Singapore 8.-12.10. ♥

Last month I travelled to Singapore so I can renew my visa and to spend my mid-term holiday. I flew with JetStar and tickets were together about 90€ + credit card fee. It was my first time using JetStar and I was quite satisfied with it although my return flight got delayed. I stayed in Chinatown hotel which was (surprisingly) located in Chinatown. I chose it because it was cheap, looked good and the location was very convenient. It was actually very nice and the location was perfect because it was between 2 metro stations which had 3 different lines so it was easy to go everywhere. Near the hotel there were also a lot of restaurants to choose from (Chinese, Thai, Italian, local...). My trip consisted of basic sight-seeing (Merlion, Marina Bay Sands, Bugis...), shopping and one day I spent in the Singapore Zoo & Night Safari. 

PROS:

+ Cleanliness (Singapore was even more clean than most of the cities in Finland although the population is way more bigger than in Finnish cities. I was very surprised about that.) 

+ English language (People could speak English well so as a tourist you can manage very well if you know English. You don't need to know the local language to be able to talk with the locals.) 

+ Diversity (There were a lot of people with different nationalities which was interesting to see although I think it's also a con because for example in Thailand it's nice to be able to recognise right away who is local or not.) 

+ Metro system (It was very good, cheap and easy to use. I could go everywhere I needed with it and I highly recommend to get a Tourist Pass from a metro station because with that you can use metro and buses as much as you want for 1, 2, or 3 days.)

+ Prepaid sim-card (So far what I have experienced Singapore has the best Prepaid sim-card system for foreigners. It was so easy and fast to get in the airport. At the same time with exchanging money, I could get a sim-card for my phone. Many other countries should definitely copy this service to their airports.)

CONS:

- Price level (After being in Thailand for a few months, Singapore felt very expensive although it was cheaper than Finland. Several things were multiple times more expensive than in Thailand but I wasn't surprised because I have heard Singapore is an expensive place. For once there was something that slowed down my shopping :D ) 

- Not so much to see, at least that's how I felt (Besides the few well-known sightseeing locations, there wasn't so much else to see or experience. But that's also a good thing because if you want to go somewhere only for the weekend, Singapore is a very good choice.)

Chinatown & area near my hotel:

Raffles & Fullerton: 

The Merlion & Marina Bay Sands & Singapore Flyer: 

Arab street & Haji lane:

Singapore Zoo & Night Safari: 

One of my favourites ♥ 

African painted dog

This species was new for me so I was 
quite excited to see something new and different.

Overall my trip to Singapore was very good and relaxing although it would have been nice to have someone with me because it was quite lonely sometimes. I think I wouldn't go to Singapore again because I feel like I saw everything I wanted and as a place it wasn't so amazing. If there were some day a K-Pop concert, then I would go there. I have actually already planned that if there's a concert and I get tickets then I will go there :D Otherwise I would prefer travelling somewhere else. I recommend Singapore for a weekend trip destination especially if you don't mind the expensive prices. 

xoxo, Elina