Intro to Singapore

After using every last day of our 30-day Indonesia visa, we moved on to Singapore. To make the most of SE Asia’s most modern and expensive city we cashed in our Marriott Rewards point stockpile to check in for five days at the landmark Singapore Marriott, located smack in the middle of Orchard Road, a main retail and entertainment area of the Central Business District. Singapore, with its mass transit running like clockwork, big, air-conditioned malls, skyscrapers and sparkling cleanliness, was a bit of a culture shock. Add that to our access to the Executive Lounge, and we felt like we had entered a whole new world. We had to clean up, dust ourselves off and make ourselves presentable. Even though the pace of the city can be frenetic, it was relaxing to navigate effortlessly through the streets, communicate without struggling and have absolutely no agenda.

Singapore Neighborhoods

Singapore is filled with world class museums, attractions and endless high-end shopping and dining options.  We wanted to sample a bit of everything, but there were just too many choices. As we tend to do in any big city, we divided our days into different neighborhoods. At the waterfront we snapped some obligatory photos with the city’s symbol, the Merlion, a creature with a lion’s head and a fish body. This area is also home to several museums and the famous Raffles Hotel. We didn’t have a Singapore Sling at the Long Bar where it was created, but we did walk through the small museum with memorabilia and stories about the hotel’s history.

Chinatown, Arab Street, Kampong Glam and Little India are all about the food and markets, all surrounding temples or mosques. These neighborhoods make it easy to look more closely at the colorful cultural fabric of multi-ethnic, multi-religious, multi-lingual Singapore.  The nearby Asian Civilizations Museum (free on Fridays after 7 pm!) was an excellent overview of the region’s history with some very cool, high-tech virtual guide kiosks.

Singapore Eats

We ate mostly in hawker centers, long banks of food stalls serving inexpensive Malay, Indian, Chinese and Indonesian specialties. Mutton biryani, noodle soups, carrot cake (more like a savory pancake), Rojak, Katong laksa, and countless forms of stir fried noodles and rice were all high on our list. These were always accompanied by a kopi or teh tarik, sweet coffee or tea. We also had the opportunity to eat in proper restaurants, getting together with friends on two nights. With Pim and Saskia, who we met a few years ago on a liveaboard dive trip on the Great Barrier Reef, we went out in Little Holland and ate Chili Crab, a Singapore signature dish . . . and for good reason. The crabs are stir-fried in a tomato and chili-based sauce which is both sweet and savory. The flavor was amazing, and we supplemented with a number of other dishes.  With Camila and Bruno (we met Camila on a shuttle from Arenal Volcano in Costa Rica back to San Jose; they are from Brazil) we had southern Indian cuisine in Clarke Quay. It was great to catch up with everyone, hear about their lives in Singapore, and get a feel for the night scene of two very different neighborhoods. It’s great to have friends from everywhere!

Other Highlights

Other highlights of our visit to Singapore were a hike with great views from Mt. Faber Park in the morning and a short visit to Sentosa island, home to Universal Singapore theme park, an underwater world, decent beaches and other entertainment in the afternoon. For something totally offbeat, we went to Haw Par Villa, a bizarre sculpture park made by the creator of Tiger Balm in 1937. It’s filled with figures portraying stories from Chinese folklore centered around teaching moral lessons. There’s even a big cave of the 10 Courts of Hell showing exactly how you will suffer if you steal, lie, or disrespect your elders!

Our visit to Singapore was a nice change of pace. It seemed to be a very livable city, and it was great to talk to some insiders who had made the bold step to live abroad for a time here. Especially interesting is the cultural, ethnic, and linguistic mix of people living, working, and playing here. We would definitely return with more time and resources, and continue to explore this fascinating city.

Photos HERE.