We awoke today to the sounds of jackhammers right behind the paper thin walls of our room. This was so unbelievably loud that we probably should have had ear protection. We did our best to ignore it and sleep more, but it was pretty tricky. Eventually we gave up and got ready for our day. It was supposed to be a UV index of 11, considered as a “extreme UV index”, so we lathered on the sunscreen. We thought about heading back to the Maxwell hawker centre (The first one we went to) so we started walking in that direction.
We checked the maps and saw that there was a Chinese temple along the way so we decided to check it out. The temple was beautiful and fairly small, with most of it being outdoors in a courtyard area.
We kept going and actually spotted another hawker centre named Amoy Street food Centre. We went inside and looked at both floors to see if anything appealed to us.
We went with a beef rendang, as we had tried the beef rendang cocktail last night and wanted to compare. Caitlyn found a laksa place that ACTUALLY HAD LAKSA so of course we had to get a small bowl. We also decided to share a small hainese chicken. David liked the beef the best, and caitlyn liked the hainese chicken. David thought the hainese chicken had too much of a cilantro flavor, but it wasn’t bad. The laksa was alright, but we both felt that the chicken Curry dish yesterday was better and more similar to laksa as we know it. This one had no spice despite having spicy in the description, and felt very one dimensional. Caitlyn was also convinced to buy a banana leaf fish cake at the laksa stall as it was less than $1USD. It was a bit strange, seeming to be a ground up fish paste with an odd pink color. It was not bad but it was a difficult texture to accept that you are putting into your mouth.
We ate what we wanted to and decided to check out orchard street today, the area with all of the enormous luxurious malls that Singapore is known for. We weren’t really planning on shopping but wanted to see what all of the hype is about.
We went into one mall and were a little underwhelmed so we did some googling and saw that the mall across the street, the ION orchard, is known for being a good mall. We went in and it was absolutely all about luxury.
Caitlyn realized she could use a second bathing suit so we did some searching, but they were all crazy expensive. We went all throughout the ION and a few other malls before finding a H&M with a good selection at a reasonable price. Caitlyn ended up getting both a bathing suit and a nice flowy dress, as she has realized this is one of the better types of clothes for the climates were in.
It was getting to be about happy hour time, so we did some searching and found a place called KPO. We went in and it was a restaurant/bar, but definitely seemed like a good place for a few drinks. They had beer, cocktails, wine, and spirits all on HH, so David grabbed a Asahi Black and Caitlyn got a glass of prosecco. Next David got a regular Asahi and Caitlyn got a glass of syrah.
We decided it was probably a good idea to get a snack and were suggested the “hokkien mee”, described on the menu as “stir-fried the traditional way with crispy pork lard, pork belly strips, squid and prawns”. We were a little worried as some of the menu kind of looked westernized, but it was delicious!
We decided we wanted to see the night views from a rooftop area so we headed to the Marina Bay Sands hotel, one of the most famous buildings (if not the most famous) in Singapore. Along the way, we took in the views of the city at night, and walked through the famous helix bridge, which is designed to look like a strand of DNA.
We got inside and saw they had a rooftop bar at the 57th floor, so we hopped on the elevator and went up. We got to the top and learned that we actually got in the wrong elevator (likely someone up here with a room key called it and that’s how we got up) and if we went back down to the lobby we could check in and get tickets to go up. The ticket came with a free drink at the rooftop bar, so essentially you just pay for a slightly expensive drink and get to hang out in the roof. We were worried there was a dress code, and David was not dressed very nicely, so he stepped to the side while Caitlyn went up. Caitlyn got to the front of the line and they informed her as there is a dress code they can’t offer tickets unless everyone is there. Luckily David noticed Caitlyn had reached the front of the line and had a sneaking suspicion this would happen, so he went over. Thankfully they either didn’t notice or didn’t care enough and gave us two tickets anyways. We moved on towards the elevator where security stamped us with a black light sensitive stamp on our arms.
Back up to the 57th floor, but in a different area, we walk out to the rooftop. We head towards the bar and exchange a drink coupon we were given for two cocktails. Caitlyn enjoyed hers, and David’s was decent, but not enough that we care to look up the menu and try to get the name. We wanted to grab another and walk around the roof and see the city below, so we ordered 2 more, both underperforming the last set. We made this pretty brief as there was a lights show down near the water that was only once an hour and we didn’t want to wait another hour in this area if we missed the first one.
We booked it down and got very creative getting across the road, using a small underground mall with a connection on both sides. We managed to get to the light show RIGHT as it started.
A few large fountains and some lights and lasers accompanied music for the 15 minute show. We had a great time watching this and we were so happy we made it on time.
We took in the beautiful views of Singapore at night as we walked back all the way to the Chinatown area.
Along the way we decided to check out Satay Street, an outdoor area specializing in stalls selling satay skewers at the Lau Pa Sat hawker centre. We grabbed a beer and checked the stalls out.
We found one that looked good, and an English man warned us that it can take up to 40 minutes so we should find a table possibly before we order (it was pretty crowded and tables were few and far between). At quick glance, there weren’t really any open seats, so Caitlyn went to go find a seat while David went in line to order the food. David was handed a buzzer and went to go find Caitlyn, who had found a dirty table with two spots next to another couple. Right when we sat down, Caitlyn noticed that further down there appeared to be more spots.
We got up and walked towards the end, noticing that there were actually a ton of tables open. We went to sit down, and one of the stall workers towards the end came over saying “our customers only” and tried to shoo us away. We looked at the table and instantly noticed the large sign saying that it is for all customers and even had a phone number to contact if anyone was doing exactly what the stall was trying to do. We sat down anyways and Caitlyn said “this says anyone can sit here” and they said “it is for our customers only. You cannot sit here” to which David replied “yes we can” and we stopped wasting our breath on this man. We knew we were in the right, with this being confirmed as he gave up after this.
We noticed how many tables were empty here and we were so surprised that they did this so blatantly and that so many people listened to them. After about 30-40 minutes, our buzzer rang.
David grabbed the food, which was the small set with beef, chicken, and shrimp. It came with a hilarious amount of skewers, but most of this were the chicken and beef, which came with only very small bite-sized portions per skewer.
We finished up, still a bit hungry, and decided to go back to Chinatown to the restaurant from last night to get a few of their BBQ skewers. Back at the restaurant, we ordered some chicken wing skewers, a mushroom skewer, a pork intestine, and heart. They were all delicious but the heart and chicken wing were our favorites still.
We finished up and went home to get a good night sleep as tomorrow we are off to Thailand!
David’s thoughts of the day: I love how Singapore reserves tables. If you leave anything (pack of tissues, umbrella, some people even leave cellphones), then people will respect it and let you have your seat when you get back from ordering food.
Caitlyn’s thoughts of the day: today was our second day riding the MRT in Singapore. We have heard that the Singapore subway is amazing, and incredibly efficient, being one of the best in the world. We agreed it was very good, but didn’t see much difference between this subway and the ones we rode in Japan or S Korea.
Steps walked: 21,186
Miles walked: 10.35
Total miles walked in Singapore: 51.96
Singapore reflections:
Favorite memories – David’s favorite memories of Singapore are probably trying the interesting and diverse foods at the hawker centers. Caitlyn’s favorite memory is also the hawker food, but mostly eating the sup tulang mereh.
Favorite days – David’s favorite day is the day that we explored the Muslim quarter and little India. Caitlyn’s favorite day was the day we did Gardens by the Bay.
Favorite foods – David’s favorite was probably the Chinese food that we had. The first day was great, but the BBQ was really impressive. Caitlyn really liked the hainese chicken dishes that we got. We both liked the black pepper crab a lot, as well.
Reflection – Singapore is such a unique city/country. It is so antithetical to so much of what our home country stands for, but it works so well here. The people seem happy and peaceful, and crime is really low. It feels extraordinarily safe and is remarkably clean. The hawker markets are also such an amazing thing that I wish we could have at home. The hawker markets have enormous diversity in food and culture and the food is unbelievably cheap (many dishes are ~$2.5-4 USD). We do want to say that we did feel a lot of pressure the entire time, though. It wasn’t overwhelming and may not have even been necessary, but with so many strict laws, CCTV EVERYWHERE, and some threatening public signs, you really do feel a sense of “we cannot mess up”. While spitting is a crime, we saw spitting. Littering is a crime, but we saw litter. Drinking and eating on the subway is illegal yet this occasionally happens. These things were very rare, as most people do seem to fear any potential repercussion. There is clearly SO much money in Singapore, with enormous buildings and more luxury goods stores than we have ever seen. I can’t tell you the number of Rolex stores alone that we passed by while walking around. We probably could have stayed a few more days here, with how much there is to do, however we didn’t really miss much that we regret not being able to see. With a trip like one we are taking, though, we have to be able to pace ourselves so mentally we did know that we wouldn’t be able to hit everything we wanted. Singapore is absolutely a country we would come back to and would be a wonderful country to visit as a good introduction to Asia. David gives it a 8.5/10 and Caitlyn gives it an 8/10. This puts Japan at #1, Singapore for #2, and South Korea at #3 for both of us!
New foods tried:
Sup tulang mereh
We did try a lot of new dishes like chili crab, beef rendang, etc., but if it isn’t something completely new, strange, or obscure, it doesn’t feel right to put it on the list.
Bluming Travelers 