The further I got into my vacation, the hotter it got. I went from wearing a thick winter coat in Japan, down to a fall jacket in Hong Kong. Finally when I hit Singapore, I had to pull out my t-shirts to fight off the heat!

We woke up at 4:45 am to catch a flight to Singapore and made it to Changi before 11:00 am. The moment I stepped out of the airport I could immediately feel the humidity hitting me at full force. The hotel shuttle was going to take more than an hour, so we opted to take a taxi instead. It took around 30 minutes to get to hotel and we had a nice scenic view along the way.

Marina Bay Sands looked massive as we approached it from a distance. The three towers seemed to loom over all the buildings in the vicinity and the swimming pool rooftop gave it a really nice outline. We couldn’t check in till the afternoon, so we left all our luggage at the concierge and made our way out. While the hotel itself was beautiful, one major downside was that it was too far from the subway station. Most hotel guests took taxis out to the tourist areas, but since we were a little conscious of our spending, we decided to walk to the subway instead. However, the walk to the closest subway in either direction (depending on which tower you leave from) took at least 15 minutes.

It was a little breezy as we were walking, so it was a comfortable stroll to the subway. However, by the time we had approached the station, the sun had gone and it looked like it was going to pour. The weather in Singapore is a little unpredictable. Most of the time it’s full on sunshine, but on a moment’s notice it can change into a torrential downpour. There was hardly ever anything in between. The good thing is, the moment it finishes raining it immediately becomes sunny again. LOL.

Our first stop that day was at Takashimaya department store. We were starting to get a little hungry, so we decided to grab lunch in the food court first. Although it was a little packed on a Sunday, the selection in the food court was worth it. Everything looked so tasty! I ordered a sweet and sour fish with rice, and topped it off with a durian pancake for dessert. Yum!

We shopped for a little bit inside the mall, then made our way over to the other side to browse at the Kinokuniya bookstore. I’m so jealous we don’t have one in Toronto! They had a great selection of magazines and manga, not to mention all the latest JLPT books. If I didn’t have to carry all my purchases around with me for the day, I would have bought out the whole store.

We walked over to Ion Orchard afterwards and grabbed a snack at one of the food courts to cool off from the heat. Orchard Road had lots of brand name shops, so we didn’t really spend a long time in the area. We decided to leave early to grab dinner at Newton Food Centre.

Newton is one of the most popular hawker centers in Asia. The moment we stepped inside, we were immediately hounded by different touters trying to get us to order food off their menu. We tried different dishes, including sting ray and Hainanese chicken rice. We were beyond stuffed after eating two plates of rice. It was also sticky humid outside, so we finished off with a glass of sugar cane juice to wash everything down.

We went back to the hotel afterwards and got checked in. Our room was soooo nice! However, we had a horrible view of the construction from our balcony.

Since it was still early, we headed off to the casinos to try our luck with the slots. I must say, 9 out of 10 times I do end up winning on the 25¢ slots. (You can tell I’m a heavy gambler.) I usually end up winning enough to buy myself dessert. (Touch wood.) I was up $20 early in the evening, but as I waited for my sister (who lost about $20), my winnings dwindled to a mere $8.25. I was still excited since it was enough to buy that slice of cake I was eyeing at the dessert place in the lobby. However, by the time we cashed out, the dessert place was already CLOSED. =(

Anyway, I was still happy to pocket some extra money. We called it a night and tucked in early to prepare for our trip out to Sentosa the next day!