Singapore - Days 209-214

Singapore: Days 209-214

December 21, Day 209:

I have to admit that I’d been looking forward to Singapore for a long time! Vietnam, awesome as it is, is a bit rough around the edges - it had been long, long, long time since we had been anywhere that felt even a bit modern, much less futuristic, and I had my expectations for Singapore set high (as I often do, and often ends up in letdowns). I was hoping for a futuristic-feeling huge city that still has a ton of green space, and Singapore really delivered!

We arrived after our morning flight and snagged a cheap SIM card at the airport before hopping on the subway connecting the airport and the city.

I’d done quite a bit of research about where to stay in Singapore as it’s absurdly expensive and it has tons of unique neighborhoods; we picked a central neighborhood near the MRT (subway) with some of the best food markets within walking distance – Chinatown!

We found our airBNB after wandering around for a bit and eventually calling our host Kathleen – good thing for our sim card – and she showed us around her apartment. The apartment was really nice and most importantly air-conditioned. Singapore is hot.

Kathleen showed us some of her favorite hawker stalls in the food market a block away, and two of them had been named in the Michelin guide, so we ordered some chicken peanut curry for lunch which was phenomenal then walked over to the main Chinatown market. The stall I’d read the most about was already sold out for the day, so we got dim sum instead and it did not disappoint.

So I would classify myself somewhere between avid Star Wars fan and Star Wars fanatic,so I really wanted to see The Last Jedi, and Singapore had tons of theaters, but the one I wanted to see it at was sold out so we postponed our viewing until tomorrow and went to check out one of the parks. We took the MRT down to one of the central districts and did a bit of walking through a gorgeous park with a boardwalk leading up to a viewpoint for sunset that was quite nice, then we wandered down towards the waterfront before grabbing some sort of Indonesian curry and heading back to the apartment.

Travel day + food coma made for a fairly easy night.

Day 210:

We started the day off with a Singaporean classic – Kaya toast. There is chain of breakfast diners across the country that serve toast with a coconut-sugar butter and a side of soft-boiled eggs that is really fantastic!

After our breakfast we checked out some of the cool sites in Chinatown, namely a few temples that were really outstanding. The Buddhist and Hindu temples were nowhere near the oldest one we’d seen while traveling, but (because of Singapore’s wealth) they were some of the most amazing and extravagant.

Determined to try one of the best hawker stalls in the country, we went to the Chinatown market again and got in the massive line for Soya Chicken.

There are a decent amount (maybe 30) of stalls in the country in the Michelin Bib Gourmand, which is for “exceptional food at moderate prices”, but only 2 hawker stalls with a real Michelin Star.

This is one of them. After waiting an hour we ordered 3 dishes, all some variety of the soya sauce chicken, and they were phenomenal. I’ve definitely never had chicken so perfectly done before and I would have loved to eat there again but there are sooooo many great food stalls serving everything imaginable across Singapore. Since I didn’t think we’d be back I ate too much but I didn’t regret a bite. When in Singapore…

After lunch we took the MRT to the theater for Star Wars! Despite it’s flaws, I loved it. From the theater we walked to one of Singapore’s many very tall buildings with a rooftop bar and got some drinks while overlooking the bay; it was quite crowded but there was a brief rainstorm which cleared off the main deck, so we had excellent seats for the remainder of the evening.

After sunset we checked out some of Singapore’s trendy bars and restaurants, and had some pretty good fish and chips at an English joint and some super expensive drinks (it’s nearly impossible to travel here on a budget unless you stick to hawker stalls and beers from 7-11) before we called it a night.

Day 211:

Meg and I were both very excited to check out the Gardens by the Bay with their famous giant living trees and domed gardens. We took the MRT to the nearest station then walked there through a huge mall with an indoor river complete with Venice-style gondolas and rowers. There are tons and tons of malls in Singapore chock full of Gucci and Prada and all that shit.

The park is huge so we walked through it for a long while and made it to the flower garden, which was quite nice but I wouldn’t say it’s necessary. The domes that house the gardens are super cool to look at but the garden wasn’t spectacular and it was real crowded. The line to the cloud forest in the other dome was massive so we walked along to the water to the marina barrage – we didn’t know what this was but found out it was an elevated grassy park with an awesome view of the city and the ocean at the very tip of the island – really glad we went there!

We walked back towards the bay and into the city in search for dinner. We found a particular food market famed for their satay, but we couldn’t find any satay stalls! Disappointed, we left to each somewhere else only to find an entire street lined with satay stalls! We had some beef, chicken and shrimp satay and it was all wonderful and cheap! We snagged a bottle of wine at a 7-11 and and ice cream bar as it is always hot, even at night, and walked back home.

Day 212:

Today is Christmas Eve Day! We started the day off with some Kaya toast and some coffee, then decided to get out of the city and go hiking. Singapore is the second most densely populated country on the planet, so I was surprised that they had so many great parks! We took the MRT and found an amazingly-well maintained park and boardwalk along one of the country’s reservoirs. The trail even had a 400 meter long suspended boardwalk above the trees which was really cool! We walked on a boardwalk near a reservoir for about 10 miles and we were watched by some mischievous monkeys for a while too.

In the early afternoon we made it back to the apartment and said bye to Kathleen and Adam – our hosts were heading back to their native Australia for the holidays, so despite booking only a room in the apartment, we had the whole thing to ourselves for the rest of our time there!

We had Christmas Eve dinner reservations at an Indonesian buffet which was pretty good, and had a lot of tasty meats but no drinks, so we headed back to the apartment for some after dinner wine.

Day 213: Christmas Day! We didn’t have any big plans, and I wasn’t feeling stellar, so we watched some movies in the apartment and got some delicious crab curry at an Indonesian hawker stall nearby.

We headed out in the afternoon to check out the cloud forest, in on of the domes in the Garden by the Bay. There was less of a line this time for the dome, which was really cool and houses the world tallest artificial waterfall, but it wasn’t overly impressive. There was a “mist show” while we were there, so the inside got super foggy which was neat and a bit eerie, but it was pretty crowded so we never got to feel lost in the fog or anything cool. We then walked over to the supertrees which were all lit up at night, along with some cheesy Christmas décor.

There looked to be a massive storm rolling in so we waited under an overhanging plant with rather large leaves for the supertree light show. The rain held off and the light show started, and then it started downpouring. Of course. We ran to an overhang and hid underneath with a bunch of other people and watched the light show, then once the rain let up, we were able to walk under all the trees almost alone while the show was wrapping up which was really cool! We took the MRT back home and ordered some Dominos for dinner and chilled on the couch I got my first fever! At least it held off this long…

Day 214:

Today I was dying. On and off fevers overnight, so I woke up and got some water and made it to the couch, which was my accomplishment for the day.

Meg was of course a doll and went and got me some medication and some pho which was able to eat. Tylenol finally broke my fever so I was able to have an ok night – I think we watched Psych: The Movie. I was pretty bummed to miss my last day in Singapore but was in no condition to do things.