I held a job in Singapore from July 2008 to December 2011. In the initial months, I tried to make my way down to the more notable destinations after work, like Orchard Road, Chinatown, Little India, Geylang Serai, Changi Airport, etc to check them out. Especially during festive seasons, one may wanna find out the kind of festive mood there (unconsciously comparing with that back home, I'm from Malaysia btw :P).
Occasionally, I may dine out with some of my Malaysian friends who are working there. That's when I had the opportunity to check out the different malls across the island, going to as far as Woodlands, Marina Bay and Jurong East (I stayed in the northeast/east side at that time).
Over time, it did become mundane cos all these places are full of human traffic and coupled with work stress, I didn't really wanna be stressed out any further. My friends have also gotten busier so I was very much left alone to fend for myself. That's probably about the time I started checking out the saunas in Singapore, which I must say there are quite a lot, and that's where I got to know my godbrother. I was staying in Tampines then and he's at Bedok Reservoir. So we could meet up quite regularly for meals, movies, workouts at Tampines Clubfitt and swimming at Tampines Stadium or Safra Tampines on weekends. He taught me breaststrokes as well.
There are probably only 3 locations I very much like to be at in Singapore, Pulau Ubin, Jalan Kayu and Tanjong Beach at Sentosa. I'm a person who prefers to be closer to nature and being in wide open spaces and since much of Singapore are of tall buildings, these are my getaways.
Pulau Ubin has some of the untouched natural spots to me (I wouldn't visit the artificial parks in Gardens by the Bay). Taking the board walk and looking out to the vast sea, cycling by the former mines and taking in the beauty of the deep blue waters (swimming there is not allowed though) and fascinated by the existence of those old kampung-style Chinese houses which are long gone from mainland Singapore. Then there are the trees and flowers.
Jalan Kayu offered me the simple view of a street lined up by a row of old shophouses, pretty much the same view you get in smaller laidback Malaysian towns. This is where i probably enjoyed some simple taufoo-fa, beh-heh-chee, mamak and Malay food.
Tanjong Beach gave me a tanning spot other than the tanning deck at Tampines Pool. This is the quietest beach on Sentosa, unlike Siloso. One could probably doze off under the breezy coconut trees while baring your whole body (with trunks on, ofcos) to the Sun's mercy.
I had a fourth spot, namely Punggol Road End. It used to be just a simple beach that overlook Pasir Gudang on the other side. But later when they constructed the concrete seaside walk that connected to the marina, I stopped going there. I went hiking Bukit Timah once just to get the feel of scaling Singapore's tallest peak and got to know quite a number of tree species there. It was a short hike though, unlike the hills in Malaysia. The only downside was I had to board a bus to get there, which was rather time consuming. The Circle Line was not up then.