What a trip so far, forgot I was capable of walking 15+ miles a day and that they drive on the wrong (left) side of the road and walk on the left side. An adjustment when crossing the streets to look the opposite way.
We flew from San Francisco to Singapore a 16hour flight but was delayed 2 hours on the tarmac so yes we sat in those lovely knee banger seats with our masks on for 18 hours. Although it sucked really bad Nic and I had 3 seats to share between the 2 of us. Watched lots of movies probably slept like 3-5hours and ate a meal provided by United every 3 hours!
Bags packed
After landing in Singapore at 8am we quickly sorted out the public transit system and took the subway to our Hostel, we dropped our bags and started walking towards Garden by the Bay since we were weren’t able to check in yet.
Gardens by the Bay is a really cool plant area that fuses architecture and nature. We got a day pass that included the Flower Dome, Cloud Forest, Floral Fantasy, and the Skyway, lucky for us it was Sunday childrens day which means we also got to listen to Dora the Explorer the whole time.
From the treetops of the Skyway I noticed they were setting something up so we walked about a mile to the below stadium they are setting up for the F1 race in October. Crazy the preparation.
Getting tired and hungry we stopped by a little place and had some Dim Sum and local craft beers before going to our hostel and getting fully checked in.
Our room in our hostel is a private, which means Nic and I don’t have to share the room, only the bathroom. It is one of the smallest rooms I have ever been in and can barely fit our bags in the room, not kidding the floor space was probably 9sqft. Gotta save space in these big massive cities.
After changing into more weather appropriate clothing (98F and 90% humidity) we went to the Sultan Mosque right by our hostel and then to Chinatown to continue the leg movement from the long flight.
Locals in Chinatown playing a game looked similar to checkers but have never seen it before.
We cruised back to the hostel around 6pm, showered, and decided we needed sleep after being awake for approx 38hrs with 5 hours of plane sleeping, we were due for some z’s.
Aha! Jet lag strikes we both wake up at 3am and force ourselves back to sleep till 530am when we got up and decided to go watch the sunrise.
Didn’t know where to go so we just walked east.
As you can see by the above photos we ran into a little lake close to the National Stadium so we walked all the way around it and couldn’t believe how they incorporated so much into the area surrounding the stadium. They included outdoor skatepark, Basketball courts, water park, wave pool, swimming center, indoor stadium, cycling park, and a stop for the metro. With limited space in Singapore it only makes sense to maximize the area that they have. We could certainly learn from this in the USA instead of having a stadium costing the public billions of dollars and start sharing venues. (We all need to work on sharing anyway)
It being only 730am by this time we pushed on to The Singapore Botanical Gardens a UNESCO World Heritage site.
We saw so many trees, flowers, and other botanicals in the 5square mile area we put in another 6 miles walking around these gardens. We got to see the Healing gardens, that showcased different plants that have aided in homeopathic remedies since the beginning of human time. Walked through the rain forest, orchid gardens, ginger gardens, bonsai tree gardens, the list goes on and it was incredible and we could have easily spent another 2-3 hours there. Even saw 2 massive lizards.
We jumped on the train and I made the executive decision to stop by the Hoon San Temple.
See in the below photo of the fruit that people are offering to the God’s.
Getting hungry we stopped at little India to eat at one of the Hawker’s (food halls). We decided that the one with the biggest line has to be the best. We got a hot curry noodle soup in a outdoor food market that was a sweltering 90F. It was absolutely delicious and we were a ball of sweat by the end.
With a reservation at the rooftop bar of the Marina Bay Sands lingering around the corner we took off back to the hostel to freshin up. At the restaurant it was Happy Hour so we got a a couple $20 drinks and sat there for 2 hours and made every second count. (Got our moneys worth) and looked out over the city and into Nics eyes. She was in heaven. It was the only thing she wanted to really do in Singapore lol.
Can see all the cargo ships coming in as well as the Garden by the Bay below.
See the building with the ship looking thing on top? That’s Marina Bay Sands. That’s where we had the Spendy cocktails.
We couldn’t afford the food up there so we walked, and walked, and walked and we couldn’t agree on where to eat. So we ended at a Hot Pot Spot that is similar to a Korean BBQ but you cook everything in the Broth of your choosing. It was good, but we ordered the Spicy, which was over our limit. Nic stopped laughing at my jokes and got short so I knew it was time to go home and sleep. After 3 years of marriage I’m starting to catch the hints.
Cool Apple store
Haji street close to our hostel.
We finally slept in till 645am and threw on our clothes and had no plans. So I found a couple things online to check out so we took the subway to Thian Hock Keng temple. This temple was built in the 1800’s and everything was so perfectly set together they didn’t use any nails in its construction and is literally surrounded by sky scrapers.
From there we ventured the furthest away from our hostel and went to Haw Par Villa, it was originally created by the founders of Tiger Balm (a all natural analgesic heat rub) and was created as a type of theme park to teach traditional Chinese values. It was extremely vibrant and Interesting to say the least. There was also a Hells museum that we opted out of, due to the already multiple death scenes in Haw Par Villa.
It being 10am and not eaten food yet for the day, Nicolette took the reigns and being the “foodie” she is, had found two 1-Michelin star restaurants in the local Hawkers around Chinatown and our hostel. These two Michelin star restaurants are the cheapest ones you can get in the world. The first we stopped at was Liao Fan Soy Sauce Chicken and Rice, which if you read by the name was chopped half chicken (extremely small) with rice. It was decent, they didn’t debone the chicken so had to be carful shoveling the chopsticks in your mouth. It cost a measly $4 and to me was worth that cost. Due to it becoming famous in recent years, the cost went up from $1.50
The second stop was Hill Street Tai Hwa Pork Noodle which took an hour in line, we ordered the #3 which was a Bak Chor Mee and was a noodle dish, with dried fish, chicken, pork liver, and two other items that we didn’t know And probably didn’t want to know. The portion was a bit bigger and flavor was hard to look past some of the above ingredients. So we picked through the items we wanted and finished almost the entire thing. By the way Nicolette always makes me try foods first to make sure she would like them before she try’s them. It’s risky but it’s my job during this trip. I tried everything she did not. Again this large bowl cost $8 but it’s prices rose from $5 since becoming famous. Neither of these restaurants had 4star ratings on google which shows not every person who rates a restaurant on google is Michelin rated. Although neither of these meals were our favorite meals it was worth the experience and may be our only Michelin star meal in our lives (due to the typical Michelin meal being over $200). Had some beers while waiting in line.
Stuffed and a little uneasy from the unique ingredients we went to the hostel to freshen up and hit a happy hour that a friend Summer (who I met in Belgium in 2014 when traveling, she is from Singapore) recommended. It was on floor 25 and some of the cheaper drinks we had in the city. We sulked in happiness and checked out the city from above.
It started getting dark so we worked our way back to Marina Bay to check out the Merlion (mermaid x lion) and the light show that was meant to get underway at dark. The views and lights were incredible, unique sky scrapers everywhere a view we do not get often in South Dakota.
Around the lake we went to see the Trees at Garden By the Bay as they were lit up as well.
Another exhausted 15 mile walking day and we needed sleep and headed home.
Departure day to Thailand, cleaned up the room and went to an old building with some cool art then found breakfast around the corner from our hostel.
Grabbed the bags and took off to the airport. We went very early and thankfully we did because the public transit lines, airport lines, cards getting declined and just overall mayhem made it take about 2 hours longer then expected. We also saved a few escalator passengers because they tripped over their bags getting off the walkway and everyone behind them was tripping and falling into each other, without hesitation Nic and I pulled them all to safety and we chalked it up as win and a Good Samaritan award honored to us. Nic said she was scared for her life watching it happen, I said it was funny especially since no one got hurt. Different perspectives!? I think so.
In the airport they also had a snow sledding hill and a rooftop bar and pool area. What a cool thing those were.
Closing out the first chapter of the trip, but you may be asking yourself why I titled this entry Respect, and here it is.
The one easily lived word “Respect” could change the world. In our short time in Singapore we noticed this was a word majority of people lived by. Young people gave up their seats for the elderly on trains, there was no homeless so people likely are respecting and helping their neighbors, there was minimal trash on the ground which means people respected their city and Mother Earth and most of all people respected each others time. This was noticed most specifically when on escalators when departing the trains. The people that wanted to stand while taking the escalator stood on the left and the people that were in a rush walked briskly up the right side. There would literally be 2 lines (ques) to get on the escalator, it was magnificent and work of art that people worked in unison to respect others time.
There was no food, drink, or animals allowed on the public transit which also lead to immaculately clean subways, people respected the rules and they all abided by them. I think anyone who has taken a subway ride in New York would agree they are disgusting and the filth of New York, Singapore was not this way and it made everyday a pleasure taking the public transit.
These small items listed above with the overall goal of Respect could, and can change the world in a positive way.
If you want to follow along on a more live basis follow me on Instagram @purbidness to see all the goofy angles of Nicolette!
The second stop was Hill Street Tai Hwa Pork Noodle which took an hour in line, we ordered the #3 which was a Bak Chor Mee and was a noodle dish, with dried fish, chicken, pork liver, and two other items that we didn’t know And probably didn’t want to know. The portion was a bit bigger and flavor was hard to look past some of the above ingredients. So we picked through the items we wanted and finished almost the entire thing. By the way Nicolette always makes me try foods first to make sure she would like them before she try’s them. It’s risky but it’s my job during this trip. I tried everything she did not. Again this large bowl cost $8 but it’s prices rose from $5 since becoming famous. Neither of these restaurants had 4star ratings on google which shows not every person who rates a restaurant on google is Michelin rated. Although neither of these meals were our favorite meals it was worth the experience and may be our only Michelin star meal in our lives (due to the typical Michelin meal being over $200). Had some beers while waiting in line.
Stuffed and a little uneasy from the unique ingredients we went to the hostel to freshen up and hit a happy hour that a friend Summer (who I met in Belgium in 2014 when traveling, she is from Singapore) recommended. It was on floor 25 and some of the cheaper drinks we had in the city. We sulked in happiness and checked out the city from above.
It started getting dark so we worked our way back to Marina Bay to check out the Merlion (mermaid x lion) and the light show that was meant to get underway at dark. The views and lights were incredible, unique sky scrapers everywhere a view we do not get often in South Dakota.
Around the lake we went to see the Trees at Garden By the Bay as they were lit up as well.
Another exhausted 15 mile walking day and we needed sleep and headed home.
Departure day to Thailand, cleaned up the room and went to an old building with some cool art then found breakfast around the corner from our hostel.
Grabbed the bags and took off to the airport. We went very early and thankfully we did because the public transit lines, airport lines, cards getting declined and just overall mayhem made it take about 2 hours longer then expected. We also saved a few escalator passengers because they tripped over their bags getting off the walkway and everyone behind them was tripping and falling into each other, without hesitation Nic and I pulled them all to safety and we chalked it up as win and a Good Samaritan award honored to us. Nic said she was scared for her life watching it happen, I said it was funny especially since no one got hurt. Different perspectives!? I think so.
In the airport they also had a snow sledding hill and a rooftop bar and pool area. What a cool thing those were.
Closing out the first chapter of the trip, but you may be asking yourself why I titled this entry Respect, and here it is.
The one easily lived word “Respect” could change the world. In our short time in Singapore we noticed this was a word majority of people lived by. Young people gave up their seats for the elderly on trains, there was no homeless so people likely are respecting and helping their neighbors, there was minimal trash on the ground which means people respected their city and Mother Earth and most of all people respected each others time. This was noticed most specifically when on escalators when departing the trains. The people that wanted to stand while taking the escalator stood on the left and the people that were in a rush walked briskly up the right side. There would literally be 2 lines (ques) to get on the escalator, it was magnificent and work of art that people worked in unison to respect others time.
There was no food, drink, or animals allowed on the public transit which also lead to immaculately clean subways, people respected the rules and they all abided by them. I think anyone who has taken a subway ride in New York would agree they are disgusting and the filth of New York, Singapore was not this way and it made everyday a pleasure taking the public transit.
These small items listed above with the overall goal of Respect could, and can change the world in a positive way.
If you want to follow along on a more live basis follow me on Instagram @purbidness to see all the goofy angles of Nicolette!
