July 24-27
Singapore falls into the list of countries that I should know more about but I don’t. So in case you don’t know much about it either, here’s just a few things to get you through. Singapore is an island city-state south of Malaysia. It is just one degree north of the equator. Singapore is made up of one main island and 62 islets.
Colonial Singapore was founded in 1819 as a trading post for the British East India Company and then became a British colony in 1858. Singapore was occupied by Japan during WWII and then gained its independence from the UK in 1963 by federating with other British territories to become Malaysia. However, Singapore separated from Malaysia just two years later over ideological differences and became a sovereign nation.
Singapore is a global commerce, finance, and transportation hub. It has been called the world’s smartest city, the world’s safest country, the third most competitive country, third-largest foreign exchange market, third-largest financial center, third-largest oil refining and trading center, and the second-busiest container port. They’re very good at being number three at things. Singapore ranks 5th on the Human Development Index which is determined by the United Nations. Norway is number one and the US is number ten.
After spending time in India, it was really easy hanging out in Singapore for four days. Singapore is beautiful. It has a lot of great architecture, clean streets, friendly people, a beautiful waterfront area in the city, and user friendly public transportation.
Down at the waterfront at night they had water shows set to music, street performers, and even a group of people dancing to swing music.
The architecture in the city is intense as well. Look at these three towers that have a huge ship on top, connecting them.
But there are two things about Singapore that I really loved: the food and the gardens.
First, the gardens. Singapore is called the city in a garden. There are beautiful, manicured landscaping everywhere you walk.
Even this hotel is covered with plants.
We walked down to the Gardens by the Bay on our first full day in town and were pumped when we found out that we were visiting during the Singapore Garden Festival.
Yes!! I love this kind of stuff!! There were a few different themes throughout the festival. The first was oversized birds, amphibians and insects?!?
There was an imagination tent that had exhibits that were meant to take you to different places around the world, including South Africa with its Baobab trees, Japan with a time and water exhibit, the tropics, and an orchid fairyland. You know that the orchid fairyland was my favorite.
Next we hit up a few of the tents that housed the actual competitions. One area of competition was floral displays that you might see at a super expensive, fancy wedding.
The below won the chair back design competition… because that’s a thing.
Another area of competition was these huge boxes that the artists could fill as they saw fit.
Then it was off to see the permanent exhibits. The flower house was filled with orchids, one of my absolute favorite flower.
My grandmother use to keep orchids and anyone who has tried to keep one alive knows that it takes a ton of work and attention.
Look at this brown orchid. How incredible is that color? I’ve never seen anything like it.
We also stopped by the Supertree Grove.
These might just look like strange metal structures, but just wait until you see them lit up.
Pretty incredible, right?
On to food. Singapore is famous for its hawker stalls. There are numerous food halls dedicated to hundreds of food stalls that sell mostly Asian cuisine. Walking through, trying to decide which one to try is a bit overwhelming, but challenge accepted.
Not all of the food was from hawker stalls, but all of it was delicious!
We also finally ate at our first Michelin starred restaurant of the trip… spoiler, we only paid about five dollars for the entire meal.
This is it – Hawker Chan has a Michelin star. How crazy is that? We waited in line for about 40 or so minutes for lunch. Totally worth it.
That’s the line… and this is Michael ordering. Yes, we were pumped. How good do those chickens look!!!
As good as this food has been after so much heavy Indian food, I will say that one of our lunch stops was especially welcomed.
That’s right. Cold brew, a cubano, and a cheesesteak. Sometimes you just need something that tastes more like home!
I know I was going to only tell you about two things that I love about Singapore, but here is a bonus item for you: the airport! When we arrived at the airport to fly out, I noticed that there is a huge airport mascot. I thought it was cute and clever, but didn’t bother taking a picture, because who needs a picture of an airport mascot. Apparently I need it to support my theory that this airport is amazing. We checked into our flight and went towards customs. To get through customs, they had us scan our passport and then put our fingers on a scanner. Upon arriving in the country a few days ago, customs took our fingerprints, like so many countries do. Here in Singapore, however, they actually use that information to expedite the departure process. Once the machine confirmed our identities, an agent confirmed our boarding pass matched our passport and it was all over. Singapore actually used our fingerprints to improve the process (instead of just keeping the information for the sole purpose of making me feel like big brother is watching).
They have this meat store at the airport, which Michael just couldn’t pass it up.
Plus they have gardens in the airport. Gotta love a city that stays true to its theme.
