To combat the long journey and (hopefully) mitigate jet lag in New Zeland, we added a mini-visit to Singapore. In just 2 days we had a brilliant time, eating our way around this beautiful city.
The Duckworth family have subtly let their preference for a shorter post be known, so introducing DDR, Duckworth's Don't Read, summaries for those who are more time pressed.
DDR: We had a fab time walking around Singapore; great food, amazing architecture, jazzy light shows. Everything is clean and some excellent signage.
For those who enjoy details:
Day 1
We arrived at 6pm on Monday night. Everything works incredibly well in Singapore, so after landing we wizzed through the airport, and were quickly in a pretty reasonable Grab that took us to our hotel in China Town. The whole experience took maybe half an hour. Having spent the last month in gloriously chaotic India, Singapore couldn't be more different. Last time I arrived here it was after 10 days in Japan, and somehow my Japan accustomed eyes didn't find it particularly clean or tidy. I'm not sure if that is a reflection on Tokyo or just Singapore was having a relatively rough day, but landing here fresh from Mumbai (not to mention a pretty rusty UK before then) I was blown away by how clean, tidy and organised everything is, and how well functioning!
We were staying in a studio room with the Heritage Collection on Pagoda, a nice but very compact, windowless studio room in the heart of China Town. This was a good warm up for Campervan life, giving Nik and I a taste of living together in a tiny space. As arguably the messier of the two of us, I think I may drive him mad by the end of the 3 weeks. Hopefully our new home will have lots of storage!
We quickly freshened up and hit our first Hawker market, the Maxwell Food Centre. Hawker markets are incredible food courts with lots of tiny stalls that specialise in 1 or 2 things. The food is amazing and very cheap, however surprisingly un-vegan friendly. We naively thought we might find quite a bit of tofu being in South East Asia, but almost nowhere had a veggie option, let alone vegan. Still we got some enormous and delicious coconuts to drink, split some vegan summer rolls and Nik managed to find a Bahn Mi that fit the bill. I broke my veggie 2024 with some delicious spicy noodle soup, ahinsa will return soon.
We then walked to Gardens by the Bay, to see the famous Supertrees. Every night there is a free light show that runs twice. We found a good spot and settled in. The theme while we were there was musical showtunes, not either of our first choice of music but an amazing and suitably camp spectacle; just a few hours off the plane and we were feeling firmly like we were in Crazy Rich Asians.
We kept going along Marina Bay and took in Singapore's amazing night skyline. The city is full of incredible architecture and each building looks unique, equipped with its signature design quirk. Singapore has also taken garden roofs to the next level, and all the buildings are very green for sky scrapers, some with living plants all down the sides and with pretty big trees on various balconies. London should take note when it comes to property developments. Nik started referring to Singapore as Utopia (not entirely sure if it was a positive thing). We stopped by another Hawker market for a beer, then hit our first 7-eleven of the trip. (I love a 7-eleven, asian snacks are elite). We got some shroom chocolate, Singapore style, and some vegan mushroom jerky. The chocolate was another example of innovative design and I think there is potential for some London based entrepreneurs to do something similar.
Day 2
The benefit of sleeping in a windowless room is an incredibly good night's sleep. We both had our first lie in of 2024, and finally woke up feeling refreshed and ready to explore the city. We enjoyed a delicious breakfast at Food and Peeps, before hopping on a bus to a nearby park for a walk.
Many of Singapore's parks are connected by elevated walkways, and we enjoyed amazing views of the city and wonderfully green parks walking over the Henderson Waves and up Faber Point. The morning bought a mini tropical downpour, so we took refuge under a nice pagoda and I took the opportunity of a captive audience to lead Nik in a Pranayama session. The storm lasted enough time for a few rounds of kapalbathi, bhastrika and bhramari then we were on our way to catch the cable car to Sentosa. Nik had read about some go-cart style luges that was on the island that sounded like a fun activity to try.
The highlight of the cable car was the ladies loo, which was maybe the nicest public bathroom I've ever been, complete with 2 floor-to-ceiling windows looking out over the vista and a running water fountain. The cable car itself is clearly a bit of a tourist trap, and annual licence costing less than double that of a 1 day pass. Sadly for the price of the trip we could have had 4 meals in the Hawker centre (this will now be all mental maths for me in Singapore). As we descended into Sentosa, we realised this little island is basically kids paradise. For some this oasis of water parks, Madam Tussauds and Universal Studios really would be Utopia, however not so much our cup of tea. We were now in Singapore Maths mode, and the luges was looking like it would also put us back a few meals, so we skipped it and instead hopped on the tube back to China Town for a vegan meal at Yi Xin Vegetarian restaurant, the highlight being a cold tofu salad that has changed both our minds on silken tofu. Lunch was rounded off by going for bubble tea and vegan ice cream, Singapore's reputation for excellent food proving to be worth the hype.
Walking around the city at night time was our favourite thing to do in Singapore, in the day time the climate it pretty hot and humid, but by the time it gets dark the city feels breezy and comes alive with incredible architecture, lights and buzzy places to eat and drink. We watched our second free light show, this time the Spectra Light and Water Show. Nik preferred this to the trees on account of the music, this time more akin to a Hans Zimmer vibe. I enjoyed it but with a strong reminiscence of the Isle of Wight's famous Waltzing Waters (a vibe if you're ever at a loss on a rainy day in Ryde).
We again opted for dinner and drinks in a Hawker, this time Lau Pa Sat. Again I had an incredible dinner and Nik did manage to find something to eat eventually, but only after being given paneer instead of tofu. Not to be defeated by "tofu cheese", we then went for cocktails, an obligatory Singapore sling for me (thank you Bea for the recommendation) and something tequila based for Nik, to round off the night.
Day 3
We didn't have too much time before we needed to head to the airport this afternoon. After another great sleep, I started the day with a quick yoga session on our terrace, weirdly after our first class in Mumbai Nik isn't jumping to do yoga with me every day. Hopefully in New Zealand he'll be more up for it as we go for a more wholesome lifestyle, possibly the forced pranayama session yesterday didn't help things. We then we headed to brunch at Punch which was great but again difficult to rate avocado toast too highly when thinking in terms of Singapore maths. To maximise Singapore culture we went directly to lunch at our third and final Hawker, this time the Amoy Street Food Centre. This one had 2 whole vegetarian stalls so we could end the Hawkers on a high, grab a final bubble tea and headed to the airport suitably full.
At the airport we checked out the incredible Jewel shopping centre. All over Singapore we have seen sky scrapers with covered in trees and green terraces, and this is the most impressive. The world's tallest, man made, free fall waterfall surrounded by greenery and amazing art. It's less than a minute's walk from the airport so make sure to pop in and have a look if you are ever passing through.
Book update. 2 more completed, both excellent. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. This follows the life of an orphan in Tennessee impacted by the oxy crisis and made me feel incredibly lucky to be on this trip, and about life in general. Next up was American Dirt by Jeanie Cummins. A gripping tale of a woman and her son fleeing a cartel in Mexico to cross the border to the US, very beautifully written and had a similar impact.
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