Eating in Singapore.

17.11.11

The last few days in Singapore have been really enjoyable and leisurly.

We've done a fair bit of walking. Yesterday we went to Chinatown, to

find a recommended Hawker centre for lunch. We tried a selection of

food, including Char Sew roasted pork, dumpling soup and crispy fried

wontons for mains. All of which were simple but delicious. Then Chris

went to point at a selection of odd looking drinks and deserts that

he'd seen people having and came back with Jellygrass tea. This is a

clear black coloured cold drink with lumps of jelly floating around!

It has a strange after taste, but is drinkable, until it starts getting

lumpier! We also tried soya milk, which is very popular and beancurd

with warm sugar cane, which none of us could really get in to, the texture

was too unnusual! It was a really lively, bustling atmosphere sat amongst

the food stands in this market. Chinatown was quite interesting to walk

around, but quite geared towards tourists.

We headed back to Geylang to get showered and changed and then got back

on the MRT to Marina Bay. We went to see the casino at the marina, which

is quite a new addition and huge. Gambling was only recently legalised

in Singaore and the casinos opened in 2009. The floor space is about 50% fruit

machines and then tables of Marjong, black jack and some other dice

games we didn't recognise. There is no poker played here much to the

disappointment of Martin and Chris. Singaporeans have to pay 100 SD

to enter and play at the casino.

After wandering around we went to dinner at Cut, which was just an incredible

experience for me (Martin had been before). It is an upmarket steak restaurant.

I'm not really a connosieur of steak so I needed some help choosing the cut of

my steak. The cows are bred specifically and are reared on a particular diet

in order to make the meat really succulent and get a particular taste. After

ordering we were presented with a selection of breads to choose from, including

olive bread, very exciting!! The meal itself was phenomenal. All the cuts of

meat melted in the mouth. I didn't realise there was any difference in taste

depending on the cut of steak. The vegetable side dishes were amazing too and

we also enjoyed a bottle of Cianti.

I felt very spoilt! Thank you Chris x

Today we got the MRT back to Orchard and then walked the length of Orchard

out to the Botanic gardens, which took about 45 minutes, longer than the

boys were happy about! Once we left Orchard road we were in a wealthy area

with plush apartment blocks and then huge mansions, with private security

booths and acres of land, so it was quite interesting gawping at these

properties, trying to decide who would live there etc.

The Botanic gardens were really pleasant to walk around, with various different

types of gardens over a vast area. You didn't feel like you were in a city.

The Orchid garden in particular was worth a visit, housing so many different

types of Orchid. I didn't realise that the Orchid is supposed to be the

largest group of flowering plant.

For dinner we went to find another recommended hawker centre in one of the malls

on Orchard Road, Ngee Ann City. Martin and I tried Carrot cake which we think

is slices of a tofu type substance and veg fried, in this case in a black bean

sauce. Not too sure about it! We also tried some deserts - mango pudding,

which was like a mango jelly, really good.

Then this evening we went to the marina to watch the Immortals, and before hand

the boys played a game of bowling while I wandered around the shops.

Kuta, Bali and arriving in Singapore

15.11.11

We've spent the last 2 days in Kuta, which I'm not going to write about

in any detail because we could have been anywhere in the world

quite frankly! But we had a really good time. Our hotel - Anemone

Hotel was really lovely with a clean little pool, spacious clean

rooms and a very cute little puppy! We spent an hour or so each

afternoon at the beach, which is the busiest beach we have seen so

far but still not too bad, watching the surfers. Sunrise on

our last night was stunning. We also had a really good night out,

although I particularly suffered for it the next day! It was also

nice having such a huge range of places to eat that all did reasonable

western food.

However this morning we had a really early start for our next stop;

Singapore. Our flight was at 6:20am, which in my opinion is probably the

worst possible time for a flight, especially if you are still recovering

from a hangover! So we left our hotel at 3.30am to flag down a taxi.

Of course the streets were Kuta were more busy and tragic than during

the day.

6 hours later we were hopping on and off the MRT and in no time at all

had arrived at our budget, musty smelling hotel, again in Geylang.

After a couple of hours sleep we headed out to Orchard Road, where we

wondered around the many malls. Martin was extremely excited because

he found a cinema. The prices for the cinema are so much more

reasonable than at home (about half the price) and you can pay £2 for

popcorn and a drink (ok the popcorn isn't a ridiulous size like in

England but still good value). So we booked tickets for a bit later

on and then went to find a coffee somewhere - something we had really

missed!

We saw 11-11-11, which was enjoyable. Although Martin spent the whole

movie waitiing for a dramatic battle between the mortals and immortals,

which never happened. This films worth seeing though; gives you a few things

to think about.

In the evening we decided to eat in Geylang, just a few minutes walk from

our hotel was one of many street cafes. So we pulled up some stalls

in between a couple of groups sat at trestle tables and began examining

the vast picture menu. We were obviously looking suitably confused as a

lady next to us asked if needed any help. We asked her to recommend some

dishes and ordered those, all of which were delicious: porridge with

minced pork; chilli squid stuffed with pork; tempura prawns and wantons.

Again it was a really nice atmosphere, all along the road people were

sat enjoying a beer or some food, chatting with friends.

Singapore

17.10.11

We had both been really excited about our day in Singapore and we were not

disappointed. We felt quite relaxed as everything seemed strangely familiar

compared to India. The roads were more predictable: people drove in lanes,

obeyed traffic rules, stopped at traffic lights etc. English is also widely

spoken, shops were more modern and western like. It's amazing how 2 ex-English

colonies can be so different!

So we headed to the restaurant from last night for lunch before heading to Orchard

Road. We found the Aljunied MRT station about 10 minutes walk from our hotel.

It was all so simple! We bought a ticket at the machine, found where we wanted

to go on the map and followed the signs to the correct platform. It's as simple

as the London Underground, but much cleaner and less crowded. They don't use

paper tickets either, you get a plastic ticket which you return after your journey

and get a 1 dollar refund.

We got off at Orchard station which is exited through the ION mall. Orchard Road

is a road of malls. From what I can gather there are ---- malls. Walking down

the road you can smell the money! We passed Dolce & Gabbana,

Calvin Klein, Louis Vutton, Chanel, Versace, Abercrombie and Fitch...all the big

ones! We spent a happy few hours window shopping. We were amazed at how busy each mall

was and how much business they must get to all stay open, I don't think we saw

any vacant lots. There must be huge amounts of money in Singapore, when you think

about Southampton when not all the shops can afford to stay open in West Quay.

Anyway, we then got back on the MRT at Somerset and went to the Marina. The Marina

is'nt particularly picturesque, but is surrounded by hotels, office blocks and

a grand, upmarket mall. Along the promenade there is also the Art and Science museum, which

was unfortunately closed. It is housed in a very unnusual looking building shaped

like a bunch of banannas or an open hand facing palm upwards. Inside the mall was

a man-made canal and a gondola making trips up it, there was also a skating rink.

We walked over an elaborate bridge which was like a metal rope, from the bridge

you had a good view of Singapore's version of the the Eye. Across the river we came

to another mall where we decided to have something to eat. Eventually we picked

Sauce, to have a burger each, as we'd both been craving meat. The setting for

our meal was wonderful; sat outside with a view of the marina andd the light

show that started. The burgers were immense and washed down with a couple of beers-

it doesn't get much better than that! However the price put a bit of a dampner

on things (even though it was english prices, this came as a bit of shock

compared to India!).