Today I would be journeying back to Australia via Singapore for 6 hours.  This time, when I landed in Singapore it was not Chinese New Year like it was when I had a layover there earlier in the year.

When I got off the plane, my main goal was to go to Marina Bay Sands to see the iconic Singapore sights, and explore the city and the nearby Gardens by the Bay.  On the train to get there, I was reading my book and became so focused that I missed my stop by 4 stations wasting a bit of time backtracking. 

When I finally arrived, I walked around the shopping center looking at the indoor canoe rides before going to the food court where I purchased some Singapore Noodles with prawns which was delicious.  While sitting down to eat, I had a rather interesting encounter with someone who approached me.  An Asian lady approached me and asked me in Mandarin if I was with a friend, which despite being only a beginner was simple enough for me to understand, so I successfully replied in Mandarin, and then she asked me in Mandarin if she and her boyfriend could sit in the seats on the table I was at (one of those long communal tables) which I also successfully responded in Chinese to, and they sat down.  I was so surprised that she assumed I as a white person could speak Chinese and did not even look surprised that I understood her.  Now I am wondering if this is normal for everyone in Singapore to be able to speak Mandarin regardless of ethnic background.

After finishing my food, I headed out to see the city views and iconic Marina Bay Sands and Gardens by the Bay.  I was quite happy to finally see these as I did not see them on my last layover in Singapore.  The weather though, was not happy to see me, as it was very rainy while still having the typical extreme heat that I experienced on my last visit.

Nonetheless, it was still a success and I got back to the airport in time to change into some cleaner clothes before boarding my final flight for the trip to Melbourne.