Reposted from the web

Summary: A Muslim-friendly one-day Singapore travel route for a visa-free layover, covering food, city stops, and mosque-friendly planning while keeping the original travel sequence and photos intact.

My destination was Christchurch. At the time, there were no direct flights from Beijing, so I chose Singapore Airlines with a layover in Singapore. It turned out to be the right choice.

I had a 23-hour layover in Singapore. I checked online and found conflicting information about whether I needed a transit visa or if I could even leave the airport. Once I arrived at Singapore Changi Airport, I walked to customs and asked if I could leave the airport to look around since my final destination was New Zealand. The customs officer looked at my ticket and asked where my passport was issued in China. I said Beijing. He told me they only offer a one-time entry permit for passports from certain regions.



This is the entry stamp that allows a 5-day stay.





The flight attendants wear Singapore Airlines uniforms. As a five-star airline, their food standards are high. Besides main meals, they offer various snacks and desserts, including Haagen-Dazs ice cream. I felt like I was eating throughout the entire flight.



First-time visitors to Changi Airport can pick up a 40 USD shopping voucher at this counter to use at duty-free shops. Don't miss out on this freebie, though there are restrictions on what you can buy.



The prayer room at Changi Airport is like a small mosque with all the necessary facilities.





This is the area for performing wudu (ablution).



About 15% of Singapore's population is Muslim, mostly of Malay descent, followed by Indian and Chinese. Halimah Yacob, who was elected president of Singapore this year, is a Malay Muslim woman.



I always thought Singapore was a tiny country, maybe less than one-twentieth the size of Beijing, so I assumed I could walk around the Lion City. I was wrong.

I walked for about 30 minutes from Changi Airport but realized I couldn't get off the highway. With cars speeding past me, I gave up on the idea of walking to Merlion Park and had to walk back to the airport to catch a taxi. Taxis here are priced similarly to those in Japan; the meter jumps every 400 meters. The 20-minute ride from the airport to Merlion Park cost over 20 Singapore dollars, which is about 100 RMB at a 1:5 exchange rate. The driver was of Chinese descent and spoke Mandarin. He said his ancestors were from Fujian and he could speak English, Malay, Indonesian, Thai, and Hokkien. It seems common for Southeast Asian Chinese to know several languages. English and Malay are the common languages on the streets, while Chinese is mostly used within Chinese families. I noticed that even Chinese people use English to send text messages.



The Merlion is the symbol of the Singapore Tourism Board. Its design was inspired by the Malay Annals, as Singapore is a young nation that separated from Malaysia. Legend has it that in the 14th century, a prince from the Srivijaya Kingdom saw a dragon at sea and a lion on the island. He felt a connection with the lion and named the island Singapore, which means Lion City in Sanskrit.



It was already early morning, and dawn was still four or five hours away. I thought about finding a hotel to rest, but after checking the prices, even a half-day stay would cost 500 to 600 RMB. I decided to stay awake and quietly enjoy the Singapore night view.



The iconic Marina Bay Sands hotel in Singapore.



I called a taxi and asked the driver to take me to the largest mosque in Singapore, the Sultan Mosque. Southeast Asian Chinese still use the pre-Republic of China term for Islam, calling it 'Hui religion.' They might not understand if you say 'mosque' (qingzhensi), but they know what you mean if you say 'masjid' or 'mosque' (huijiaotang).







I was preparing for the dawn prayer (fajr). I arrived too early and the mosque wasn't open yet, so I sat on a bench outside and waited for a while.



Singapore and Beijing are in the same time zone, so there is no time difference, and the dawn prayer time is the same as in Beijing.









I observed the way the Muslims here pray. They raise their hands three times, which is a characteristic of the Shafi'i school of jurisprudence common in Southeast Asia.



This friend was the first Muslim I met in Singapore. He was a local and very enthusiastically offered to drive me to breakfast.



Owning a private car in Singapore is very expensive because of the license plate, which is only valid for 10 years. Most people take the subway, which is convenient and cheap. The car this dosti (friend) was driving was a company truck.



He brought me to a Muslim neighborhood.



My friend (dosti) invited me to have this flatbread (paratha) for breakfast, and it tasted great dipped in curry sauce.



My friend dropped me off at Little India, a tourist spot where many Indian people live. Before leaving, he gave me a bag of fruit and told me I could eat at any fast-food restaurant in Singapore. He explained that chains like McDonald's, KFC, and Pizza Hut are 100% halal. I just need to avoid the pork rib soup (bak kut teh) shops run by Chinese people because they use pork, but almost everywhere else is fine.







A Hindu temple inside the Little India neighborhood.



Hinduism believes that all things have spirits and animals are seen as gods, so the animals here are not afraid of people.



At the National Museum of Singapore, staff give you a tablet before you enter. It is a self-service audio guide that lets you look up explanations for exhibits by their number at any time.







The museum records Singapore's history under the British Empire and the Empire of Japan. Singapore once belonged to Malaya but was later cast aside, forcing it to choose independence. Under the leadership of founding father Lee Kuan Yew, it transformed from a messy area into a clean, developed country.



Singapore's streets are incredibly clean, even cleaner than Japan's, and chewing gum is banned from entering the country.





Littering and spitting are punished severely. Singapore still uses caning as a punishment, which is considered a key part of maintaining order here.



I happened to find a small mosque on the street. There are a few others like it in Singapore. Although Singapore is small, many different religions live here in peace.









I met a Muslim worker from Bangladesh here. We could talk in English, and he said he wanted to work in Beijing. He asked for my phone number and my family's numbers. I felt it was a bit inappropriate, but I later learned this is just their way of socializing. Their intense friendliness was a bit much for me to handle. After I returned to Beijing, I even got a call from him, but I couldn't hear him clearly so I hung up.



My last stop was Sentosa Park, where I took the world's longest cable car ride to look down at the full view of Singapore.









In the park, I was talked into taking a photo with a large tropical parrot, which cost me 20 Singapore dollars, and I also watched a movie at Universal Studios.

That ended my one-day tour of Singapore. I actually had extra time and it wasn't dark yet. I didn't visit the world's largest aquarium or the night safari. During the day, you can take a free sightseeing bus from the airport to tour the city. But for me, since I was just passing through, I had seen enough. My next stop, New Zealand, is the real destination of my trip, where even more beautiful scenery and amazing stories are waiting for me. view all