After my Philly trip, I knew I had to choose another destination for my next solo trip. My Philly trip was part-work trip, part-meet my manager trip, and part-solo trip. I wanted the full experience, so I had to choose the next destination before 2023 ended.

Around Q2 of 2023, I had contemplated Japan, Taiwan, and Singapore.

Why Japan?

I fucking miss this place. God. The cleanliness. The bidets. The cleanliness. Yes, I had to say cleanliness twice because that’s how clean this wonderful country is (although I’ve only been to Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, and Nara, but still!).

Main issue: Visa.

My visa had expired. But it’s easy to apply, just have the docs ready of course. However, my mother wanted to go back to Japan, too, so I decided to have a trip with her instead of a solo one. Maybe one day I’ll go to Japan myself since I have other plans aside from my upcoming trip with my mom.

Why Taiwan?

I read that Taiwan is such a tourist-friendly city. No or few incidences of crimes were reported. Women-friendly. Not as expensive as Japan.

However, my dad insists that the four of us, as a family, go to Taiwan together. Usually, I’m more comfortable going back to a country after my family or a relative and I go to a city or country we’ve never been. 

Plus, there’s the language barrier as well.

I’ll go to Taiwan next time then. Lol.

Why Singapore?

I’ve been to Singapore before. I know that it’s a solo tourist and women-friendly city state. There are no major crimes involved. Plus, they have a developed transport system, so you can go pretty much anywhere tourists would go without using private cars.

I do remember the heat. Plus, I also heard from friends that it’s super expensive there.

Despite these, I still decided to go. I wanted to experience a solo trip where I control my schedule. Plus, truly enjoy my own company (99%) of the time.

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If you’re thinking of going to Singapore, here are my experiences. You can follow what I did. Or actually do better and save more money in the process haha by doing further research.

Day 1

I arrived at noon.

Everything was smooth from landing to getting my luggage in the baggage claim. Changi Airport is such a dream airport. Like if there was one major reason for going back to Singapore, Changi Airport is a destination. You’ll know why when you read further.

Going back, after claiming my baggage, I had my money exchanged at the airport. Some people would say NO to this, considering that the buying rates were high. However, I just didn’t want the hassle of finding a money changer with lower buying rates. Plus, I just felt like I needed a shower after landing. God. I just needed a refresh before walking around anywhere.

Anyway, I had money exchanged. Plus, I bought a sim card and transport+payment card, too. All in one place! I believe it was the UOB Currency Exchange.

Again, I know I made the mistake of doing this LOL. But hey, in my mind, all I wanted was to check in my room and take a shower. I just didn’t want the hassle. LOL. Then, after that, I lined up (actually just snaked around the queue since it was empty) for a taxi. I could’ve taken public transpo. Then again, my mind was fixated on one thing. I just wanted to get it done.

After arriving at my hotel, the room wasn’t ready. D: But they kept my bags for me until it was time to check-in. Since I wanted to try a popular meal, I decided to go for a chicken and fish cake curry noodle dish. It was a Michelin-star dish, so I thought I’d try it.

Fuck my life though since it was 25 minutes from the hotel.

I walked 25 minutes in the sweltering heat at noon in Singapore to get that famous dish.

At one point I stopped at a street that had a convenience store. There I bought ice water to cool my body. But it didn’t work. LOL. I got there and holy shit the line was long as hell. I decided fuck it. I’m already here, let’s just do it. Finally, it was my time to order. I didn’t know how to. Fortunately, the lady in the stall was patient enough to help me. I got the small noodle dish, and I was finally done ordering. But the hawker centre was packed so I decided to eat at the hotel.

I just didn’t want to walk. So, I booked a Grab ride and saved myself the trouble of possibly collapsing on the street from overexhaustion and heat.

I finally went back to the hotel, and the room was ready! Thank god the room was cold. I had my lunch, and it was SO GOOD. But I couldn’t finish the whole thing. 😦 I rested for a while then took my long-awaited shower.

After showering, I went to Marina Bay Sands. Technically I went to the ArtScience Museum because everybody seems to like it. So I did.

I chose two exhibits out of three, the Mars and Sci-Fi exhibits. I like the Mars one better because it focused on the planet, its origin and myths.

After that I had a quick pit stop in the food court at Marina Bay Sands. I ate Kaya Toast (w/o egg) and drank Horlicks. The Horlicks intrigue me and for some reason I want more.

I was supposed to go to the Merlion but seeing it from afar, there were tons of people. I decided to go to Chinatown instead to buy souvenirs.

Finally made my way there and holy fuck there were so many stalls of souvenirs to choose from. I browsed the area twice to make sure I bought from cheaper stores. I did, I think. LOL. Then I went back to the hotel to rest before eating dinner. However, I no longer had the energy to eat dinner outside so I bought from a convenience store and went to bed a few hours later.

Day 2

I was well rested after the long walks the day before. Fortunately, I learned from this experience so I brought my portable fan for this day’s trip. Plus two bottles of water to hydrate.

First, I decided to eat at a hawker centre nearby to have Kaya Toast with Egg and Milo Dinosaur. I wanted to have kopi but this was a solo trip and couldn’t risk having a GERD or palpitation episode. My breakfast was yummy and I felt ready to take on the day.

I went straight to the station where I had to ride the train straight to the Singapore Botanic Gardens. My only reason for going there was seeing the Orchid Gardens.

Before going to the Orchid Gardens, holy hell, the walk to that specific garden from the MRT was a long ass walk. But it had nice views tbfh. 

The Singapore Botanic Gardens is HUMONGOUS. Dang. So clean too. Fuck. I wish the Philippines had something similar to this. I kept thinking. But before arriving at my desired destination, I took detours to some mini gardens. I even passed by a rainforest but I told myself I’ll get back to that before leaving.

I didn’t.

Anyway, I finally made it!

Holy fuck the flowers were spectacular. Honestly, saying it was spectacular downplays the beauty of those orchids. Shit. Amazing. Beautiful. Gorgeous. Everything synonymous to these words.

I could imagine being there again as I type this.

But it was hot as fuck. Fortunately, there was a cold garden. It was air conditioned and I wish I could stay longer there. LOL. But it was a sort of trail you need to follow, that you eventually end up leaving the cold room and out into the heat once more.

Once I was done fawning over the flowers and walking on every path in the garden, I rested before deciding what my lunch would be. I thought I’d have laksa since it was a must-try dish on my list. But there were so many choices! However, they were far away from the Singapore Botanic Gardens, so I decided to choose a decent laksa on a route I had taken before.

I went to Chinatown to get my fill. Good thing that the laksa place was in a food court in a mall. That mall was cold as fuck and I’m so happy to be enveloped by the cold.

I got my laksa from The Original Katong Laksa. One thing about this is it had shrimp and cockles (thanks, Wikipedia!). It was good! But for some reason it was missing something for me. I can’t put my finger on what it is. Before eating the laksa I also took antihistamine for good measure since I was allergic to shrimp.

After that, I walked inside the mall first because I wanted to see what was in there. What was striking was that the atrium had stalls of Chinese New Year related items. CNY was coming up soon at the time.

I left the mall and went back to the hotel for a quick stop.

After resting, I headed out to the National Gallery Singapore. Luckily the museum was near my hotel so I didn’t have to walk as much lol. I got there and bought a general admission ticket. I could access the regular galleries. Unfortunately, I couldn’t see the special Southeast Asian exhibit. Oh well.

It was nice to see art and other wonderful creations. I was particularly interested in the calligraphy on the 2nd floor, I think lol. Then, as I browsed through more art, I saw some Filipino painters and creatives, too! I smiled when I saw The Philippines. Y’know what they say, Pinoy Pride. LOL.

Once I finished my tour of the museum, I went straight to the Merlion which was around a 10 to 15 minute from the museum. I’ve seen the Merlion before actually. Just not as up close as I had this time. Plus, I was happy that there wasn’t a big crowd.

After that, I had to prepare for dinner.

Since I had relatives in Singapore, I sent them a message prior to my trip that I would be in Singapore for three days. My cousin (along with his older daughter) invited me to dinner at this Szechuan restaurant in Chinatown. It was good but spicy. Fortunately, I could handle the heat haha. It was nice seeing and catching up with them.

After our meet-up, I went back to the hotel and packed my things.

Day 3

Today’s my official last day in Singapore. I could go somewhere else, but my flight was at 2 PM and I couldn’t risk going anywhere else other than the airport. That’s what I did then. I checked out early from the hotel to get a headstart in exploring Jewel Changi and Changi Airport.

I arrived there and saw the Rain Vortex and holy shit it was magnificent. I’d seen it in pictures and videos. But seeing it in real life, man, it was awesome. Fortunately, only a few people were crowding the designated photo places, so I took pictures properly. After that, I had breakfast then, I decided to check in my flight early because that’s something you can do when you’re in Changi. I did that and explored the place.

Honestly, I love that you can walk around various terminals in Changi. Like it’s so freaking cool. You can take the Sky Trains. However, if you have flights from Terminal 4, you need to take a shuttle to go to the interconnected terminals (1 to 3). It was such an experience walking around and exploring. I loved it. I realized that I love walking around airports that aren’t NAIA. LOL.

Anyway, I had one more assignment before going home, which was buying pork jerky from Lim Chee Guan. The line was already long 45 minutes before it opened. It’s that famous. I even lined up in the wrong place. Fortunately, the couple who were first in line told me where I should queue. After a couple of minutes or so, I finally finished my mission. I went straight to my designated terminal and waited for my flight to depart.

Would I Go Back?

It’s so funny that I’m answering my own question. Yes, I would go back. But I think it will be with friends next time. I want to go back to visit other places I couldn’t. I believe it will be fun with them next time.