Singapore - Tuesday

Tuesday, our last full day in Singapore (a.k.a. paradise) was a resting day. We had made big plans Monday night but then realized there was much to do – get packed, do a bit of shopping before we left what could be the shopping capital of Asia, get ready for our trip north to Kuala Lumpur (KL), and we had plans for the evening – and thus had more of a rest day. Upon waking on Tuesday morning I’m glad we were no longer planning on a big trip out to the MacRitchie Reserve since I was not feeling well. I was coming down with a cold (or possibly Dengue Fever) and had very little energy and didn’t feel much like eating, and without eating it’s hard to get your energy levels back up. I stayed in the hotel room pretty much all day napping and resting. Elizabeth ventured back to Orchard Road and got a few things at H&M. This was, of course, all after our ritual morning routine of Gado-Gado and coffee.

As the evening approached we started planning our trip to Gardens by the Bay, this amazing indoor/outdoor park near the CBD. It is near the Marina Bay Sands Hotel and at night they light the whole place up with Christmas lights and do a Christmas music and lights show. We recruited Richard, our only friend in Singapore, to join us for dinner and the show at Gardens by the Bay. We met Richard in the city at 7pm, went to our favorite restaurant, DTF, for dinner (Richard had never been here so we needed to introduce him to a Singapore favorite!), and then headed over to the park after dark.

Before, during, and after dinner we grilled Richard on his life, his past, his current situation in Singapore, and his future goals/dreams. He’s had quite an interesting life. He grew up in NZ, living there until he was 25 after which he moved to the UK. He has since done a stint in Mozambique and is now in Singapore working in commercial law. He want to get married and have 3 kids but is very open to where this happens and with whom this happens with – he doesn’t have an ideal country from which his wife would be from, this is quite cool. We asked Richard all sorts of questions, to which I think he was at first a bit put off, but since we are honestly just curios, and not judgmental, he did seem to answer quite fully and honestly. It was nice to learn so much about him. He did, at one point, tell us that he wasn’t interested in learning anything about us however – it was quite funny. And honest.

After dinner, our time in the park was just spectacular! We headed over just in time to see the last music and light show of the evening. Picture will follow in the next post to explain more, but they have these huge artificial tree-like structures that are covered in plants and lights. They choreograph the lights on these structures to various Christmas Songs, it is beautiful. And so festive! What a nice place to spend Christmas! We then went up onto a sky bridge and looked down on all the wonderful decorations and Christmas village they had built. It looked just like it should, but it was nice and warm. I could get used to Christmas in Singapore – festive like the north, but no hassle with cold weather. (Neither Sydney or Auckland were nearly as festive as Singapore was – or as KL has been since).

At this point, Elizabeth and I had about 12 hours left in Singapore, most of which would be spent sleeping, and money we needed to spend. Richard had been nice enough to treat us to dinner so we splurged and bought a bottle of champagne. We sat outside, in the Christmas village, drinking champagne, talking about life, and enjoying the atmosphere. What a nice way to celebrate our great time in Singapore, thank Richard for his wonderful hospitality, and soak up the Christmas spirit from the amazing displays.

Some time during the end of the evening Richard told us that he enjoyed hanging out with us. This was nice to hear since we honestly couldn’t tell if he enjoyed our company of found us a bit overwhelming. Well I guess those are not necessarily mutually exclusive but they could be. Richard said he was going to miss us, how nice!, and that he did like , we just talk a lot. Since Richard did agree to see us three times in about six days I did suspect he didn’t hate us, but nice to know he enjoyed spending time with us. I guess it is nice to be with people who you have some connecting to, even remote. We have all lived in Auckland, all speak English, all come from a similar culture.

Anyways, Tuesday was a good day, besides my feeling under the weather. I rested during the day and powered through at night. The Christmas Village at Gardens by the Bay was a wonderful end to our time in Singapore. Boy did we ever have a good time there! Cannot wait to get back!

We miss you Singapore, we love you Singapore, and we will be back as soon as we can!

Best!