Singapore
Gardens by the Bay
Our impressions of Singapore
Impressively independent: Truthfully, we didn’t know much about Singapore before visiting. We knew it was a modern, global city that was famous for its cleanliness and impressive economic growth in the 21st century. We knew it was a city that more or less represented an entire country. What we didn’t know, and what we could come to learn and greatly appreciate after spending time here, was that Singapore has an inspiring story of independence. The city fell virtually overnight to the Japanese in 1942 ushering in an incredibly difficult period for Singaporeans under Japanese rule. This sowed distrust in British colonial protection and ultimately led to the end of colonial rule in Singapore. When negotiations began for Singapore to become part of Malaysia (the expected outcome), it became clear that the interests of Singaporeans (which include Chinese and Indian immigrants alongside native Malay) would not be honored equally in Malaysia. Thus, Singapore, a tiny country in both landmass and population, was left to define itself and its identity as a nation in 1965. As the country’s track record and National Museum artifacts demonstrate, Singapore rose to the occasion
Smart city: We were expecting Singapore to be modern, especially after our last few months traveling around SE Asian cities in varying stages of development. Even then, we were blown away at just how “smart” the city was. Public transportation, including both buses and trains, could get you anywhere in the city, could be paid for by tapping your credit card, were spotless and air conditioned. Singapore is also pushing the boundaries of how cities and nature can interact with its Gardens by the Bay park skytrees blurring the lines between urban infrastructure and greenery
$1 breakfast or $100 dinner: Singapore is a city where you can get a full breakfast and strong coffee at an old-school Kopitiam for only a few USD or you can end up with a sneaky hundred dollar bill at a hip restaurant. And everything in between. We fell on both ends of this spectrum during our time here and it’s one of the reasons we loved the city – both ends of the spectrum were delicious and experiences in and of themselves, though travelers on a budget will have to be careful not to get carried away
What we saw in Singapore
Kampong Glam: Kampong Glam is an incredibly vibrant and hip area in the city encompassing an awesome mix of both Malay and Muslim neighborhoods. We luckily picked a hotel in a beautiful shophouse building on Arab Street, so spent a lot of time here exploring first with Emily and Gabby and then on our own. The highlights included strolling up and down Haji Lane, a colorful pedestrian street boasting small boutique shops, cafes, and bars. We posted up at a fun English-style corner pub to sip on beers and play cards while watching Haji Lane come to life at night. We also made our way across Arab street where streets named after various cities in the Arab world (Muscat, Baghdad, Kandahar) house restaurants from the region against Masjid Sultan. The mosques gold dome lights up at night creating a beautiful backdrop for all that goes on in the area. We were lucky to catch a busy Ramadan night market on Kandahar Street when we were in town
Botanic Gardens: Singapore boasts massive and (mostly) free botanic gardens. Given the jungle climate, there are tons of beautiful plants and flowers that we were not used to seeing in the States. There is a garden dedicated to different species of ginger plants with monitor lizards roaming its grounds. Our favorite section, and one you had to pay a small fee to enter, was the National Orchid Garden. Our jaws dropped many times at all the different orchid varieties and sheer volume of orchids as we paced the footpaths around to different sections of the garden. Vibrant colors of purple, pink, red, all with different patterns and shapes. One section we found more entertaining than beautiful was the “Celebrity Garden” that contained orchid hybrid varieties named after famous figures that had visited the gardens
National Museum: The National Museum is a very well orchestrated museum covering Singapore’s history from the discovery of the island and Sir Stamford Raffles’s influence on the port city during British Colonial rule through to independence and Singapore in the 21st century. We were excited to visit since we did not know much about the history of the small country and were eager to learn more. Luckily, the museum had all the answers to our questions and then some! We spent a few hours here making our through each exhibit in chronological order starting from Singapore’s discovery. Our favorite exhibits were learning about the early Chinese and Indian immigrants and entrepreneurs that took advantage of the open port city, the showdown between Sir Stamford Raffles and the Dutch, the brutal history of Japanese occupation, an inspiring “meet the press” segment where first prime minister Lee Kuan Yew explains the outcome of negotiations with Malaysia and offers words of encouragement to the Malay, Chinese, and Indians living in Singapore who now faced the monumental and uncertain task of building a nation.
Gardens by the Bay: Gardens by the Bay is a futuristic green space on Marina Bay that is famous for blurring the lines between city development and nature. We walked over just before sunset and wandered around the Supertrees until the sky turned dark and the daily evening light show began. The Supertrees are massive white structures shaped like technological trees that are intertwined with lights and vines. When the sun went down and the lights became the dominant visual over the vines, we laid down flat on the ground and looked up at the towering “trees”. The theme of the evening’s show was “Journey through Asia” and featured a fun mix of Asian music accompanied by orchestrated colorful lights among the Supertrees. It seemed fitting for our year-long adventure as we recognized some of the songs from Vietnam and India
Chinatown: Singapore’s Chinatown is one of the most bustling parts of the city (which wasn’t too surprising given the Chinese make up the largest immigrant group in the Singapore). We walked through during golden hour on a beautiful Wednesday afternoon and loved the colorful and beautifully painted shophouses lining the market streets with countless food and souvenir vendors. The vertical signs jutting out from the shophouse buildings sporting Chinese characters would become ubiquitous in our next destination – Taiwan
Where we ate and drank
Hawker Markets: Singapore is a food city and the best way to experience its food is through its hawker markets. Situated all over the city, Singapore’s hawker markets are open air food courts on steroids with hundreds of local stalls serving the same famous dishes they have for generations. Each market carries its own personality and signature stalls and dishes, but in all of them you will typically find a delicious mix of Chinese, Indian, and Malay specialties. The prices are also much more in line with our budget (read: $1 breakfast not $100 dinner) than the hip sit-down restaurants all over the city
- Lau Pa Sat: Our first hawker market experience in Singapore was at Lau Pa Sat. Situated in city center, Lau Pat Sa is a vast and beautiful open air space resembling a giant gazebo with intricate green beams. Although the structure seems old and almost Victorian, the stall spaces themselves seem new with fresh signs illuminating the menu items alongside pictures with a consistency across stalls not observed at other markets. We dined here with Emily and Gabby potluck style, each of us going off and finding a dish to bring back to our table to share. This resulted in an interesting and delicious combination of some of our favorites from Malaysia (Wan Tan Mee and Hokkien Mee) and some new favorites from Singapore like Hainanese Chicken Rice (a seemingly simple but incredibly juicy and flavorful roasted chicken over rice), all washed down by some cold Tiger beer draft beers
- Albert Centre: Albert Centre was our next hawker market experience after Lau Pa Sat and was much more in line with what we were expecting when picturing old school hawker markets. An old rectangular structure with large alleyways filled with various stalls all with a personality of their own. We went on the later side so not everything was open, but we did manage to find an older woman in front of a fiery wok whipping up one of our favorites from Malaysia: Char Kaoy Teow
- Tekka Center: We were feeling the effects of the natural wine from the previous night and decided Indian food was exactly what we needed to pull us of our (Le Bon) funk. Tekka Center is a hawker market in Little India that features a mouthwatering array of stalls serving dishes from the region making it the perfect cure for our hangovers and wallets. We started our stall hopping at Raja Bojun, a Sri Lankan restaurant that served a crazy good vegetarian set served on a banana leaf that included a tangy, spicy squash curry, lentil curry, spiced carrots, and steamed greens alongside cumin rice. We then devoured a dhal makhani and garlic naan straight out the tandoor oven from Delhi Lahori to soak up the last of the previous evening’s transgressions
- Maxwell St: Mawell St hawker market is situated in Chinatown and is arguably one of the most well known hawker markets in Singapore. It is an unassuming space that houses some of the best hawker stalls in the city. Doug hastily made way upon arrival to the back of the line at Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice for a plate of their famous chicken rice while Jessie found a stall serving up prawn hokkien mee. We finished off our feast with some amazing freshly fried dough fritters from a modest and old husband and wife operation, Hum Jin Pang, made to order. We got a bag of 6 of them for $1 USD, which in a city like Singapore seems like it shouldn’t be possible
Jumbo Seafood: A uniquely Singaporean dish that we were determined to try was Chili Crab. After much research, we landed on an upscale seafood chain around the city, Jumbo Seafood, that is famous for its rendition. We went for lunch one day at the Dempsey Hill location nearby the Botanic Gardens. The ambiance reminded us of a fancy steakhouse back in the States – white tablecloths, a floor to ceiling glass wall filled with nice wine bottles, the wall opposite the wine stacked with fish tanks holding the unsuspecting crustaceans, an army of wait staff at the ready, two-tops occupied by suits seemingly enjoying a weekday business lunch accompanied by one of the wine bottles from the wall. We ordered salted egg fried prawns and the famous Jumbo Mud Chili Crab, devouring the delicious Chili Crab while making a colossal mess dressed in our themed bibs and plastic gloves (quite a juxtaposition from the decor but there is really no clean way to eat a meal like this). The best part was the goopy, crab meaty, spicy chili concoction left over at the bottom that we shamelessly scooped directly into our mouths. Put this in the $100 dinner category, but it was worth it!
Le Bon Funk: Le Bon Funk is a hip natural wine bar on the equally hip Club Street stretch near Chinatown. Emily recommended we pay it a visit and we love trying natural wines back in Chicago, so we decided to walk over and check it out after seeing the Gardens by the Bay Supertree light show. We got a little carried away and closed the place down sampling a few too many natural wines (all fun and interesting) and dining on some very delicious accompanying dishes like whole roasted artichoke and French dip with caviar. It felt like a date night back home and was, and probably will be, our most expensive meal in Asia. But, when in Singapore
Heap Seng Leong: We decided to enjoy our last meal in SE Asia at Heap Seng Leong, an old-school Kopitiam on the outskirts of Kampong Glam serving strong coffee prepared to your liking (Doug had his with a dollop of butter) and traditional breakfast staples like kaya toast and soft boiled eggs. It reminded us of the Kopitiams in Ipoh, and we soaked in our last opportunity to sit at a cozy place like this and dine on traditional Singaporean comfort food. We waited in line while the 80+ year-old man behind the counter prepared each meal to order. It was the perfect way to end our time eating our way through SE Asia
Where we stayed
Heritage Collection on Arab Street: We did a lot of research on accommodations in Singapore – while there are plenty of solid cheap eats options at the hawker centers and old school Kopitiams, there are not as many solid cheap places to stay. We looked into Heritage Collection on the recommendation of a Singaporean family we met on a food tour in Bangkok and decided to book a small double room in their Arab Street location. Heritage Collection is a boutique hotel chain that offers a completely digital hotel experience in charming repurposed buildings around the city. It ended up being perfect for our time in the city and we didn’t even realize when we booked that it would be situated in a charming old shophouse in Kampong Glam, one of the most hip and happening neighborhoods in Singapore. The room placed emphasis on the word “small” in small double (read: like a shoebox NY hotel room), but was clean, tasteful, and cozy
