Singapore Stopover

We flew Singapore Airlines from Milan, Italy to Singapore enroute to New Zealand. We arrived at 7am into Singapore which is not a great time of day to arrive. A very quick taxi ride to the Marina Sands Hotel (OMG what a posh joint) and they gave us a temporary access card and stored our bags until official checkin at 3pm.

After a long 12 hour flight this time in economy we were a bit tired but filled in a few hours wandering around the huge shopping centre attached to the hotel. The shopping centre is massive, it has about 300 shops, a lot of high end stores like we had in Milan, Tiffany, Prada, Louis Vuitton, Dior, Cartier, Bvlgari etc, a river with sanpan boat rides, a casino, conference centre, and below it is the Metro which came in handy a couple of times in the rest of the time we were there. The temporary access cards also gave us access to the Infinity Pool on the 57th floor, the Observation deck on the 56th floor and the SkyPark walk which we did not do until later.

At 3pm we arrived at the checkin desk along with a few dozen others and for some reason thy gave us a room upgrade from a King Room with City View to a Suite with City view. Maybe it was because my wife had just had her birthday a couple of days earlier we have no idea why the upgrade.

Anyway, the room 4288 on the 42nd floor was massive. Through the door into a hallway with a bathroom off to the left, then into a kitchen lounge, area. Off the Kitchen was another hall area which the bedroom was off to the left and bathroom with two massive vanities, shower room (a separate room) with twin showers with jets everywhere, a toilet that was also a separate room and the lid opened when you went n the door (creepy). It also flushed automatically when you left and the lid closed again, it also had buttons on the wall to wash and air dry your ass while you were there, a fancy bit of kit indeed. Off the bedroom was also a powder room with a mirror and seating area along with places for two cases. The bedroom was huge with a California king bed, dwarfed by the rest of the room size, also a large sofa, a couple of chairs, a massage chair and iPad sort of things in both bedroom and lounge to make everything work, Technology at it’s finest.

The view was fantastic overlooking a small bay across to the city. We could see the Singapore Flyer, the Apple Centre, the ArtScience museum, a lotus flower-shaped building and a huge boardwalk where people stand twice a night most nights for a fantastic water & light show themed to music.

We did get a two day ticket for a Double Decker bus tour, but we got it on GetYourGuide and the voucher needed to be redeemed for a ticket at the Suntec Mall, we could have just purchased a ticket on the bus but that would have been too easy. So after making our way there and finally locating the Big Bus and Duck ticket office (quite a feat in a huge mall) we got our tickets and did both the Red and Yellow routes which gave us a good overview of the city.

We did go take some photos of Raffles Hotel, which was more expensive than our Hotel but never went inside. I had planned on taking a look at Orchard Road but we never managed that. There was also a huge technology mall that I must take a look at next time i am there, it seemingly has all the latest gadgets which is right up my alley.

Our evening meal we booked in at Gordon Ramsey’s Bread Street Cafe and Bar and had the mandatory Beef Wellington, and Stick Toffee Pudding plus a glass of New Zealand Wine. A lovely meal indeed.

Our checkout of the hotel they gave us a late mid day checkout and our flight was not until 10.45pm so another not ideal flight time. We went to the Gardens By The Bay and did a small trip around the gardens in a cart thingy. We stopped and also went in the two huge buildings that housed some amazing gardens. One was the Flower Dome and the other the Cloud Forest, both massive and well worth the price. We alsoi finally went up to the Pool for a look and the Observation deck with it’s 360 degree views of the City and Gardens behind.

A bit of time to kill at the airport so we went into one of the lounges at Changi using our Koru card.

Singapore, we will be back, loved it.

A good video on youtube showing the Hotel and views from it plus it’s surroundings. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANgyFcQDhLE

View of our Hotel, We were in the tower on the left about 6 or 7 windows down at Floor 42
Room 4288 JUST the bedroom California King Bed. Fancy massage chair and all.
Bathroom at our Hotel. Just to the left is the toilet room about 3.5m square and shower room at the far end by that glass door about 4.5m square, marble everywhere. Spa bath.
Infinity Pool level 57 of the hotel
River boat rides inside the Shops at Marina Bay Mall
View from level 56. overlooking Gardens By The Bay, it all lights up at night
Our little carts for getting around Gardens By The Bay
Inside the Flower Garden of Gardens By The Bay, HUGE
Inside the Cloud Forest building of Gardens By The Bay HUGE.
Inside the Cloud Forest of Gardens By The Bay, Lift to near the top then gradual walkway down. Two guys were on ropes working on the gardens almost invisible.