Friends of mine here in Shanghai always says that Singapore was so much better then Shanghai and that everything "just works" there. Not really knowing what that meant before I left, I know now what that means. Singapore is such an easy place for someone who is just visiting to get around, to see things, the people are great, the transportation is great, and everything does just work. We had no issues our whole time while we were there. Singapore is quite an anomaly in all of Asia in that it is a really easy place for a Westerner to go without having to worry about anything, and it is a great tropical island. The one story that I can use to sum up how awesome Singapore was; my colleague lost his camera in a taxi cab, the cab driver not only came back to the hotel to find my colleague, but gave it to the lost and found at the hotel. There is not one other country in all of Asia that I can think that a taxi driver would do this, most other countries, the driver would keep it for themselves or find someway to deny it was there and sell it off. Now this might not have happened with every taxi driver in Singapore, but based on my short time there, it probably would have happened with at least 9 out of 10 of those, and that is how Singapore "just works."
By the way, we stayed at The Regent Hotel and it was the best hotel that I have ever stayed in, so this definitely helped with the experience.
Showing posts with label Singapore. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Singapore. Show all posts
Thursday, October 11, 2007
The Final Days of Singapore
We got a lot of what we wanted to accomplish in Singapore over the weekend and with us working during the day, we kind of took it easy for the rest of our time in Singapore.
One of the last things I wanted to do was go to the "Long Bar" in the Raffles Hotel to get a Singapore Sling, supposedly the place where the Singapore Sling was invented. Well we arrived and from the start I was not impressed, the bar wasn't nearly as "neat" as most of the travel books set it out to be, and the Singapore Sling at the Long Bar was not good at all. This was a very disappointing adventure and my advice to anyone heading to Singapore, skip out on this excursion. The Raffles Hotel is a neat place, but the Long Bar is clearly a touristy trap, you can get a better Singapore Sling and be in a better bar in many other places.
We walked around after the Long Bar and the night was redeemed when we passed by the "largest fountain in the world," the Fountain of Wealth. Actually this thing was a pretty neat fountain (or at least neat as fountains can get) and had a show and some dance music playing with it, which made it all the more fun to sit and watch water being sprayed out of a tube.
One of the last things I wanted to do was go to the "Long Bar" in the Raffles Hotel to get a Singapore Sling, supposedly the place where the Singapore Sling was invented. Well we arrived and from the start I was not impressed, the bar wasn't nearly as "neat" as most of the travel books set it out to be, and the Singapore Sling at the Long Bar was not good at all. This was a very disappointing adventure and my advice to anyone heading to Singapore, skip out on this excursion. The Raffles Hotel is a neat place, but the Long Bar is clearly a touristy trap, you can get a better Singapore Sling and be in a better bar in many other places.
We walked around after the Long Bar and the night was redeemed when we passed by the "largest fountain in the world," the Fountain of Wealth. Actually this thing was a pretty neat fountain (or at least neat as fountains can get) and had a show and some dance music playing with it, which made it all the more fun to sit and watch water being sprayed out of a tube.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Singapore Day #4
We started the day with a traditional Singaporean breakfast of Kaya Toast, runny eggs, and coffee with condensed milk. The kaya toast is a type of bread with a coconut jam type of spread on it and runny eggs are what they sound like, eggs that have only been partially cooked (hence the runniness). This was a very very good breakfast, a great way to start the day of touring, although I wouldn't suggest eating this breakfast on a regular basis.
When we left we noticed that it was pouring outside, so we took the subway and rode the bus to our next destination, the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. By the time we got there, the rain had subsided and was mostly a mist or a light rain. Luckily the nature reserve had lots of…well…nature that protected us from the light rain. We hiked up the "mountain" (it is a mountain for Singapore, but it is more like a small hill for the rest of the world) and got some nice pictures of…nature. They had some signs saying that there would be a fine if you fed the monkeys, but my theory is that they just put those signs there to get people excited to see monkeys when in fact, there are no monkeys, just my theory. By the time we were leaving the nature reserve the rain had pretty much subsided, so we decided to continue our adventure and head to Chinatown.
Now I live in Shanghai, so there are not many Chinatown's that impress me, as I live in the biggest Chinatown in the world. Singapore's was okay, not too much going on there, just a bunch of stalls selling junk, the same junk that I can get in Shanghai for much cheaper (actually most of those vendors buy their stuff in China and then bring it back to Singapore to sell to tourists for an ungodly amount.
We moved onto to the other cultural center of Singapore, Little India. Here we walked around a bit and got the notion that gold is a really big thing in India as there were hundreds of stalls and stores selling gold stuff. We eventually made our way to an area that had a bunch of restaurants and found a nice Indian restaurant. The service was great and they had some really good food. The chicken tikka masala (a staple for me) was just okay, but the rest of the food was great, so it kind of balanced itself out into a really good meal.
We took a short break in the afternoon and then headed to the Night Safari. This is basically a safari/zoo that is only open at night. We saw the Creatures of the Night Show and that was pretty neat (nothing too great, but fun), and then we went on the tram ride through the park. There were some parts were the animals roamed free (mostly just small harmless dear), and most of the dangerous animals were in areas that were protected by moats. The best part of the night safari was going into the flying fox cage. When you go in, you go in through a bunch of gates that make it so that the flying fox could not get out and when you enter the flying foxes are jumping all over the place, to the point where they are jumping right over your head and it almost feels like they are about to hit you. Anyway, the Night Safari is definitely worth a visit. After the Night Safari (around 11:30pm), we just went back to the hotel to retire for the night. A long day, but a very good day.
When we left we noticed that it was pouring outside, so we took the subway and rode the bus to our next destination, the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. By the time we got there, the rain had subsided and was mostly a mist or a light rain. Luckily the nature reserve had lots of…well…nature that protected us from the light rain. We hiked up the "mountain" (it is a mountain for Singapore, but it is more like a small hill for the rest of the world) and got some nice pictures of…nature. They had some signs saying that there would be a fine if you fed the monkeys, but my theory is that they just put those signs there to get people excited to see monkeys when in fact, there are no monkeys, just my theory. By the time we were leaving the nature reserve the rain had pretty much subsided, so we decided to continue our adventure and head to Chinatown.
Now I live in Shanghai, so there are not many Chinatown's that impress me, as I live in the biggest Chinatown in the world. Singapore's was okay, not too much going on there, just a bunch of stalls selling junk, the same junk that I can get in Shanghai for much cheaper (actually most of those vendors buy their stuff in China and then bring it back to Singapore to sell to tourists for an ungodly amount.
We moved onto to the other cultural center of Singapore, Little India. Here we walked around a bit and got the notion that gold is a really big thing in India as there were hundreds of stalls and stores selling gold stuff. We eventually made our way to an area that had a bunch of restaurants and found a nice Indian restaurant. The service was great and they had some really good food. The chicken tikka masala (a staple for me) was just okay, but the rest of the food was great, so it kind of balanced itself out into a really good meal.
We took a short break in the afternoon and then headed to the Night Safari. This is basically a safari/zoo that is only open at night. We saw the Creatures of the Night Show and that was pretty neat (nothing too great, but fun), and then we went on the tram ride through the park. There were some parts were the animals roamed free (mostly just small harmless dear), and most of the dangerous animals were in areas that were protected by moats. The best part of the night safari was going into the flying fox cage. When you go in, you go in through a bunch of gates that make it so that the flying fox could not get out and when you enter the flying foxes are jumping all over the place, to the point where they are jumping right over your head and it almost feels like they are about to hit you. Anyway, the Night Safari is definitely worth a visit. After the Night Safari (around 11:30pm), we just went back to the hotel to retire for the night. A long day, but a very good day.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Singapore Day #3
My Saturday morning started with some grocery shopping to pick up some stuff to take back to Shanghai. I started at Fair Price Extra (a hypermarket here in Singapore). I bought some generic Cheerios and some other items to take back for the family. We then went for a walk down the Orchard Road shopping street (right by our hotel).
My colleague and I then headed off to the Riverwalk in downtown Singapore. We walked through Boat Quay and then saw the Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles statue along with the Merlion that spits water all day long. It was a pretty nice walk and a nice area of town.
We then headed East to the East Coast Park. This is a stretch of beach that has restaurants, biking, kayaking, boating, walking paths, and almost anything else you can do around a beach. Before starting any activities, we were pretty hungry, as I mentioned on my last post I love Beef Rendang, and Burger King actually has a Rendang Burger. So we went into BK and tried the Rendang burger, it actually wasn't bad considering it was from BK. We then rented some bikes and rode around for a couple of hours. After biking, we sat at a bar on the beach and enjoyed some drinks to cool down. We then went into 7-11 to get a slurpee, oh man this slurpee was one of the best I have ever had. I enjoyed my slurpee while sitting at the beach and watching the waves hit the shore, all I can say is that Singapore has definitely been hard work so far.
We ended the night with getting together with some of my friends from Shanghai that moved back to Singapore. We went to another local hawker center and had some pork wonton noodles, some satay, some stingray, and the famous Chili Crab. They gave us the claws because we were guests, and there was so much meat in the claws, it was so so good...no check that, it was one of the best meals that I have ever had. The combination of the long day of going around and seeing things and being able to sit outside and enjoy this awesome food, it was almost perfect. After the long day we were beat so we went back to the hotel and fell asleep, but this was definitely the best day so far.
My colleague and I then headed off to the Riverwalk in downtown Singapore. We walked through Boat Quay and then saw the Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles statue along with the Merlion that spits water all day long. It was a pretty nice walk and a nice area of town.
We then headed East to the East Coast Park. This is a stretch of beach that has restaurants, biking, kayaking, boating, walking paths, and almost anything else you can do around a beach. Before starting any activities, we were pretty hungry, as I mentioned on my last post I love Beef Rendang, and Burger King actually has a Rendang Burger. So we went into BK and tried the Rendang burger, it actually wasn't bad considering it was from BK. We then rented some bikes and rode around for a couple of hours. After biking, we sat at a bar on the beach and enjoyed some drinks to cool down. We then went into 7-11 to get a slurpee, oh man this slurpee was one of the best I have ever had. I enjoyed my slurpee while sitting at the beach and watching the waves hit the shore, all I can say is that Singapore has definitely been hard work so far.
We ended the night with getting together with some of my friends from Shanghai that moved back to Singapore. We went to another local hawker center and had some pork wonton noodles, some satay, some stingray, and the famous Chili Crab. They gave us the claws because we were guests, and there was so much meat in the claws, it was so so good...no check that, it was one of the best meals that I have ever had. The combination of the long day of going around and seeing things and being able to sit outside and enjoy this awesome food, it was almost perfect. After the long day we were beat so we went back to the hotel and fell asleep, but this was definitely the best day so far.
Singapore Day #2
During work on Friday we asked the client where to get good Indian food. Well he told us to go to some shopping center for good Indian food. When we headed over there we found out that there was no Indian food, rather there was some Indonesian food (quite different if you are not familiar). Anyway, we sat down as my colleague had never had Indonesian food, and being that my grandmother is from Indonesia, I consider myself to be a pretty seasoned veteran in the food. We ordered things like Gado Gado, and Beef Rendang (my absolute favorite in the world) along with some other dishes. Again, being well versed in Indonesian food, I was actually quite disappointed, so no more Indonesian while we are in Singapore.
We next headed to an area called Clarke Quay, this is pretty popular place with lots of shops and bars. When we arrived, the place was packed and most of the bars had lines coming out the doors. Anyway, we were finally able to settle in to one of the "wards" at a place called The Clinic. This bar was a pretty cool gimmicky bar, if you wanted to sit at tables with chairs, the chairs were all real wheelchairs. We sat on the typical hospital bed's for our table (as all the wheelchairs were taken). My colleague ordered one of the IV drinks where you are able to drink out of the tube from the IV bag. The place was really expensive, but definitely worth the experience. Night #2, definitely much more successful then night #1.
We next headed to an area called Clarke Quay, this is pretty popular place with lots of shops and bars. When we arrived, the place was packed and most of the bars had lines coming out the doors. Anyway, we were finally able to settle in to one of the "wards" at a place called The Clinic. This bar was a pretty cool gimmicky bar, if you wanted to sit at tables with chairs, the chairs were all real wheelchairs. We sat on the typical hospital bed's for our table (as all the wheelchairs were taken). My colleague ordered one of the IV drinks where you are able to drink out of the tube from the IV bag. The place was really expensive, but definitely worth the experience. Night #2, definitely much more successful then night #1.
Singapore Day #1
Of course I am here in Singapore for work, but luckily we have some free time to roam around town in the evening. So for our first evening we stopped in one of the hawker centers in town and got some local grub. I got some chicken hor fun with mushrooms and it wasn't too bad. We then went back to the area around the hotel because one of our taxi drivers told us that the Orchard Towers was a pretty neat place. Well, basically we walked in the place and noticed some very tightly dressed women "working" in the place and we just turned around and left. We then headed to an Irish pub for the evening and enjoyed some nice Singapore Sling's (I know at an Irish Pub, but hey, everyone sells them around town). During our time at the pub, I told my colleague (who is Chinese American) that the "working women" will approach white men more often then the Asians just because there is the perception that not only are the white guys more wealthy, but they are most likely here on business and looking for some "company." He didn't believe me, so on our way from the pub I told him to walk ahead of me. Well on the walk home he was approached by zero women, while I was approached by two women at two separate incidents (both women were rejected by me if you were wondering). So my theory worked and he was all salty, not because he was looking for a "working woman," but just because I was right.
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