- Introduction: A Last Minute Singapore F1 Weekend
- Review: British Airways Terraces Lounge – Boston Logan Airport
- Review: Cathay Pacific Boston to Hong Kong – Business Class – 777-300ER
- Review: Cathay Pacific “The Wing” Lounge – Hong Kong International Airport
- Review: Cathay Pacific Hong Kong to Singapore – Business Class – A330
- Review: W Singapore – Sentosa Cove
- Exploring Sentosa Island
- Review: Marriott Singapore Tang Plaza
- Wandering Singapore before and after the Singapore Formula 1 Night Grand Prix
- Review: Skyview Lounge – Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 1
- Review: Cathay Pacific Singapore to Hong Kong – Business Class – A330
- Review: Cathay Pacific Hong Kong to Chicago – First Class – 777-300ER
- Conclusion: Last Minute Singapore F1 Weekend
The night grand prix happened Sunday night, 20 September, starting at 8pm, Singapore time. We didn’t get tickets, but we wanted to make sure we could experience things, so we took the MRT to City Hall (just 3 stops away from our stop at Orchard Road), and wandered about Sunday afternoon.
Immediately, it was clear to us that there was going to be a lot of people, however, we were also surprised not to see the normal street stalls that you’d expect going to a major event, or even a ball game. There were some cool things, like UPS/Santander had a pop-up that had their car, as well as a couple of simulators.
But overall, it seemed that Singapore kept many things locked down.
Our first stop walking around the Esplanade area, was the Raffles Hotel for what turned out to be a rather pricey, Singapore Sling. The Long Bar, long known for the birth of the Singapore Sling, was quite crowded, a first for us. But, still, we felt like enjoying a beverage in the atmosphere.
After the Long Bar, we walked over to the SunCity mall. Now we were getting very close to the race track. In fact, we could see it, well, we could see the safety fences. We pressed on, making our way to the Mariner Mall, where we got a photo of the race track from directly over it.
Then we walked even further, toward a different vantage point, by a turn that included 2 bridges built specifically for the race, and oh yeah, tons of Emirates’ branding, with the Marina Bay Sands in the background.
We decided that was probably enough walking for the day, as we found the different vantage points but didn’t really have a map to pull it all together, that became our goal, which we found soon after.
Of course, by now it was approaching 3pm, so we decided it was time to grab a light snack. Din Tai Fung (a well known chain restaurant, at least in Asia, and I think on the West Coast of the US) looked like the best option. We had some wonderful fried rice with pork and steamed chicken dumplings. Those hit the spot.
Before long, we were on our way back to the hotel for evening drinks and to watch the race.
The day after the Singapore F1 Race
The morning after the Formula 1 race, we were up early. Why? Because we’re always up early. We had a small breakfast, and wandered through some empty malls with row after row of closed stores;
Then took the MRT down to city hall to retrace our steps from yesterday. I had wanted to get “Before and After” photos of the racetrack, and my wife had made a bet that the roads would all be open by noon. She lost that bet but, we were able to retrace our steps and share the photographic before and after:
And, on the way back to the MRT, just because it seemed like a completely reasonable thing to do, we took a moment to grab a photo with me standing on the racetrack… or at least where Formula 1 cars had been racing the night before.
We finished our day back on Orchard Road, wandering through stores, grabbing a drink here or there, and before long, it was time to pack and enjoy our last meal in Singapore (which happened to be at the Executive Club Lounge).
