World Tour Stop 16 - Singapore, Singapore

We arrived in Singapore around 8 PM due to a little bit of a delay on our flight from Melbourne (8 hours became 9, sad), but it was just a lively and beautiful as Crazy Rich Asians had me believe. We flew Qantas and it was an Airbus380 which is a two level plane with the important people getting the top level while us peons were in the main cabin below. The plane was massive still just for the level I was on (3-4-3) and the flight attendants definitely had their work cut out for them. No complaints with the airline and happy to have used my Citi Thank You points for the free flight.

Upon landing we had about an hour of customs and were planning on going to see the Jewel but we just got a glimpse of it because we were tired and figured we would be able to see it when we flew out in a few days (we were wrong as we were in terminal four for our flight out, the only non-connected terminal meaning no visit to the Jewel).

We stayed in Robertson Quay at the M Social which was a nice location with plenty of shops and restaurants in walking distance, but sadly everything closes up shop around 10 PM. We ate at Beast and Butterfly in the hotel and were happy with our choice.

The hotel also had a great gym which I was able to take advantage of the next morning before my food tour through Secret Food Tours in Chinatown. The walk through Robertson Quay to Chinatown was gorgeous and I had to snap a couple of pictures to show off my views.

I have done Secret Food Tours in a number of cities (Rome, Budapest, Lisbon) so I knew the company would set something great up for me. The last time I did one was September 2018, about 9 months ago, and since then they have changed their package to do a "drinks package" as a separate fee. I chose to do this and definitely would suggest not doing that for Singapore as we did not get any alcoholic beverages and the coconut at the end wasn't exactly what I had in mind. With that said, it was still a wonderful tour.

We started the tour by stopping in Bee Cheng Hiang which was a meat supermarket. Here we had a quick sampling of pork and chicken coins (literally tasted like a little thicker pepperoni.

From here we went down the main market street where we were able to see some street art and discuss the history of the area.

Our next food stop was at Nayang Old Coffee where we tasted pandan cake (cake made using pandan leaf), kaya spread on toast, and char siew bau along with coffee. All of it was different and delicious.

We had another quick stop for a curry puff and I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was really good. I like curries and it was a chicken curry in what seemed like an empanada. Also, super cheap for a quick snack.

From here we wandered to the Chinatown market where we tried a little bit of everything. We had Hianese chicken with rice, oyster cake and popiah. The oyster cake as actually not something I would ever try again as it was very dry and fishy tasting. The popiah almost tasted like a spring roll burrito so it was pretty good. The Hianese chicken and rice was a little bland (I believe the chicken is boiled) but the two sauces provided were helpful. One was a sticky sweet sauce (brown one) and the other was a spicy sauce (orange one).

The day was very rainy so we also spent a good amount of time at the Buddha Tooth Temple. This was my first time in a Buddhist temple and it was beautiful. So many different versions of buddha and so many stories about how the religion came to be. The biggest thing that people believe is that giving offerings and donations to grant prayers and wishes. Also, it is very conservative so I was required to borrow a long skirt and a scarf to cover my shoulders. To walk around the actual worship space, shoes also needed to be removed.

After waiting out a little of the rain we sprinted from here to our next stop, which was getting a little bit of different variations of Asian cuisine. We tried the "carrot cake" which is Cantonese chai tow kway. It looks like an omelet but is actually a root that is mixed with eggs. We also tried a prata which is an Indian bread that was filled with cheese and served with a spicy sauce for dipping. Both were delicious and I sadly did not photograph them.

From here it was time for dessert which was a coconut cake and a fresh coconut for the water. Both were lovely and I must say, I did not leave this food tour hungry! I so appreciate Helen (tour guide) for being such a gracious host and teaching me so much about this one area of Singapore.

After a wonderful and overly filling day, we had a biking tour planned for the evening. We booked with Lets Go Bike Singapore and chose to do the night Marina Bay tour. Everything I read said that the evening tour was the way to go because of the extreme heat during the day and the tour did not disappoint. Our guide was Ganesh and he was so kind. There were only four of us in the group, Bri and I and then two ladies from Indonesia. The ride was about 19km, ~12M and extremely flat and easy. We were able to bike from Little India to the National Arena and then around the marina damn and through the gardens/past Marina Bay Sands. We stopped along the way to take some beautiful photos and then we headed back around the bay through the financial district and all of the Fullerton buildings and past the Mer-Lion statue. The remainder was just the ride back to base. This was an easy two hour tour and a great way to learn our way around downtown Singapore while getting recommendations for great places to have dinner.

The next day we moved from the M Social over to the Marina Bay Sands hotel for our one day/night of luxury. We checked in a little early and then went to the shoppes at Marina Bay and had lunch at Yard Bird which was a delicious taste of southern cooking (I had fried green tomatoes and an old fashioned).

From here we didn't want to waste a single minute of our time at the hotel so we ran back to our room and changed into suits and spent the better parts of 24 hours at the 57th level infinity pool. I know it is a complete tourist trap and way over priced, but the pictures are freaking amazing and I wouldn't have changed a thing.

We enjoyed the pool but we also went and checked out the skydeck to get some views from the other side of the building. The deck looks out over the entire bay, including a showcase soccer field that I would die to play a frisbee match on and the entirety of the Gardens by the Bay.

Another wonderful thing I learned was that my second cousin (mom's cousin?) lives in Singapore now and she was kind enough to join us for a drink at Ce La Vie on the skydeck and then we went for the lights/concert in the gardens which was super cool. I had never personally met Paige but she was so warm and welcoming and happy to show us around her adopted city.

After the show we took the pedestrian bridge across the bay to the steps where Nick Young proposed to Rachel Cheng and she turned him down for fear that he would lose his mother (ok...Crazy Rich Asians reference again, sorry). And then we headed over to Raffles Hotel where we tasted the original Singapore Slings. On the walk we also passed Parliament. Again, so appreciative of Paige's hospitality.

That ended our night but we did head back to the pool in the morning to soak up the last of our time at the Marina Bay Sands hotel. Then we were able to store all of our luggage after check out and go enjoy the Gardens by the Bay. The Gardens have three main attractions and then just a ton of sprawling and beautiful land. The three attractions are the Cloud Forest dome, the Flower Dome and the Super Grove Trees (which also have a raised walkway for extra fun photo taking).

I couldn't help myself so I took a few funny pictures as well.... I have a problem with invading the personal space of stone figures

Cloud Forest:

Flower Dome (currently featuring roses):

Super Groves:

After our fun in the gardens we sadly had to head back to the hotel to get our luggage and jet off to our next destination. I loved Singapore so much and was so happy to have had the opportunity to visit. We talked to someone that had said we didn't need many days there but I completely disagree. The history, culture, food, etc could have easily filled a week for me.

So, goodbye for now Singapore, but off to Bali we go!