Today was our first full day of exploring in Singapore. Our hotel is centrally located making it very easy to walk around the city around us. We started our morning off by walking to the Malay Heritage Center. There were three different exhibit areas that discussed history, artifacts, and lifestyle. One of the things I found to be most interesting was the showing of Malay films from the early 1900s to now.
After the Heritage Center, we walked to the Masjid Sultan mosque. This was the first mosque where all of the females in our group were required to put on a green robe to cover our shoulders and knees. When visiting temples on other days, we have been mindful to wear shirts that cover our shoulders and longer pants. However, this mosque required us to wear the clothing they provided. Inside the mosque was information regarding Islam. Two of the informational boards discussed who Muhammed and Allah are in the Islamic religion. There was also an interactive screen that allowed us to click on each section to learn more about the five pillars of Islam, attire, and the difference between male and female prayer areas.
At this point, just before lunch, we had the choice to either go to the SkyPark Observation Deck or Sentosa Island. Out of the 22 of us, Melissa and I were the only ones who wanted to go to Sentosa Island. This ended up being great for us because we preferred to explore on our own. We left the rest of the group and embarked on our first subway adventure in Singapore. We did not have SIM cards while in Singapore, so we had to rely on physical maps. The subway was very easy to navigate and about twenty minutes later, we arrived at the Sentosa stop. The subway station opened up into the largest mall in Singapore and we decided to grab some lunch before heading out to Sentosa. Melissa found this wrap place and it ended up being one of our favorite meals on the trip.
To get to Sentosa Island, you can either ride the cable cars in the sky or take a free tram. We went to check out the cable cars because that sounded like an interesting experience, but it was outside of our budget. So, after looking for some time, we found the free tram. Sentosa Island is mainly a resort and home to theme parks like Universal Studios Singapore. But what we discovered was that there were also free hiking trails and great views of the beach and ocean. We first stopped at the Sentosa Nature Discovery to read some more about the habitats and animals on Sentosa. The different habitats include coastal forests, scrubland, sandy and rocky seashores, reefs, mangroves, and reservoirs and freshwater ponds.
After this we hiked on a series of different paths through the rainforest and along the coast. This was the first time that we were able to hike on this trip. We spent the next couple of hours just exploring the trails and enjoying nature. Along the coast we were able to see the Singapore skyline across the water. We also stopped at Fort Siloso to take pictures of the street art.
Next we went to the free observation deck where we were able to walk along the pathway in the sky. To our left was the main island of Singapore and to our right was the sandy beaches and ocean. We felt that although we didn’t go to SkyPark with the rest of the group, we were able to hike, explore, and go to an observation deck of our own.
Once we left the observation pathway, we made our way by bus back to the free tram. We were exhausted at this point as today ended up being the most steps walked in a day on this trip. We took the subway back to our hotel and grabbed a Hershey’s McFlurry from McDonald’s before heading back to our room.
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