Tourist attractions in #Singapore

After our interesting first day, we decided to venture further afield and  fortunately for us, we sought the advice of the hotel concierge. We had seen various bus tours advertised but these could be quite expensive. He advised us, to try a small outlet in the nearby shopping mall, where these were sold at a reasonable price.

​We found this eventually and decided to do one of the tours around the city, as a bonus we even got a second day free! The bus stop was just across from the hotel and we were soon on our way. Although we didn't use it as such, the bus also acted as a hop on hop off tour. 

​It was an easy way to see the highlights of the area and allow us to get our bearings. Although we only drove past these places, it gave us an idea of which ones we would like to see. This tour took all morning and covered half the city. In the afternoon, we boarded another bus from the same company, at no extra cost,  that covered the rest of the city. 

​The first place we decided to visit the next day was Marina Bay. Here was the famous Merlion, ​an unofficial mascot of Singapore, depicted as a mythical creature with a lion's head and the body of a fish. This was impressive with water shooting from its mouth. It also drew large crowds, as people posed for selfies, as groups or pretending that the water was hitting them.

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Across the bay was also a view of some of the more interesting buildings in Singapore. The Marina Bays Sands and in front of it the Art and Science Museum. Both structures  enhanced the skyline. It's a pity that other towns don't follow this example and insist that new buildings create a more interesting skyline and aren't just box shapes.

On another visit, later on in the week, it was good to see that a series of benches had been commissioned to add interest to the area; although I'm not sure you could sit on all of them!

Like most big cities there were far too many places for us to visit during our stay. We passed through Chinatown but had already visited several in other countries so decided to give it a miss.  The one place that we would have liked to have visited longer, especially in the evening, was Clarke Quay, as there seemed to be a lot going on there. Unfortunately, we found the Quay, on our last day, which was a shame because there were lots of things happening during the day and we didn't have time to explore this interesting area.

What was also impressive here were the subway tunnels. Here artists had painted large murals, depicting the history of the area, to improve the normally dark walls and there was no sign of graffiti. It's a shame that this couldn't be safely done in many of our towns in the UK.