Singapore 2024, December 03

My last full day of Singapore had come around already. Only a small breakfast at 6:30am since I was a bit bored of the same stuff and not feeling too hungry.

Another run in the same general direction but I crossed the bridge before Boat Quay and went around the northern esplanade side instead. There was a bit of construction detour onto a narrow footpath for one section, but overall it was a better way to get to the gardens. This time I also went a bit further across the Marina Barrage bridge to a new Gardens East section that is still being built. Today's total was about 12.5km but it glitched again going through the esplanade section this time.

I didn't have much planned for the day since I had decided not to go to Universal Studios for the day. My reasons were I wasn't sure about all the standing and walking, and some reviews have some rides aren't always running lately. My basic plan for the day started off by going Bayfront on the MRT and walking over to the Gardens By The Bay entrance.

The first stop was a Floral Fantasy zone with a temporary Disney theme, I wasn't interested in getting a ticket for that but bought a couple of things from the shop next to it.

It was quite a long walk to get across to the rest of the main attractions, but I didn't plan to do them all, and some I'd been to previously but I wasn't certain of which.

I was pretty sure I'd done Cloud Forest but not so sure about Super Tree Observatory, but got that combo ticket since it wasn't much different in price. The person at the counter said I had to do the observatory first due to weather.

I found that a bit strange since it was only 11am and it didn't rain all day either, with only a bit of rain possible in the late afternoon. Following the advice anyway I walked down to this observatory first and took the elevator up to a viewing deck above the tallest of these artificial super trees. The views of the gardens and the rest of Singapore was good, but that's about all there is to do on two levels. After baking in the sun on the roof for a while it was back down and over to Cloud Forest.

I definitely remembered coming here previously, and it didn't seem to be much different, but I suppose there isn't much they are able to change since it is a fixed structure. Following the recommended route takes you up to the top and then you work your way back down, the waterfall at the beginning is probably the highlight of the visit.

The scheduled mist shower began just as I got there, but it was quite light and didn't add much to the experience.

It took a while to end up back down at the bottom, then I was in another gift shop but didn't get anything else.

There was another Shake Shack nearby so I stopped in for lunch again. Sitting outside there was a incredibly aggressive bird trying to eat people's hamburgers out of their hands.

It was quite a long walk all the way back to the MRT near marina bay, then continuing on the same downtown line to Rochor. There was this giant old shopping centre of six levels with nothing but computers, phones, and similar discount technology stores. I came specifically for this retro video game store that looked good, only it was closed from December 1st to 4th.

With that idea quickly over I walked on to the next station over at Bugis again, for a different line down to Raffles Place. Just made a quick detour on the way out of the station to visit the marina bay and the merlion, even though it meant more walking.

There wasn't a quick way to get back to the hotel without one or two more train line changes, so it seemed walking would be about the same result.

There was a Marks And Spencer back near Raffles place, but most of their items were very expensive British imports. Back towards the hotel I also found this large Don Don Donki supermarket in the basement of Clarke Quay Central selling mostly Japanese products. In Japanese tradition there was lots of flashing lights and recorded messages running on repeat around the store, felt like being in Osaka or Tokyo. Unfortunately since it was my last night I couldn't stock up on more items.

Finally the last of the walk back to the hotel and my left foot was killing and in need of rest to hopefully recover for the remaining few days. After some dinner I packed up most of my stuff for the morning, which was quite easy since I still had half of the stuff in the packing cubes.

Steps = 26,706 with 12km running

Good

• Daily train prices were very cheap
• No rain
• Trains run often at all times of the day and night, and never saw any delays
• Warm and humid but not too hot

Bad

• Half marathon result
• Lack of new activities close to the city
• Limited drink options at convenience stores and supermarkets
• Lots of walking around MRT stations underground

Missed Out

• Hotel pool
• Some hiking trails and nature reserves, each a long distance from the city
• Universal Studios