That One Time I Partied (Almost) All Night | Singapore

This is a very NSFW blog. Okay, that may be a bit misleading. I like reminiscing on fun travel memories. This is one of them, and here it is for your entertainment.

The last time I was in Singapore was March 2017. This was a work trip and we were staying at the Marina Bay Sands. The dates of the trip coincided with a colleague’s birthday. So naturally, I had to make the most of the opportunity. In discussion with my other colleagues, we decided to organise a Singapore Sling Flight on the Singapore Flyer. As the name suggests, this involved a glass of Singapore Sling.

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Her birthday, happened to also coincide with the last day of the conference. As a thank you, the wonderful staff at the Marina Bay Sands organised a bottle of Champagne. We were a first time client, and they wanted us to end the conference on a high note. Cue first glass of alcohol for the day. Remember kids, I was working, so I didn’t drink more. I had to get back to the registration desk, don’t worry we only had about 2 hours left. Also, all staff involved had a sip #KnowMeBeforeYouJudgeMe.

Once we finished the conference, and packed everything up, we went down to the bar, to grab a drink with some of our delegates and speakers, to draw a close to the conference, and to have some celebratory drinks. Cue second drink for the night, and that was a cosmo. I had to gulp that drink down, and make an excuse to step away from the bar, and go get the cake. Again, big thanks to the staff at Marina Bay Sands for helping us organise a cake.

We got the cake, managed to keep it a surprise, and the staff onsite including the birthday girl, made our way to dinner. Just saying she was surprised, as she didn’t expect a cake at all. We ate a lot of cake. Next, we told her that we were heading to the Singapore Flyer, she was very confused. We got to the Singapore Flyer, and did the Singapore Sling flight. Do I even need to say cue third drink for the night?

Up until the Singapore Flyer, the night was planned. Everything that happened after that was not. Are you ready for it? Yes, I can hear you say, okay Taylor Swift. Our boss said, you know what, let loose and go out and have some fun. It’s a good thing she stopped at that, as that’s quite vague. We made our way back to the Marina Bay Sands, and a friend of mine who lives in Singapore texted to say, I’m coming to see you. Whilst I was trying to convince my colleague to come out with us, and it wasn’t working, by the time we reached the reception, my friend had already arrived. She came up to our room with us, so we could quickly freshen up. We left after that, and she didn’t give my colleague a choice, so we all left. Cue, childhood Mili stories.

We made our way to our first stop, Clarke Quay. My friend hadn’t had any dinner, so we first made a pit stop for her to grab a bite, whilst my colleague and I soaked in the Singapore humidity and mostly second hand smoke from the smokers around us. This is where I made the mistake of saying it’s her birthday. We then proceeded to a corner bar. Cue round of tequila shots. We didn’t stay long here, as the room very quickly filled up with middle aged desi Aunties who started dancing to Kaanta Laga (yes none of my white friends have a clue as to what I just said here).

Following this, we strolled around Clarke Quay, trying to figure out our plans. In this time, we bump into a busker, who starts a conversation with us. One must always tell a busker it’s someone’s birthday. He serenaded us well my friend, by singing happy birthday.

At this point, we decided the next place we should head to is a club. We proceeded to go to a Bollywood club, yes you read that right. We got there by about 1am, because convincing the busker took a bit of time and by the time his rendition of happy birthday finished it was late. Entry into the Bollywood club was free for girls, and a small charge for the boys. It also included pre-paying for your first drink before you get in. There were a choice of two drinks you could pay for. Cue whatever number drink we are up to so far. This was a vodka fanta. The vodka was bad. I felt it. We all felt it.

At about 2.30am, my mother instincts kicked in again, and I started singing the tune of let’s get back to the hotel. The odds weren’t in my favour. We danced for at least another hour, and finally at about 3.45am I convinced them to get back to the Marina Bay Sands. Managed to get about 2-hours of sleep and then followed the day long debrief. I feel like I’m forgetting to mention that Coldplay was also playing that night, the only thing they had to do with that night was us squinting to see them perform. We saw them from the Singapore Flyer. They looked like little ants.

And that’s all folks, that’s the story of the day I partied through the night. Why did I write this blog you say? Because travel is not always about the good, the bad and the ugly of hotel stays. Nor is it about a check list of things to do. Sometimes it is about being spontaneous, and checking out the city and painting the town red, like a local, as long as you’re being safe.

What’s your best or favourite travel story? Tell me! I’d love to start a blog series and get some contributors on this. All I ask is that, it’s a non-conventional story, you’ve gone out and done something out of the ordinary. Most importantly, it’s legal and you’ve been safe in the process of doing it.  

Until next time,

MiliG