Singapore: A Bus Ride In The Trees

Singapore may be a bit squeaky clean for some. There is a rumor that when everybody’s asleep at night, they dust the place. Playing the tourist may also be off-putting to travelers these days, who prefer to spend as much time as possible among the natives, absorbing the true culture and lifestyle of their destination. But there are times when not doing the tourist thing is crazy, and a good example of this is the double-decker sightseeing bus ride around Singapore. The reason? You get to ride among the world’s most beautiful trees.

Singapore is a gloriously planned city. Everything works towards making a stay there pleasurable and there are many Singapore hotels where one can appreciate the superb engineering of the city. One of the greatest contributors to this is the street plan. There are almost no narrow, congested streets in Singapore, and in the downtown area, the place was conceived on such a grand scale that the boulevards are truly wide open spaces. They are also very cool and temperate. Strolling around in this most strollable of tropical towns, it’s hard to believe that one is almost exactly on the equator. The biggest single reason for this is that the city forefathers had the foresight to plant trees that would grow to such magnificence that they would spread out and cover the boulevards, in many cases reaching over and making a canopy, completely covering the people below in dappled, balmy shade.

Whoever was in charge of choosing, planting and sculpting the trees of Singapore was a creative genius. Many of the more massive trees were not native, but brought from South America over a hundred years ago, because of their height and span. One of the most common of these is the Rain Tree, so called because it predicts rain by folding up its leaves. Nearly 200 of the biggest and most beautiful of these, striding down the boulevards like giants, have been nominated as Heritage Trees – you can nominate one any time you like – and recently someone was arrested for attempting to prune one illegally because it was dirtying his car! That’s the kind of civic pride these beauties inspire.

And the best way to enjoy them is on the top deck of a tourist bus. They’re so awe-inspiring, you won’t want to come down. When in Singapore, ask your hotel concierge for advice. Many hotels in Singapore will know of the bus and can provide you with more information. Or if you stay in the city, try to get accommodation on the second or third floor of your lodging downtown, just to be among the trees. There are people who actually don’t notice any of this. Imagine that! So be a tourist for once. You can experience all of this for a bus ride that’s almost free.