Singapore - Videos of my country that I made

[Iluvcruising2]

It's been a while since I posted on this thread. Thanks for reviving this!

 

Since we are just into 2016, not too late wish everybody a Happy New Year and have blessed year ahead.

 

In this video, I did a v-log on the 1st day of 2016. Went for a run, and started to rain. Gives you a good idea of what a moderate rain shower looks like in Singapore!

[YOUTUBE]ja2w9HvO7Tk[/YOUTUBE]

 

Rewind by a couple of weeks, and it was the Christmas season in Singapore. This video shows you some snippets of Orchard Rd and Takashimaya, on the last weekend before Christmas. Pretty crowded, very good atmosphere.

[YOUTUBE]mVHhTuzY29Q[/YOUTUBE]

 

Singapore is a tropical country and hot all year around. So it was a very pleasant and cool sight to watch an ice-skating display right smack in a shopping center in Singapore. Check this out, from Christmas season 2015.

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[Iluvcruising2]

The Raffles City area (City Hall MRT station) would be a common place for many tourists to pass through. Of if you are staying at the Fairmont, then these videos would also be useful.

 

Some views of the area from a commercial building.

[YOUTUBE]So-znkXmg9E[/YOUTUBE]

 

The Raffles City Shopping Center food court. Food courts like these exist in almost all shopping malls. They get crowded for lunch and dinner. Mostly locals, so this is what we eat.

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A video showing you the rain. It must have been raining when I was there! This time round, the rain was a lot heavier than the moderate rain on my 1st Jan 2016 V-log.

[YOUTUBE]l6ckQwm-EZw[/YOUTUBE]

 

When it comes to food, definitely try the Hainanese Chicken Rice when you come to Singapore. It is widely available. According to the BBC, this dish was born out of frugality and is worth a 15 hour flight - http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20151105-the-singapore-dish-worth-a-15-hour-flight

[YOUTUBE]gLtLQwnIqNM[/YOUTUBE]

[Iluvcruising2]

The Singapore National Museum, near Dhoby Ghaut MRT, is worth a visit, if you are into history and that kind of stuff.

 

Notably, they are still running an exhibition on Mr Lee Kuan Yew (We Built a Nation). I visited this exhibition a couple of months back and made some videos.

 

Quick walkthrough of the special exhibition.

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Some of the artefacts from the exhibition.

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How to walk from the museum to Dhoby Ghaut MRT station. This video shows you what the surrounding area looks like.

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The National Museum has a nice restaurant called Flutes. Have been there for executive set lunch before, it was not bad if you want nice place to have lunch. Slideshow of the food we enjoyed.

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[Iluvcruising2]

In 2015, the Singapore Botanic Gardens was awarded the coveted UNESCO World Heritage site status. This is the first site in Singapore to be awarded the UNESCO World Heritage site. Another milestone for my small country.

 

These series of videos show you what the Botanic Gardens look like. Take note that it is better to enter the Gardens via Tanglin Gate which is nearer to Orchard Road. If you enter the Gardens from the Botanic Garden MRT station (which is on the Circle and Downtown lines), the walk to the main areas is a bit far. (like 2km). Though taking the MRT may be less complicated. I figured that getting to Tanglin Gate, you need to take a bus from Orchard Blvd.

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Within the Botanic Gardens, there is the Orchid Garden. Definitely worth a visit! $5 SGD per entry. In this video I am walking towards the Orchid Garden.

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And within the Orchid Gardens, there is the VIP Orchid Garden, where you can see our Orchid diplomacy at work.

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Example of VIP Orchids - the Vanda William Catherine was named after the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, to commemorate their official visit to Singapore.

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[Iluvcruising2]

Singapore now has many parks and nature walks all over the island. Some of them are worth a visit, if you are looking for something different to do. Here are some suggestions.

 

Henderson Waves - Singapore's highest foot bridge, part of the Southern Ridges Park connector network. This unique bridge, designed in a wavy manner, links one park to another. (Mount Faber to Telok Blangah). Mt Faber park is pretty near the Harbourfront cruise terminal which in turn isn't too far from town either. So one way to get to this bridge is to take a taxi to Mount Faber and then walk across the bridge to Telok Blangah park.

[YOUTUBE]eZWLAB9TcWw[/YOUTUBE]

 

From Telok Blangah Park, you could follow the signs and walk towards the Forest Walk, which I show you in this video. A very cool metal bridge that brings you down a hill, right in the middle of a secondary tropical rainforest. The Forest Walk bridge links you up with Alexandra Arch, which is a foot bridge across Alexandra Road. Beyond that is the Hort Port, and you can continue walking up to Kent Ridge Park too!

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Here is a video of me driving up Kent Ridge Park.

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From Kent Ridge Park, you can access another walk called the Canopy Walk (which links to Hort Park as well). This time round, you are high up in the canopies of large trees. Very unique.

[YOUTUBE]VuNBiDM7NgA[/YOUTUBE]

 

The above walks and bridges are all free of charge. Free admission. Wonderful. If you start from Mount Faber, you can walk all the way to Kent Ridge park and see all the bridges and walks in my above videos. Take note, however, the entire distance is about 8 to 9km!

[ROCruiser]

Thanks again, for the videos, Iluvcruising2!

Question: We will be staying at the Grand Hyatt before the cruise. After seeing your videos, thinking of going to the Botanic Gardens the morning before boarding the ship. I am assuming we should take a taxi from GH to the Gardens. How early do they open? Is it doable if we just spend a couple of hours there in the morning then go to Far East Plaza and have breakfast at Ya Kun Kaya Toast before checking out from the hotel?

[Iluvcruising2]

Thanks again, for the videos, Iluvcruising2!

Question: We will be staying at the Grand Hyatt before the cruise. After seeing your videos, thinking of going to the Botanic Gardens the morning before boarding the ship. I am assuming we should take a taxi from GH to the Gardens. How early do they open? Is it doable if we just spend a couple of hours there in the morning then go to Far East Plaza and have breakfast at Ya Kun Kaya Toast before checking out from the hotel?

 

Singapore Botanic Gardens opens from 5am to 12midnight. (Admission free)

https://www.nparks.gov.sg/gardens-parks-and-nature/singapore-botanic-gardens

 

The Orchid Gardens opens from 8:30am to 7pm. (Admission $5)

https://www.nparks.gov.sg/gardens-parks-and-nature/parks-and-nature-reserves/national-orchid-garden

 

I assume you are referring to the Grand Hyatt hotel which is just beside Far East Plaza (see 2:30 of this video).

[YOUTUBE]EPUXn3coyWE[/YOUTUBE]

 

Yes, a good idea to visit the Botanics on the morning of your check-out, because your hotel is near. From Grand Hyatt, take a taxi to Botanic Gardens Tanglin Gate. Using google maps, the distance by road is under 2.5km, so it would be a relatively short ride. Going early is good, before it gets too hot. More pleasant to walk. I am told that you will find quite a lot of activity in the mornings at the Botanics (6am onwards till 8am). Apparently, many people go there for their morning walks/jogs before the sun comes up and it gets too hot.

 

There is quite a lot of walking to do in the Botanics, so you may want to eat something early in the morning before setting off. If you have hotel breakfast, that solves the problem, but if not, you could always buy breads or some snacks the evening before. These days, there are many bakeries/stores selling buns/breads to go, like BreadTalk.

 

The Ya Kun toast at Far East Plaza only opens at 8am.

 

If you can make do with a later breakfast, you probably have enough time to visit the Orchid Gardens (opens at 8:30am) as well. You wouldn't need more than 1 hour there, unless you really want to stare at every Orchid. So, you should be able to get back to Far East Plaza by 10am, have a late breakfast/brunch, check-out from your hotel (I assume check out is noon?) and head to the cruise port.

Edited January 7, 2016 by Iluvcruising2

[ROCruiser]

Great! Thank you for the suggestion. We are thinking to have the buffet dinner at Straight Kitchen inside GH the night before to have a sample of hawkers food there. Worth it? We will check out the actual hawkers food stands when we have the overnight in Singapore at the end of the cruise, like Tian Tian chicken rice, etc. I am sure we won't have enough time to try everything, so the Straight Kitchen maybe a good option to try as many items as possible. Your opinions?

[Iluvcruising2]

Great! Thank you for the suggestion. We are thinking to have the buffet dinner at Straight Kitchen inside GH the night before to have a sample of hawkers food there. Worth it? We will check out the actual hawkers food stands when we have the overnight in Singapore at the end of the cruise, like Tian Tian chicken rice, etc. I am sure we won't have enough time to try everything, so the Straight Kitchen maybe a good option to try as many items as possible. Your opinions?

 

The Straits Kitchen at Grand Hyatt is very well-known, and popular with both locals and tourists. By all means, go try it once. I have had the buffet a few times, usually for a celebration, or office treat. It is one of the few grand buffets in Singapore which is halal-certified, which means that the food served is suitable for Muslims as well.

http://www.singapore.grand.hyattrestaurants.com/straitskitchen/

 

There is a wide variety of local food served at this buffet - so try everything!!

[ROCruiser]

Thanks for the quick response!

[Iluvcruising2]

My V log for 11 Jan 2016. You can see what I had for breakfast, with my wife. It is a market in the heartlands, I don't recommend you go there as a tourist heh.

 

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[Iluvcruising2]

V Log 12 Jan. Chinese temples.

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V Log 13 Jan - Goodbye Major Tom.

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I seem to be eating won ton mee every day! :)

Edited January 16, 2016 by Iluvcruising2

[Iluvcruising2]

This is Meng's Teochew Bak Chor Mee - an outlet in JEM, which is connected to Jurong East MRT station which is on the west side of Singapore on the East-West line. The Jurong East area is developing very fast.

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Star Vista, a mall right next to Buona Vista MRT station. This is a mall with plenty of eateries. There are a large number of offices in the surrounding area, hence this place gets crowded during work day lunch hours.

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[Iluvcruising2]

Angus Takashimaya Charcoal grill. I had heard of this restaurant but never tried it until new year of 2016, where the family went there for a New Year's lunch. The place was crowded! This is on the 4th floor of Ngee Ann City, Takashimaya, near Orchard MRT station.

 

Prices were not exactly cheap, but the cooking was not bad. A treat, once in a while.

 

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[Iluvcruising2]

Not everyday that I get a beautiful wild bird knocking on my window. Managed to capture this footage with my iPhone. Very cool. Hope that the bird is well. Come visit again!

 

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[Iluvcruising2]

This being Chinese Lunar New Year season, plenty of fun stuff to watch, even at shopping malls! Chanced upon this chinese martial arts demonstration at a local mall.

 

This is Part 1 - including a 10 year old boy doing Tai Chi!

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This is Part 2 - Double sword and single sword demo.

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In part 3, Singapore's world champion in Wu Shu Tai ji quan, gives a demo. A young lady!

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In part 4, the twins demo their sword fighting prowess.

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And in the final part, they do a demo on self-defence.

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Enjoy the martial arts!

[Iluvcruising2]

V Log, 5th Feb 2016. This is the day I withdraw plenty of cash from the ATM. Reason? I need to prepare the ang pows (red packets)!

 

[YOUTUBE]FUkWiMk7zuc[/YOUTUBE]

[kccrzr]

Extremely helpful and interesting videos and links. I feel I have a much better handle on the MRT station and area around our hotel (Royal Plaza on Scotts) now and you have given me some new things to add to my list of places to see. Many thanks for taking the time to provide your insights and tips.

[Iluvcruising2]

Extremely helpful and interesting videos and links. I feel I have a much better handle on the MRT station and area around our hotel (Royal Plaza on Scotts) now and you have given me some new things to add to my list of places to see. Many thanks for taking the time to provide your insights and tips.

 

Thanks for your feedback!

 

Indeed, when I started to make these videos and share them here, I had hoped that the videos would be helpful to tourists like yourself. Glad that it has helped you get a better feel of the area.

[Iluvcruising2]

Extremely helpful and interesting videos and links. I feel I have a much better handle on the MRT station and area around our hotel (Royal Plaza on Scotts) now and you have given me some new things to add to my list of places to see. Many thanks for taking the time to provide your insights and tips.

 

Oh! Since you are staying at Royal Plaza on Scotts, you are walking distance to the Orchard MRT station. The mall is there is called Orchard ION and I have made some other videos of Orchard ION.

 

There is a very nice food court as well as many small eateries at the basement of Orchard ION (I think it was B4?). Here is a video of the food court.

[YOUTUBE]mkT0n7VxkWk[/YOUTUBE]

 

In this video, I walk around Orchard ION. The design of this place is interesting. The higher floors - all upscale shops. Singapore Airlines booking office is on the 4th level. But the shops below ground, near the MRT entrance, more mass market, including the food court, coffee joints and other eateries.

[YOUTUBE]P069Vu730x0[/YOUTUBE]

 

If you want to splurge a little on a great view in Orchard, check out the Salt Bar and Grill on the 55th floor of the Orchard ION. Access is through the Orchard ION itself. Dinner will be more expensive so a group of us went there for lunch. As at writing, their set lunch if $49++ (3 courses including coffee).

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[Iluvcruising2]

Lunar New Year 2016 beckons. My first reunion dinner. Happy New Year to all those celebrating the Lunar New Year!

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[ROCruiser]

Happy Lunar New Year, Iluvcruising2! I have to try that "Lo Hei", never done that. Looks like fun!

[Iluvcruising2]

This is the first day of the Lunar New Year, this is the year of the Monkey!

 

Last night, another reunion dinner.

[YOUTUBE]PWBHZ01ypmk[/YOUTUBE]

Edited February 8, 2016 by Iluvcruising2

[villauk]

Happy Lunar New Year, Iluvcruising2 :). Unfortunately, we have a very short time in Singapore as we have to fly out late on our first day. Is it easy enough to get public transport from the Marina Port to the Raffles area? If so, would you suggest the best route to take. Thanks in advance ;).

[Keith1010]

Thanks for sharing the video.

 

Keith