I <3 SG
i'm really sorry that this post has been such a long time in coming and now that it's finally here it'll be relatively short (text wise!) nevermind, i lied. D: Singapore really is an amazing place that i could go on and on about forever, but i'm going to try and be as brief as i can and instead will let the photos do the talking.
immediately upon arriving in Singapore i knew that Singapore was a very different country than i had (ignorantly) thought it would be. being a country in Asia, i thought it would be vaguely similar to what i have seen/read about other Asian countries, but that wasn't the case. it's really hard to compare Singapore to anywhere else as it is such a unique place. there is a lot of cultural and ethnic diversity and with that comes many different languages, traditions, cuisine etc. :) for me, it was very strange being in Asia but speaking and being spoken to in English. English alongside Chinese, Tamil and Malay was almost everywhere!
while remnants of Singapore's connection to Britain were everywhere, there was also an amazing amount of America, Japan and Australia everywhere! in terms of American stuff, there were retail and food chains like Popeyes, Wendy's, T.G.I.Friday's, Forever 21, Borders (closed :() as well as miscellaneous American food and drinks and lots more! there is WAY more American stuff in Singapore than in Japan or Australia! *teary eyed* as for Japanese stuff, there was Takashimaya (major department store), Daiso (100yen store), Best Denki (electronics store), MOS Burger (Japanese burgers), Yoshinoya (gyuudon chain), Kinokuniya (bookstore), Uniqlo (clothes store) and lots good ramen and sushi (REAL sushi) restaurants. Aussie stuff included Harvey Norman (electronics store), Typo (stationary & misc store), Spotlight (houseware store) milo (nesquick-like drink) sold in vending machines and restaurants, Dome (an Aussie cafe/restaurant chain) and other smaller Australian bars/restaurants. i also noticed that quite a bit of foodstuff had been imported from Australia.
so, to summarize that last paragraph, Singapore has some of the best of several countries (don't forget India, Malaysia etc) in one place! seeing so much of the things that i miss from both America and Japan in one place was enough to make me tearyeyed. then add on top of all that the awesome stuff from the countries that i've never been to like India and Malaysia and i almost didn't want to leave at all! ;(
anyway, as i previously mentioned, Singapore is a mecca for shoppers! the small island nation is PACKED with shopping malls, arcades and markets of EVERY kind. ANY and EVERY thing you could ever want could probably be bought in Singapore. so strong was the marketing and retail aspect of Singapore that it almost seemed to be a part of Singaporean culture. as i also mentioned before, Singapore is THE place to eat all kinds of Asian food! one can't turn a corner in Singapore without seeing atleast 2 restaurants/cafes, not to mention hawker centers! a hawker center is a place with lots of food stalls. they're vaguely like food courts in that they're places with lots of food to choose from, but in hawker stalls you won't find food chains, everything is CHEAP and the stalls cater to locals and so the food is pretty authentic. it was at hawker centers that we found such interesting stuff as pig organ soup, sugar cane juice, fried chicken feet etc. we ate at hawker centers often and had uber delicious food every day. :) btw, i did keep up food diary where i wrote about all of the food that we ate while there. if anyone is interested in my food blurbs (because that's really what it is) i'll post it.
there is more to Singapore than shopping and food, of course. during our trip we went to the Singapore Art Museum which was AWESOME. definitely one of the most interesting art museums i've been to (not that i've been to many mind you). we also went to the National Museum of Singapore and the Asian Civilization Museum, both of which were really interesting. we dedicated an entire day to the Singapore Zoo and Night Safari. Singapore's zoo is (i think) one of the biggest zoos in the world and the Night Safari is the only one of its kind in the world! they were both amazing. :) i saw many animals that i had never even heard of before and the zoo/night safari itself was very well constructed and maintained and the animals seemingly very well looked after. oh, and we went to the Chinese & Japanese Gardens. :)
....anyway, it seems that i have already written a lot when i said that i would be keeping this brief. on with the pictures already! pictures say more than words anyway.
needless to say, i took thousands and thousands of photos during our trip, only a small few of which will be posted here. in the future i intend to upload lots of photos from the trip to my photoblog PANDAmories, but for now this small selection'll have to do. enjoy!
note: click the thumbnails to see larger images.
also, sorry for the lack of captions. too exhausted. :(
feel free to ask questions about any of the photos etc!
should definitely go to Singapore again some day. *nodnod* and if you've never been and you have any interest at all in Asia, you should go too. :)
immediately upon arriving in Singapore i knew that Singapore was a very different country than i had (ignorantly) thought it would be. being a country in Asia, i thought it would be vaguely similar to what i have seen/read about other Asian countries, but that wasn't the case. it's really hard to compare Singapore to anywhere else as it is such a unique place. there is a lot of cultural and ethnic diversity and with that comes many different languages, traditions, cuisine etc. :) for me, it was very strange being in Asia but speaking and being spoken to in English. English alongside Chinese, Tamil and Malay was almost everywhere!
while remnants of Singapore's connection to Britain were everywhere, there was also an amazing amount of America, Japan and Australia everywhere! in terms of American stuff, there were retail and food chains like Popeyes, Wendy's, T.G.I.Friday's, Forever 21, Borders (closed :() as well as miscellaneous American food and drinks and lots more! there is WAY more American stuff in Singapore than in Japan or Australia! *teary eyed* as for Japanese stuff, there was Takashimaya (major department store), Daiso (100yen store), Best Denki (electronics store), MOS Burger (Japanese burgers), Yoshinoya (gyuudon chain), Kinokuniya (bookstore), Uniqlo (clothes store) and lots good ramen and sushi (REAL sushi) restaurants. Aussie stuff included Harvey Norman (electronics store), Typo (stationary & misc store), Spotlight (houseware store) milo (nesquick-like drink) sold in vending machines and restaurants, Dome (an Aussie cafe/restaurant chain) and other smaller Australian bars/restaurants. i also noticed that quite a bit of foodstuff had been imported from Australia.
so, to summarize that last paragraph, Singapore has some of the best of several countries (don't forget India, Malaysia etc) in one place! seeing so much of the things that i miss from both America and Japan in one place was enough to make me tearyeyed. then add on top of all that the awesome stuff from the countries that i've never been to like India and Malaysia and i almost didn't want to leave at all! ;(
anyway, as i previously mentioned, Singapore is a mecca for shoppers! the small island nation is PACKED with shopping malls, arcades and markets of EVERY kind. ANY and EVERY thing you could ever want could probably be bought in Singapore. so strong was the marketing and retail aspect of Singapore that it almost seemed to be a part of Singaporean culture. as i also mentioned before, Singapore is THE place to eat all kinds of Asian food! one can't turn a corner in Singapore without seeing atleast 2 restaurants/cafes, not to mention hawker centers! a hawker center is a place with lots of food stalls. they're vaguely like food courts in that they're places with lots of food to choose from, but in hawker stalls you won't find food chains, everything is CHEAP and the stalls cater to locals and so the food is pretty authentic. it was at hawker centers that we found such interesting stuff as pig organ soup, sugar cane juice, fried chicken feet etc. we ate at hawker centers often and had uber delicious food every day. :) btw, i did keep up food diary where i wrote about all of the food that we ate while there. if anyone is interested in my food blurbs (because that's really what it is) i'll post it.
there is more to Singapore than shopping and food, of course. during our trip we went to the Singapore Art Museum which was AWESOME. definitely one of the most interesting art museums i've been to (not that i've been to many mind you). we also went to the National Museum of Singapore and the Asian Civilization Museum, both of which were really interesting. we dedicated an entire day to the Singapore Zoo and Night Safari. Singapore's zoo is (i think) one of the biggest zoos in the world and the Night Safari is the only one of its kind in the world! they were both amazing. :) i saw many animals that i had never even heard of before and the zoo/night safari itself was very well constructed and maintained and the animals seemingly very well looked after. oh, and we went to the Chinese & Japanese Gardens. :)
....anyway, it seems that i have already written a lot when i said that i would be keeping this brief. on with the pictures already! pictures say more than words anyway.
needless to say, i took thousands and thousands of photos during our trip, only a small few of which will be posted here. in the future i intend to upload lots of photos from the trip to my photoblog PANDAmories, but for now this small selection'll have to do. enjoy!
note: click the thumbnails to see larger images.
also, sorry for the lack of captions. too exhausted. :(
feel free to ask questions about any of the photos etc!
should definitely go to Singapore again some day. *nodnod* and if you've never been and you have any interest at all in Asia, you should go too. :)