain ourselves from buying every single thing we saw. Chanel, Liz Claiborne, Ralph Lauren, DKNY, Versace, Waterford crystal, Wedgwood china, Louis Vuitton, the largest bookstore in Southeast Asia, and an ‘adult toys’ shop were just some of the many stores we either took a very leisurely stroll through, or else whisked past hurriedly. And yes- we also saw a wonderful shop dealing exclusively in jigsaw puzzles; and a street show of Chinese acrobats, which was really quite a bonus!

We had, like all dutiful and conscientious tourists in Singapore, gone to the Jurong Bird Park for a delightful half-day; and after that half-day was over, we discovered that another lesser-known attraction lay right across the road. The neighbouring Jurong Reptile and Crocodile Paradise is, compared to the famous Jurong Bird Park, a much smaller, much less loved collection that wears a rather forlorn and neglected look about it. Few tourists ever come here, as a result of which it’s rather unkempt- and maybe that’s all part of an unhappy cycle, because the unkempt look deters tourists.

Anyway, we decided to be adventurous and give it a shot. And it wasn’t bad, really. In fact, it was quite interesting. We got to see some truly amazing reptilian species, including pythons, anacondas, king snakes (which- and I must confess I didn’t know this- can supposedly kill a rattler), terrapins, crocodiles, iguanas, monitors, and more. I even got the chance to feed an iguana some lettuce leaves- quite an experience to have a critter like that snap its jaws a couple of inches away from your fingers!

Other highlights of the Jurong Reptile and Crocodile Paradise are arapaimas, the largest freshwater fish in the world (believe me, they’re huge!), and an unusual two-crowned coconut tree that grows in the park. For those who’re hardcore reptile enthusiasts, there’s also an exhibition of snakes and lizards. The park also has snake shows (which we missed, unfortunately) at 11:45 and 2pm daily. The shows are supposedly pretty good, and visitors can even have themselves photographed with a snake or two wrapped around their necks.

Not an overcrowded attraction, but if you’re visiting Jurong Bird Park and you’ve got some time to kill, this makes for a neat side trip.

Yes, this does sound rather a lot to put into one journal entry, but it actually is a single activity. The trip to Sentosa Island, with its many attractions, packs in quite a bit- hotels, eateries, and enough entertainment for those who aren’t on the lookout for very cultural stuff. We began our jaunt just after lunch, with a taxi ride to the cable car station that is the take-off point for Mount Faber. Mount Faber is en route to Sentosa. The ride (in a glass cable car) gave us a chance to see Singapore in all its glory- city and forests, seas and land: a truly amazing experience.

After getting off the cable car at Sentosa, we caught a bus to the first big attraction, Dolphin Lagoon, where a special ‘Meet the Dolphins’ show was slated to begin. The beach along the lagoon had a series of none-too-comfortable chairs, and it was all pretty hot; but the dolphin show was pretty good. Cheery-looking pink-bellied dolphins leapt in synchronisation, swam, jumped through hoops, twiddled hoops on their snouts and did other ‘oh-so-cute’ stuff like that.

After the Dolphin Show, it was time to head off to Underwater World, a bonanza of marine life- corals, fish, mammals and God knows what else. Underwater World, as the name suggests, consists of huge (and I mean huge!) glass tanks full of marine life. Through the tanks run glass tubes carrying conveyor belts, so you actually find yourself walking beneath rays, moray eels, sharks, swordfish, dugongs, starfish and loads of other species. In separate sections are tanks containing jellyfish, pufferfish, and more- all quite interesting; and some of it pretty creepy too.

And to top it all off, we ended our day at Sentosa with a visit to the Musical Fountain, a series of fountains set against a backdrop of waterfalls, all of it in front of a huge amphitheatre. There’s a daily show here at 7:30 every evening. It didn’t appear too promising in the beginning, but it soon developed into something pretty spectacular. The fountains play at different heights, pressures and types, and combined with multicoloured lights and cinema (with a spray of water acting as the screen), present two interesting shows. The first show was about the music of the world- it had excerpts from world music, played to the accompaniment of dancing fountains, dancing lights and strobes tracing famous landmarks of the country whose music is being played (The Acropolis in Greece, was, for instance, traced in light while 'Never on a Sunday’ was played). The second show was called 'Spirits of Sentosa’ and used cinema (a film with three actresses and an actor, plus caricatured dragons). All in all, a delightful programme- and at the end, when everything’s over, the huge Merlion, the statue of the half-lion, half-fish creature that almost symbolises Singapore and actually dominates Sentosa- is lit up.

Entry to Sentosa Island itself is S$6 per adult and S$4 per child; each of the attractions charges extra fees.

Singapore, with its tall buildings and wide roads, busy malls and crowded markets- all of it packed into a tiny little corner of Southeast Asia- hardly seems like a likely place for encounters with the wild. Which is why the Night Safari, the world’s first (and unless I’m mistaken, only) night zoo, comes as a bit of a surprise. The Night Safari boasts some 1,200 animals of about 110 species, spread out across eight distinct zones that represent geographical regions like the savannah, the Southeast Asian rainforest, the jungles of Myanmar, the terai (the wooded foothills of the Himalayas) and the pampas. The Night Safari is different from most other zoos in a number of ways. The animals, instead of being caged, are separated by natural barriers- moats and ditches, in most cases, or glass and barely-visible wire when it comes to slightly more ferocious species. Most interestingly, however, the Night Safari offers just what its name suggests- a chance to see animals at night. The zoo opens from 7:30 every evening till 12 midnight, and we got there at 7:15, just in time to buy a ticket for a 45-minute tram ride through the safari area. Our tram ride took us through fairly dense forests and grasslands, passing alongside a lake. On the way, we managed to see a vast number of creatures- elephants, tapir, swamp deer, sangai (an extremely rare species of deer known in northeastern India as the ‘dancing deer’), tiger, Asiatic lion, leopard cat, fishing cat, leopards, rhinos, hippos, otters, giraffes, oryx, markhor, chital (spotted deer), and God knows what else. After the tram ride, we spend another 45 minutes walking down the trails through the park- which meant a lot more wildlife seen, and at much closer quarters.

If you’ve been in real forests, if you’ve seen the real thing, the Night Safari looks obviously contrived. It’s a trifle too crowded, and many of the people are noisy and loud- behaving more beastly than the beasts. But despite all that, it’s an impressive collection and an excellent experience- one to definitely opt for if you’re in Singapore.

Entry to the Night Safari is S$15.45 for adults and S$10.30 for children under 12.