After 16 hours of flying, 5 movies with extreme censorship on swear words and several sandwiches with unidentifiable contents, Justin and I landed in Singapore. Naive AF, we asked the barista at the airport Starbucks if we could pay with a credit card. Here, all you have to do is quickly tap your credit card on a platform to pay. We immediately knew that one southeast Asian country is not like the others…
Singapore boasts all the urban luxuries of a NYC while somehow maintaining the safety and cleanliness of suburbia. The rooftop bars (and speakeasies) are sprawling, the rose lattes are sweet and the hawker stalls have endless supply of sugar cane juice, laksa and chicken rice on the cheap.
Singapore has a lot of rules. But while all the regulations here initially look oppressive, they somehow feel liberating in practice. It’s incredibly expensive to own and drive a car (from what we heard, a Ford costs S$400k and all vehicles are taxed during peak commuting hours), small things like eating or drinking on public transport will set you back $500 and 80 percent of housing is built by the government. But in practice, this has lead to a space that has little traffic, fantastic public transportation, spotless streets and not a single homeless person. It’s a good thing that Justin and I aren’t smokers, drug traffickers or non-public-toilet flushers. Those things have hefty fines too.
The beauty in Singapore is a distinct fusion of natural beauty and human intelligence. Here, carefully curated gardens house flowers from across the world, a glass paneled pavilion mimics the exact conditions of a cloud forrest and you can see the “northern lights” from the worlds tallest urban brewery.
Anyway, Mom(s) and Dad(s), here are more photos of what went down. These photos are intended to be proof that we are, in fact 1) safe and sound 2) not going hungry 3) don’t need you to wire us money and 4) having fun:
On our first night, we met Justin’s family friend, Wolfgang at a trendy rooftop bar with panoramic views overlooking Marina Bay. Wolfgang was an excellent companion and tour guide with an impressive amount of knowledge around rooftop bars, speakeasies and where to get the best duck rice.
View of Marina Bay in the day time. Not pictured: 95 degree weather.
Justin and I went to an indoor cloud forrest where the moisture levels, plants and temperature were managed to emulate the natural environment. As you move higher, the temperature and vegetation change.
Wolfgang took us to a local night market where we had beef, lamb and prawn satay. Justin is becoming quite the adventurous eater and to date, has really impressed me with his openness to escargot and quail eggs.
We found a cute little coffee shop & clothing boutique with the best rose lattes (n=2 rose lattes). Note: I’ve worn this same outfit just about every day for the past several weeks (and as I feared, all the tourists have a similar version of these elephant pants).
There was a packed symphony at the Botanical Gardens. Justin and I didn’t stay to watch the symphony but we did debate whether to get ice cream by the symphony.
Justin and I visited the National Orchid Garden, which housed orchids from all over the world. Prior to this, the only other place I had seen so many orchids was the entrance of Trader Joe’s.
Justin and I ate at a fabulous Indian restaurant and felt this picturesque street was a good place to let the curry digest.
Years ago, the government in Singapore took many of the street hawkers and congregated them into Hawker Centers. Hawker Centers are great places to find really high quality, inexpensive food (and also cheap beer).
Braised duck noodles at a Hawker Center will set you back about S$5 (US$3.50). Justin and I ate multiple plates of multiple things and gained multiple pounds.
Bar Stories in Little India sits about 20 people and is one of the oldest speakeasies in Singapore. I had something with lemongrass, lychee and grapefruit and when the mixologist asked Justin what flavors he liked, he said “everything except beans.”
SINGAPORE > KUALA LUMPUR