Flew in late on Friday night, caught the last train into the city.

Found out real quick people are quite nice in Singapore.

I only had big bills and the train ticket machine only took small bills… nobody at the desk to help me. This kind local guy spared me 50 cents.

When I arrived at my hostel the front door was locked. Thankfully I convinced the shop owner next door let me use his phone to call the hostel. I was able to get a code to get inside and there was a key and wifi password left for me on the counter. Best day.

Saturday morning it was raining, so I slept in and was lazy most of the morning. I hadn’t looked up anything before I arrived, so I spent some of the morning planning the weekend.

Since the weather wasn’t to good, I decided to go check out Orchard Road, the main shopping district in Singapore.

The train system is so much more developed than Bangkok. I spent most of the day underground. Some of the stations you can walk between, all underground, with shopping along the way.

After shopping I went to Chinatown. It was a mad house. I was there during Chinese New Year, so you can imagine how intense Chinatown was. Insane humidity with barely enough room to walk.

That evening I went on a pub crawl. It ended up pouring rain on the way to the first bar. Made for an eventful evening.

Sunday I headed to Little India. Wasn’t quite prepared for the craziness. Met a guy that told me Sundays were the worst day to come because that was the only day of the week that everyone was off work. So. Many. People. I found a delicious roadside Indian place for lunch and did some serious people watching.

That evening was the big Chinese New Year celebration. There was an area set up with food stalls and live performances.

Before I moved to Bangkok my friend, Ada, had shown me a video about rolled ice cream. Well, I finally found it! It was really really delicious.

I thought the fireworks were at 9, so did everyone else waiting on the bridge at 8:30. Come to find out, at 9:15, the show didn’t start until midnight. Whoops. So I quickly made my way over to Gardens by the Bay for their super tree night light show. OH.MY. GOSH.

I’m obsessed with these trees. They are these giant futuristic trees that light up to music. The ultimate Christmas light show every night of the year!

After the light show I hustled back to the hostel because I wanted to grab my camera, my phone wasn’t taking very good photos. Raced back across the city to the Helix Bridge and found the perfect spot to watch the fireworks.

The entire 4 minute show.

At least I had some pretty good views throughout the evening!

Monday morning I definitely slept through all the Super Bowl watch parties. Well, tried to sleep in. I believe the guy that was in the sleeping pod above me is deaf. His alarm went off for 27 minutes. No joke. The hostel room I was in had 12 beds; everyone woke up except with guy with the crazy loud alarm.

That afternoon I went to the National Gallery. They had a really great children’s area. I got some neat ideas for my classroom.

After the museum I went back to the Gardens by the Bay to actually go inside the exhibits. They have two building, The Flower Dome, and The Cloud Forest.

I had dinner and found a new place to watch the tree night light show.

I rushed back to the hotel and changed into non-touristy clothes and went to 1Altitude Skybar, 63 floors up! Night 2 of Chinese New Year fireworks, this show lasted a whopping 3 minutes. I had some really great views of the city though!

Tuesday morning I went to Istana. It is home to the President of Singapore. It is only open a handful of times during the year. When I got there the line to enter was wrapped around the block in two different directions. Didn’t have time to go inside, I would have been there all day long. Instead I went for a walk around the city, back to the hostel to grab my things, then headed to the airport.

Successful 4 day weekend in Singapore!