Singapore in 3 Days- Day 3

Day 3...
Once again we made a late start to the day. Why? Well, because we spent the previous evening doing something that you simply have to do if you visit Singapore- and that's enjoy some drinks on Read Bridge at Clarke Quay. An interesting fact about Singapore is that you can drink out in the open, and you don't have to cover your drinks with a brown paper bag. You can basically walk around sipping from a bottle of beer or JD! So on Friday and Saturday nights locals, expats and visitors alike, buy drinks from the now famous 7 eleven nearby and spend the evening drinking, chatting, mingling- in short having a good time, out in the open, under the stars, at Read Bridge. 

It was quite an experience, and one I thoroughly enjoyed. There is a very happy atmosphere around, you get a chance to talk to the locals and everyone is quite friendly and not in a creepy way. Such a pleasant change from NCR. To be able to speak with random strangers and not worry about your friendliness being interpreted as an invitation for something else. There was this one guy celebrating his bachelors night by taking pictures with as many single women as he could, a girl celebrating her hen night, handing out chocolates to everyone, and others mixing up some pretty heavy duty cocktails, all out in public! It was crazy and wonderful and I loved it! 

So with all that 'happiness' of the previous evening it's no wonder we made a late start :) We finally did manage to get out and we headed straight to the Gardens by the Bay. (we again took the downtown extension line) 

The Gardens span 101 hectares of reclaimed land and are home to the famous Supertrees. These spectacular 9-16 storey structures are vertical gardens and also collect rain water, generate solar power and act as venting ducts for the park's conservatories. I had seen them from the top of the Spypark Observation deck the previous day, but from up close it felt like a scene out of the movie Avatar! The cooled conservatory complex, within the gardens is worth a visit. It won the World Building of the Year at the World Architecture Festival 2012 and is home to a huge variety of plant species. We were on a tight budget and a tight schedule so we gave this a skip. 

By the time we were through, it was lunch time and we headed to the Chinatown Food Street. After a great lunch there we took the metro to Clarke Quay for some more exploring, by day this time :) We walked down Eu  Tong Sen Street, Hill Street, past the Armenian Church and took in some lovely sights. 

By around 4 pm we were exhausted and I was feeling the after effects of two consecutive nights out on the town. Plus we still had to meet some friends that night. So we headed home for a rest.  On the way back home I reflected on our trip and the fact that there were so many things we didn't see like Holland Village & Dempsey Hill among a few. But we did manage to cover quite a lot in the short time we were there. In hindsight, if we had spent a little less time in a few of the places and used a taxi a little more, we may have been able to cover some more ground. But then there is a certain charm of exploring a city on foot and there would have probably been so many places we would have missed out on if we were zooming around in a cab all the time :)

In case you missed it, here's my account of Day 1 and Day 2 in Singapore.

[All images- Shalini Pereira]

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