Layover in Singapore (12. Jan. 2019)

My winter vacation started on January 12, 2019. I flew from Incheon International Airport (ICN if you use airport codes) to Singapore (SIN), where I had about a 16-hr, layover before continuing on to Bandar Seri Begawan (BWN), Brunei the following morning.

Very fortunately for me, I was meeting my good friend Carina (whose family adopted me while in South Africa) in Singapore that night (we even booked 2 capsules in the same hostel).

Night City Tour

Carina and I met at Suntec City. We had to be there on time to start a tour we booked beforehand. We did the Night City Tour with Flyer by Big Bus Tours (if you're gonna do the Big Bus or DUCK & HIPPO city tours in Singapore, you need to go out Esplanade MRT Station, Exit A).

We started off towards Chinatown for our light dinner. We were each given vouchers worth SGD 5 and let loose to wander and taste the streets of Chinatown--by a specific time. If you were late, that's it. The bus would leave without you. No exceptions.

It also started to rain quite heavily. We were given ponchos and a choice: either watch the Garden Rhapsody Show at Gardens by the Bay as planned (unprotected from the rain) or watch Spectra at Marina Bay (from the protection of a glass shopping mall just beside the bay). We voted for the second option, seeing the rain was pounding at the time.

Carina & I with our ponchos in The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands

Spectra was truly spectacular.

Here is a video compilation of the 5 clips I recorded during the show:

Afterward, we continued our tour on to Bugis Street to taste the local, seasonal fruit of the evening and to do a little shopping. Singapore is an expensive place, not gonna lie. However, if you want to buy souvenirs (or anything), the two budget-friendly places are Chinatown and Bugis Street. The deals you can get are too crazy to turn down (unless you have admirable self-control).

Later, we drove through Orchard Road, which is the shopping area of the country. They have lots of high-end, luxury brands, as well as others closer-yet-not-quite-at my budget. You want to burn money like there's no tomorrow, Orchard Road is the place to do just that.

We ended back at Suntec City to see the largest water fountain in the world (I didn't know this at the time). Click the link on the previous sentence to find out more about said water fountain. It's not an affiliate link, I'm just in a time-crunch.

Once the bus tour was done (3 hours later), we tried to make it to the Singapore Flyer before it closed, but were not successful. This was a bummer for me. The tickets to the Singapore Flyer were good for 5 days from the date of issuing. Carina had 2 more days in Singapore, but I was to leave in the morning and return 6 days later. I was going to miss it by a day. Blast. Oh well, I did go back and stay for free for 4 nights so I cannot complain too much (Couchsurfing).

Good (short) night

With all that done, we returned to our hostel. We got ready for the night and went to bed. I had to get up at 5:30 am to get a taxi* to the airport for my 8:40am flight to Brunei. Whew, fun times!

Some pictures of my capsule...

That's my carry-on bag in the forefront! This capsule was HUGE!

You need to tap your card outside (and push a button inside) to unlock this door.

Pitiful panorama of my entire capsule (nothing was exciting on the other side).

That mirror and lights were out of this world (the clock is off, by the way)

For those interested, this is Atlantis Pods @ Chinatown. You can check them out here (not an affiliate link, although you could click here to get a discount and I'll also get pocket change)

*By the way, I paid SGD 20 for a metered 20+min. taxi ride to the airport at 6am. Again, my hostel was in Chinatown. Keep that in mind when considering taxis in the early morning (before traffic!).