singapore week 8.5: final days (07/29/19-07/31/19)

And the time has come to showcase the bittersweet ending to the best summer of my life. My final days in Singapore were spent exploring like usual, but with a bit of sadness at each step taken on the spotless streets and each view of another architectural marvel of a skyscraper. I was ready to leave, but also completely reluctant.

Here’s a recap of my last three days on the island. Not the end of my Singapore posts and definitely not an end to my adventures on this island (I’m looking at you, post-grad trip), but nonetheless a semicolon that concludes my SMURF experience. I will be back again one day, but nothing will be able to replicate Summer 2019.

After concluding work early in the afternoon with my final presentations, I headed to the National Museum of Singapore. It was medium-sized, almost completely empty, with several sets of galleries grouped by date and some pretty fascinating historical pieces.
Took a short walk around Fort Canning Park afterward. Never got to fully explore this place, unfortunately — perhaps something for next time.
A view of the sunset (and Malaysia!) from a coworker’s home in Punggol!
After the end of the second day of final presentations, I paid one last visit to the Botanic Gardens, and the views were just as gorgeous as before. I spent a lot of time admiring various bodies of water and snapping many photos.
Like seriously, everything is so aesthetically pleasing here!
Also paid a final visit to the Gardens by the Bay to purchase some highly-coveted postcards. I actually made it just in time for the light show. And of course, it was just as crowded as before.
Last day at CREATE, where we said our final goodbyes. 🙁
Another lunch out with Jocelyn: our farewell meal this time at the buffet at Park Royal Raffles. I was still suffering from the past week’s food poisoning so I could barely stomach much of the food, but these photos make for hunger-inducing moments looking back
Headed to the Singapore Gallery afterward — one of the few remaining places on my bucket list. Saw an interesting contemporary art exhibit called “Awakenings”, but sadly did not have enough time to explore further
My last meal in Singapore at the Old Airport Road Food Centre, one of the largest hawker centers on the island. We were generously treated to some of the most authentic Singaporean delicacies by our mentor and his wife, including char kway teow, satay, popiah, and cuttlefish.
And one final adventure before I left for the airport early next morning (also somewhat of a regretful experience). Decided to take a 50 minute MRT to the Jurong Lake Gardens (for some reason), but it was completely dark by the time I got there so I wasn’t able to see any of the sights. My phone was also out of data, so I couldn’t Grab back to Treetops. So I decided to wait by the road for any random bus that passed by and finally hopped on one that took me to the Westgate mall. There, I tried to connect to Starbuck’s free wifi to call a Grab but my old phone refused to load the internet popup… so I ended up still having to take the MRT once again. After four transfers and nearly an hour later, I arrived back at Orchard late at night still needing to pack up all my belongings for a 7am flight tomorrow (all while still feeling extremely sick from the food poisoning). So yeah… quite an adventure and probably not the best way to end my final night in SG.
And one final shot of the Treetops lobby before I left for the airport Thursday morning. Really miss this place (especially the breakfasts).
Finally, the photo (aka the title slide for my final presentation) to conclude my Singapore adventures and one that basically sums up my entire summer. This was the best summer I’ve ever had and probably the best I will ever have so thanks Singapore and hope to see you again soon :’)

“And we were there, with our hearts completely filled.” -Steve Kaetzel (So Alone)