Exploring a City as a Lone Ranger

Exploring Singapore has been such an amazing experience for me. It is so beautiful.

I got to explore the city in different ways:

1. My Singaporean friend was my personal tour guide for one day. I honestly believe that is one of the best ways to explore a city… with a resident that knows the ins and outs. I wrote about the experience here.
2. I explored the city with two of my brother’s friends. They both live in Singapore and the experience was also interesting. I was exploring with people I met for the first time but who also knew me relatively through my brother. They were amazing tour guides as well and each other them brought their our flavour to my Singapore experience.
3. The third way I explored Singapore was as a Lone Ranger. I decided to be ‘Vome the Explorer’ in this beautiful city and set out to EXPLORE.

Exploring on my own was relaxing and somewhat therapeutic. After leaving tour guide 2 one evening, I decided to walk around Clarke Quay and Boat Quay, taking in the scenery. I sat by the Singapore River… thinking, smiling, crying (away from home *hides face* — This was day one of my adventure), taking pictures, dreaming and just generally enjoying the view. It was the most relaxing thing just being able to SIT there. No place to rush to, nothing to do, no deadlines, no tasks, no activities… just dreaming.

I continued walking around Clarke Quay which is an area with restaurants, bars, clubs. As I am not a bar or club person but a HUGE foodie, the restaurants caught my attention.

The next day was when the name ‘Vome the Explorer’ was born. I had planned to explore alone that day and did not meet any of my lovely tour guides. It was raining early afternoon and I was tempted to just lie in bed ALL day! To MY surprise, I got out of bed and went out (still super shocked!).

I started off by going to Central Perk as I am a huge ‘Friends’ fan, this was very exciting. From there, I took a tour bus which started at Suntec City Hub and went through major landmarks. The tour bus was about an hour and I learnt many fun facts about Singapore… I hopped off at Orchid Street. Now this street is like the most beautiful street especially at night. I walked up and down for like 2–3 hours, looking at the pretty stores.

On this street, I got two heaven sent packages. As I was walking through Paragon Shopping Centre, I suddenly found myself in front of Din Tai Fung (which was on my checklist as I had heard a lot about it). Then, just when I thought the heat was getting unbearable, I found a Cold Stone store. The foodie in me was truly satisfied.

I really wanted to end the day by going to Botanic Gardens but by the time I finished at Orchard Street, it was late. This was a blessing in disguise as I got to see Botanic Gardens two days later with Tour Guide 3.

Exploring as a Lone Ranger

Travelling with your loved one, family or a large group of friends all have immense benefits in their own different ways… so does exploring on your own. Depending on your perspective… it could be lonely or it could bring out your ‘Dora the Explorer’ side. It can be a remarkable experience for you.

Some of the benefits of exploring on your own:

1. There is no pressure to do what the crowd wants to do. You can decide your own itinerary without considering what the majority want to do or having to get anyone else on board. It can be a totally selfish experience. You can decide, “okay, I want to hop on a tour bus today” or “I just want to sit next to the river this minute”. No pressure!
2. You can have some reflective ‘me’ time! I had time to just ‘sit’. It is amazing how we do not realise we just don’t ‘sit’ until we have the time to just ‘sit and dream’. I enjoyed having time with my own thoughts; however, I am a reflective person.
3. You can actually enjoy the scenery and explore properly. Sometimes it can be distracting with others. When you explore as a lone ranger you have the freedom to just TAKE IN THE CITY!!!!!