Awe in Singapore

Recounting my recent trip to Singapore and some incredible moments of awe in nature.

I just recently got back from the most wonderful week in Singapore. My partner was working over there, so I took advantage of the free accomodation and set about exploring the unique city.

At 25 weeks pregnant on arrival, I assumed that I would mostly just sit around the pool and relax in the humid environment. How wrong I was! Despite being such a big built up city (of almost 6 million people), there were lots of wonderful green tropical spaces to explore. The botanical gardens completely blew me away, so big and lush with lots of little nooks for contemplation. I was delighted to hear a young man exclaim to his friend ‘this is the coolest place ever’, and I couldn’t have agreed more. I loved it so much that I returned twice.

Of course, Singapore was colonised in the mid-1800s by the British and most of the existing native vegetation was removed. Singapore’s first Prime Minister in 1967 (after they gained independence) had a vision to transform Singapore into a “garden city”, thank you Lee Kuan Yew! The vision continues today with varying initiatives like the Singapore Green Plan 2030.

All this greenery meant that the city was teaming with wildlife and I was super excited to spot a number of incredible animals like:

• Kingfishers -the rufous-backed dwarf kingfisher blew me away with it’s striking colours.

• Monkeys - I’m always a little wary of these creatures after one bit me in Bali!

• Eagles - I was swimming alone early one morning and a big white sea-eagle soared over me.

• Lizards - The big water monitors scratching in leaf litter everywhere where so cool!

• Birds - So many beautiful birds in striking colours I’d never seen before.

• Turtles and Fish - I loved all the fish and turtles in ponds everywhere.

I felt completely safe traveling solo around Singapore and my travel journal kept me in good company. Paid subscribers can download the full version of the journal at the bottom of this post, but here are some of the pages:

Coming back from a holiday always reminds me of how important it is to simply slow down and notice your surroundings. You’ll soon find that you can find awe in anything if you look hard enough.

With love and a dose of whimsy,

Zinia