This was an adventure of a lifetime.
But as they say, all good things must come to an end, and with under a week left before my flight back to London I had almost reached it.
I had 5 days to make it to Singapore, and due to an issue possibly involving being locked in the security office of an Indonesian Airport, I already had a flight booked to Kuala Lumpur as a pit-stop. I didn’t spend long in the city, but did get to tick another item of my backpacker bucket list!
✅ Spend a Night in a Space Pod ✅
You’ve probably never heard of them, but all over the world there are quirky hostels set up to look just like spaceship, with the beds replaced by futuristic sleeping pods! I knew I had to try it out, so booked into iO Hostel for the night!
Being a space pod, it was very well kitted out! I had a TV in there, an in-built safe, and a control panel with all sorts of lighting options on it! Thankfully one of those was a sleep mode 😋😴😴😴
After my trip to outer space, I moved swiftly on… bound for Singapore! When Jamie and I planned the trip, I suggested Singapore as a final destination.
A city fit for a finale.
There were points though where I wasn’t sure Jamie would be joining me in Singapore. If you’ve kept up with my blog since the Asia leg of our journey began, you’ll remember Jamie and I split ways in Vietnam. I took a bus to Cambodia as planned, while Jamie flew to Thailand to meet a friend of ours, eventually travelling all the way to Melbourne, Australia!
With the flight booked and paid for though, he was persuaded to meet me in the city for our final few days! Here’s a little bit on what we got up to!
It all started with a serious queue at immigration, before jumping back on my bus to downtown Singapore. It was dark by this point, but this only made the journey better as the whole skyline of this Asian metropolis lit up.
I arrived at our hostel to find this guy waiting for me!
I complain almost constantly about Jamie when I’m with him – his constant smiling and happiness about everything, his quite ridiculous but incredibly entertaining questions (questions like “is it taco or toco bell?” and “what do you reckon the market is? like, literally a market?”), and scary lack of common sense. But I was really glad to see him and have a proper reunion before returning home from this mad adventure.
In true British style, we were halfway round the world and eating in a German restaurant… but cut me some slack… there’s only so much rice I can reasonably enjoy.
After a good night’s rest, we took on our first full day in Singapore, trying our hand in the famed Hawker Centres spread across the city, and coming across an interesting array of foods.
Carrot cake anyone?
However, it was our second day in the city by the time we ventured out to one of Singapore’s most striking landmarks. I’m talking of course of Singapore’s Garden’s by the Bay.
I set out on this adventure to see things I couldn’t see at home, and these ‘Supertrees’ definitely fit the bill. Alongside this quite remarkable canopy though are two huge biodomes… a must see if you’re in the park! We started with the Cloud Forest…
Climbing to the very top of this gargantuan waterfall, you’ll see views of the nearby Marina Bay Sands, and an impressive collection of exotic plants.
Don’t worry though! The terrifying one’s are made of LEGO!
We continued to meander down the levels, taking in the views inside and outside of this giant atrium.
Moving into the next biodome, it was all things Christmas! A strange feeling in early November! We got into the festive spirit though. Tiny elves, Christmas trees; even the classic Christmas lizard made an appearance!
Travelling back from December 25th to November 8th, we stuck around until after dark! I had an inkling those artificial trees had a little more to offer and we were not disappointed…
Crowds gathered around, awaiting the Garden Rhapsody – an incredible display of music and lights that takes place every night (I pity the neighbours :P)
This would have been a fantastic culmination to an extraordinary and unique experience, but we were yet to enjoy this landmark from it’s best viewpoint! The OCBC Skyway – a treetop walk amongst these giants!
Is this the best set of views in the city? I’m not sure many could come close!
It really was a special night as the end of our trip drew so very near!
Catch up with the final embers of this story on one more post coming very soon! Watch Jamie try local speciality chili crab, and hear some final thoughts from myself on this crazy adventure across the world.
A Pocketful of Postcards 