Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Sensational sights of Singapore


Marina Bay, Singapore

It's amazing how time is flying on this journey.  We have such a warped sense of time to begin with - adjusting our clocks forward every few days (and today is our 2nd April 12th because of the international date line).  It feels like our time in Asia - incredible as it was - went by in the blink of an eye.  When I last wrote, we didn't know if we'd still be heading to Japan, and soon thereafter it was decided that we would not be able to stop there.  The alternate options were South Korea, the Philippines, and Taiwain.  Although I was wishing with all my might that we would get to visit the Philippines, ISE decided that our best and safest option would be Taiwan, so we added that to our itinerary.  We are now currently on the Pacific Ocean on our way to Hawaii, but I still want to try and capture the experiences and poignant moments we had at each stop… so since I left off with India, I'll pick back up with Singapore.

Singapore.  What an amazing city.  We came into the port in the early morning and got to see the sunrise over what appeared to be an extremely modern and well kept city.  There was a feel in the air that this would be unlike any place we've been yet, and it was foreshadowing of the modernity we'd see in our later visits to China and Taiwan.  Knowing that the season finale for Top Chef was taped in Singapore, Mark and I were ready to experience their culinary offerings.  Another thing that I was really excited for in Singapore was to reunite with my cousin who I haven't seen in 15 years!  

When we first arrived we got dropped off on the main shopping road, and the even the drive through the city was amazing.  In our pre-port lecture to prepare us for the visit, Prof. Kluge mentioned that Singapore was an extremely clean (and safe) place.  This couldn't be any more true - the streets were spotless, architecture was very interesting, and it felt like a really safe place as well.  It was an added bonus to be able to drink beverages with ice in it, and even order water from the tap.  No GI problems here :)

My cousin met up with us and she and her friend took the day off of work (they are nurses) to tour us around the city which was awesome because they knew the best ways to get to different places.  We started walking through some of the underground malls that are again, super clean and very well organized.  The subway stations are also there, so we hopped on and went to our first recommended place - Banana Leaf Apollo, which has a fish head curry soup that is the talk of the town.  We then toured around town - went to Marina Bay which is this huge Vegas-like hotel with a huge ship on top of the three full-size hotel towers.  It was right on the waterfront, where they also had a soccer field/stadium right on the water (not next to the water, but on the water).  Singapore is also known for their 'Hawker Centers" which are basically street food centers, similar to a food court, where you can order different foods from different vendors.  We went to the Newton Circus hawker center - and it was awesome!  We sampled their chicken rice, among other dishes, and the ever popular chili crab.


Chili Crab at Newton Circus (yumm!)

The distinctive statue of Singapore is the Merlion (half merman, half lion), but there was a special project with it by the bay.  There was another huge version of the Merlion on Sentosa Island, so we ventured out that way.   Sentosa Island was amazing - it was basically a resort island with a 'Disney/Universal Studios' feel to it.  Beautiful beaches, and a sky-luge - which my cousin bravely took us on despite her fear of heights.

Overall, Singapore was a complete highlight, even though we were only there for one day.  I hope we get the chance to return and spend more time there - it was such a treat.  Hands down, my favorite aspect of the day was getting to run around town and do all these fun things with my cousin.  It felt so great to get to spend that time with her and reconnect.  That was definitely another blessing to add to my list of things to be thankful for.

The Merlion on Sentosa Island