Hello and welcome to my blog!
I write this having arrived in Singapore just over a week ago. I am currently sat in the common room of my halls with the fan on full blast, as despite the heat being a pleasant change from the usual tepid British summer, its constancy will definitely take me some time to get used to!
After landing at Changi Airport in the evening of Monday 31st July, my first impressions of the city that I would be living in for the next 10 months were shrouded by darkness. I was lucky enough to have booked a flight that arrived around the same time as my coursemate’s, so taking the taxi ride together from the airport into the unknown seemed slightly less daunting. NUS is the largest university in Singapore in terms of student enrolment and hence it has a huge variety of on-campus accommodation. I had opted for one of the colleges on the U Town campus, which I would discover all had unique mottos and specialisms. Watching the geckos running along the walls of my new home while waiting for the (very friendly) RA to help move me in was an apparent reminder that I was very much in another country. Following a disoriented but delicious meal of noodle soup in the canteen, the combination of hot weather and jetlag finally hit me and I headed to bed.
Waking up to my first view filled with skyscrapers, green spaces and distant ships is something that I will never forget. I began the day with a traditional breakfast of kaya toast, a Singaporean staple of toasted bread topped with coconut jam and sugar, usually dipped into soft-boiled egg. Despite thinking that I had a pretty infallible sweet-tooth, I have to admit that the incredible sweetness gave me slight longings for my usual Marmite-covered breakfasts at home. However, I have promised myself that I will try the dish again due to the sheer number of coffee houses dotted around the city that are famed for their versions of it. Next, I attended a campus tour, which not only gave me an appreciation of the beauty and size of the NUS campus, but also allowed me to meet other exchangers. I was told on the tour that most students take the free shuttle-bus between lectures to avoid walking in the heat, so I am intrigued to see how busy the buses will be when term starts! The tour ended back at U Town (pictured below).
Wednesday brought my first taste of shopping at the largest mall in Singapore. I headed to VivoCity with a group of other exchangers from UoB on the MRT, which really was as clean, easy and efficient as it is renowned for. First on my to-do list was to sort out my Singaporean SIM card. The main mobile phone operators here are Singtel, StarHub and M1, which all offer a variety of deals that seem quite similar apart from in a few areas such as data-roaming. I decided to go with Singtel and paid $38 for a top-up card with 1GB free data and this has been working well for me so far. I also caught my first glimpse of Sentosa (pictured below) as either a monorail or cable car can be taken across to the island from VivoCity itself.
Keen to experience some of Singapore’s nightlife, we headed to Clarke Quay that evening. The area was lively with its many bustling clubs, pubs and restaurants that take the place of what once were warehouses in 19th century Singapore’s centre of commerce. After making a mental note to visit the karaoke bar on another night, we made the most of the “Ladies’ Night” deals at one of the clubs. Every Wednesday at bars and clubs across Singapore, girls enter for free and often get tokens for free drinks. I found the concept rather bizarre but considering the steep prices of alcohol here it definitely makes for the cheapest night out!
After seeing numerous images of Marina Bay Sands and the Supertrees at Gardens by the Bay, I finally got to visit them myself on Thursday. Opening in 2010, the Marina Bay Sands resort has become an icon of Singapore and contains no less than a hotel with over 2,500 rooms, a casino, a mall, an exhibition centre, restaurants and even an ice-skating rink. Viewing the building in person only makes its size even more incomprehensible and the famous infinity pool 57 floors up more enticing! The Gardens are reached by crossing a bridge from the Marina Bay Sands mall. By the time we arrived at the Supertree Grove it was dark and the trees were glittering in a way that could never be fully done justice in a photo (but I have inserted a picture below anyway). Lying back and staring up at the changing colours of the trees was such a peaceful and relaxing way to spend an hour, until we realised that laying underneath the vertical gardens could lead to some unwanted encounters with the local wildlife.
On Friday I attended a Language Exchange hosted for international students at the university. The first half consisted of a lesson in basic Malay, Mandarin or Tamil (Singapore’s three main languages not including English). I opted for Malay as it is considered the national language of Singapore. After my 90 minute lesson I found myself newly able to introduce myself in Malay (nama saya Jess) and had learnt more about Malay culture as an integral facet of Singapore as a nation. At dinner, I discovered the delights of pandan bread, which is a very popular cake/snack made with matcha powder to give it a green colour. A lesson in Singlish followed this, which left me both impressed and baffled by the extent of the difference in meaning signified by simply putting lah, leh or lor at the end of a sentence. I left the class aiming to try out some of my new vocabulary, perhaps after eating a particularly shiok meal!
After a lazy Saturday finishing unpacking and sorting out my modules, I set out for Sentosa on Sunday morning with some other exchangers. Although I’d read in several travel guides that the island was expensive, artificial and not worth visiting, I was eager to get to the beach and see it for myself. A return ticket on the Sentosa Express monorail only costed $4 as opposed to $13 one way on the cable car but was very busy, especially as it was the weekend. Despite this, the beach station was only 8 minutes from VivoCity so the journey wasn’t unbearable. Sentosa is home to three beaches – Palawan, Siloso and Tanjong. We chose to visit Palawan (pictured below) which has the rather unique selling point that it allows beachgoers to walk on the southernmost spot of Continental Asia via a suspension bridge.
It also has clean, soft sand, an area to swim in and shops so would have made for a pleasant day out were it not for the heavens opening an hour or two after we had arrived. We headed back to NUS soon after we realised that the rain was unlikely to stop but I want to visit again, after checking the weather forecast of course! Other points of interest on the island include waterparks, an aquarium and Universal Studios which offer discounted entry to students so I have added these to my bucket list of things to do over the next year.
So that sums up my first, and jam-packed week in Singapore! I hope to publish a new blog entry at least weekly to let you know what I get up to. Next week is Singapore’s National Day and I have a few other plans so I will keep you updated.
Thank you for reading!
Merlion Tales 