Singapore

Saturday, June 11

We landed in Singapore just before 9am. We had heard great things about Singapore and it’s efficient airport. We were therefore not impressed with the arrivals hall that had 7 different lines to go through immigration. But, we were in no rush because the hostel we had booked said they wouldn’t let us check in early so we were killing time where we could.

After we were granted entry to the country we decided to go see the attractions at the airport to use some more time. Also, some of the ‘must see’ things are actually in the airport. Once you leave the official arrivals/departures area the huge airport is like a big mall. The main event to see is the worlds largest indoor waterfall. We found it but the bottom part wasn’t flowing. We found an area above it that was called a rain vortex and took some photos there.

We went to the food court to get some food. There were only two options that had coffee-like beverages and the lines for those places were out the door. So we just got some weird pastries – something with hot dog, something with red bean. The free airport wifi was 10x faster than any WiFi in Australia had been. It was so nice to be able to catch up on blog postings and book some flights for the next stages of our trip.

Finally we had killed enough time so we headed out. We stopped by the waterfall again for a peek. They were holding an event there so we were about to turn away. Then a woman invited us to join. As part of the country’s fitness promotion program in June they were offering free fitness classes in locations around the city.

She asked us if we wanted to join the free Zumba class next to the waterfall. Had we felt like humans we would’ve joined, but we felt sick with exhaustion. With bags under our eyes, headaches forming, and heavy bags on our shoulders, we politely declined.

We got a taxi from the airport to our hostel and went inside to check in. The location of the hostel, Cozy Corner Backpackers Guesthouse, was perfect. But the place did not live up to the pictures on Booking.com. We later found out that several Malaysian families were living there after being stuck in Singapore during COVID and then deciding they liked staying there.

There were shared showers and bathrooms with no toilet paper (each room was allocated one roll). The bathrooms were cleaned regularly but that meant that they were always soaking wet and one time I almost slipped in. There was an oven on the roof terrace, but no refrigerator. At night we heard rustling noises that were likely rats and by day it was constant construction sounds like a guy hitting a metal can with a metal stick. Again, location was unbeatable but the place was in rough shape.

We took a nap for a couple of hours. We had to force ourselves to get up and go see some city before the day was over. We walked to the nearest hawker food center. In Singapore everything is expensive but there are many outdoor food courts called hawker centers that have different food stalls that sell goood food for cheap.

We got pork with dry noodles and a fried carrot cake. The pork was breaded in something absolutely heavenly. The noodles were crunchy and chewy. And we discovered an umami sauce at the bottom of the bowl. It was the best meal we’d had since the Philippines and it cost about $3 US dollars.

The fried carrot cake (chai tow kway) was an impulse buy and it was the most unexpected food of my life. First, by ‘carrot’ they meant white daikon radish and by ‘cake’ they meant omelette. You can order it white or black (with sauce) so I ordered the mixed plate so we could try both. The radish was soft, like soft squishy tofu and the seasoning was really nice. I think we preferred the white cake better, but both far exceeded our expectations.

Then we went to explore the city on foot. We found a craft beer bar and stopped in for a drink but then nearly spat out our beers when we saw how much they cost. For two small pints we spent $25 Singapore dollars, about $18 US Dollars. Given the county’s extremely strict drug policies and the heinously expensive alcohol we realized it was going to be a mostly sober couple of days and we’d have to just be high on life (and light shows).

We walked over to the ‘Chinatown’ area. It wasn’t much of a Chinatown, more like Little Midtown Manhattan, but there were some restaurants and temples. Singapore is chock full of photo spots. On our walk we passed giant shiny globes, a historic pedestrian bridge, buildings with trees growing out of their terraces, a dynamic paper light exhibit, and a skyscraper atrium that had legs like white mangrove roots with little pink lanterns strewn about.

Then it was on to the classic photo op place: Marina Bay. Everything was lit up with vibrant purple lights. The sky was a little cloudy but we could see that the moon was nearly full. The fancy hotel, Sands was all lit up and stood nearly directly across from the famous Merlion statue, which was also lit up purple. Singapore is like Disneyland.

We walked around the bay and then met with Karen to watch the water and light show but our viewpoint wasn’t great so we decided we’d need to go back for another showing. To walk home we wove through a series of malls and pedestrian cross overs until we finally made it to Cozy Corner.

Sunday, June 12

Singapore also reminded us of DC. As it was Sunday, we decided we must go out to brunch. We walked through the Muslim Quarter to a place called Tolido’s Espresso Nook. The place was busy and it was about a half hour wait to get a table (better than DC).

I ordered an iced pumpkin spiced latte and it was so delicious that I was glad to be already seated because I went weak in the knees. For food we got Pandan (a type of leaf) pancakes with coconut ice cream and maple syrup and a plate of shashuka. The pancakes were great, and the shashuka was ok but the bread was the best part.

After brunch we walked back through the Muslim Quarter again. It was so cool to see the mix of the old, Islamic buildings -like the mosque with the golden turrets- squished in between exquisitely modern high rises. We found a pedestrian alley and walked down, checking out the cutesy shops and the colorful murals.

Then we made our way over to Marina Bay again and popped over to Gardens by the Bay. This park has all the major Singapore icons like the indoor cloud forest with huge waterfall and the Supertree Grove: a grove of massive trees that are made out of bright purple metal, winding plants, and lights.

On our way into the park we stopped by a xylophone garden- an interactive grove full of xylophones of different shapes and sizes- and played around for a bit. Then as we tried to take a photo in some statue near the entrance a group of women came up and asked to be in the photo with us. This happened to us before in India but we were surprised to be the token white people in Singapore which is so diverse and full of all nationalities. We obliged and took tons of photos with them and it was hilarious because they kept asking for more photos and adding more people into them.

We started in the cloud forest and were really impressed with the layout and how cool it was inside. They were very strict about mask wearing so, unfortunately, we had to have masks on for all our photos. We wound up, around, and down the forest, and then needed a break.

We walked over to the food court to see what they had. It was kind of like a hawker center, but more expensive. Poor Karen ordered pasta with mushrooms and it was one of the spicier things I’ve tried on the trip. She could barely eat it.

Carl and I got a bunch of barbecued chicken wings, Popiah (like a spring roll), and Rojak. Rojak is a vegetarian dish that is a mixture of fruit and vegetables tossed in spicy palm sugar dressing with crushed peanuts on top. The sauce was thick and dark and you wouldn’t know what you’d put in your mouth until you chewed, like ‘oh that was tofu’ or ‘green apple’. It was weird. More of a try to say you did dish than something I’d order again.

Satiated, we moved to the Flower Dome which is the largest greenhouse in the world. On the way we passed an area where we had seen a sign saying ‘otter crossing’. We assumed it was some sort of Disneyland style mascot but then we actually saw a group of river otters! They were playing near the river bank and rolling around in the sand like cats roll on an outdoor patio. They were so cute!

The Flower Dome was having an event theme of rose gardens in European landscapes (i.e., Tuscany, South of France). We walked slowly and looked and smelled the flowers until we had our fill. The best part was the mask-cop robot. It was near exact the same evil robot from Wall-E. This thing was two feet tall with a big lens on its face. It was going around reminding people to wear masks. We followed it around for a bit, so amused as it snuck up on people and scared them as it declared “please wear a mask at all times”. There were also human staff policing the mask wearing; it was serious business.

We then walked over to the Supertree Grove. This is a grove of about 12 huge fake trees. They are metal purple structures with big circular canopies than are covered in tons of plants and LED lights. Apparently the trees are covered in 162,000 plants of over 200 species and they perform similar functions to real trees like converting sunlight into power (solar panels) and passive air filtration.

There is a sky bridge connecting two so you can walk high above and admire there trees. There was also a light show at 7:45 that was great. All the trees light up in time to very dramatic orchestra music. It was like watching Disney’s Fantasia in real life.

To get home we walked through the Sands mall, and out next to the art and science museum before taking the double helix bridge. The whole city is like a mall / Disneyland – always a light show, always a photo opp.

Monday, June 13

We got breakfast at Toast Box. We got coffees, traditional Kaya toast (toast sandwich with honey and butter), and some sort of sweet bun. We decided to take a taxi to Sentosa Island because getting the metro + monorail would take four times as long and it was possible that the monorail would cost more than the taxi.

The driver dropped us off in an underground parking lot. It reminded me of Vegas. We went up the stairs and found ourselves in a resort courtyard – amusement parks in every direction. We walked past universal studios and the aquarium to get to Adventure Cove water park. Tickets were $36 Singapore dollars (about $26 US). It was lucky Carl read online and made a reservation because the park was sold out for the day.

We got a locker and put all our stuff in it and went to the nearest water slide. They told us to put all our belongings in a cubby but we snuck a go pro in. The first slide we did was Whirlpool something. I don’t know how Carl snuck the camera out, got a video, and put it back into his pocket. The video is absolutely terrible. But it’s amazing he captured anything at all because the slide was SO fast. It shot us down a steep tube into a whirlpool where we got turned around and then went down the next tube backwards. I was screaming so loud the whole time.

We decided to put Karen’s go pro away for a bit and focus on riding slides. We also rode the one next to whirlpool which was fun but not as fast. Then we waited in line for an hour for the best slide in the park. It was called Riptide something. Like a roller coaster, we got into a raft at the bottom and a track pulled the raft (with us in it) up to the top of an incline.

We flew down over the hill and then, at lightening speed, a track brought us back up to the top of the next hill where we shot down again. It was crazy. This repeated three more times until we shot out into the pool so fast that we flipped over, my swimsuit not fully around my parts, and a gallon of water shot up our noses. It took us a couple seconds to get re-oriented and out of the pool, holding our faces because it felt like our sinuses would explode.

We did two more water slides near Riptide and then went to the dueling racer track where we rode foam mats and raced each other down a water slide (Carl technically got to the bottom first but I went a centimeter further).

We went to the lazy river and went around the whole thing. Toward the end the river winds past the turtle and sting ray pool. We got to see so many huge rays flying right next to us, behind glass, as we floated by.

Over the loudest intercom (squid game style) it was announced that the park would be closing in 30 minutes. We floated back around and went back to our first and favorite slide. We road it twice more before closing, the last time I think the guy was being nice and letting us through. Thanks dude.

Instead of everyone leaving the park, people swarmed the bathrooms and showers. There were lines outside all the bathroom buildings because women were taking full on showers – shampoo, conditioner, everything – and then getting changed. I did a quick fresh shower and changed in a bathroom stall and then was the only person leaving the park with not perfect looking hair.

We were hungry so we walked over to a Malaysian street food court. It was like Disneyland with fake buildings and fake street signs, as if we were really eating on some street in Malaysia. We got pork with dried noodles again and it came with dumpling soup. We also got a tasty lychee drink that had little lychee jelly balls in it. The food was so good, especially considering it was in a resort food court.

We decided to try to walk back to the mainland and go from there to the light show area again. We walked over the bridge along the Sentosa boardwalk. About halfway across there was a bar that had a happy hour special. The sun was starting to go down over the water and the sky had a nice golden glow. We decided to take a break and have a 2 for 1 beer. In Singapore they call this deal a 1 for 1 which is ridiculous but they can’t be good at everything I guess.

When we walked over to the mainland we saw there was a hawker center near the bus station. We decided to pop in for one more snack. We got a roti bread that was filled with mutton and came with a spicy curry sauce. It was so good and potentially better than meals we had in India. We also ordered some satay- chicken, beef, pork, and guts- but they took a long time to cook for some reason so we ordered them to go. We realized we were running late and realized we weren’t going to make the light show. So we enjoyed most of the satay and saved some of the little rice balls, cucumbers, and potato samosas for breakfast the next day.

We went back over to the mall (and nearly got lost in it) and grabbed a taxi from there back to our hostel.

Tuesday, June 14

Our first activity of the day was an appointment at a health center to get COVID tests for our flight to Korea. We got a taxi to a hotel that had a testing center behind it. Overall the process went smoothly and they were able to print and email our negative results.

From here we walked over to Fort Canning Park. Unbeknownst to anyone not on Instagram, there is a pedestrian tunnel with a tree in this park that is a famous photo opp. We walked over to the tunnel but it was already so hot and humid. We took a break in a cafe in a YWCA which was actually a 4-star hotel.

Then we walked around and made it to the tunnel. We had to wait our turn to take photos but we got some good ones. Karen’s phone has a wide lens feature and this proved essential to capturing the perfect shot.

Even though we felt like we were melting we decided to trek over to Little India for a look. We had heard there were many colorful buildings, good food, and Indian shops. We went right to the hawker center and got the best Palak Paneer of my life. We also got a drink called Chendol Special that was a coconut milk and palm sugar drink with every kind of jelly and candy floating in it. Considering all the stuff in it, it wasn’t overly sweet. It was a perfect pair to the spicy Indian food!

Then we walked around and took photos. Walking through the small, busy streets it really was like being back in India for an hour. Afterward we went back to the hostel for a couple hours to rest and WiFi.

That evening we went to the hawker center near our hostel for a final dinner. We finally got to order Laksa – a signature Singaporean dish that is essentially a soup with coconut milk and fish paste broth. It was good, but a little too fishy for us.

Then it was time AGAIN to try to see the Sands light and water show. We walked over the double helix bridge again and realized the sun wasn’t going to set until after 7pm. So we had gotten the times wrong, the show was actually at 8pm and we had an hour to kill.

We ordered drinks from a fancy bar (Le Noir) on the boardwalk. I got a Singapore Sling just to say I had one in Singapore. It was good but I think Tiki TNT in DC made it better. Carl got a lychee martini which is always fun because they assume it’s for me.

Finally it was time for the show. We got a nice spot on the upper deck. The show was great! They used water and light to create crazy optical effects. Like spraying water to make a field of mist that they then shined lasers at to make pretty moving pictures. The music was also so dramatic like a scary scene from a Disney movie. Overall it was worth it.

We went back to the hostel to pack. Sometimes packing is easier and sometimes it’s harder, I’m never sure why. This time it was really difficult but we were able to shove everything in and get a taxi to the airport on time.