Budget Traveler’s 2013 Layover Adventure: One Night at Skypark with a Panoramic View of Singapore

Text and photos by Faye Oona

%The anticipation builds as the trip begins, ready to go exploring.

This trip was quite an interesting one. Originally, I had planned to purchase Cathay Pacific’s Global Explorer pass, which seemed incredibly cheap at the time. But after a closer look, I realized that once taxes were included, it wasn’t really that great of a deal. However, I had already decided I wanted to travel abroad in June, and then the idea of “Maldives” just popped into my head. Thats right—I’m going to the Maldives.

After finalizing the destination—the Maldives—I started doing tons of online research. I found that most people fly from Taiwan to Singapore, then to Male (the main airport in the Maldives). But when I looked at the location of the Maldives, it’s actually in the bottom left corner of India. I seriously considered flying from Taipei to India to Male because I’ve always wanted to visit India.

There are direct flights from Taiwan to India, but after more research, I discovered that traveling within India mainly relies on trains, and the two cities I wanted to visit are quite far apart. Plus, considering India’s hygiene standards, I thought I’d better wait until I’m a bit older to visit India. Since I’ve never been to Singapore either, I decided to go with the route: Taipei–Singapore–Maldives. Let’s do it.

Because the Maldives is already quite expensive,we took a low-cost carrier, Tigerair, for both the Taipei to Singapore flight (and the return as well). I remember comparing AirAsia, Tigerair, and Scoot, and Tigerair seemed to be the cheapest, so I didn’t hesitate and booked online right away.

The flight departed at 2:30 PM and was scheduled to arrive in Singapore at 7:15 PM. Overall, after taking the flight, I wouldn’t really recommend Tigerair. Although both the departure and return flights boarded on time, we ended up waiting on the plane for an hour before takeoff—no explanation given. A friend of mine recommended Scoot for trips to and from Singapore, saying it costs around 7,000+ with taxes, and the planes are larger, making the ride more comfortable.


After landing, since P had plans with friends, we took a taxi straight to the restaurant for our dinner meetup.Margrita’s (*404 east coast road *(65)6440-8030, Photo above, leftSingapore taxis aren’t expensive, starting at 3 Singapore dollars on the meter. 1 Singapore dollar equals 24 Taiwanese dollars. The ride from the airport to Margrita’s Restaurant cost about 17 Singapore dollars. The restaurant serves Mexican cuisine, and as soon as we sat down, we were served a chilled margarita glass with salt-rimmed edges.Photo above, rightI ordered a traditional Mexican dish that tasted a bit like lasagna mixed with various sauces from fajitas—it was authentic and delicious.
The dinner gathering included seven friends.Photo on the leftBesides P and me, the others worked at Siemens in Singapore, including two Taiwanese colleagues. Even though there were Taiwanese people there, the whole evening was conducted in English. It was a great way to warm up for the first night of this incredible journey. After dinner, we also went to our foreign friend Ross’s place for drinks. Turns out, they really do mix their own cocktails at home. He recommended a great gin, and I ended up falling in love with Gin & Tonics for the rest of the trip.

We woke up early the next day because our flight to Male (the Maldives’ airport) was at 8:45 PM. Knowing we didn’t have much time, we decided to get going immediately. The plan for the second day was to visit the iconic “Merlion” statue, eatTian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice,andSingaporean Bak Kut Teh,then head to the super-iconicMarina Bay Sands,and finally stroll aroundOrchard Road.Go shopping.

No kidding—I actually did it all.For more exciting content, check out the next page (3 pages total)!