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Singapore: 1000 malls, mermaids, furries and lotsa food!
2 months ago
Soo, the last two weeks I've been in Singapore~
Met one of my oldest friends, done lots of sightseeing and ("weird") food tasting plus attended the smol but really lovely: Little Island Furcon.
Probably boring for anyone to read but I have time waiting in the plane and thus gotta just write down about the trip xP
Unlike the US trip last year ( https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/10885264/ ) this was a more spontaneous decision but I love seeing the world and Asia was very high on the list to see next >w<
SINGAPORE in general:
- Small country, essentially a single huge city southern of Malaysia with almost 6 million people. Used to be a British colony until 1963, joined Malaysia in its independence at that point but then became independent on its own just 2 years later.
Today it is a massive, world-relevant commerce/trade and finance center. Its port size is only beaten by Shanghai.
- Weather:
Fairly hot and very humid >w< Definitely similar experience to Florida and a bit of a shock at the beginning (and every time you leave they typically heavy used AC areas). You start flowing sweat immediately if you even walk xD
There are hardly any seasons (just rain frequency may change). My trip was remarkably consistent with 28-32°C throughout the whole two weeks with just a few brief rainstorms. Due to humidity, for a landlocked European that feels like 36-38°C however.
Some places, especially open-street shops had free standing AC unit/tower thingies at the street. It.. certainly feels wrong to spend energy on producing hot air that's blown upwards, just to blow some cold air horizontally (but also into open space on the road). Yet.. gosh is it a blessing to stand in front of one of those after walking a while.
Why do humans decide to densely inhabit those hot&humid earth regions and put the funnest attractions there?.. XD
That said, after a couple days, while the sweating did not stop, somehow the heat felt less "defeating" to me. It wasn't something I'd waste time thinking about anymore at least. Vaporeons are an adaptive species owo ( and probably most species :) )
Did occasionally bring a fan with me tho and I saw many Asians do that as well. Just not my friend, he was even wearing long sleeves somehow ._. x3
- Language:
My friend put it perfectly: A trip to Singapore is "Asia on easy-mode": Pretty much everyone speaks English. Essentially all attractions are primarily English with other languages as an option to book sometimes. Exception may be things in Little India and Little China, however the bars/restaurants we've attended there worked out with English too.
English, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil are officially languages of the country. Most public signs and in trains etc. are displaying in all of these throughout the country.
- Transportation:
Just 70 years ago, this area was essentially rural so guess the city designers had quite a clean canvas. The public transport is excellent. The "MRT" and buses do get you nearly everywhere.
The pedestrian experience on the other hand could be better. In many places it felt unclear where to go and many roads throughout the city are fast and not interrupted by zebra crossings. Traffic lights were also quite a distance away sometimes.
My best pedestrian experience in a metropolis was in London, however this may be skewed by the fact that I loose patience way faster out on the road in a hot country than in cool England xD
One interesting aspect regarding cars:
There are very significant, financial challenges imposed by the government to acquiring a car, so fewer people get one. Maybe that's "unfair" but seriously, that's likely better than NY or LA where the traffic congests everything. As far as I saw from foot or whilst in friend's car, the traffic tends to be flowing. Even what he called a jam is barely comparable to what I've even seen in Germany, lol.
That said, not only the roads weren't as overrun as one would expect with 6 million people. The streets and POIs weren't either.
In the buses think I always got a seat and in the MRT most of the time.
Guess it is noticeable that it isn't an extreme tourist hotspot like most places I've visited in the past and they also don't really have seasons where everyone streams to visit things (except for hollydays maybe) thus demand is spread across the year.
Even the beaches, while they had people, were not crowded by any means at all. Ironically the only thing I think I had to wait significantly in line for was the "Night Safari" (see further below).
- Prices/Costs**
Not too much to say about this. 100 Singaporean dollars are 78 USD or 67 Eur right now. All in all food was about the same price as in Europe (which is cheaper than US) if not a bit cheaper.
Transportation was okay'ish.
Prices for POIs were mostly appropriate.
Some electronics are cheaper - I was eyeing a DJI Neo for quite a while so I got it there ~30% below EU price.
What was noticeably cheaper was Bubble Tea but probably because of the strong competition. Hint: If you wanna open a business here in Germany, sell bubble tea =D The two shops I know are often overrun. Even in winter.
Hotels were also appropriately priced.
Housing for actual living however is apparently terribly expensive! A million for a plain apartment for example.
**LOCATIONS/ATTRACTIONS:**
**Gardens by the Bay**
One of the few installations of the main city area with a lot of greenery. Consists of a series of attractions:
- Gardens by the Bay - Cloud Forest ( https://maps.app.goo.gl/DxUVZDrbSyNTbZyy8 ):
I'm writing parts of this right now at the "Cloud Forest" since this became about the only place except for some malls I went to visit twice =D
Everything here is truly a feat of artist, engineering and botanist excellence!
Not only is this a huge multi-level "garden" inside a dome with an immense waters, they even turned it into a Jurassic World. With huge animatronics and a fair bit of lore (between the many "Don't step into the planters"-signs xD ).
Sadly I missed the Avatar exhibition by a year and a half. If that one was of the same quality as the Jurassic park, it must've been amazing.
- Gardens by the Bay - Flower Garden:
A huge, way more dry garden in another, flatter but even larger dome. Not exactly my jam but was nice nevertheless. Seems to be mainly visited by people to take selfies xD
- Gardens by the Bay - Disney Flower experience
Not too bad, but the figures at Disney World Epcot were way more impressive.
- Gardens by the Bay - Supertree Grove ( https://www.gardensbythebay.com.sg/.....ree-grove.html )
Those artificial tree-like structures are one of the main landmarks. You'll find them on a lot of Singapore merch.
Certainly gorgeous and got a great view from atop!
**Sentosa**
Sentosa is a resort island in the south of the city.
They have a monorail system to get there from mainland. Pretty cool!
- Sentosa: Beach
It likely was the warmest water I've ever experienced in any sea so far. The beach itself was clean. Like everything in Singapore.
Guess they cannot control past their borders tho... As a result the water has quite a lot of plastic. Probably from the surrounding countries.
Nevertheless was nice enough to be in the water and swim. Did also snorkel but visibility was less than a meter.
The beach area was also the only place where I found food quite expensive. A restaurant gave me a cocktail even in a cheap plastic glass >: lol.
- Sentosa: Adventure Cove
A neat waterpark with quite an special attraction: The Rainbow Reef
It's a fairly large basin with large, tropical fish where you can snorkel in! Definitely reminded me of "Discovery Cove" from Orlando. Not quite as exotic (that even had rays, starfish etc.) and you were a bit more time limited (essentially round swim in a circle allowed) and for some silly reason, even adults had to wear a life jacket xD
Therefore way more affordable and still very fun! Even got to take some neat videos with my action cam (not sure really share worthy tho).
- Sentosa: Wings of Time
An awesome evening show with some fireworks and a huge lot of light effects. On a flat water stream they were projecting clips that formed a fun little movie/story.
Not quite on Disney World level, but still neat.
**Mandai Wildlife Reserve**
This was definitely impressive.
The huge area consists of 5 different zoos (of which I've visited four).
The main zoo was quite an impressive one. Lots of places to take great photos. The hot climate was of course making it a slight struggle, but at least there were a number of buildings with AC.
The "Night Safari" was the only slight disappointment. When I first saw that I thought, cool, let's experience the main zoo another time, now at night.
But no, it is an entirely separate zoo! o.o Yet at night you really see way less. There wasn't even a real focus on night-active animals as far as I saw. They had elephants, rhinos, tigers etc. Most of them hardly visible in the dark or were actively hiding.
Tbh. I don't quite understand why they are doing that effort of maintaining a second zoo. Maybe it's just me though since it was reasonably well visited.
Absolute highlight however was **"River Wonders"**. It had the most AND most impressive aquariums I have even seen. So many huge fish and other animals including manatees and otterrrrrs! <3 Also a lot I had never seen before. Genuinely didn't know non-ocean waters can be so fascinating.
First time I was in an underwater tunnel for an otter basin too. So cute to watch them swim!
In general so many things to see. It really beats all aquarium installations I've been to. If you go to Singapore, definitely check out River Wonders~
**Malaysia**
Friend took me to a one-day trip right over the border to Malaysia.
I have very little experience with crossing non-european borders by car. I do have a bad memory from childhood when Romania was not in the EU yet and I was traveling there by bus with my mom. For some reason the entire bus had to wait for about 3 hours. In bad head and after already having been traveling for like 10 hours. Noooot fun >_<
Luckily Malaysia was smoother, even if I had to somewhat hastily fill out a form with a bunch of data which was checked against my passport at a checkpoint.
Somewhat worse was returning to Singapore since friend didn't know either that I'd need a new entry form for them too. I had filled it out before the flight and it contained the data about the whole length of my stay. But apparently that's not enough, you gotta fill a new one when you cross the border. Oh well.
Anyways, that's boring to talk.
Actual Malyasia was not that boring. We got to visit a Legoland. Quite similar to the one in Germany (some attractions even identical xD ) but especially the area with large buildings were Asia themed. Those were quite cool-
Also been to their Sea Life but that was rather similar to others of that chain I've been to in Europe (River Wonders I mentioned before was incredible in comparison).
Sorta a highlight was to head to a food market/court. I let my friend order because I'd have been lost otherwise, but it was tasty and a neat experience feeling, well, more like a local I guess?
**MERMAIDS:**
For the fact that their mascot animal is literally a lion-merman - the Merlion ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merlion_Park ) - mermaids were not that common. We did find two places though!
For once a temporary event: https://www.littlestepsasia.com/sin.....ontainer-park/
Several mermaids and a merman were swimming in a flooded container with a window. Sadly the space really was limited and the water was a lot less clear than in that ad photo there. Nothing too impressive or exciting for the aquaphiles among us, but more than what I'd get in central Europe >_< xD
A way greater highlight was the bar called "Fish Pool": https://www.thencoclub.com/fishpool
Holly molly that was a worthy show! A huge glass window the the performer was absolutely gorgeous. She was underwater for 40-50 seconds at a time and performed about twenty minutes. I have a couple clips I could share ( https://imgur.com/a/vC3lzVy ), but for the most part I wanted to just enjoy watching as well as the food c:
Definitely a place to visit and for having such a wonderfully set up attraction, the prices were good as well (unless you order some of the price wines I guess).
The show was at way lower depth than Weeki Wachee where I had been last year, but honestly this show impressed me more. She used no hoses and the tail was an actual silicone tail. Way more of an immersive show~ <3
**LITTLE ISLAND FURCON (LIFC):**
Purposefully I arranged my vacation around the in-person part of LIFC (
https://www.littleislandfur.com/ , saying "in-person part" because they also have an online version/event about half a year later. ).
It's a small convention. About 250 people last time and 300 this time but if course I only say small because I'm used to Eurofurence and Furvester.
That was fuuuun!
The first time at a convention outside central Europe and first time taking my fursuit onto a plane. It took roughly a third of my luggage space so that was a little bit of a struggle but was totally worth it.
People loved it a lot and somehow because the con was so small and I was not busy with visiting panels like the other cons, I probably wore it as much during this two day con than during the whole 5 day cons before.
Having a friend well networked in the furry community there and with an adorable suit of his own, helped a lot too of course. We even wore it briefly later at The Jewel, the huge mall at the airport.
Anyways, the panel and events of the con were of course not as refined, themed etc. like at the larger cons but the music events quite were on par and the friendlyness of all the furs around was making up for it.
It is hard to pinpoint what exactly was different about the con compared to ones it the past, but it stood out ^_^
It also had a bit of a nostalgic feel for me personally because the con's theme was "arcade" and the very first convention I visited, Eurofurence22 in 2016 (gosh that's 9 years ago already Dx ) had the theme 80ies which led to much of the arcade theme. We even did a Conga Line this time like it only happened back then. It's weird but the Conga line from back then remained in my mind due to being nearly the only interaction with others during that con. I was a very secluded person irl back then; went all alone to the con, almost not knowing anyone.
It felt great to relive an aspect of that now 9 years later where I feel much more involved in the whole thing and also have more confidence in myself~
One highlight not directly about the con was the hotel. It happened at a whooping 5 star hotel (the One Farrer: https://www.onefarrer.com/ )! o.o
Interestingly it was not more expensive than what the Radison Blu charges now during Eurofurence (they really made use of the fact that half Hamburg is booked out during the con >_< ) but a huuuge step up in quality of.. about everything.
Call me sexist but what uhm.. surprised me not having seen that before, the room maids were men xD
However the room itself was the tallest room I have ever slept at and it also had an enormous ceiling to knee-height window with a ledge you could step on. Not to mention the breathtaking view of the city from: https://imgur.com/a/8xg7nJ0
The AC was so powerful that it was literally getting windy in the room even at lowest fan speed.
The furry events were happening under enormous, luxurious chandeliers... Quite the experience.
At the beginning, especially arriving in shorts and wet (coming from an MRT trip with multiple luggage from the other hotel where I stayed most of the days) to this noble lobby, I felt a bit out of place.. But hey, I'm paying for it >:
Everyone was very incredibly polite.
One thing I missed a little was a form of fursuit parade and general furry presence outside the venue itself (which was essentially the 6 story of the hotel). It's such a great feeling in Hamburg or in the past in Berlin, to go into a McDonalds near the con and encounter every other person wearing a tail xD
Our only interaction with non furs was in the hotel itself. Funnily enough I ended up with a large, Indian family in the elevator - while in suit. The kids could not let go of my tail XD Good that it's a robust one, haha.
The adults were very polite and curious as well. Certainly well received~
One unique thing I noticed:
Furries were giving out furry business cards all the time xD In Europe I had seen some artists, fursuit makers etc. to do it, but over in Singapore like everyone did it. Cute cards, professionally printed, just with their furry identity on it; links to Twitter/X (which seems to be the core of the Asian community) and rarely furaffinity.
It's surely because business cards do have a bit of a cultural status in Asia even today. However it really is a good way to connect and establish a contact!
It's something we can learn from them here in the EU and US too. Maybe I should just make some myself~
**MALLS:**
Oh boy, Singapore truly is a consumer city xD
At every single corner you find a mall! Sometimes literally multiple, connected by short tunnels or bridges between each other. You could probably live for years there and not see every shop in 5 km radius.
Crazy.. I kinda wish my feet would not have been hurting often due to the things visiting during the days or I could walk around for hours through the malls every day, lol.
Lots of interesting shops, albeit hard to say what was fundamentally different from a mall in Europe (except for food; see below). Found a large, quite dense anime (etc.) shop that had every franchise from Dragonballs, a dozen different bikini girl animes, pokemon and even Avengers.
Yet of course I found the one thing not from a franchise (except for Avatar there's pretty much none I collect): A super cute otter figurine. Even had to get the manager to name me a price because it was more of a deco article for them, lol.
Say hello to this cutie, but careful, he has sharp claws! https://imgur.com/a/GW285Wb :3
Maybe he'll become a mate for my otter Ta'hira =3
That reminds me, while not in the anime shop but in a random toy store.. They had a whole corner of merch for Skibidi. Didn't even know that stuff was a real franchise, let alone merch in physical stores o.O'
**FOOD:**
Sooo many things to try!
As long as it's not too spicy or just greens, I'm in for about any food xD (much to the detriment of my struggles to have an acceptable BMI >_<' )
Which is kinda funny because as a child I was rather problematic regarding food, lol. My mom was turning all sorts of fruits and vegetables into juices for me to touch them at all. Admittedly, raw stuff is still my least enjoyment.
Aaanyways, this trip was definitely an experience in this regard!
One surprise I had was what people eat with. I expected it'd all be with chopsticks. But surprisingly you also often get to eat with a spoon + chopsticks. Sometimes also a spoon and a fork - a rather unusual combination for us in the West. Even more unusual: You are not supposed to put the fork in your --mouth--snout! You use the fork (or chopsticks) to help filling the spoon (in your main hand) and then use that to eat!
Took a little bit to get used to that but gotta say it is reasonably practical and allows you to savor a combination of your dish instead of unintentionally separating the food with the fork like in Western culture (e.g. picking first a piece of steak, then a potato slice as a side afterwards).
- Let's start with the most.. uhm.. infamous(?) one: Durian!
Friend funnily loves them and so I had to try at least, too x3
Honestly.. their reputation (which goes as far as there being "No Durian" signs in hotels and trains) is worse than it actually is.
At least I did not feel like throwing up at all. Cannot really say that I'd chose it over many other things (except raw tomatoes, urgh) but I can see/taste why it's enjoyed by some. Kinda crazy how we were given gloves for eating them, because you don't want your hands to smell. xD
- Classic Asian Food
Now I won't even start listing many specific things because I'll only embarrass myself not even really being able to distinguish between Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean and actual Singaporean (if that's a thing) xD
Singapore is definitely a pot for all the cultures.
That includes Japanese too but with my fave restaurant at home being Japanese, at least I was able to distinguish that type of cuisine (which is far more than sushi by the way). Yet discovered a few Japanese dishes I had not encountered before. E.g. a donburi (bowl with a rice bed) that had cream cheese or cottage cheese, salmon slices, a soft cooked egg and salmon roe ontop <3
Annoyingly I did not write down the name and ChatGPT didn't really know a name either (but hinted that it was a western-influenced mixed dish). However I have to try making that at home~
A very cool thing were the "food courts". Those are halls (in every other mall) with many tiny shops that cook on the spot and enable you to mix and match. Wish that concept would be common here in Europe as well but it kinda isn't from what I've seen.
At a Chinese restaurant - where friend and his furry group teased me into trying lots of things - I had some more unusual stuff like "century eggs". From the description of those (which I saw somewhere before) I'd probably not have tried - their taste is way less intensive that one'd expect though. Probably would prefer those over a hard boiled egg tbh.
All in all, I liked most things even if I'll probably stick to Japanese being my fave xP
- Sting Ray
For once, trying this was my own idea. Have tried a handful of unusual fish on my family trips in Italy, but not those yet, so I was curious.
Well, they taste mostly like other fish, just more fatty? Nothing super impressive but they were good.
In the end it matters how you prepare a fish. In a Chinese restaurant on another day we had some unknown white fish that was friend and that one was absolutely delicious - mainly for how it was spiced, I think (while the ray was rather weakly spiced).
- Bubble Tea
I love those and are probably my guiltiest pleasure here near my home, lol. They are way more common in Singapore though.
One thing I noticed albeit that was like in half of the shops: They were way less sweet than what I'm used to at home. Also tapioca boba were not available everywhere - that appears to be more of a Taiwanese thing (and the shop I go to near home is Taiwanese).
- Drinks/Cocktails
Overall they seem a bit less alcoholic than in Europe (albeit alcoholic ones are still more prominent than "mocktails").
The group around my friend made me order "Tiger Beer" which supposedly is a beer that stereotypically visitors are meant to drink? xD Anyways, it's well, beer. Can't say much more than that, haha. I barely can keep the German ones apart when I order one for the sake of cultural drinking at a company meeting x3 Funnily enough, German beers are somewhat popular and regarded as more special in Singapore.
Cocktails are more my thing and there were some good ones albeit none really stuck out. I did like that the alcohol was not overpowering.
The one truly Singaporean "Singaporean Sling" was neat though.
One thing I planned to try but forgot to, is Sake. I should just finally buy a bottle here to satisfy my curiosity, lol.
**POLITICS and general feeling:**
The political status of Singapore is fairly neutral regarding the West and East as well as Inner-Asian conflicts as far as I've read and perceived. The Switzerland of Asia perhaps? xD
Maybe you have heard in the news that Singapore was used by China to circumvent the US' embargo on Nvidia chips. Wouldn't be surprised if the other way around happens soon now that China may embargo rare earths.
However what singapore is rather known for is to be a fine city ( https://dorfbladl.com/singapore-the.....e-city-teil-1/ ) ;)
And indeed the fact that they do display the amount of fines on ads is something I have not seen before and the numbers are certainly high. The Singaporeans do take it with humor as merch like this shows: https://saneeya.wordpress.com/wp-co...../fine-city.jpg
Now Singapore is known to be a strict country.
Some things like the fact that corporal punishment is practiced, is scary and absurd for us Westners. Also I have not seen in another country an ad that says "Look out for possible signs of radicalisation" and "What's your role in keeping Singapore safe from terrorism?": https://imgur.com/a/EN7Mgao
Not to mention a "No Demonstrations Here" sign on a random roof garden of a mall. Apparently there's a dedicated area in the city for demonstrations.
Ontop of this comes heavy use of surveillance cameras. Even at very large spaces like the beach, in every elevator etc.
As a German - with heritage from behind the iron curtain no less - it is hard not to think of such power and restrictions could be misused. My mom told me once a scary experience of hers. In front of a good friend and colleague, she had been complaining about company structure and the totalitarian Romanian regime (which was a thing back then). Her friend in genuine seriousness warned her - because that friend had the unofficial but extra paid position in the company to report acts of distrust against the government and its structures.
That happened a lot in Eastern Germany and of course at Nazi times too...
That sign about "report signs of radicalization" hits very close to that.
Putting this into very very modern perspective: Would the USA have a system like Singapore, they'd have an easy time finding and deporting the millions of people Trump wants to deport (on the other hand, such a thing like undocumented people are almost not a thing in Singapore).
However all this said, maybe humans just are doomed to suffer from others misusing their power at some point. I'm not confident that I won't experience that here in the EU either in my lifetime.
So what shall we do? Maybe we should just focus on what is now. The status quo counts more than what could be.
The status quo in Singapore is that as long as you have some money and stick to the law you will surely be a worry free citizen.
Less worries than in some other countries and isn't that a form of freedom too?
A very hands on experience I made along my friend was at a food court: As mentioned there are many tiny shops to get your food and mix&match. In a center area were a large number of food tables and those were a bit overrun. So you'll want to reserve a table when you see an empty spot before you get your food and would have to search with a tablet and drinks in hand.
Now how do you reserve if you don't have something not steal-worthy on you?...
Well, people there were just using their wallet (friend and I used a furry card xD ). Or their handbag. Just openly leaving on the table and walking away to get food that could be past multiple corners.
Other example: You can pay at the MRT and the buses by just tapping your VISA card on a device. Boy, over here there would be fake devices appearing rather soon if that were a thing...
And thanks to surveillance at the beach, I was not afraid of leaving my phone with my bag openly at the beach. Maybe that was paranoia but in the US I extra had a cheap secondary phone just for the beach... (and at a German beach I caught a weird guy rummaging through my bag once)
Those are freedoms I do not have as an European.
Furthermore their fines regarding littering, that chewing gum is forbidden and people are actually afraid of smoking where they are not allowed, are damn good things. The city is absolutely cleaner and you get to inhale less smoke than in most other countries.
So, dunno.. I did definitely not feel oppressed by anything or anyone in Singapore.
I might have eaten in an MRT if the signs/laws were not there and I was afraid to bring the cooling pads for my fursuit (sealed bags with mysterious liquid, lol), but that's it.
**One disappointment and conclusion:**
In one regard the trip did not pan out as planned.
After the incredible experience at Discovery Cove last year, I was looking for other places where you can interact with dolphins. Singapore has such a place with "Sentosa Dolphin Island" - just that annoyingly after my booking was set in stone, it turned out they are renovating for just two months around my trip Dx
Bad luck sometimes (and literally no communication by the place; I had even contacted their support), oh well...
Still not the slightest regrets to go onto this trip tho. If I had known of the renovation in time, I'd probably have shifted and thus never got to the furcon - never would have known what I missed >w<
Oh well, a motivation to visit a second time, right? xD
Maybe a dual trip since I'd like to see South Korea as well one day...
All in all an incredible time. If you want to see Asia for the sake of city life and not primarily nature, this is definitely the perfect place to start!
The fact that it is not overly crowded like many tourist hotspots is also a nice bonus.
Phew, if you have read all the way here, I admire you! X3
Met one of my oldest friends, done lots of sightseeing and ("weird") food tasting plus attended the smol but really lovely: Little Island Furcon.
Probably boring for anyone to read but I have time waiting in the plane and thus gotta just write down about the trip xP
Unlike the US trip last year ( https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/10885264/ ) this was a more spontaneous decision but I love seeing the world and Asia was very high on the list to see next >w<
SINGAPORE in general:
- Small country, essentially a single huge city southern of Malaysia with almost 6 million people. Used to be a British colony until 1963, joined Malaysia in its independence at that point but then became independent on its own just 2 years later.
Today it is a massive, world-relevant commerce/trade and finance center. Its port size is only beaten by Shanghai.
- Weather:
Fairly hot and very humid >w< Definitely similar experience to Florida and a bit of a shock at the beginning (and every time you leave they typically heavy used AC areas). You start flowing sweat immediately if you even walk xD
There are hardly any seasons (just rain frequency may change). My trip was remarkably consistent with 28-32°C throughout the whole two weeks with just a few brief rainstorms. Due to humidity, for a landlocked European that feels like 36-38°C however.
Some places, especially open-street shops had free standing AC unit/tower thingies at the street. It.. certainly feels wrong to spend energy on producing hot air that's blown upwards, just to blow some cold air horizontally (but also into open space on the road). Yet.. gosh is it a blessing to stand in front of one of those after walking a while.
Why do humans decide to densely inhabit those hot&humid earth regions and put the funnest attractions there?.. XD
That said, after a couple days, while the sweating did not stop, somehow the heat felt less "defeating" to me. It wasn't something I'd waste time thinking about anymore at least. Vaporeons are an adaptive species owo ( and probably most species :) )
Did occasionally bring a fan with me tho and I saw many Asians do that as well. Just not my friend, he was even wearing long sleeves somehow ._. x3
- Language:
My friend put it perfectly: A trip to Singapore is "Asia on easy-mode": Pretty much everyone speaks English. Essentially all attractions are primarily English with other languages as an option to book sometimes. Exception may be things in Little India and Little China, however the bars/restaurants we've attended there worked out with English too.
English, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil are officially languages of the country. Most public signs and in trains etc. are displaying in all of these throughout the country.
- Transportation:
Just 70 years ago, this area was essentially rural so guess the city designers had quite a clean canvas. The public transport is excellent. The "MRT" and buses do get you nearly everywhere.
The pedestrian experience on the other hand could be better. In many places it felt unclear where to go and many roads throughout the city are fast and not interrupted by zebra crossings. Traffic lights were also quite a distance away sometimes.
My best pedestrian experience in a metropolis was in London, however this may be skewed by the fact that I loose patience way faster out on the road in a hot country than in cool England xD
One interesting aspect regarding cars:
There are very significant, financial challenges imposed by the government to acquiring a car, so fewer people get one. Maybe that's "unfair" but seriously, that's likely better than NY or LA where the traffic congests everything. As far as I saw from foot or whilst in friend's car, the traffic tends to be flowing. Even what he called a jam is barely comparable to what I've even seen in Germany, lol.
That said, not only the roads weren't as overrun as one would expect with 6 million people. The streets and POIs weren't either.
In the buses think I always got a seat and in the MRT most of the time.
Guess it is noticeable that it isn't an extreme tourist hotspot like most places I've visited in the past and they also don't really have seasons where everyone streams to visit things (except for hollydays maybe) thus demand is spread across the year.
Even the beaches, while they had people, were not crowded by any means at all. Ironically the only thing I think I had to wait significantly in line for was the "Night Safari" (see further below).
- Prices/Costs**
Not too much to say about this. 100 Singaporean dollars are 78 USD or 67 Eur right now. All in all food was about the same price as in Europe (which is cheaper than US) if not a bit cheaper.
Transportation was okay'ish.
Prices for POIs were mostly appropriate.
Some electronics are cheaper - I was eyeing a DJI Neo for quite a while so I got it there ~30% below EU price.
What was noticeably cheaper was Bubble Tea but probably because of the strong competition. Hint: If you wanna open a business here in Germany, sell bubble tea =D The two shops I know are often overrun. Even in winter.
Hotels were also appropriately priced.
Housing for actual living however is apparently terribly expensive! A million for a plain apartment for example.
**LOCATIONS/ATTRACTIONS:**
**Gardens by the Bay**
One of the few installations of the main city area with a lot of greenery. Consists of a series of attractions:
- Gardens by the Bay - Cloud Forest ( https://maps.app.goo.gl/DxUVZDrbSyNTbZyy8 ):
I'm writing parts of this right now at the "Cloud Forest" since this became about the only place except for some malls I went to visit twice =D
Everything here is truly a feat of artist, engineering and botanist excellence!
Not only is this a huge multi-level "garden" inside a dome with an immense waters, they even turned it into a Jurassic World. With huge animatronics and a fair bit of lore (between the many "Don't step into the planters"-signs xD ).
Sadly I missed the Avatar exhibition by a year and a half. If that one was of the same quality as the Jurassic park, it must've been amazing.
- Gardens by the Bay - Flower Garden:
A huge, way more dry garden in another, flatter but even larger dome. Not exactly my jam but was nice nevertheless. Seems to be mainly visited by people to take selfies xD
- Gardens by the Bay - Disney Flower experience
Not too bad, but the figures at Disney World Epcot were way more impressive.
- Gardens by the Bay - Supertree Grove ( https://www.gardensbythebay.com.sg/.....ree-grove.html )
Those artificial tree-like structures are one of the main landmarks. You'll find them on a lot of Singapore merch.
Certainly gorgeous and got a great view from atop!
**Sentosa**
Sentosa is a resort island in the south of the city.
They have a monorail system to get there from mainland. Pretty cool!
- Sentosa: Beach
It likely was the warmest water I've ever experienced in any sea so far. The beach itself was clean. Like everything in Singapore.
Guess they cannot control past their borders tho... As a result the water has quite a lot of plastic. Probably from the surrounding countries.
Nevertheless was nice enough to be in the water and swim. Did also snorkel but visibility was less than a meter.
The beach area was also the only place where I found food quite expensive. A restaurant gave me a cocktail even in a cheap plastic glass >: lol.
- Sentosa: Adventure Cove
A neat waterpark with quite an special attraction: The Rainbow Reef
It's a fairly large basin with large, tropical fish where you can snorkel in! Definitely reminded me of "Discovery Cove" from Orlando. Not quite as exotic (that even had rays, starfish etc.) and you were a bit more time limited (essentially round swim in a circle allowed) and for some silly reason, even adults had to wear a life jacket xD
Therefore way more affordable and still very fun! Even got to take some neat videos with my action cam (not sure really share worthy tho).
- Sentosa: Wings of Time
An awesome evening show with some fireworks and a huge lot of light effects. On a flat water stream they were projecting clips that formed a fun little movie/story.
Not quite on Disney World level, but still neat.
**Mandai Wildlife Reserve**
This was definitely impressive.
The huge area consists of 5 different zoos (of which I've visited four).
The main zoo was quite an impressive one. Lots of places to take great photos. The hot climate was of course making it a slight struggle, but at least there were a number of buildings with AC.
The "Night Safari" was the only slight disappointment. When I first saw that I thought, cool, let's experience the main zoo another time, now at night.
But no, it is an entirely separate zoo! o.o Yet at night you really see way less. There wasn't even a real focus on night-active animals as far as I saw. They had elephants, rhinos, tigers etc. Most of them hardly visible in the dark or were actively hiding.
Tbh. I don't quite understand why they are doing that effort of maintaining a second zoo. Maybe it's just me though since it was reasonably well visited.
Absolute highlight however was **"River Wonders"**. It had the most AND most impressive aquariums I have even seen. So many huge fish and other animals including manatees and otterrrrrs! <3 Also a lot I had never seen before. Genuinely didn't know non-ocean waters can be so fascinating.
First time I was in an underwater tunnel for an otter basin too. So cute to watch them swim!
In general so many things to see. It really beats all aquarium installations I've been to. If you go to Singapore, definitely check out River Wonders~
**Malaysia**
Friend took me to a one-day trip right over the border to Malaysia.
I have very little experience with crossing non-european borders by car. I do have a bad memory from childhood when Romania was not in the EU yet and I was traveling there by bus with my mom. For some reason the entire bus had to wait for about 3 hours. In bad head and after already having been traveling for like 10 hours. Noooot fun >_<
Luckily Malaysia was smoother, even if I had to somewhat hastily fill out a form with a bunch of data which was checked against my passport at a checkpoint.
Somewhat worse was returning to Singapore since friend didn't know either that I'd need a new entry form for them too. I had filled it out before the flight and it contained the data about the whole length of my stay. But apparently that's not enough, you gotta fill a new one when you cross the border. Oh well.
Anyways, that's boring to talk.
Actual Malyasia was not that boring. We got to visit a Legoland. Quite similar to the one in Germany (some attractions even identical xD ) but especially the area with large buildings were Asia themed. Those were quite cool-
Also been to their Sea Life but that was rather similar to others of that chain I've been to in Europe (River Wonders I mentioned before was incredible in comparison).
Sorta a highlight was to head to a food market/court. I let my friend order because I'd have been lost otherwise, but it was tasty and a neat experience feeling, well, more like a local I guess?
**MERMAIDS:**
For the fact that their mascot animal is literally a lion-merman - the Merlion ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merlion_Park ) - mermaids were not that common. We did find two places though!
For once a temporary event: https://www.littlestepsasia.com/sin.....ontainer-park/
Several mermaids and a merman were swimming in a flooded container with a window. Sadly the space really was limited and the water was a lot less clear than in that ad photo there. Nothing too impressive or exciting for the aquaphiles among us, but more than what I'd get in central Europe >_< xD
A way greater highlight was the bar called "Fish Pool": https://www.thencoclub.com/fishpool
Holly molly that was a worthy show! A huge glass window the the performer was absolutely gorgeous. She was underwater for 40-50 seconds at a time and performed about twenty minutes. I have a couple clips I could share ( https://imgur.com/a/vC3lzVy ), but for the most part I wanted to just enjoy watching as well as the food c:
Definitely a place to visit and for having such a wonderfully set up attraction, the prices were good as well (unless you order some of the price wines I guess).
The show was at way lower depth than Weeki Wachee where I had been last year, but honestly this show impressed me more. She used no hoses and the tail was an actual silicone tail. Way more of an immersive show~ <3
**LITTLE ISLAND FURCON (LIFC):**
Purposefully I arranged my vacation around the in-person part of LIFC (
https://www.littleislandfur.com/ , saying "in-person part" because they also have an online version/event about half a year later. ).
It's a small convention. About 250 people last time and 300 this time but if course I only say small because I'm used to Eurofurence and Furvester.
That was fuuuun!
The first time at a convention outside central Europe and first time taking my fursuit onto a plane. It took roughly a third of my luggage space so that was a little bit of a struggle but was totally worth it.
People loved it a lot and somehow because the con was so small and I was not busy with visiting panels like the other cons, I probably wore it as much during this two day con than during the whole 5 day cons before.
Having a friend well networked in the furry community there and with an adorable suit of his own, helped a lot too of course. We even wore it briefly later at The Jewel, the huge mall at the airport.
Anyways, the panel and events of the con were of course not as refined, themed etc. like at the larger cons but the music events quite were on par and the friendlyness of all the furs around was making up for it.
It is hard to pinpoint what exactly was different about the con compared to ones it the past, but it stood out ^_^
It also had a bit of a nostalgic feel for me personally because the con's theme was "arcade" and the very first convention I visited, Eurofurence22 in 2016 (gosh that's 9 years ago already Dx ) had the theme 80ies which led to much of the arcade theme. We even did a Conga Line this time like it only happened back then. It's weird but the Conga line from back then remained in my mind due to being nearly the only interaction with others during that con. I was a very secluded person irl back then; went all alone to the con, almost not knowing anyone.
It felt great to relive an aspect of that now 9 years later where I feel much more involved in the whole thing and also have more confidence in myself~
One highlight not directly about the con was the hotel. It happened at a whooping 5 star hotel (the One Farrer: https://www.onefarrer.com/ )! o.o
Interestingly it was not more expensive than what the Radison Blu charges now during Eurofurence (they really made use of the fact that half Hamburg is booked out during the con >_< ) but a huuuge step up in quality of.. about everything.
Call me sexist but what uhm.. surprised me not having seen that before, the room maids were men xD
However the room itself was the tallest room I have ever slept at and it also had an enormous ceiling to knee-height window with a ledge you could step on. Not to mention the breathtaking view of the city from: https://imgur.com/a/8xg7nJ0
The AC was so powerful that it was literally getting windy in the room even at lowest fan speed.
The furry events were happening under enormous, luxurious chandeliers... Quite the experience.
At the beginning, especially arriving in shorts and wet (coming from an MRT trip with multiple luggage from the other hotel where I stayed most of the days) to this noble lobby, I felt a bit out of place.. But hey, I'm paying for it >:
Everyone was very incredibly polite.
One thing I missed a little was a form of fursuit parade and general furry presence outside the venue itself (which was essentially the 6 story of the hotel). It's such a great feeling in Hamburg or in the past in Berlin, to go into a McDonalds near the con and encounter every other person wearing a tail xD
Our only interaction with non furs was in the hotel itself. Funnily enough I ended up with a large, Indian family in the elevator - while in suit. The kids could not let go of my tail XD Good that it's a robust one, haha.
The adults were very polite and curious as well. Certainly well received~
One unique thing I noticed:
Furries were giving out furry business cards all the time xD In Europe I had seen some artists, fursuit makers etc. to do it, but over in Singapore like everyone did it. Cute cards, professionally printed, just with their furry identity on it; links to Twitter/X (which seems to be the core of the Asian community) and rarely furaffinity.
It's surely because business cards do have a bit of a cultural status in Asia even today. However it really is a good way to connect and establish a contact!
It's something we can learn from them here in the EU and US too. Maybe I should just make some myself~
**MALLS:**
Oh boy, Singapore truly is a consumer city xD
At every single corner you find a mall! Sometimes literally multiple, connected by short tunnels or bridges between each other. You could probably live for years there and not see every shop in 5 km radius.
Crazy.. I kinda wish my feet would not have been hurting often due to the things visiting during the days or I could walk around for hours through the malls every day, lol.
Lots of interesting shops, albeit hard to say what was fundamentally different from a mall in Europe (except for food; see below). Found a large, quite dense anime (etc.) shop that had every franchise from Dragonballs, a dozen different bikini girl animes, pokemon and even Avengers.
Yet of course I found the one thing not from a franchise (except for Avatar there's pretty much none I collect): A super cute otter figurine. Even had to get the manager to name me a price because it was more of a deco article for them, lol.
Say hello to this cutie, but careful, he has sharp claws! https://imgur.com/a/GW285Wb :3
Maybe he'll become a mate for my otter Ta'hira =3
That reminds me, while not in the anime shop but in a random toy store.. They had a whole corner of merch for Skibidi. Didn't even know that stuff was a real franchise, let alone merch in physical stores o.O'
**FOOD:**
Sooo many things to try!
As long as it's not too spicy or just greens, I'm in for about any food xD (much to the detriment of my struggles to have an acceptable BMI >_<' )
Which is kinda funny because as a child I was rather problematic regarding food, lol. My mom was turning all sorts of fruits and vegetables into juices for me to touch them at all. Admittedly, raw stuff is still my least enjoyment.
Aaanyways, this trip was definitely an experience in this regard!
One surprise I had was what people eat with. I expected it'd all be with chopsticks. But surprisingly you also often get to eat with a spoon + chopsticks. Sometimes also a spoon and a fork - a rather unusual combination for us in the West. Even more unusual: You are not supposed to put the fork in your --mouth--snout! You use the fork (or chopsticks) to help filling the spoon (in your main hand) and then use that to eat!
Took a little bit to get used to that but gotta say it is reasonably practical and allows you to savor a combination of your dish instead of unintentionally separating the food with the fork like in Western culture (e.g. picking first a piece of steak, then a potato slice as a side afterwards).
- Let's start with the most.. uhm.. infamous(?) one: Durian!
Friend funnily loves them and so I had to try at least, too x3
Honestly.. their reputation (which goes as far as there being "No Durian" signs in hotels and trains) is worse than it actually is.
At least I did not feel like throwing up at all. Cannot really say that I'd chose it over many other things (except raw tomatoes, urgh) but I can see/taste why it's enjoyed by some. Kinda crazy how we were given gloves for eating them, because you don't want your hands to smell. xD
- Classic Asian Food
Now I won't even start listing many specific things because I'll only embarrass myself not even really being able to distinguish between Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean and actual Singaporean (if that's a thing) xD
Singapore is definitely a pot for all the cultures.
That includes Japanese too but with my fave restaurant at home being Japanese, at least I was able to distinguish that type of cuisine (which is far more than sushi by the way). Yet discovered a few Japanese dishes I had not encountered before. E.g. a donburi (bowl with a rice bed) that had cream cheese or cottage cheese, salmon slices, a soft cooked egg and salmon roe ontop <3
Annoyingly I did not write down the name and ChatGPT didn't really know a name either (but hinted that it was a western-influenced mixed dish). However I have to try making that at home~
A very cool thing were the "food courts". Those are halls (in every other mall) with many tiny shops that cook on the spot and enable you to mix and match. Wish that concept would be common here in Europe as well but it kinda isn't from what I've seen.
At a Chinese restaurant - where friend and his furry group teased me into trying lots of things - I had some more unusual stuff like "century eggs". From the description of those (which I saw somewhere before) I'd probably not have tried - their taste is way less intensive that one'd expect though. Probably would prefer those over a hard boiled egg tbh.
All in all, I liked most things even if I'll probably stick to Japanese being my fave xP
- Sting Ray
For once, trying this was my own idea. Have tried a handful of unusual fish on my family trips in Italy, but not those yet, so I was curious.
Well, they taste mostly like other fish, just more fatty? Nothing super impressive but they were good.
In the end it matters how you prepare a fish. In a Chinese restaurant on another day we had some unknown white fish that was friend and that one was absolutely delicious - mainly for how it was spiced, I think (while the ray was rather weakly spiced).
- Bubble Tea
I love those and are probably my guiltiest pleasure here near my home, lol. They are way more common in Singapore though.
One thing I noticed albeit that was like in half of the shops: They were way less sweet than what I'm used to at home. Also tapioca boba were not available everywhere - that appears to be more of a Taiwanese thing (and the shop I go to near home is Taiwanese).
- Drinks/Cocktails
Overall they seem a bit less alcoholic than in Europe (albeit alcoholic ones are still more prominent than "mocktails").
The group around my friend made me order "Tiger Beer" which supposedly is a beer that stereotypically visitors are meant to drink? xD Anyways, it's well, beer. Can't say much more than that, haha. I barely can keep the German ones apart when I order one for the sake of cultural drinking at a company meeting x3 Funnily enough, German beers are somewhat popular and regarded as more special in Singapore.
Cocktails are more my thing and there were some good ones albeit none really stuck out. I did like that the alcohol was not overpowering.
The one truly Singaporean "Singaporean Sling" was neat though.
One thing I planned to try but forgot to, is Sake. I should just finally buy a bottle here to satisfy my curiosity, lol.
**POLITICS and general feeling:**
The political status of Singapore is fairly neutral regarding the West and East as well as Inner-Asian conflicts as far as I've read and perceived. The Switzerland of Asia perhaps? xD
Maybe you have heard in the news that Singapore was used by China to circumvent the US' embargo on Nvidia chips. Wouldn't be surprised if the other way around happens soon now that China may embargo rare earths.
However what singapore is rather known for is to be a fine city ( https://dorfbladl.com/singapore-the.....e-city-teil-1/ ) ;)
And indeed the fact that they do display the amount of fines on ads is something I have not seen before and the numbers are certainly high. The Singaporeans do take it with humor as merch like this shows: https://saneeya.wordpress.com/wp-co...../fine-city.jpg
Now Singapore is known to be a strict country.
Some things like the fact that corporal punishment is practiced, is scary and absurd for us Westners. Also I have not seen in another country an ad that says "Look out for possible signs of radicalisation" and "What's your role in keeping Singapore safe from terrorism?": https://imgur.com/a/EN7Mgao
Not to mention a "No Demonstrations Here" sign on a random roof garden of a mall. Apparently there's a dedicated area in the city for demonstrations.
Ontop of this comes heavy use of surveillance cameras. Even at very large spaces like the beach, in every elevator etc.
As a German - with heritage from behind the iron curtain no less - it is hard not to think of such power and restrictions could be misused. My mom told me once a scary experience of hers. In front of a good friend and colleague, she had been complaining about company structure and the totalitarian Romanian regime (which was a thing back then). Her friend in genuine seriousness warned her - because that friend had the unofficial but extra paid position in the company to report acts of distrust against the government and its structures.
That happened a lot in Eastern Germany and of course at Nazi times too...
That sign about "report signs of radicalization" hits very close to that.
Putting this into very very modern perspective: Would the USA have a system like Singapore, they'd have an easy time finding and deporting the millions of people Trump wants to deport (on the other hand, such a thing like undocumented people are almost not a thing in Singapore).
However all this said, maybe humans just are doomed to suffer from others misusing their power at some point. I'm not confident that I won't experience that here in the EU either in my lifetime.
So what shall we do? Maybe we should just focus on what is now. The status quo counts more than what could be.
The status quo in Singapore is that as long as you have some money and stick to the law you will surely be a worry free citizen.
Less worries than in some other countries and isn't that a form of freedom too?
A very hands on experience I made along my friend was at a food court: As mentioned there are many tiny shops to get your food and mix&match. In a center area were a large number of food tables and those were a bit overrun. So you'll want to reserve a table when you see an empty spot before you get your food and would have to search with a tablet and drinks in hand.
Now how do you reserve if you don't have something not steal-worthy on you?...
Well, people there were just using their wallet (friend and I used a furry card xD ). Or their handbag. Just openly leaving on the table and walking away to get food that could be past multiple corners.
Other example: You can pay at the MRT and the buses by just tapping your VISA card on a device. Boy, over here there would be fake devices appearing rather soon if that were a thing...
And thanks to surveillance at the beach, I was not afraid of leaving my phone with my bag openly at the beach. Maybe that was paranoia but in the US I extra had a cheap secondary phone just for the beach... (and at a German beach I caught a weird guy rummaging through my bag once)
Those are freedoms I do not have as an European.
Furthermore their fines regarding littering, that chewing gum is forbidden and people are actually afraid of smoking where they are not allowed, are damn good things. The city is absolutely cleaner and you get to inhale less smoke than in most other countries.
So, dunno.. I did definitely not feel oppressed by anything or anyone in Singapore.
I might have eaten in an MRT if the signs/laws were not there and I was afraid to bring the cooling pads for my fursuit (sealed bags with mysterious liquid, lol), but that's it.
**One disappointment and conclusion:**
In one regard the trip did not pan out as planned.
After the incredible experience at Discovery Cove last year, I was looking for other places where you can interact with dolphins. Singapore has such a place with "Sentosa Dolphin Island" - just that annoyingly after my booking was set in stone, it turned out they are renovating for just two months around my trip Dx
Bad luck sometimes (and literally no communication by the place; I had even contacted their support), oh well...
Still not the slightest regrets to go onto this trip tho. If I had known of the renovation in time, I'd probably have shifted and thus never got to the furcon - never would have known what I missed >w<
Oh well, a motivation to visit a second time, right? xD
Maybe a dual trip since I'd like to see South Korea as well one day...
All in all an incredible time. If you want to see Asia for the sake of city life and not primarily nature, this is definitely the perfect place to start!
The fact that it is not overly crowded like many tourist hotspots is also a nice bonus.
Phew, if you have read all the way here, I admire you! X3
