Singapore is unquestionably Southeast Asia’s most popular city destination, but while almost every visitor is familiar with its glitzy shopping malls and outstanding attractions, like the Singapore Flyer, Sentosa and the Universal Studios, less than a few tourists take the bother to explore its less known sightseeing spots and places of interest. This article will take you on a day tour to some attractions in Singapore that are both beautiful and easy to visit.
What is common to all of the sights in our day tour is that they are located along the MRT red-marked North-South Line, which means that getting to them, and between them, is as easy as pie, even though they are not within the CBD.
This MRT line passes through the city centre, so our starting point can be at any of the stations along Orchard Road, as well as at the City Hall/Raffles Place.
From here we travel to Toa Payoh and visit the centre of Singapore’s first and largest public housing town, which stretches along the pedestrian malls right outside the station, and while there is nothing inspiring about the architecture of this bedroom town, there are plenty of reasonably priced shops around here, as well as some nice local eateries and kopitiams (Singapore-style coffee shops).
A short walk will bring us to Lian Shan Shuang Lin Monastery: Better known by its shorter name Siong Lim Temple, this is one of Singapore’s most beautiful Buddhist temples.
It was built initially in 1902 by a wealthy Buddhist merchant from Hokkien, China, who dreamt he saw a golden light rising from the west, over the sea… (The west has a special symbolic meaning in Buddhism, as India, where Buddhism originally came from, is west of China and the rest of the “Buddhist world”).
Other than various styles of fine South-Chinese architecture, the temple boasts a lovely compound with well-groomed Bonsai trees, ponds and manicured gardens. The real draw, however, is the seven storey gold-topped pagoda which is a replica of the 800 year old Shanfeng temple pagoda in Fujian.
Back to Toa Payoh Station, from where we continue with the MRT to Bishan Station and our next destination – Kong Meng San Phor Kark See (Bright Hill Temple).
Occupying a large compound of 25 acres, this is Singapore’s largest Buddhist temple and although it is not as “historic” as some of the temples in Chinatown or Little India, it is well worth a long visit…
The Venerable Hong Choon Memorial Hall, next to Bright Hill Road Gate, houses one of Asia’s largest and most splendid bronze Buddha statues, rising to a height of almost 14 meters and weighing 55 tons.
Other attractions in the compound include the Golden Pagoda of 10,000 Buddhas, the Bell and Drum towers and the various halls.
(Take bus nos. 410 or 52 from/to the bus interchange next to MRT- Bishan)
Back to MRT Bishan Station and onwards we travel, with Singapore’s super-modern subway, to Bukit Gombak MRT Station.
A short stroll will bring us to our final destination for today – Little Guilin (or Bukit Batok Town Park, as it is officially known).
Surrounded by soulless residential estates, this true gem of nature got its name thanks to its rather unique rock formations that resemble the famous area of Guilin in China.
Massive forest-clad granite cliffs protrude dramatically from the lake, creating an amazingly beautiful landscape that stands in deep contrast to the boring residential blocks in the horizon. The small park around the lake also boasts some lovely walking trails, that are lit at night, as well as nice picnic areas and plenty of photo ops…
That is it… From here we can take the MRT train back to town.