A weekend in Singapore? I did it and so can you (and you should!!)
To paraphrase this whole section about Singapore, it was mind-blowing. Full stop.
Where do I begin…
Friday Oh.. Friday
We (Becky and I) arrived at 1pm at the Changi Airport and took the MRT (train) to Orchard Road, which took us about an hour and a bit. I didn’t mind the long ride because the trains were squeaky-clean and super comfy (this is what one expects, when paying two Singaporean Dollars for a single ride train ticket).
We arrived at Ion Orchard, a huge mall that was connected to the MRT station. The mall had about eight floors, two sections (shockingly enough, the rich and the poor) and billions of escalators!! It was a crazy maze; we were perplexed trying to find the exit that would lead us to the hotel. Long story short, we found it, after another hour walking around the mall while window-shopping. As we finally arrived in our hotel room, we took super long warm showers, relaxed, unpacked and tried to find a place to fill our small, empty bellies. We ate at Hong Kong restaurant, where I devoured two Bak Paos (Pork Buns) and a plate of baked rice with cheese and peppered beef. To drink I ordered hot tea with lemon. It was scrumptious! Best meal I had so far. Then, we walked off the calories we had just consumed by walking around the gigantic mall.
In the afternoon we met up with Jaqueline, Becky’s friend who had just graduated from Boston College and who’s currently doing an internship in Singapore. She called up two of her best friends, who then took us out to eat at Newton Circle – is a touristic hawkers center- it was basically a large food court. The food was delicious and I found my love for milo dinosaur! A cold chocolate milo drink with chocolate milo powder on top of it. It tasted AMAZING!! After having eaten, calamari rings, kankong, fried chicken with mayo and fried rice, we all headed to St. James a clubbing area near the port – we went to a club called Power Station because it was a friends birthday party – so we got in for free. Nevertheless, we didn’t end up staying for too long, because we were exhausted and needed the energy to explore Singapore the next day.
Saturday is there…
After having breakfast near the hotel, or rather brunch, as it was 11am, we returned to the hotel to figure out our itinerary for the day. That took a little longer than anticipated, since StarWorld was airing the Glee Project. 2pm struck and we wandered around the city. We cheaply enough, bought a day pass, which was only 18 Singaporean Dollars! A deal we could not disregard.
Our first stop was Little India – filled with Indians wearing Sari’s. They literally sold almost everything you could possibly find in India – from Bollywood clothes, and music to gold and henna tattoos. The street was even called cow street! After strolling around the bazaar we decided to eat a small snack and ended up in a restaurant called The Jungle Tandoor – it was a very cheap version of the Rainforest Cafe – with random animals, such as a polar bear and rabbits, in it. However, the food was unexpectedly good. We tried the chicken Lasooni with cucumber yoghurt.:)
After that we went to explore Clarke Quay (pronounced Clarky) – a promenade kind of area with very cute restaurants, clubs and passenger boats flowing in the river.
Then we went to the Raffles Place to find the fabled merlion. It was a mission, I can tell you that!! We walked around for a good hour around the water and saw the Esplanade (a dome), the Marina Bay Sands (a tall hotel with a ship like top and an infinity pool on it) and the Sky Singapore (a ferris wheel) it was a great sight. We then found the merlion, shooting out water from its mouth. It was the happiest moment in Singapore for me. It made me really excited, just because I always saw it on the SkyWorld magazine on Singapore Airlines since I was a child (we spent a good amount of time staring at it and taking pictures). Then we went to Level 33 – a hip bar, where one could get a panoramic view of Singapore’s skyline in the night light. It was breathtaking. I’m such a city girl. I loved it so much. 🙂
Having traveled by foot for so long, we decided to pop-by Chinatown and to grab some dumplings. One word – T A S T Y. I bought 12 dumplings for six Singaporean Dollars!! The best dumplings I had, seriously. We walked around Chinatown for a bit after having had dinner. It was the mid-autumn festival, so the streets were filled with people. It was a great place though – the cleanest Chinatown I’ll ever be seeing.
and Sunday..
After gotten into bed the previous night with sore legs and lower backaches we woke up at about ten to shower and pack before it was our check out time. But before we headed to the airport to catch our plane back to Phnom Penh, we met up with Chen and Yi Ya (two Northeastern students doing an internship in Singapore). It was very nice of them to meet us and tell us about places we should go next time we visit Singapore. We talked and caught up while eating at the food court. I had Nasi Rendang and Tiramisu for desert. It was a shame that it was out last day in Singapore. I really enjoyed it there.
P.S. I fell in love with Singapore. I will return, you can count on me my legendary Merlion.
~ Thank you Mom and Dad for giving me this opportunity to travel. I am truly blessed to have the greatest and most loving parents. Love you both very much, Kim ~
Archipelago Journal 