We are a bit behind on updating the blog – we arrived last night in Shanghai after a wonderful week with Robert’s grandma, aunts, uncles, and cousins in Sydney, Australia. After we left Malaysia a couple weeks ago, we spent an enjoyable three days in Singapore. In stark contrast to much of the rest of Southeast Asia, Singapore was incredibly modern, clean, regulated, and efficient. It was first settled around 1300, and ruled as the kingdom of Singapura (he Lion City). In 1819, Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles claimed Singapore as a British colony; it flourished as a trading hub and center of immigration until February 1942, when the British surrendered it to the Japanese after World War II attacks. The British administered Singapore as a colony again from 1945-1959, when Singapore became independent. On our first day, we took a walking tour around the Chinatown area, where we visited Chinese temples and Chinatown Complex Food Center, one of Singapore’s iconic food halls where hawkers serve inexpensive favorites like chicken rice (tender chicken breast boiled in chicken broth over rice slow cooked with garlic, ginger, and more chicken broth). The food center is the hub of a few high-rise apartment buildings, typical of the government designed and built housing that over 80% of Singaporeans call home. Because food cleanliness standards are extremely high, we were able to try anything that caught our eye without the wariness we developed towards street food from our frequent stomachaches over the past three months. The Chinatown food center is home to Liao Fan Hong Kong Soya Sauce Chicken Rice & Noodle, the world’s cheapest Michelin-starred meal, where chicken rice is only $1.40. Our favorite chicken rice was at a nondescript stand near our hotel, Shuang Shun Chicken Rice, 346 Geylang Rd – make sure to get the roasted chicken instead of plain boiled. We spent much of the next day at the National Gallery. We saw wonderful art from all over Southeast Asia, which was a satisfying way to wrap up our time in the region. It was also one of the first times we can remember going to an art museum that featured artists from places like Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam etc., and it was interesting to see the narratives and creativity of Asian artists. We went for a long walk by the spectacularly designed waterfront, and visited the Marina Bay Sands, the world’s most expensive casino property, featuring three skyscrapers inspired by a deck of cards, topped by a park, bar, and infinity pool. Just beyond Marina Bay are the Gardens by the Bay, home to Singapore’s iconic Supertrees, vertical gardens that harness solar energy for a nightly lights show. From the start of the boardwalk to the Gardens, the entire waterfront was brilliantly designed, a seamless integration of office space, public parks, restaurants, shopping, and public transportation. Rooftop gardens and public parks abound in Singapore, making the 100% urban populated country clean and green. We went back to Chinatown for a late-night meal of roti with chicken curry, spicy Szechuan peppercorn tofu, and a large, ice cold Tiger beer each. We spent our final day at the Singapore Zoo, definitely the best zoo either of us had been to. Some highlights included the extremely active and playful monkeys and orangutans, white tigers, and flying foxes – the largest species of bat in the world. We were able to get very close to many of the animals who lived in large, open areas. That evening, we went back to our hotel to collect our bags and have one last chicken rice before going to the airport. Although our flight to Sydney didn’t leave until 1:30 AM, we wanted to get there early to relax and enjoy what is supposed to be the best airport in the world. We got an amazing deal on our flight – it cost only $110 each for the 8 hour Singapore-Sydney route on Scoot, Singapore’s low-cost airline, which flew a brand new 787-9 Dreamliner. We got even luckier when we boarded and there were enough empty seats for us to each have our own row of three to lie down. After a decent sleep in poor man’s business class, we arrived in Sydney around noon.
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September 2018
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