24 hours in Singapore

Having only 24 hours to discover a country might sound a bit too optimistic, but the nearby location of most of the city attractions and the very effective public transport network, make this mission possible.

My flight arrived to Singapore at the evening. Considering the short time I had in Singapore, I took a small backpack of essential accessories and clothes and left the rest of the luggage at the airport.  With a 15 hours of flights behind me, I took the simple steps to buy the ticket and board the MRT train (Singapore Metro system) towards the hostel's address. I have soon discovered the hospitality of local people, when I had no change for the MRT ticket (it only accepts banknotes up to 5 SGD) and a nice guy next to me instantly offers to exchange it for me. Finding your way on MRT is simple, just note that for most of the destinations, one has to switch trains after 2 stations from the airport, taking the train towards Joo Koon (the direction of city center). And make sure you keep your ticket as you need to use it when leaving a station.

I checked in the hostel, had a hot chocolate, browsed through my travel guide and went to sleep. Luckily, it was equipped with an AC, as otherwise I can't imagine breathing in the heat that was in the air.Next morning, after taking nice shower, other travellers joined and while having a chat at breakfast, a German guy and I decided to join our trips through the town. We decided to take it lazy way - we purchased the hop-on-hop-off bus ticket, which might be more expensive than using public transport to move between points, but offers more flexibility with its three lines of busses. Walking through Chinese Heritage Center, our first destination was the oldest Chinese temple in Chinatown, Thian Hock Keng. After walking around, taking few photos, we continued to the Buddha Tooth Relict Temple, where the ceremony was just taking the place. We lit the incense sticks for a safe journey and continued to the bus.

Leaving the Chinatown, we continued to the Little India, an area of the city full of colourful buildings, Indian stores, restaurants and people of Indian nationality. We visited (another) temple, Sri Veeramakaliamman temple, which is a hindu temple.  Its picturesque facade with colourful statues on the top is just amazing. Again, we got in the just in the moment of the ceremony and had the chance to follow the prayer. After quiet view around the temple, discrete not to disturb the prayer, it was time for lunch. To get the real feel of India, we decided to enter an Indian restaurant, where we failed in ordering. The tip for all the travellers: entering Indian restaurant for the first time, it is advised you have somebody who knows how to order with you. We ended up having 6 main dishes on the table, being served with a spoon and fork while all the others were eating with their hands. We did get some advice by the chef on how to eat, but we still felt real tourists.

Just next to the Little India, it is the Muslim neighbourhood with a magnificent Sultan Mosque. As 'lucky' as we were, we got there in the time of prayer, when the entrance is not allowed. With the rain started to pour on us, we visited a nearby shopping centre and experienced this aspect of Singapore as well. Over an extremely expensive glass of beer (compared to other prices), we made plans for the rest for the day, waited for the rain to pass and returned to the Sultan Mosque. Nice French lady explained some basics to us and was kindly answering all our questions. After a walk around, it was the time to move on. Being a bit tired already, we decided to use our bus tickets and took the long journey towards the botanical gardens for enjoying the nature. And it was the nature at the end, that changed our plans. While still seating on the top of "topless" bus, a sudden storm moved us all to the ground floor and the visit to the botanical gardens was crossed out from our plans.

This time it took a bit longer, about 30 minutes for the storm to pass, and from the bus, we had to only observe some other interesting places to see. The Raffles Hotel, the Bugis street of shops and the most famous Orchard road, few kilometres long street of retail stores and home to some famous hotels.

By the time I had to leave to the airport to continue my journey, I had the time to get the view over the Marina Bay, offering magnificent views on the new Singapore casino, a stunning building with a ship shaped formation on the top of three towers, the Singapore Flyer, a 5 meters higher version of the London Eye and the Esplanade, the theatre on the bay. On the bottom all of these lies the F1 Pit building and the F1 race tracks. Opposite of the Singapore Casino, one can visit the most famous statue of the Singapore, the Lion head. And the MRT station, is like everywhere in the town, just around the corner.

All-in-all, the day did fulfil my expectations. Of course, there is much more one could see and if you have a chance to extend the stay for a day, two or even  more, do not miss the Singapore Zoo with their world-famous Night Safari, shopping experience on the Orchard Road, a daytrip to Sentosa Island with beautiful beaches and of course, if you feel young enough, experience the Singapore night life.  There's a wide offer of museums and art exhibitions as well if one likes it. Saying it short - no matter how much time you have in Singapore, you'll be able to treat yourself with a bit of the spirit the city has to offer.