A 24-Hour Layover in Singapore

Because all of my past visits to Singapore were only for a short period of time, my trips always ended with limited time thus visiting only few spots in the country. Those just gave me reasons to go back to the country and explore the rest of its popular attractions.

My third time in Singapore let me have a 24-hour lay over before I went to India. Since I’ll be arriving late at night and will only be staying in the country for 24 hours, I decided not to book a hotel anymore. Instead, I asked one of my good friends if she could let me stay in her unit.

I didn’t really have much agenda for my 24-hour lay over. I planned to visit Legoland in Johor Bahru, Malaysia but ditched the idea in the end because it’ll only take all my time. I decided to visit few places instead that I haven’t been to in Singapore and return to my favorite shopping areas for a quick shopping spree.

River Safari

My friend asked me if I wanted to go to River Safari for free because she can get admission passes from her office; who am I to resist for a free admission so I said yes.

The River Safari is a river-themed zoo and aquarium nestled between Singapore’s two outstanding wildlife parks – Singapore Zoo and Night Safari. The park offers an unforgettable adventure inspired by the world’s most iconic rivers. It has a tropical rain-forest setting and river theme with various animal attractions, theme park rides and major exhibits.

The zoo is open everyday from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM. Ticket costs SGD 25 per person.

I’m not really a fan of zoos and animal parks but what really put me into amusement was when I saw the cuddly pandas inside the Giant Panda Forest.

The Giant Panda Forest is the largest panda exhibit in Southeast Asia where giant pandas Kai Kai and Jia Jia can be seen. These pandas are said to be China’s gift to Singapore. The area is a climate-controlled biodome where the rare red pandas and elegant golden pheasants can also be seen.

Before we had finished roaming around the park, we had also visited the Amazon Flooded Forest. The exhibit gave us a unique context into the groundwork of the submerged Amazon Forest where we were able to see the remarkable aquatic wildlife that thrive there.

Species like Arapaima, Piranha and Giant River Otter can be found inside the exhibit.

After we went to River Safari and finished shopping in Mustafa Center, me and my friend decided to walk from Little India to get to Bugis Street through Serangoon Road.

Serangoon Road

Serangoon Road is a street in Singapore which runs from Little India to Boon Keng.

Through walking, we had able to discover some places and notable spots in the city. As well as we had able to capture the colorful and busy street.

Bugis Street

Singapore is an expensive country to travel to but in defiance of this status, this country has still few spots wherein you can get cheap. One of these places is Bugis Street.

Bugis Street is a famous spot in Singapore for food, souvenir items and retail shopping. It houses about 800 shops making it the largest street shopping location in Singapore.

Here you can also find different hawkers that offer cheap and good authentic Singaporean meals and food carts that sell 1 dollar ice cream (SGD 1) and other street food.

After we had finished our agenda in Bugis Street, we went for a walk again going to another shopping mall located in Nicoll Highway, the Suntec City Mall. We went for a quick shopping spree in one of the stores in the mall. We had planned to see the Fountain of Wealth but we were so dead tired that we had just decided to go back to our respective stays.

En Route to Kuala Lumpur

It was nearing 9:00 PM when I had reached my friend’s house in Pasir Ris. I then immediately fixed my things as I had a bus ride to catch going to Kuala Lumpur at 11:30 PM. After fixing my things, me and my good friend went to a nearby restaurant and had our dinner.

It was already nearing 10:00 PM when we had finished our dinner, I suddenly got worried of not being able to catch my bus ride if I took a train ride to the terminal, but I was left with no choice as I don’t have enough Singaporean dollars in my pocket anymore. But good thing my friend gave me money so I can take a cab going to the terminal. Thank you Zee for treating me in Singapore!

I then took a cab, and in less than half an hour I was able to reach the bus terminal. Our bus bound to the capital city of Malaysia left before midnight. It has been another great short visit in Singapore. Though, it was just a lay over I was glad that I was able to set my foot into this country again.