Singapore Serial: Enjoy activities in Orchard Road, instead of SHOPPING
Singapore is famous with Orchard area, which contains lots of shops that can be explored. This place will be a heaven for all shopping lovers. Because of this image, my first thought was Orchard are is only contain variety of shops, restaurants and cafes. There are nothing that can be gathered from this area, except those stuffs. However, I could find another things worth it to do in Orchard area beside shopping. I will let you know what are they!
During my visit in Singapore on December last year, I decided to spend my first day in Orchard area. It was not because of the shopping reason but I wanted to explore other spots in Orchard area that can be visited instead of shopping. I also wanted to proved that there would be other memorable places rather than shops in here.
Crowded was my feeling while walked through the Orchard road. That was because of the year-end holiday moment, which made lots of tourists came to Singapore to spend their holiday on and they also celebrated fireworks in Marina Bay. I started my walk from Yotel Singapore at 366 Orchard Road, which was the hotel that I stayed in, to Singapore Art Museum. At that time, the weather was gloomy and sometimes it was raining but I liked the weather as long as it was not hot.
Traffic
The traffic in Singapore, especially in Orchard road, was very friendly. It was crowded but tidy. Most people who drive the vehicles obey the regulations that made the road situation was very convenient. There were only one confusion while crossing the road from Shaw Theatres Lido to ION Orchard Mall. I couldn’t walked across the road and I had to get down to the Orchard Station and walked through the tunnel below. I also always confused in choosing the exit gates within the tunnel as there were 3 connecting malls in this tunnel.
Situations
In my opinion, Orchard area was one of the attractive places in Singapore as there would be some decorations that express the current event or period. For instance, there were many Christmas trees decorations as well as other creative Christmas decorations while I was there. The decorations might be changed in another periods, such as Chinese New Year. I really love the atmosphere, beside the clean environment, this place also gave the Christmas feeling to me during my walk. These decorations were located on both sides of Orchard road.
Singapore Visitor Centre
Even though I always prepare the travel itinerary before traveling, the first place that I desired to visit would be the Tourism Centre or the Visitor Centre. WHY? I used to get the updated map with the tourist destination plots and information about them. That would strengthen my planned itinerary or sometimes I changed the destinations if I found other more attractive places. Singapore Visitor Centre was my first visit while in Singapore. For some people, they thought that Singapore is a small city, which made the journey easier without using the map or any guidance. However, I needed to come here just to get the map and got the consultation with the officer. They helped me perfectly in informing the interesting places nearby and also the places that open for public.
Tips: Visit the Tourism Office or Visitor Centre on the first day of arrival anywhere in the world! You will be get many useful information including the best tourist destinations and also the trusted tour provider. The benefit to visit this centre would be you won’t spend lots of money just to visit the “not-attractive” places. It is very worth it, especially for a SMART Traveler like me.
In Orchard area, you do not have to be worry to get starving, exhausting or be thirsty. There were many restaurants or cafes along the way to be chosen. Even, I found the food stall complex that sell varieties of food and drink. It was so interesting because it was located in the open area, which I still could feel the Orchard area while having my lunch or just for resting in minutes.
At first, I really wanted to visit The Istana in Orchard Road because I really curious about the life inside that place. This is the official residence and office of the President of Singapore. I also wanted to see the decorations inside. However, the person in Singapore Visitor Centre told me that this place was not open for public. I only can see the building from outside. Therefore, I still went to the place though but I also couldn’t take some pictures from outside as there were many guards in the entrance gate. I really disappointing because this place was one of my desirable destinations in Singapore. In front of The Istana, there is the Instana Garden (if I am not mistaken). It was just a simple garden but it was really tidy. Many people stopped for a minute in this garden just to take some pictures.
I kept going forward and I found Plaza Singapura at the same side of The Istana in about 5 to 10 minutes walk . This was only like a mall in general but I felt so relieved as I need some benches for resting and also a bottle of water. There were many restaurants and also shops that could be explored. There was one shop that attracted my eyes, which was the game shop. This shop was very attractive because it was displaying the cartoon characters in the front window and also other cute toys in surround.
My next destination was the Singapore Art Museum. It was about 10 minutes walk from the Plaza Singapura. It was really tiring but it was fun though. As I really love the historical building, I thought the the museum was the one in Bras Basah Road. There was a very beautiful vintage building and it supposed to be the art museum but it was close at that time due to the renovation.
Singapore Art Museum in Bras Basah Road ……….
Therefore, I was informed by the building security that I might visit the Sam at 80 Singapore Art Museum in Queen Street instead, which was just a minute walk from the renovated building in Bras Basah Road. The Sam at 80 building was more modern that the previous one. It was expressed by color but it still hold a few original shape. Then, I decided to entry this museum. You may get the information about this museum through this LINK. There were many exhibition rooms that can be visited inside for only S$6 admission for an adult. Honestly, this place was really dedicated for a person who really like arts in terms of the story, illustration and movies because it show many heavy arts performances. I love arts but I thought this place was too heavy for me because it was too arts.
Singapore Art Museum in Queen Street …………………
There were 3 floors that had small to medium size of exhibition rooms. Each room had different artworks based on creators. Some of them were performed through video and film formats, 3D and 2D animations, sound effect, and the combination of model and the paintings.
Tips: You have to make sure that you turn your flash off of your camera while taking pictures in the exhibition rooms. Flash is not allowed but take photos do.
After exploring some places in Orchard area, I found many interesting places that can be explored more instead of doing shopping. However, a day won’t be enough but two days would be better for a deep exploration.
Do you have any experiences in Singapore? Please share ……
Thanks for reading.
Lifestyle Guidance References 
Would love to visit Singapore as it has been on my “list” for several years already. It is interesting to read about the traffic as thus far I have only encountered in an Asian country the traffic in China and it is horrible there! However even in China there are differences with Shanghai having thus far nearly “normal” conditions despite the horrific amount of cars everywhere
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Thank you. The traffic in Singapore was great though
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Very important to stop by the visitor’s center, I agree! The art museum is a place I’d love to go (:
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You should 🙂
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