Two days in Singapore!

Pan Pacific Hotel. Marina Square

At 15:15 flight no. 7 of Malaysia Airlines takes off for Kuala Lumpur (KUL) where it lands after exactly one hour. From here, a quick connection boards flight no. 613 for Singapore, where we land after 55 minutes and 317 Km. We're back in the city and another adventure begins! The airport is very beautiful and efficient. After collecting our luggage we reach the orderly and organized taxi queue. A few minutes and we're on the fast highway leading into the center. Our accommodation is booked for three nights at the Pan Pacific Hotel *****, through an Expedia offer. The entrance hall is stratospheric, with a single wall about forty floors high and three shiny internal elevators going up and down! Since, however, they only go up to the nineteenth floor, to reach our room no.

2419, on the twenty-fourth floor, we have to use others which are even more vertiginous, having the glass wall on the outside of the hotel. These serve the floors from the twentieth up and after a few exciting seconds of rocket-like ascent the glittering lights of the city become blinding! The room is beautiful and luxurious, with a large panoramic balcony with a breathtaking view of the skyline of Singapore's skyscrapers. One of the most peculiar things, moreover, is that the hotel is triangular in shape, and looking out from the internal corridors the structure unmistakably recalls the legendary 'Indastria' from the Conan cartoon! Excited by this marvel that is already in itself a tourist attraction, we quickly settle our suitcases and go out on foot, strolling around Marina Square, right in front of the Pan Pacific.

You have to follow a winding route to avoid crossing the street directly, passing over bridges and pedestrian areas. It's all very cemented and orderly, above all maniacally clean. There isn't a single piece of paper on the ground, a cigarette, any object resembling trash. Thanks to the renowned strict prohibitions in force in this city-state that are its symbol, among which you can't eat on the street and can't even chew gum. The shopping center appears as immense as it is deserted: everything is already closed and, to not wander too far, we settle for dinner at Burger King for only $ 17 for three.

Chinatown. Little India. Orchard Road. Night Safari.

From the balcony of our room we admire the splendid Singapore skyline in the early morning. The day is uncertain: a few rays of sun and heavy clouds in the background. We go down to the tour desk on the first floor to ask for information and a very kind and well-prepared guy churns out a myriad of information on how and what to visit in the city. He recognizes that we are Italian and tells of his experience in the West: the classic trip organized from these parts, where in one day you visit two capitals at a time and in two weeks it feels like you've seen all of Europe! We book the Night Safari for $ 45 per person, including transfer from the hotel and entrance ticket. Then we go for breakfast (since it's not included in the room rate) at the '7 Eleven' in front of the Pan Pacific. A taxi takes us in a few minutes to Chinatown, where we start wandering through the markets.

There are all kinds of them. Basically one part of the neighborhood is dedicated to food markets and the other to clothing, souvenirs, etc. Here at last Ste and I buy two excellent medium-sized trekking backpacks, to replace our carry-on luggage: we had been looking for them the whole trip and in the end at this stall a gentleman offers both for $ 50. We spend a bit more time shopping and take the metro (extremely efficient and spotless) to Little India. Here we quickly observe a Hindu temple and walk around aimlessly exploring other markets. In one of these we try to exchange euros for local dollars and risk a big rip-off! The € / $ exchange rate is barely written on a white receipt and turns out to be 1.57.

But if yesterday at the airport the rate was 2.00!?? We go back to ask for explanations and, vaguely apologizing, they refund us the money at the right rate (in reality at the one we told them, that is exactly 2.00). In another place I would have expected such a blatant scam, but in a city like Singapore that appears so perfect… honestly, no! Anyway, after observing a piece of eastern Singapore, now we move on to the western part of the luxurious hotels and shopping centers. And so a visit to the famous Orchard Road can't be missed, which we reach with a ride of only $ 6 by taxi. Talking with the taxi driver we discover that he too has been to Europe and Italy, always with the usual two-week guided tour vacation. It seems that people here are quite well-off. The city-state still offers work for everyone, it's efficient, orderly and modern.

We thought we'd find a somewhat cold and detached population, and instead to our astonishment the inhabitants of Singapore are extremely cordial and expansive. Orchard Road is for Singapore what the Strip is for Las Vegas. It's an enormous and very long street, with a large green pedestrian area in the center dividing the heavily trafficked carriageways. It's impossible to visit it all in a few hours, so we settle for staying in the area of the 'Le Meridien hotel'. We find a small inviting Italian restaurant named 'Da Vinci's', where we stop for lunch and spend $ 60 for three, eating very well. We continue, entering another random five-story shopping center (probably one of the smallest, here they're all colossal) and buy the large version of Umpa Lumpa.

We can't remain without a mascot after inexplicably losing the small Umpa Lumpa in the hotel room in Kuala Lumpur! I'm a bit disappointed by the prices of technological products like televisions, computers, cell phones, cameras... it's a popular belief that they cost much less here, instead they don't differ at all from the European ones for the same models and performance. The shopping centers follow one after another but in the end they all seem a bit the same, so we give up on our shopping and return to the Pan Pacific taking another taxi. It's 16:30 and Ste dives into the semicircular pool of our hotel, while I, still impressed, admire the external elevators that continue silently going up and down without a moment's pause. At 18:10 we're in the entrance hall.

A small minibus comes to pick us up for the Night Safari, which is then changed for a normal bus at the collection point for all the hotels. While we're traveling a girl explains how to move around inside the park. This tourist attraction is very renowned here in Singapore. It's an area adjacent to the zoo where you can observe the animals during their nighttime activity. At the entrance we find an incredible crowd and a very long queue. Dozens of buses stop at the same time and, since the guide won't follow us into the park, we have to remember well which is our vehicle to find it again at the exit... It seems that these days are particularly congested due to the holidays. After an endless wait, we struggle onto the little train that runs through the park taking the panoramic tour. There are many animals but motionless, barely lit at the sides of the train.

They are free but in any case in restricted spaces. We hear the driver's voice through the speakers, who names the various species and their habits along the way. Impossible as expected to take photos or film, given the almost total darkness. We honestly remain a bit disappointed: Perhaps for a tourist who has no other opportunities or brings small children it's an interesting experience, but for someone coming from the real jungle of Taman Negara and Langkawi it all appears so fake and a bit depressing... The ride lasts about half an hour. We spend the rest of the time walking along the trails marked for pedestrians, where at least you can observe everything more calmly. Before leaving we stop at the tables to refresh ourselves, while they stage a nice tribal show with dances and fires.

Finally we exit, returning to the square where the bus is parked, and get back to the Pan Pacific at exactly 23:00.

Sentosa Island. Suntec City Mall

We follow the signs to exit the Pan Pacific in the direction of Suntec City. This is one of the biggest shopping centers in the city and is right next to our hotel, which you reach via a short covered walkway. After various endless corridors we find a Starbucks, where we sit for breakfast. Then we take a look at the imposing fountain, among the largest in the world, built below street level of a large roundabout. Right now it's off, you have to come back at the scheduled times to see the musical show. We leave Suntec and take a taxi to Mount Faber, spending $ 7. From here a suggestive cable car (the ticket costs $ 13) departs for Sentosa Island, which crosses the sea making only one intermediate stop. It's raining but the journey is equally spectacular, with a unique panorama over the commercial port and the whole city.

There are thousands of containers and they look like small colorful lego bricks piled on top of one another. We arrive at the Sentosa station where we start a long walk. Here everything is extremely organized and well-kept, from the numerous signs with directions, to the means of transport, to the flowering and lush gardens. A series of little bridges and walkways lead to the Merlion, an enormous statue in the shape of a lion with a mermaid's tail, where for $ 8 we enter for the visit. An elevator goes up to the cavernous opening of the mouth, from which you observe the skyline of the skyscrapers. Via some steps you then reach the open-air top on the head of the statue, where the 360° panorama over Sentosa and Singapore is magnificent. Finally, once down at the base, we watch a funny cartoon about the legend of the birth of Singapore and the symbol of the Merlion.

We continue along a very colorful and lively path where jets of water chase each other with sprays rhythmically from one statue to another. The mosaic tile architecture plausibly recalls that of Gaudí in Barcelona. It's now lunchtime and we take advantage of a combined ticket to eat at Subway with a pizza from the menu plus entrance to the Butterfly exhibit included. The visit is beautiful and interesting. There are incredible quantities of butterflies of every kind and species, immersed in a lush sub-tropical garden. Indoors there follows a small museum rich in information and exhibits on insects, where a gentleman wants to let you experience the thrill of a scorpion walking on the palm of your hand. On the way out we see a singular attraction that seems like a lot of fun: going down a stretch of the island in a little cart similar to a go-kart to then come back up via a chairlift.

However, we have little time and continue on to the bus stop. Here there are two exclusively tourist and free lines, very frequent, that go around the island stopping at the main points. We get on the blue line and then change to the red line to reach the Dolphin Lagoon. Entrance costs $ 20 and also includes the aquarium (actually we're not interested in the latter but it's not possible to separate the tickets). We're just in time for the 15:30 show. Being the last to arrive we're behind the crowd watching, from the lagoon beach, the stupendous show of the pink dolphins. It's a very rare species, which owes its pink color to freshwater due to the lack of some substance that deprives it of the original gray color. It's truly worth seeing them! With a surcharge of $ 13 per couple they also allow you to touch one and have a souvenir photo.

Without thinking twice we follow the line for the encounter with the magnificent mammal. We're told to stay calm, not make noise or sudden gestures, and to gently stroke the dolphin on the back so as not to hurt its sensitivity. The splendid souvenir photo is taken! At the exit we also buy the magnet and the keychain that are provided already ready with the same photo in miniature. We stroll briefly along the adjacent shoreline and beach, this too well organized and very busy. Then we take the red line again for the Underwater world. The visit to the aquarium turns out a bit disappointing. The only interesting stretch is the underwater tunnel, where two sharks quarrel biting each other's fin and spinning frantically around themselves, while the diver swimming in the tank sneaks away to avoid problems. Also nice is the embryo of the small 7-week-old shark.

We leave Sentosa at sunset and return to the Pan Pacific by taxi with a ride of $ 9. We immediately head to Suntec City for the 19:45 Fountain of Wealth show. The crowd gathers in a circle around the enormous pillars while the music becomes more insistent. The real peculiarity of this show is the play of lights created with three-dimensional effects similar to holograms, very beautiful and colorful. At the end virtual texts of SMS sent by people even scroll by! To conclude our stay in Singapore we dine at the "Waraku japanese restaurant", which is right on the corner of Marina Square in front of the Pan Pacific. The dinner is decent but not as good as the one at the Japanese restaurant in Kuala Lumpur. We return to the room and pack the suitcases, waiting for midnight, when we go down to check out and call a taxi for the airport.

Singapore - Dubai

The journey continues to DUBAI on this site or on my personal one with all the photos and also available in PDF: