Asia is not part of D's region so we were extra excited when he found out he had meetings in Singapore in november. It was a long flight (12 and a half hours) for such a short visit (six days) – but oh so worth it.
Interesting tidbits about Singapore:
- English is the official language.
- The population is extremely diverse. We (Caucasian) were definitely in the minority. The government recognizes four languages; English, Chinese (Mandarin), Malay, and Tamil. All four are represented in the sign below.
- Singapore is an island off the tip of the Malay Peninsula. It consists of 63 small islands.
- It has a tropical rain forest climate – whoa mama was it HOT! On an average day, relative humidity is around 90%. November and December are know as its monsoon weather and we had rain every day, at times very heavy.
- Their currency is the Singapore dollar and is about 75 cents to our dollar. Food was cheap, but that was about it.
SLEEP * EAT * PLAY
SLEEP
Our hotel, The St. Regis Singapore, was amazing! I normally do not show our hotels – but this one you have to see.
It had one of the largest bathrooms of all the hotels we have stayed in. It even had a walk-in closet. It also had a very large shower with showerheads coming from all angles….oh and look at the tub! If you look closely there is a TV screen in the bottom of the mirror by the tub faucet.
One morning, they hotel had a red carpet out and the entire staff was lined up at the door. We waited for 20 minutes but no one came and we were hungry.
We asked when we go back who was coming and they told us the Prime Minister of Singapore and the President of China. There was security all through the hotel.
EATS:
We ate every meal in Hawker stalls. These are individual stalls selling inexpensive food. They are everywhere, in every mall, large office buildings and many open air stalls just outside of the main part of the city.
We wanted to hit an authentic one so we took the metro out 45 minutes to check out this Hawker Stall. It was the best and no tourist but us!
There was one old guy at this table (blue striped shirt) who was intrigued with us. I asked to take his photo then he wanted to take one of us.
As we were eating, one of the women who owned a stall came over with a glass of sugar cane water (popular drink) and said, "your friend bought this for you." He then came over and talked to us. Very sweet.
A sampling of what we ate in Singapore:
Tea-eggs or marbled eggs
A dish of the region, chicken-rice.
Two different versions of duck with noodles.
Radish dumplings and although they do not look that good, they were delicious.
And the unusual desserts, shaved ice with fruit – fresh and canned mixed.
Yes, it was yummy!
Another dessert we bought on the street from the motorcycle vendors, scattered all around the city were ice cream sandwiches.
Most of the ice cream vendors were seniors and husband and wife. Cost – one Singaporean dollar, about 75 cents. We wanted to help the seniors…so we ate several the week we were there.
The ice cream comes in a big cardboard box and they slice it with a big knife and place it in rainbow colored sweet bread.
They had several flavors, the basics – chocolate, chocolate chip, strawberry and lots of other more exotic fruits – mango, honeydew, durian, and sweet corn. It was best when the ice cream softened and melted into the bread.
One evening we met up with Dave and Fatima (they live in Germany) and went to the popular Glutton's Bay Hawker Market.
We ate the black pepper crabs and grilled stingray – both are specialties of Singapore.
D stood in line for 30 minutes for the black pepper crabs.
Worth it? Not really. Good but expensive and a long wait. We actually enjoyed the grilled stingray more, and the coconut juice fresh from the shell.
Seaweed Pringles anyone?
We took a 4-hour cooking class with Ruqxana, the one on the right. The class was in her home.
She used all fresh ingredients. We made a Cambodian dish – chicken curry with young jack fruit, one Indian – spice mutton with caramelized onions and one Indonesian – fish curry in coconut and tamarind gravy with basil.
The caramelized onions were cooked to perfection!
Okay Okay – I know I have pretty much shown you every meal we ate…but I have just one more to show you. Handmade noodles. The best, and very fun to watch the chef make them.
PLAY
Visit to the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum
Except for the weekend, D worked every day we were there. So a lot of the Play is me playing! The Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum houses the sacred tooth relic composed of 420 kg of gold. No photos allowed in this room but I can share that it was a special room and had a very spiritual feeling.
There is a lot of controversy surrounding the authenticity of the tooth – was it really from the Buddha? Many say it is too long and looks more like the tooth from a cow or buffalo.
Below is the hundred dragons hall where they hold their meditation ceremonies. I was lucky to be in attendance while meditating/chants were taking place. I asked the guard if I could photograph the inside and she said yes. I felt like I was imposing on such a sacred time, but also thought how cool it would be to share this with my blog readers.
One day I visited the National Orchid Garden, that is part of the Botanical Gardens.
It was extremely impressive. I thought it would be indoors, but Singapore is so hot and humid, they grow beautifully outdoors. They have over 60,000 species of orchids, many of them rare.
To see more photos of the beautiful orchids, CLICK HERE TO VISIT MY ART BLOG MA VIE TROUVEE.
Neighborhoods
As I mentioned there are many ethnicities that make up the population of Singapore, which creates very diverse and interesting neighborhoods.
Chinatown
The Chinese community is the oldest and goes back to 1330. Up until 1961 Sago Lane had death houses, where people went to die. Today they house tourist shops like the stores below.
Chinatown is a colorful mix of old and new.
From family run stalls and medicine stores to textiles and jewelry supplies to dim sum shops.
Beautiful handmade brushes.
While I was checking out the EXTENSIVE jewelry supply stores, D decided to relax and get a foot massage. Was it relaxing? When I came back to meet him, the lady was pounding and I mean POUNDING on his legs. But he looks pretty relaxed here.
Oddly enough, the largest Hindu temple is in Chinatown, the Sri Mariamman Temple. It is also the oldest temple, founded in 1827. Sri Mariamman is the goddess known to help people.
It is free to enter the temple, but you must remove your shoes. I think this is such a cute photo of D.
Since the temples inception, it has served as a refuge for new immigrants. Today it is also used for worship and community events.
The decorated roof is known as Vimana and is dedicated to the various Hindu deities.
In the Muslim neighborhood, a man preparing himself (washing his feet) to enter the temple.
Singapore at Dark
The Merlion is the city's most famous icon. It is part lion and part fish. The lion head represents Singapore's original name Singapura meaning "lion city".
Hindus celebrate the annual festival of lights called Diwali. It is one of the most important festivals of the year and lasts for five nights. We were lucky as the night we visited Little India, the lights were still up, it was the last night for them.
Little India has a very robust night market.
And the colorful purple Christmas Street lights on Orchard Road, the main shopping street in Singapore. They were not going to be turned on until the weekend after we left, but for 15 minutes, they were testing them so I got to enjoy them. Beautiful but odd…….Christmas lights in 90 degree weather?
Singapore was interesting to see, but too hot for me! Wish you could see a few more photos? Click on the slide show below.
The XtraSuitcase 
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