Ever since visiting Asia in 2012, I’ve always wanted to go back to explore new countries. This year my husband and I got our chance and decided to book a cruise from Singapore to Hong Kong on a Holland America ship. For me, the itinerary is what sold me on this cruise, stopping in a few stops in Thailand, one stop in Cambodia, and four stops in Vietnam. In this post, I recount my time at our first stop, Singapore!

To get to Singapore, we flew from Chicago to San Francisco and then San Francisco to Singapore. The total journey was over 24 hours as the flight with a 17-hour flight from San Francisco alone on a 787. It’s plenty of time to drink, watch movies, and think about traveling around Asia for the next two weeks. We flew on the flight number United 1, which to me, is pretty cool.

Landing in Singapore, we could see that the country is indeed pretty tiny, tropical, and filled with tall buildings. Arrival was a breeze, and Singapore’s airport is bizarre to me.

First of all, when you arrive in Singapore, you don’t go through customs on arrival. You leave the plane and enter the airport. From there you can explore the airport, shop, eat or be entertained. It’s truly the first time I’ve seen this allowed when exiting from an international flight and how I knew we were in a unique airport.

So on arrival, that’s what we did, explore the airport. Singapore Changi Airport is known for its restaurants, shops, free cinemas, butterfly farms, airplane viewing, and beautiful architecture. The whole goal of Singapore Changi Airport is to grow into one of the most successful airports in the world and to be an attraction in itself. Well, I can safely say that they achieve that goal with this beautiful airport.

I think this was the first time I was excited to explore an airport, and this was after a 17 hour flight from San Francisco. Because we arrived early at around 8 am we knew that our hotel was not going to be available, so we decided to take showers at the airport. Yes, that’s a thing, and there are several spas at Changi Airport. We both took 30-minute showers, changed clothes. A unique experience for me!

One of the newest features is now the gorgeous Jewel that is just outside customs at Singapore Changi Airport. It’s beautiful and certainly an attraction in its own right. There are shops, restaurants, and a chance to explore the leafy vegetation.

The hard thing about arriving in the morning after a long flight is to try to stay awake while carrying around heavy backpacks. We decided to take some pictures and then sit down to have lunch at a Singapore / Chinese restaurant. If you’re not familiar with Singapore, then this is an excellent time to tell you that Singaporeans are a mix of Chinese, Malay, Tamil, and other Asian countries. It’s a mix of a country that surprisingly is very tolerant while being so diverse.

Our first taste of Singapore food was pretty good and not as spicy as I thought it was going to be. Still spicey but not bad. After a beautiful meal, it was then time to head downtown to put down ourselves and explore downtown Singapore.

So we picked the Hotel Jen Orchardgateway Singapore. At the time of travel, it was one of the top picks on TripAdvisor, and I can certainly see why. Jen Orchardgateway is in the heart of downtown Singapore right above a mall and a subway station, making it easy access from anywhere in Singapore.

Our room itself was rather spacious, and we shared a king bed overlooking downtown Singapore. This hotel did not offer free breakfast, but the prices more than made up for that. Hotel Jen Orchardgateway is located just above the Somerset metro station.

If you look at a map of Singapore, you’ll know right away that it’s small and very accessible. And pretty much all there is to see in the immediate downtown is a bunch of tall buildings. There is no need to pretend that Singapore has a bunch of things to do because it doesn’t. But what I think it lacks in things to do it makes up in character and civilness. It’s just such a dynamic city and easy to explore what it wants you to explore Singapore more. At least that’s how I felt.

Singapore is pretty small, so you can imagine that the downtown area is pretty small and pretty much incorporates much of the country. The downtown is pretty walkable, and for tourists, you’ll be spending most of your time near the touristy sections. And to be honest, that isn’t bad because the only thing to do in Singapore is to explore the “touristy” parts.

From our hotel, everything that we wanted to do was within walking distance, so that’s what we did. Sure we could have taken the metro, but it’s sometimes better to walk through a city to experience street life.

Every downtown has the main shopping street, and for Singapore, that is Orchard Road. It’s their iconic main street, and pretty much every hotel is in the vicinity of this road. We walked south towards the waterfront and decided we will stop along the way if something catches our eye.

I’ve always heard about the Raffles Hotel; it’s Singapore’s most famous hotel that has been around since the British rule. It’s iconic and worth a visit, most notably to their Long Bar. This bar is renowned for one thing and one thing only, the Singapore Sling. This famous drink was concocted right in Singapore. Singapore Sling became known because women weren’t allowed to drink in public during British rule. However, bartenders slipped alcohol into their drinks and then blended the mix with fruit to mask the alcohol. Ingenious!

This bar was a perfect way to spend an hour avoiding the hot sun. Inside it’s nice and chilly with many places to sit. Packed and obviously, tourists knew about the Long Bar. Its cliche and expensive but I certainly enjoyed the drinks.

One drink in, and it was time to continue walking south towards Marina Bay Sands. It’s further than we initially thought, but I think still worth the walk. Marina Bay Sands perhaps the most iconic building in Singapore and easily recognizable with its ships like appearance and massive pillars holding it up. It’s also a tourist attraction, and thousands of people visit.

It’s worth it in its own right to at least pay a visit since there is a massive shopping mall right next door. Also, the chance to go up to the top and take pictures from above. As well as a drink or have some food while enjoying the view. Just make sure you buy a ticket downstairs first for the restaurant because they won’t let you in at the top if you don’t.

The whole area is very green, and I would visit the nearby Supertree Grove, especially at night. It’s a collection of massive man-made trees, and it’s probably better at night since they light up. We went during the day, and it was just okay. The metro does stop at Marina Bay Sands if you don’t want to walk there from the central downtown area.

Having explored Singapore, we were tired and decided to go to sleep early. It’s tough to stay awake after traveling for 30 hours plus. So when we weren’t surprised when we woke up at 3 am the following morning. We were hungry and decided to look at what was open. Surprisingly there were many places open and all near us even at that hour. So we got dressed and went downstairs to find this one restaurant. At first, hard to find since it was on like the 4th level of a mall closed down. We had to take this dark side elevator to see it!

Hotpot is a traditional Chinese dish that is very popular in Singapore. It’s a soup-based dish where you heat a particular broth and then dip vegetables and meats into the boiling broth. Super tasty and a perfect meal for late at night or early in the morning. This place was packed, and many Singaporeans were there celebrating a night out. We were the only westerners there, so we knew it had to be a legit place.

Afterward, we went back to rest for a bit and wait for the sun to come up. Because we had to board our cruise in the afternoon, we had only the morning to explore more of Singapore. We decided to use our time shopping and walking. That’s the one thing that Singapore has in spades. Tons of buildings and tons of shopping. Lots of underground places to explore.

I think one of the highlights of Singapore is to have a hotel that has excellent views of the surrounding downtown. Usually, these will have an upper deck with commanding views. Ours had a bar and a beautiful pool with amazing views of downtown Singapore. I think I enjoyed this a lot and one of the highlights of my time in Singapore.

Before long, it was time to pack our bags and head to the cruise ship terminal, another smooth metro ride away. And although we didn’t spend that much time in Singapore, I felt we got an excellent glimpse of the vibe of Singapore.

I have to say my husband and I enjoyed Singapore. No, we didn’t get to stay that long but what we saw we liked. Singapore is orderly, efficient, and a beautiful city to start a cruise. Everything we did was with ease, and we had fun doing it. On top of that, Singaporean people are very polite and helpful when we needed them. I would come back to Singapore and explore more of this micronation.