Singapore

Back at the Brunei airport (that we successfully navigated to via those cool-hued buses we couldn’t find when Joe-E scooped us under her wing), we boarded our flight to Singapore, a small island country a short flight away.

We landed in Singapore and frankly could have stayed in the airport for the entire weekend. Singapore Changhi Airport is hands-down the nicest airport in the world. I’ve only been to a handful by now, but I think it’s fair to say any airport with a rooftop pool, movie theater, gym, game room, and more shops than 3 Mall of America’s (the nice wing by Nordstrom, not the creepy 4th floor where Rainbow is) is a clear winner. And, I think all those amenities are free (minus the boutiques...those are the opposite of free)!! Although uber tempting, we didn’t stay, venturing out into the real Singapore.

According to a young Malay I met in Kuala Lumpur (fondly called KL by travelers and locals, alike) who was attending film-school in London with high hopes of making it to Hollywood some day, Singapore’s history is an interesting one, and the mainland Malays, Indians, and Chinese that significantly account for Malaysia’s population don’t think too highly of the little island county.

50ish years ago when Malaysia gained independence from Britain (“who helped develop Malaysia a lot, like bringing silverware.”), Singapore was included as a part of the deal, gaining independence as an island of Malaysia. Shortly after establishing freedom, Singapore said: “Oh by the way, we’re going to do our own thing, we’ve elected a leader, made some plans, and are going to be on our own now.” I’m not too sure how this all went down, but according to the college student who just woke up at 1:00pm from her night out, there wasn’t much of a fight. The entire conversation felt like an episode of “Drunk History,” a reality series staring sarcastic hipsters who spend a night imbibing and tell stories of historical significance. Well-known actors moonlight in an episode or two, enacting the story as narrated by the drunk storyteller. It’s amusing, and I remember more from one 30-minute episode than one chapter of my brown-bag-and-Crayola-marker-covered social studies book.

A small island country, Singapore is pristine. Sterile, almost. The subway smelled AMAZING. I wonder if they make a Singapore Subway scented candle I thought as we zipped around underground or above street level. Balanced topiaries and lush greens line perfectly paved streets, uplit at night, illuminating the darkness and creating a euphoric glow. Sidewalks are garbage-less and gum-less (as gum is illegal). People are friendly and smile. Homeless people? Nope. Panhandlers? Not a chance. Crime? What’s that? This place was like a little utopia. The worlds perfect island, resented by every other island engulfed with pollution and an endless rubbish problem. I wasn’t there long enough to confirm if some holographic falsity had fooled me, but there must be something wrong with Singapore. It was almost too perfect, there must be some secret underground

Not only yummy smelling, but the suway is studded with great art, as well!

Regardless, I loved it. The few days we stayed here were filled with neighborhood hopping by smell-good subway, which also was icy-cool and allowed the sweat to dry from our clothes. We stayed in a charming area called Kampong Glam, on a busy street with a mosque on one end and great restaurants and boutique shops studding the sidewalks. We fell in love with a little café on the corner from our place, eating Tahu Goreng daily. Fried tofu and tempeh doused in spicy peanut sauce. Yes. Please.

Singapore is a shoppers dream. Beyond the fancy malls (which we avoided), there are an incredible amount of boutiques and small shops selling real handicrafts from local artisans and designers. The streets aren’t marked with stalls selling the same crap on repeat every two strides. We shop-hopped and easily could have blown the entire travel budget. I really enjoyed Haji Street in Kampong Glam. It’s charming and cute, filled with stationary stores and jewelry boutiques, each one with a better window display than the last.

This spot was amazing! You pay by the hour for your kids to use their supplies and craft their little hearts out.

Cheeky little airline ticket office

Will thought these weirdos looked like April from 'The Office'

If you've never experienced an after-bar-close walk home with us, you're in for a real treat!

We visited two of the big hawker centers, developed to allow vendors to sell their food in a non-competitive environment (no fighting over the prime corner location) and regulate food safety (ensuring proper water and refrigeration). Local-rich, we saw a few other travellers, but were by far the minority. We picked a long line, pointed to whatever looked popular, and experienced some tremendous food. I tried The Terik at a few stalls, similar to the tea in Myanmar and Malaysia, nice and sweet with milk and ‘pulled’ to cool it down.

'Pulling' tea to cool it down and make it frothy and yummy

Hawker center... looks like a food court

Coffee and peanut pancakes

We paid a visit to Chinatown, which was blasé compared to alternate versions we’ve seen. This was the overly touristy and gimmicky area of Singapore, so we made a quick loop and left before getting trampled by a group of Australians.

There are 2 beautiful gardens to explore, the Singapore Botanic Gardens and Gardens by the Bay, and we enjoyed both, dripping from the heat and hiding on palm leaves and garden arches to stay cool. Gardens by the Bay has interesting stuctures pojecting into the sky, fondly knicknamed "avatar trees" since James Cameron could have filmed his technological hit right in the garden.

Friday evenings, the Singapore Museum of Modern Art offers free admittance, so we spent date-night among some interesting (and sometimes scary!) modern art. We enjoyed their current exhibit and little gift shop, and, of course, the air-con (did I mention the heat?). The museum is in a beautiful old colonial building, worth a visit for the surroundings even if watching a woman tumbling in butter doesn’t feel like art to you.

The best views of the city can be seen in Marina Bay walking around the mall decks overlooking the river, near the Avatar trees. We grabbed dinner at the insanely beautiful mall food court, starring glamorous dishes from all over the world. Easily the nicest mall I’ve seen, making the Galleria look more like Southdale Mall circa ‘92, and also smelling like a candle I’d buy, we ventured to the roof top to see the night skyline.

Singapore is like an ever-growing an ameba, the skyline constantly changing as new buildings erupt through the current skyline. The views were nice, but we still had our sights set on something even higer.

A semi-decent outfit (i.e. no flip flops or ball caps) gains you access to the roof top lounge of SkyPark, 36 stories up, perched on one half of the surfboard-shaped terrace. The Stella Artois drafts my dad bought me on my 21st birthday were less expensive than the one gold-rimed glass we shared, but the view was great. Surrounded by a more date-night friendly crowd than the $30-a-ticket viewing deck 1 floor below, sprinkled with running and screaming kids ignored by their parents and oozing with fanny-packed tourists, we enjoyed our city views amongst clinking glass and schmoozey bar talk, wind blowing our hair around (beard included).

A nice ride back home in the cleanest subway the world has produced, we made it to our guest house, the Sleepy Kiwi, where we were staying in a large dorm room. 14 bunks outfitted our ‘room,’ which connected to a series of large rooms with more bunks. I was the only girl among 13 boys. Surprisingly, the room was quiet; typically, dorms attract a younger traveling crowd (for numerous reasons), and we slumber next to young partiers who stay out late and stumble into bed. But, the Sleepy Kiwi was cool and comfortable, and although sleeping apart in adjacent top-bunks, I really enjoyed it.

Up early the next day, we enjoyed our incdluded-breakfast, featuring an incredible coconut and pandan jam, and rode back to the world's nicest airport for our next adventure.

From Singapore, with Love,

Sara + Will