Singapore
Trip Start
Jan 14, 2008
1
35
141
Trip End
Jan 13, 2009
Singapore, Singapore
Saturday, March 29, 2008
The one thing we were looking forward to was it's cleanliness and organization. And in this area SIN did not dissapoint. A beautiful airport (with free internet nonethless), friendly immigration officers (Australia - get a clue), an intuitive and spotless subway, clean well-lit streets, it really is like a buttoned up and scrubbed down version of an asian city. My guess is that there's something to do with it being an ex-british colony.
Luckily one of our friends Dave Markwell, had lived in SIN for a number of years and had been kind enough to virtually introduce us to one of his old mate's Scott. This connection was vital to our experience there, which turned out to be fantastic as Scott played the host with the most showing us around till all hours in the night even though it was a school night (although as a beer distributor he may get some leniency on that eight am start time) - Scott (and Dave) if you're reading a big thank you goes out to both of you.
Here is what Scott put together for us with about a half day's notice (due to Yahoo's overzealous spam filter):
- Dinner at the Newtown circus. We met Scott at what is billed as a "hawker's market" but what is essentilally a giant outdoor food court. Luckily we had Scott to help us figure out how it all worked as it was strange that you take a table and then different people will either get you or bring you food and they are all vying for your business. Scott had the dishes wired (could be cuz it's about 200m from his residence) and we absolutely loved our singapore local dishes of something we can't remember the name of but was like a vietnamese spring roll and something else we can't remember but what was essentially a very savory carrot cake :-).
- Next up it was a walk through a very famous street called Orchard street where there are tons of expensive hotels and restaurants. But what's much better is an old chinese neighborhood there that has been restored and converted to really cool restaurants and bars. In fact, it's so done up that they've run out of buildings and created a really cool bar that is basically in an alley with lamps hanging down from a sort of suspended trellis. Scott's very familiar with this area through his work and everywhere we went he knew everyone there. He toured us through really cool barrel/restaurants that just oozed that sort of dressed up / but slightly decaying post colonial atmosphere. Some of the most atmospheric places we can remember anywhere. We eventually settled at the very aptly named "ice cold beer" bar which featured, guess what, about two hundred different kinds of beer. Including our beloved Little Creatures which Scott, as their SIN distributor, was quite thrilled to find that we were fans.
- Then it was off to Clark Key which featured the main nightlife area of SIN. Tons of cool bars and clubs. It was kind of late, and a Tuesday, so they weren't too happening and neither were we. So we decided to make the rest of the night more of a walking than a drinking tour.
- Then it was up the river through Boat Key which was pretty shut down but we still got a good idea of how cool it is with it's dozens of restaurants all right on the water with views of both downtown and the lights across the river. Next time we'll have to try there.
- MOre walking through the city including checking out some pretty cool open spaces in the CBD and along the river all the way admiring the views. Singapore is a very pretty city at night with it's mix of soaring modern architecture and old colonial buildings with most everythign all lit up for night time effect.
- Which led us to the Raffles Hotel. Raffles is a leftover from the colonial days with an impressive and well lit façade that when you gaze on it takes you back in time about one hundred years. Scott though, knew how to get into the interior courtyards without alarming the security guards so we were treated to that. Which then led us to the lobby where the staff was kind enough to unlock the doors and let us wander around the increadible lobby with it's beuatiful marble floors and soaring woodwork. Quite impressive and a perfect end to our tour (thanks again Scott).
It was quite late so we went back to the hotel (which was in LIttle India which turned out to be quite a fun an dinteresting little nieghborhood), got up, had some breakfast, did some internet chores, and were off to the airport. We were both glad that we had decided to arrange our flights for a night there and left feeling satisfied that we had "done" SIN just how we wanted to.
