The doorstep to Asia. This is what you often hear about Singapore. It doesn’t make sense geographically. Culturally it is on point, though. But first back to my personal story. A reunion is planned in Singapore. Six month have passed, where we only saw each other on a screen. I have crossed a lot of countries in that time. Met a lot of people, too. Artists, freelancers, Amazon managers, musicians, entrepreneurs, law attorneys, prestige travelers, surfers, teachers and inventors to name a few. Now it is time to meet someone with a special place in my heart again! I will travel the rest of the time with my girlfriend and I couldn’t be happier.

I sit in the lobby of the Singaporean airport. The sweet coffee, which is called copi c, is keeping me up after the long flight. I realize now, the cuisine is going to be way better than what I had the last 6 month. My first meal is already overstimulating my taste buds. I kept thinking, this must be one of the most quiet and clean airports I have seen so in my life. Then it is time. Sally’s flight has landed. My heart is pounding. The excitement is unprecedented. How is it going to be? Is it the same like it was six month ago? Have things changed? These questions pop into my head. Luckily she lands at the same terminal. It is even the same baggage belt! What are the chances? Then she passes through the door and we fall into our arms. It becomes clear that it is just the same as six month ago. I am relieved and my fear is gone in an instant. We hug exchange how the flight was and have a breakfast. For me it is the second breakfast. We smile and leave the airport.

We cruise through the city with a bus, to get to our accommodation. Here it becomes clear. Singapore is not only hot, it is humid as fuck. It is also pretty impressive! For me the most impressive thing is, that this city is a country as well!

Here is a brief summary of what happened. You guessed it. Something with colonialism… First the Portuguese laid claim on the Malakka straights, which is Malaysia today Including the island of Singapore. It didn’t take long until the Brits gained control. One of the four national languages in Singapore is still English today. Singapore belonged to Malaysia until 1965. Then they called for independence. It was the right move as they focused on trade with the USA and Japan and Malaysia didn’t. Today Singapore is thriving more than ever and listed as one of the most expensive cities to live in. The biggest ethnicities today are Indian, Chinese and Malaysian. These cultures seem to coexist in peace. Thus the doorstep to Asia. You have a lot of comforts of the west and a lot of diverse cultures in one place. Everyday you can go to a different quarter of the city. You can get Arabic cuisines, as well as Japanese and Korean ones. Singaporean, Indian, Malaysian, Chinese and Western food is possible. It is a dream for food lovers!

We enjoy the multicultural prosperity of Singapore and visit the Art & Science Museum first. This beautiful building is worth a visit, even if you don’t want to see an exhibition. There even is a free cinema on the top floor as well. We went to one exhibition. It was not stunning though and we left a little bit disappointed. The building was very cool though.

When we first get to the gardens by the bay we are a bit disappointed. This is supposed to be the famous super trees? They look quite small. The pictures online offered a different view… We ask ourselves if this is another tourist sham. Brightly advertised ,but mediocre at most? We walk further into the wonderful garden. At some point we realize that there is more than the three trees we saw. They were just called the silver garden and are the smallest tree structures over there. Now it makes much more sense. This is a bit more impressive. However not too impressive. Later we realized, that the treasure of this place is only brightening up at night. We decide to do something else first instead.

Every building and metro station has an AC installed. This brings me to the next point I loved about Singapore. The super tidy city, with it’s superb metro. It is the complete opposite to San Francisco, where almost nothing was possible by metro… The prices seem to be the same though. Quite expensive. I only seen a Metro this clean in Medellin. The reasons are different though. In Medellin the metro is symbol of hope for the city. Nobody even dares to leave it dirty. In Singapore there are hefty fees for small violations, like eating on the metro. Both are quite effective.

Singapore strangely has more to offer than just city life. It has giant jungle which serves as a wildlife sanctuary. We went hiking and we didn’t even see the city for half a day, only jungle. We are just blown away by the humidity. It feels like you’re sweating out a liter of liquid for every three steps you take. The Asians in their high end gear didn’t seem to sweat as much as we did. At some point we found this bridge that went over the forest. You have a pretty good view over this big area and to top it off, it was free, too!

Our hike escalated a bit as we got lost. However we saw a lot of monkeys because of that. I tend to always look at the good things of life. After sweating more and walking more we strangely passed a massive golf course. When I landed with the plane I also saw a massive golf course. Golfing seems to be a big thing in Singapore. After five dreading hours we finally made it back to a road. We catch the next bus and head back to the city.

After a short refreshing stop at a 7-eleven we head back to the gardens by the bay. We get off by the metro, which leads you right into the craziest shopping mall I have ever seen. Every expensive brand is located here. It is connected to the Marina Bay Hotel. Here the rich and good looking reside and go out. I only saw the rich, though and wondered where the good looking people were. We can’t seem to find the right exit. This hotel and mall is too massive. I mean they have an artificial river flowing through it. Do I have to say more? We eventually find the exit to the Gardens by the Bay. Suddenly it starts pouring from the sky and everyone is seeking shelter under the walkway. The square is almost empty now. We stand under a plant and admire the beautiful lights the super trees have to offer. No they are justified and very impressive! Just in time, when we wanted to leave for another lightshow a trembling voice is echoing over the empty square. A star wars themed lightshow is about to start. We look at each other in disbelief. The show is well controlled and the lights fit perfectly to the sound. In my opinion this already looks like star wars! I was just wondering how they automated it.

People were leaving in sheer masses as the rain got worse. We still stayed a little and got somehow lost a little. We were meant to walk over the bridge. We ended up under it which gave us this nice photograph.

The next day we tried to get on the observation deck of the Marina bay. When we try to get up there we face two problems. The observation deck is sold out for the day. You can also get into a restaurants on the rooftop. Though we were not chic enough to enter the high society. Defeated we wanted to try another rooftop in downtown. We were hurrying there to see the sunset. They promptly told us they have strict no slipper policy. This feels like the biggest middle finger I have ever received. This is enough for us. We get a beer downtown, which is still 15€ and then we leave the city for cheaper realms to Malaysia the next day.

Until next time! Cheers!