Hi Readers, if the post seems different that is because it is not being written by Camille nor Al, but this is a guest post from Crystal, mom of Camille. We are lucky enough to be traveling with them through Singapore and Penang (so far) and then on to Viet Nam. (This is the second time we have been fortunate to travel with them on their worldwide adventure. The other time we traveled with them was in the north part of the South Island of New Zealand.)
January 10-12, 2024
We flew from San Francisco to Singapore on Japan Airlines. It is a long transit: two flights, 18 hrs 46 mins flight time and 8,440 miles. (BTW, I highly recommend JAL for the service and legroom.) We met Cami and Al at the AirBnB in Chinatown. The airbnb was fine but the location was fantastic for walking to so many places or catching public transit to sites. We got in late but immediately fell asleep on a rather hard bed. It didn’t seem to matter, we slept like logs and were ready to go 7 hours later.
Singapore is known for food, especially what are called hawker stalls: open air buildings with many small, individually run food stalls. For our first day we had to have coffee of course. And so many coffee shops to choose from. First up, Community Coffee, a small shop where a woman was doing the roasting in the back. Interesting to see her doing the small batch roasting right then. Coffees ordered were flat white, dirty hojicha latte (dirty green tea with 2 shots of espresso) — a big winner, and an espresso tonic. Breakfast at the iconic Chew Kee Noodle House and then more coffee at Rough Boys. A short break then on to lunch (remember Singapore is a foodie paradise). This time we hit the hawker stalls at Lau Pa Sat Hawker center in the city center. So many choices! This center is old, originally built in 1838, it has been in its current location since 1894. We ate Singapore style rice noodles, etc. and cheesecake for dessert. Yum. We stayed in Chinatown as suggested by NYT and did some walking around to check out the sites and headed back for our afternoon break in our room. For dinner, it was the yellow chair restaurant nearby. They didn’t have the Singapore laksa I wanted so I got a Singapore Sling. Other food we ate was squid, chili oil dumplings and green beans (although it was more like red peppers with a few green beens).
Saturday, January 13, 2024
More walking around, Mixue ice cream for lunch dessert (I love you, you love me lalalalala I say a very familiar song they stole from Barney and Oh Susanna!) Iced mochas from the Coffee Queen at Maxwell Food Court. Then a visit to Singapore City Gallery to learn the history, design and future of Singapore. It is amazing what they have done since becoming a country in 1965. This city is very clean, growing up and up and very modern while striving to retain its heritage. Chinatown is very well taken care of. I think they like to think of themselves as the city of the future, conserving and serving their people. For dinner, we made reservations at Ajoomma, a Korean restaurant. The food was excellent and fun to eat. After dinner drinks at the Elephant Bar. What a fun bar. They started us with welcome drinks of cardamon and whisky. We each ordered a different Singapore themed drink which were all interesting and good. They then gave us a farewell drink of red wine and rum.
Sunday, January 14, 2024
Quick breakfast and coffees at Maxwell Food Court before heading out to Tanglin to our hair appointments. Camille, a color correction to leave her “sci-fi drug dealer” look behind (her words), Crystal (me) – a trim and Al, a beard trim. Jay waited. After my cut, Jay and I got hour long massages at Natureland at the Rendezvous Hotel. They cost about a third of what they would cost in the US. Very nice and relaxing. Camille now looks fabulous and sophisticated! It doesn’t take much. (Mama is biased.) Lunch at a highly rated (actually Michelin star chain) shop in the mall. The coconut paitan was delicious!!
Back to Maxwell Station where we visited the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple which has thousands of little Buddhas everywhere, beautiful embroidered silk tapestries and other interesting statues. I don’t know much about the Buddhist religion but I learn a little more with each temple I visit. We learned our guardian deities. Al and mine are the same, ours looked benevolent. Camille’s guardian deity looked like an intense, fierce warrior.
Dinner – Yes there is a lot written here about food but it is a foodie paradise. We went back to Lau Pa Sat and this time to the kiosks on the outside, famously known as Satay Street. These were open and the entire market was packed. The satay was delicious. Food courts aren’t just for tourists. The less expensive ones like People’s Park, which we also went to, are frequented by locals. The gal who cut my hair said she goes to one after work because it is cheap and easy and good.
To finish our time in Singapore, we hoofed it over to the Gardens by the Bay to catch the great trees lit up. We caught the end of the light show but got to spend quiet time in the garden. The trees are amazing structures covered in live plants and are basically self-sustaining using irrigation systems up the “tree” and are covered in solar panels and catchment basins on top.
Other observations of Singapore; Since we were staying in Chinatown we got to see a lot of the old architecture. The roofs and the shutters were unique and the buildings were colorful. Some of the buildings had beautiful tiles on the front. Walking to Lau Pa Sat took us through a section of the city with modern architecture. Many of the buildings had gardens up the side of the building. We could see that there were also a lot of rooftop gardens with some very large trees hanging over the side. This area was once a marsh/bay area that has been filled in and built on. On the periphery of the main island are many small islands, some of which are being filled in/turned into one island.
Monday before catching our flight to Penang, Jay, Camille and I enjoyed another cup of coffee at Parallel Coffee across the street and went for another walk. Al went to the apartment during this time to pack. We visited a nearby mosque, Sri Mariamman Temple and perused more street art and the increasing amount of Chinese New Year decorations. It’s the year of the Dragon so it’s fun to see the dragons popping up everywhere.
On to Penang!! Guest writer Jay to follow.
Fun!