Singapore: Crazy, Rich

This is a continuation of the previous Singapore post, "Singapore: Asian."

Crazy

Singapore is indeed crazy. The shear amount of insane stuff they have just because they can is mind-boggling. Here are some examples we visited.

The Gardens by the Bay are perhaps one of the craziest things in Singapore. They’re a set of three nature-inspired gardens, each absurdly overboard in some way. The first garden we visited was the Flower Dome—a giant air-conditioned bubble hosting species from Mediterranean climates. Now, you must remember, Singapore is at 1°N of the equator. Singapore is as tropical as it gets. The sun sets every day of the year within 10 minutes of 7:10 PM, and the average monthly high swings by 3°F between July and December. It’s ALWAYS unbearably hot and humid. Seriously, I had fully sweat through my clothes by the end of every day.

But we stepped into this flower dome and immediately felt refreshed by the air conditioning. And this isn’t a small dome to air condition—it’s probably a five to seven minute walk from one end to the other, spanning two different floors, and with a grand roof allowing trees to grow as tall as they can. In the dome were all sorts of exotic species. The signage explained that the dome was broken up into sections, where each was a different region. The regions were California & Mexico, the Mediterranean, the Andes, Australia, and a few others I can’t remember. Just think how crazy that is. Plants that thrive in the high altitude and cold weather of the Andes can grow and blossom just as normal in Singapore. And if that wasn’t impressive enough, the Gardens by the Bay are carbon neutral. They produce all their energy sustainably, despite needing to keep a massive dome at temperatures impossibly cool.

When we were in the flower dome, a group of fighter jets flew above, followed by a helicopter carrying the Singaporean flag. To be wowed by the feat that is the flower dome, followed by hearing the sonic boom of jets above us reminded us just how crazy this place really is.

We moved on from the flower dome to the Cloud Forest, which really, was an immersive Jurassic Park. We walked in and were greeted by a waterfall that was probably five stories tall, covered in greenery, with animatronics of dinosaurs all around. Just like in the flower dome, trees were allowed to grow as tall as they could, and a walkway takes visitors up at the level of this canopy to observe the trees from the top.

As we walked around, we found dozens of animatronic dinosaurs that truthfully looked and acted real. Like the wrinkles on the skin and the motion of the eyes were spot on. Katherine claims that the Cloud Forest’s purpose is to educate people about climate change, but I think most of what people get out of it is that it’s a massive waterfall with dinosaurs all around. Which is cool, I guess.

The sky trees are, disappointingly, outside in the 90° weather, but at least they’re free. They’re these tall metal structures in the shape of trees, whose purpose still baffles me. It just feels like a “we can do this so let’s” kind of project. On weekends, an aurora show plays, coloring mist with bright lights to replicate the aurora. Again, remember, we’re basically on the equator here. So I found it goofy that we were seeing an aurora show so far away from either pole. But that’s what this is for. Goofy, crazy things that you could hardly even imagine.

From the sky trees, you turn around to face the Marina Bay Sands—the iconic building of Singapore. Three arced towers with a boat-shaped roof connecting them loom over the skyline in a way that you simply cannot ignore. Again… this was not needed. Nobody needed a crazy looking building on the skyline to make Singapore’s Marina Bay more iconic. But they did, and now it’s practically what defines Singapore. Next to the Sands is a shopping mall, which sees the entrance to the casino, as well as a modern art museum, as well as the Sands Theater.

We saw Phantom of the Opera in the Sands theater, and though we got seats on the top floor far from the stage, we still really enjoyed the show. It was so excellently done, the effects were really powerful, and the acoustics meant that we could hear everything well. I got a bit of a thrill of going to watch Phantom in Singapore, as I feel like going to see a show is the kind of thing you’d do in a large, rich, international city as someone with money and status. And though we bought the cheap-o tickets, it strengthened for me this feeling that Singapore’s hip, modern, highly developed, and wealthy.

Connecting this side of the bay to the other is a helix bridge impeccably designed and without a doubt beautiful. Looking out of this bridge, you get the full view. You can see the Marina Bay Sands in all its glory, or you can look into downtown, with skyscrapers galore, all competing for your attention in the lights of the night. On weekend nights, at 8, 9, and 10 PM, a fireworks show goes off seemingly just because it’s cool. Like this is the level of extravagance that just permeates Singapore.

We biked through downtown, where these skyscrapers were, one day. There’s art instillations everywhere. There’s trees and greenery around every corner, and the streets are impeccably clean. This is the definition of a city that’s built to live in.

If you haven’t figured out by now, Singapore loves its flowers. They like to call themselves a “city in a garden,” acknowledging the fact that Singapore is built in a rainforest. On the outskirts of downtown, but not even close to the center of the island, is the National Botanical Gardens: Singapore’s singular UNESCO World Heritage Site (though I think it needs a few more—the place is insanely cultured). The gardens are huge, and you could spend an entire day just walking around the gardens. There’s gardens full of medicinal plants, poisonous plants, and even a whole garden just for ginger. One garden shows the different periods of earth and its wildlife, and another just displays all the different kinds of leaves that exist. Some display plants that have been instrumental in the success of mankind, and another is just a bunch of sundials sitting in a field. To fully explore the gardens, you’d need to make dozens of trips. Especially because it’s so hot, humid, and sunny that it’s unbearable to be there for an hour, let alone the five we spent. But the crown jewel of the gardens is the Orchid Garden, which is the only paid admission in the park.

The orchid gardens is a huge set of orchid flowers, many of which are native to Singapore, but many of which also are from different climate zones, and just like the flower dome, are kept in an air-conditioned glass bubble. Needless to say, we took our time exploring that part of the garden… But everything in the orchid garden, and really in the botanical garden as a whole, is laid out so intently to be maximally pretty at every time of year.

Stepping away from the natural stuff now, there’s one more “crazy” thing I’d like to address: Haw Par Villa. This villa, to which we saw only the “gardens,” is one of the most bizarre pieces of art I’ve ever seen. It was built about 115 years ago by two brothers from Myanmar who had a decent amount of wealth. They aimed to preserve the Chinese folklore and traditional stories as the Chinese dynastic cycle was ending, and the future of Chinese culture and tradition was uncertain. To achieve their goal in a way accessible to future generations, they decided to create, in the gardens of their villa, a sculpture park with crazy sculptures in bright colors portraying these stories. I don’t have time to share the stories now, but each one was so creatively imagined to be maximally fun and maximally interesting to the visitor. We decided to explore the park by playing hide and seek, allowing us to run around, exploring every spot in the park to find each other. We had a lot of fun doing that, and if anyone is thinking about a visit to Haw Par Villa, I’d recommend doing the same!

Now let’s get to the things that are NOT crazy. Because remember, Singapore is still Asia, and there are some crazy things in Asia that just aren’t so here.

First is driving. Driving here is so orderly. Unlike in Vietnam, where it’s every man for themselves, here, you strictly follow traffic rules. Even jaywalking is frowned upon. Also, the chaos here is minimal. In a Hawker Centre or on a street market, the hustle I’m used to seeing is turned down by 90%. Sure, people try to get your money, but they do not harass you. They can take no for an answer. I think in general, the level of wealth is higher, so the need for hustle is lower, but it was just so relaxing not being harassed for simply existing. That is fun for a while, but it gets old after 40 days.

Rich

Singapore is outrageously expensive. At least for my broke backpacker wallet. Sure, we did the touristy things for the most part, but even local things in local neighborhoods are expensive. A basic haircut is S$60 ($45), most meals are between S$15 and S$25, a metro ride is usually S$2.5, and basically every tourist attraction has admission starting at S$40.

We decided to go to the top of the Marina Bay Sands to get a cocktail because, well, we wanted to feel rich, cool, and powerful. And yeah, one should be rich to go enjoy a cocktail there. A base cocktail was S$27, a bottle of water was S$12, and some liquors were going for tens of thousands of dollars on the menu. The minimum was S$120, S$30 per person, and we hit it right on the nose with our one water and each of us with a cocktail. But looking around, we certainly looked out of place. Us backpackers with no nice clothes on us were up there with people dressed so elegantly, talking in foreign accents and laughing with laughs that nearly screamed wealth. The top of the Marina Bay Sands is a place where the elite can go frequently, and the backpacker could go once. We pretended the whole time that we were rich, putting on our best British accents and talking about our private yachts, what celebrities we were just spending the last weekend with, and about our box seats at the Phantom. Needless to say, it made the experience way more enjoyable, and I’ll always look back fondly at our goofiness at the top of the Sands.

On the other side of wealth is the casino. On our last night, Tommy had still S$100 left, and wanted to put it all on red. So I joined him in a quick venture to the casino to play a singular round of roulette. The casino was massive. I haven’t been to Vegas in a while, and certainly not while being of age (sorry, Nana and Papa, I’ll come soon!) so I can’t compare the Sands to Vegas, but I was impressed by the sheer number of tables, the beautiful arrangement of them, and the impressive style and architecture of the casino. I guess when you’re the most famous casino in one of the most extravagant cities in the world, that’ll happen. We found a table we liked, cashed in for a S$100 chip, put it on red, and waited. We were so nervous, knowing that the singular spin could double Tommy’s money or lose it all. The ball landed on Red 5, and we indeed walked away with S$200!

Zack and Katherine couldn’t enter the casino because they didn’t have their passports on them. So when Tommy and I left the casino, we decided to hold out pretty long pretending like we’d lost. Katherine said she was expecting that out of Tommy, but I was pretty proud of my poker face, and Katherine said she was expecting me to give it away for sure, which apparently, I didn’t. It wasn’t until Tommy pretended to find S$200 sitting in his pocket a few minutes after convincing them that we’d lost that we finally celebrated.

We headed to a board game and video game café that we’d spent a few hours at that morning to go spend that hard earned cash. We played this funny video game where we all have to cooperate to get food out correctly and on time, while being put in the most insanely laid out kitchens. It’s called Overcooked, and was an absolute blast.

So that’s pretty much it for Singapore! I really enjoyed the place, and if I have to be stationed here for work in the future, I think I’d really enjoy getting to dig in deep to what the island has to offer. As long as I had a well-paying job, I think Singapore is somewhere that can sustain entertainment for a long-term traveler or expat. It’s fun, it’s diverse. There’s new experiences around every corner. It’s clean, amazingly safe, and just existing in the city doesn’t zap your energy as many Asian cities do.

I’d heard from people that it’s tacky or feels like Vegas, but I think that’s missing the point. It’s forgetting to understand Singapore for what it is. A majorly diverse pocket of society where everyone can work together to create amazing things. A place to which dreamers, achievers, and hard-working, honest people flock, to build something truly crazy, rich, and iconically Asian.