Singapore: City of Lions
On visiting Singapore's ethnic districts, modernistic architecture, and celebrating birthdays
Welcome back, readers, to our grand adventure across Asia. You last heard from us when we were wrapping up our family trip in Penang, Malaysia with delicious foods. Today, we separate from Dang-Huy’s family and jet off to Singapore, which is only a short hour away by plane. Our goal for Singapore was simple - squeeze in all the most famous tourist attractions and hit as many hawker centres as possible in just 3 short days.
A Brief Review of Singapore’s History
Singapore, a small country and city-state to the southern tip of the Malay peninsula, is known by many for its wealth and grandiose landmarks. The term “City of Lions” originates from the Malay words “Singa Pura” which means Lion City. How they came to wealth was a large point of interest for us - in the past, the country was colonized by the British, which is why Singaporeans speak English. Then the Japanese occupied the island until WW2 ended and the area merged into Malaysia. Because of Singapore’s geographic and cultural ties, many initially supported being a part of Malaysia. However, political differences (such as benefits granted to ethnic Malays but not other ethnic groups) caused Singapore to be ejected from Malaysia, thus birthing it in 1965 as a poor city-state with little agricultural ownership, low economic activity, and poor infrastructure.
The new government established a democracy with rigid and somewhat radical rules, with an emphasis on law enforcement and weeding out corruption. For example, an American teen in 1994 was caned for spitting gum out onto the sidewalk. Though an intense punishment by the view of Americans, the result of that law is a spotlessly clean city. A cultural and governmental emphasis on success in education cultivated a highly educated population, resulting in a very competitive white-collar job market. Because of the competitive job market, Singaporeans are known to be highly ambitious.
Overall, their harder approaches and rigid organizational infrastructure were successful. Today, with a population of 6,000,000 and the 35th biggest GDP in the world, Singapore boasts incredible public infrastructure, diverse ethnicities, excellent green urban planning, and access to all the luxuries and nightlife a traveller could ask for (if they have the money to afford it!)
The Jewel
Even if you aren’t too well-versed on what Singapore has to offer, you may be familiar with its illustrious airport, The Jewel Changi Airport. Most famously, it boasts a massive rain vortex waterfall, but there’s a lot of other amazing things like a giant multilevel mall, butterfly garden, free luxurious rest lounges, an artificial canopy, etc.. The Changi Airport has been awarded the title of “Best Airport” several times, with the Doha International Airport in Dubai stealing the title away occasionally. The Changi Airport offers a massive shopping complex, art exhibits, and garden displays where nature is integrated into its modernistic architecture. Thus, after passing through Singapore’s fully automated immigration and customs, we headed over to the Jewel Terminal via a glitzy airport tram to see these high acclaimed exhibits.
Automated immigration terminals made arrivals smooth, quick, and painless. Perfect for us anxious-minded individuals.
The tram’s doors slid open soundlessly, allowing us to disembark and enter into a large glass dome. Sunlight diffused all around us, with bustling shops and artwork mixed together along the pathway. We rushed forward to the waterfall with glee, excited to see this engineering and architectural marvel of which we’d only dreamt.
The photos cannot properly convey how MASSIVE and spectacular this waterfall is. As you can see, it is surrounded by lush live greenery, with seats and restaurants peaking out amongst the leaves. Having woken up early for our flight here, we’d missed a proper breakfast and chose to dine at the airport. Usually we prefer to spend our meals in town rather than in an airport, but with a view like this, we wanted to enjoy it for as long as possible. As a result, we found the nearest restaurant that had something for Sol - a Tex-Mex restaurant serving very pricey food - and were seated as close to the waterfall as possible. We chatted excitedly about the airport over papas bravas, beans, and rice. Though the beans and rice were just acceptable, Sol was relieved to be eating something closer to her Hispanic roots.
Once we’d wrapped up, we followed signs for the public transit that would take us into town. Since we hadn’t done any research on Singapore, we weren’t quite sure what the best way was. At first, we saw long lines of people trying to buy a subway card that we’d need to load up on credit in addition to paying for the card itself. Something felt off to Dang-Huy, so he connected to the free wi-fi and searched if the subway cards were worth it while we waited on line. The answer? In Singapore, you can simply use your bank card directly to tap into the subway system. The “tourist cards” are more costly if you’re only visiting for a few days. Cackling with our egos stoked, we left the queues behind in our dust as we strolled right through the ticketing gates easily.
The subways were on time, modern, extremely quiet, and spotlessly clean. Coming from Boston’s transports, we were in awe! After we disembarked and climbed to the floor level, we were blasted with the sun’s heat as high rise buildings sprung high into the air around us. According to the Singapore Weather Department, we were in Singapore in its 4th warmest year ever. Temperatures were around 29 C at its highest, which when married with humidity resulted in it feeling like 35 C or roughly 95 F. We walked outside and began sweating immediately.
Dang-Huy: I was caught off guard by the video - too busy looking around in awe! The urban planning in Singapore is next level, they mix in lots of green spaces and parks in between the skyscrapers which help to reduce the incredible heat of the city. This makes walking through the cities more bearable.
We walked about fifteen minutes to our accommodation, marveling in the futuristic city design despite being drenched in sweat.
Unfortunately, Singapore’s accommodations are quite costly. We ended up opting for a double bed in a hostel with good reviews. Essentially, it was a large room with single or double beds each surrounded by three walls and one curtain. Much to our dismay, it cost us around $80 USD/night! We were paying a fraction of a fraction of that in Indonesia. It’s prices like these that make us glad we can split accommodation costs!
The employee at the hostel was very kind and showed us around with great hospitality and instruction. Each bed-space offered a small locker for valuables, and there were communal bathrooms and showers just outside of the dorm room. After a short rest and shower to freshen up, we headed out to explore the city!
In the night, the city cooled down in temperature significantly. Perhaps as a result, the city seemed to come alive as people slithered out from their air-conditioned buildings to enjoy an incredible outdoor ambiance. We walked along Clarke Quay, a riverside neighborhood lit up with soft neon lights and jam-packed with bars, restaurants, and clubs. Young people especially were out in droves, sitting outside by the river or in restaurants partying the night away. Loud places aren’t for us, but we enjoyed observing it on our walk and taking it all in. We eventually retreated to our hostel for some rest, only to be kept up throughout the night by a traveler who set their alarm for 4am and never turned it off. Sol scolded him the first night and told the hostel employee. You’d think the fellow traveler would have learned after the first night and subsequent discussion with the hostel worker, but alas that wasn’t the case and so Dang-Huy screamed at him the second night.
Little India
Our first full day in Singapore started with trying out Kaya Toast at a chain nearby called Killiney Kopitiam. Kaya Toast is comprised of white bread, kaya jam (a sweet spread made with coconut, sugar, eggs, and pandan leaves), and a thick slice of butter. Dang-Huy ordered his with an egg, french toast, cucumber, and iced coffee, while Sol had hers by itself with a glass of orange juice.
Dang-Huy: The ultra-rich sticky sweetness of the kaya was a delight when married with the thick slab of butter. The butter melted from the warmth of the soft, barely toasted, tender white bread. I loved soaking up the egg yolk with the bread and then washing it down with the very strong coffee. It was a simple breakfast but sometimes that’s all you want.
Sol: I was pretty nervous to try the Kaya toast as I’d just started re-introducing dairy to my diet after a 10 year break from it. The dairy from this day definitely hit my digestive system pretty hard, but after my time in Singapore, I was able to handle dairy with less difficulty. Thankfully, the Kaya toast was yummy and since it’s such a significant Singaporean food, I’m happy I tried it! Though I will say that if I were to have it again, I’d switch the kaya : butter ratio in favor of the kaya jam.
With our hunger sated, we headed over to Little India. Although ethnic Indians are dispersed throughout the city-state, many Indian businesses and commercial industries are located in Little India. The streets were lined fruit vendors, electronic stores, herbal and incense shops, and jewelers. The neighborhood held a calm yet bustling energy. Sol was particularly excited as, unlike Dang-Huy, she’d yet to travel to India and wasn’t planning on visiting anytime soon due to India’s overstimulating nature and Sol’s low tolerance for sensory overload. In fact, it was on this day that she uttered the following: “The only way I can visit India for the first time is if I have an Indian friend.”
Let’s just wait and see how closely the universe was listening to her that day.
Our First Hawker Centre
We stopped for a quick bite in one of the Hawker centres nearby. Hawker centres are an important part of Singaporean culture: government-subsidized food complexes with many vendors offering varied and affordable cooking. You can get many meals for just 1-5 USD! Though the daal and naan was decent, it lacked the pizzazz the food in Malaysia had. The Hawker centre was loud with sounds of cooking, chatter, and chaos.
The biryani portion was huge, and this was the smallest size! The goat meat was tender and flavourful, a welcome accompaniment to the aromatic Basmati rice. Achar (very strongly flavoured Indian pickles) and a small cup of watery curry to pour over the biryani was served on the side.
We slipped back outside quickly after eating to walk around a little more. It was then that Dang-Huy said something that would make Sol’s heart jump.
“Shall we go look at rings in the jewelry stores?” he inquired.
Both of us were wanting to get engaged soon and ring shopping was the first step towards making that happen. Though none of the jewelry stores in Little India offered anything Sol liked, this was a significant moment for each of us and spurred us to visit ring shops throughout our travels. Yet again, let's wait and see how closely the universe was listening to our desires.
Dang-Huy’s Divine Dumpling Experience
At dinnertime, we headed over to a popular food centre called Maxwell Food Centre.
The hawker centre was full of tourists and locals perusing through rows of vendors. It was a struggle to find a table to sit!
For Dang-Huy’s first round, he ordered both Char Kway Teow and Char Kway Kak (stir fried rice noodles and stir fried turnip cakes), both of which were delightfully slicked in oil. He gobbled them down easily - the dishes are delicious by nature - but similar to the Indian food earlier, he didn’t feel they lived up the ones he had in Malaysia. We surmised that this could be because Singapore imports most of their produce, causing it all to be older. Or it could be that we didn’t find the right spots to eat at.
Unsatisfied, he eventually found a dumpling store run by a very friendly auntie and uncle who called him over. They had no line but advertised hand-made dumplings. Unable to resist a good boiled dumpling, he ordered a pork and chive dumpling set.
Dang-Huy: These were the best dumplings of my life. I’m very passionate about boiled dumplings being the best form of dumplings - for me, boiling makes the wrapping smooth and soft, though a little bit of bite left is ideal - and the fillings are juicy and fatty. These matched my idea of a perfect boiled dumpling and exceeded it - the handmade-quality resulted in delightful grooves and inconsistencies that kept every dumpling special. After mostly mediocre food, this really made my day.
With the very ravenous Dang-Huy satisfied, we wandered around the streets at night and stumbled across a very cute soft-serve bar with vegan coconut milk ice cream and 0% sugar!
The soft serve was delicious and we couldn’t distinguish it from soft-serve with sugar. So cool! (Pun not intended.
Singapore Bar
With Singapore’s intense humidity, we scheduled our days to be centered around sightseeing and eating in the mornings and evenings, with the middle of the day being spent in the A/C of our hostel after a quick wash in the shower. Trust us when we say the heat here is no joke - most days it was 35 C / 95 F with 88-100% humidity!
Thus, we headed out after the sun had set to meet Olive-nim. Though we’d split up from the Nguyen family in Malaysia, Olive-nim had been in Singapore doing her own travels. She was flying out tonight so we decided to meet up for drinks. Among other things, Singapore is famous for its nightlife, and while clubbing and barhopping isn’t our thing, we were excited to check out the nice spot Olive-nim had found.
We were surprised to find that the bar was in a tall and skinny building, with lots of seats found on each of the multiple levels. There were lots of young working professionals sipping on cocktails while chatting jovially with their friends. The atmosphere felt cozy yet sophisticated.
We found Olive-nim and her friend tucked away in a corner on the 3rd floor and joined up with them. What followed was a delightful night of chatter and delicious creative house-made wines and cocktails reflecting the local tropical ingredients. The staff even came out with a free round of some house-made spirits on the rocks for us later!
The cocktails were incredibly well-balanced and left us completely satisfied - we wouldn’t have changed a thing or even known how to start to replicate the drinks.
As you can see, the spirits and wine have such a beautiful clarity to them, and that was thanks to a very fancy piece of equipment that tickled Dang-Huy’s previous life as an engineer:
Yes, they fermented their own alcohols and then put them into a rotovap-centrifuge apparatus to distill them! For those who don’t know what that means, they use fancy science laboratory equipment to make their house-made alcohols very clear and beautiful while preserving the most important flavours.
Sol’s Birthday
Longevity Noodles + Buddhist Temple
Today, our last day in Singapore, was a very special day: Sol’s birthday! We had an exciting itinerary for the day full of pretty sights and good food. The first order of business was eating longevity noodles! Longevity noodles are eaten on birthdays in Chinese culture as a way to attain long life and prosperity.
Sol slurped happily on her noodles, hoping for lots of good health and prosperity for her life. The food was good, though nothing particularly noteworthy. After our meal, we walked to the next block over to the Buddhist temple. The temple housed a very informative museum on the top floor dedicated to the history of Buddhism. Though there are different branches of Buddhism, the general story recounts a rich prince named Siddartha who relinquished all his worldly possessions and experienced a long journey of suffering until he discovered Nirvana - the liberation from all suffering.
Buddhists chanting mantras in respect to Buddha. All along the walls are thousands of Buddha figurines.
Marina Bay and Mall
Our final activity of the day was visiting Marina Bay! Gardens by the Bay holds daily light shows in the evenings, where their signature “trees” glow in synchronization with music. Today’s music was the “golden oldies” of western music and the first song was by the Carpenters, whom we both adore.
After enjoying the lights and architecture throughout the garden, we walked over to the massive hotel (photo above) and nearby mall. Both contained a level of wealth and luxury we’ve never seen. Being in our casual travel clothes, we felt a little out of place next to the Gucci, Chanel, and other luxury brand stores.
After a lot of window-shopping and ooh-ing and aah-ing that made us feel poor, we left the mall and made our way back to our hostel, exhausted.
Farewell, Singapore!
Just like that, our time in Singapore was done! Dang-Huy visited the hawker stalls in the morning and got some takeaway for the airport while Sol nibbled on fruit as her stomach was displeased from all the dairy she’d consumed.
We passed through immigration and began to reflect on our time in Singapore. It was really cool to see the city-state of Instagram fame. The architecture and urban planning was no joke, but the sweltering heat made it difficult to take it all in. There was nothing wrong with the food, but it didn’t live up to our expectations, though the drinks at that bar were excellent. Coupled with expensive accomodations, our conclusion was that the 3 days were a perfect amount of time for us to see what we wanted, but that travelers who have a bigger budget and prefer experiencing nightlife will enjoy the city much more than we.
Feeling satisfied, we boarded our plane to a very anticipated destination - Korea, the pop-cultural zeitgeist of Sol’s teenage years and home of delicious, spicy, and fermented food.
Bidding farewell to South East Asia,
Dang-Huy and Sol