I’ve lived in Singapore for 53 years – it’s a clean, safe, efficient and fun place with lots of good food and friendly people. In fact, it was named Asia’s most liveable city in 2018, thanks to the high quality of living. Singapore is also easy to get around with convenient public transport options of metro (MRT), buses or taxi and inexpensive fares.
It’s also a city of contrasts and a melting pot of cultures. The Urban Adventures Total Singapore morning bike tour offers you maximum coverage of the city, from the oldest neighbourhood to the ultra- modern Marina Bay, in just four hours.
It’s a great way to check out the different enclaves of Malay, Indian and Chinese cultures and other key places to revisit later. Every building and structure tells the story of the vast transformation that happened over just a half a century of development and driving through Singapore will give you an appreciation of how clean and green this city is.
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For the best overview, take a 20-minute taxi from the city to the 105m-high Mt Faber in central Singapore, which offers a scenic view over the resort island of Sentosa – you can also take the cable car there from Harbourfront MRT Station. For that famous skyline, 1-Altitude rooftop bar at 1 Raffles Place in the heart of Singapore's financial district is the world's highest alfresco bar and offers a 360-degree view of the cityscape.
Singapore really is a foodie paradise. There are coffee shops all over Singapore where you can sample the local breakfast of kaya toast (buttered toast topped with a sweet jam of coconut and egg) and coffee with condensed milk. Ya Kun Kaya Toast is a popular local coffee shop chain that is found in most shopping malls, or try traditional cafe Nanyang Old Coffee near Chinatown MRT Station.
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Eating is considered our national pastime and no visit to Singapore would be complete without a trip to a local hawker centre. These street food stalls are popular among Singaporeans as we mostly eat out due to the convenience and affordability – you can get a full meal of rice or noodles with drinks for just SGD$5, plus hawker centres are located almost everywhere and have long opening hours.
On our Chinatown Food Adventure, we zoom into the culture and sample local delicacies on an afternoon walking tour that includes Chinatown Complex Food Centre – Singapore’s largest hawker centre with more than 220 food stalls, including the one Michelin-starred Liao Fan Hong Kong Soya Sauce Chicken Rice & Noodle.
While the focal area of the tour is Chinatown, it’s about more than the Chinese culture – it explains the diversity of the nation, how we live and work and highlights Singapore’s interesting architecture. It's a crash course on the Singapore lifestyle and cultures.
Words: Rene Ng
