Singapore - the beginning of 18 days of food and fun!

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13th October - Kathmandu to Singapore

Mia and I left Kathmandu for the airport in the morning for our 1pm flight. It took us much longer than expected due to the horrible weather - the rain was pelting down which was very unusual for Kathmandu at this time of year.

Our flight arrived in Singapore around 8.30pm and we had a quick exit through customs and grabbed a cab for the 20 or so min journey to our home for the next 5 nights - 'Betel Box Backpackers' in Joo Chiat.

I'd picked here to stay for numerous reasons. First being that as we were staying in Singapore for so long, we couldn't afford to stay in hotels the whole time! Plus I thought it'd be good for Mia to experience the backpacker way of travelling again, to make sure she understands that if we want to travel for long periods of time and every year then we need to do it on a budget. Last but not least, Joo Chiat is one of the top street food areas in Singapore. Actually, this is really how we came to stay here! The backpackers run a foodie tour out of here that I had already booked Mia and me to go on. When I'd booked we'd paid about $120 for the two of us to do the tour. It starts at 6pm and finishes anywhere from 1am onwards! When looking further into Betel Box's website, I realised if you were staying there for 3 nights or more, you were able to do the tour for the cost of the food only, or about $30 each! So...within minutes I'd re-booked and we had the only private room in the hostel for $80 per night.

For the foodies out there like me, I'd also done solid research of where to find the best street food in Singapore! I'd bought Leslie Tay's guide called 'Only the Best! - ieat-ishoot-ipost guide to Singapore’s Shiokest Hawker Food'. I'd found Leslie's blog online (called 'ieat-ishoot-ipost) and his you tube videos months ago and loved reading/watching them. I'd actually emailed him to ask whether he knew of any good foodie tours other than Betel Box's when he emailed me back saying he had self tours listed in his book. I had a look on-line and loved what I read about his guide so within minutes bought it (so not like me...). When I received it I started planning all the great hawker stalls I wanted us to go to. It actually worked out really well as we were going to be staying in 3 different areas over our 18 days and the guide had locations, opening hours etc - in Singapore, some stalls are only open certain days of the week, some from 5am - 1pm, others from 3pm - 1am etc. I didn't want to waste time when there looking for the best food!

We arrived at Betel Box around 10pm and we quickly checked into our awesome private room. The backpackers itself was a converted old Chinese shop house right in the heart of Joo Chiat (and also the red light district as we'd soon find out) Our room was great - located on the same floor as the girls only dorm - shared bathroom and toilet but our room was huge! One double bed, two singles, dressing table and table and chairs - and the best air-co ever!

We asked at reception where we could grab a bite from and upon their advice headed down to the Vietnamese cafe next to our hostel. The food was ok but not as good at we're used to at home. It was a strange hour or so though as outside the door to our hostel, the red light girls were ready for action (there were doors either side of us leading to 'night clubs') but it didn't affect us at all. When we were having our late dinner, there was a very strange Indian man sitting at the table next to us who started engaging us, but mainly Mia, in conversation. We did chat a bit as we wanted to be polite and get into the local spirit but he was just a bit too odd - the small crowd he was with looked a little drugged/strange. Mia was right onto it anyway - as soon as he asked about us Mia said 'Oh we're just having dinner then meeting up with dad in a bit...' She's not dumb! I'm sure he was a nice guy and just genuinely interested, but you never know!

October 14th

After a great night’s sleep in a comfortable bed we woke up and got out and about around 12pm! (Jet lag? our excuse anyway!)

We decided to catch the local bus into the city to Arab St, about a half hours ride away, so checked with the girl at reception as to which bus number and where to get the bus from. We were told that there was a stop just across the road from us and that they came quite often - easy! We found the stop and the bus came along within a few minutes - and proceeded to drive straight past us! NO!!!!! I forgot to mention it was also a very humid 40 odd degrees! We watched the bus pull into what we now realised was the actual bus stop about 100 metres down the road. We headed down that way ready to catch the next one and on the way grabbed a massive, delicious (somewhat greasy) spicy chicken curry puff from nearby. Yum! Enough for the two of us to share for breakfast/lunch!

The next bus came about 15 minutes later and by this time we were so hot and sweaty that we were just desperate to get out of the heat. We jumped on to buy our ticket and checked with the bus driver that the bus would take us where we wanted to go. He said 'No - wrong bus - you must get it from down there' and shooed us off. NOOOO!!!

We jumped off and headed back to our hostel. We checked again with the girl at reception and she said that we did have the right bus but the driver must not have understood us! Anyway, at this point we gave up. We were so hot that we decided just to chill at Betel Box for the afternoon and we try a new tact tomorrow!

We decided to head out to 'Eng Seng' restaurant, famous for its pepper crab, for an early dinner. Of course I'd discovered this place in Lesley’s guide and had it bookmarked. (Ok - here is where I admit I'd prepared a spreadsheet with all the places I wanted to go, how far each was from the closest of the three places we'd be staying, their opening hours etc...!!) They were only open certain days from around 4.30pmm, today being one of them and often sold out of crabs by 6pm. It was only about a 10 minute walk from Betel Box and having only shared a curry puff all day we agreed to a very early dinner. We got there about 4.30pm and straight away the owner/host came up, looked at us (and smiled) and barked "Two crabs!" (We'd heard there was a two crab minimum anyway). "Ok" I replied. "You want anything else?" she asked. We ordered some sambal water spinach to go with it and then the drinks man came to take our order. We ordered an iced tea for Mia and a small beer for me. He said "No, you'll need big beer!” "Um, ok" I said...

Not long after out came a huge plate of our black pepper crab. It was delicious and by far the best crab I'd had, even compared to the pepper and chilli crab I'd had in Singapore back in 2000. The sauce was thick and luscious and just so morish! I had to get it out of the shell for Mia and I think she probably ended up eating 1/2 a crab whilst I happily ate the other 1 1/2! I had to laugh as I literally had black muck up to my elbows whilst the locals were delicately digging in (with their hands, just like us) but were clean as anything! What the? (We also went through about two packs of wet wipes so it's not like I wasn't trying to clean myself up along the way). The host was lovely. I'd read in reviews that she could be very rude and snappy but she was loved us! Whether it was because we were two foreigners who obviously loved food, or Mia's usual charm I don't know... The bill came and at $60 it wasn't cheap, but for two massive mud crabs, the veg and drinks it was well worth it. All in all, a delicious meal and I'll make sure we go back when we visit next time!

Later on the evening we decided to wander down Joo Chiat Rd to see if it met the beach. It looked like it did on the map but we weren't sure. Joo Chiat Rd is gorgeous - full of old Chinese shop houses that are so charming. Look out for a future post just with photos of these! We didn't quite make it to the beach as by this time, it was getting late and we would have had to have somehow crossed the busy East Coast Rd. Instead we decided to hit a food court (remember our dinner had been an early one!) and shared a small plate of roast pork on rice then had a gorgeous shaved ice dessert each - a great end to a very hot and tiring day!

We called Gav and learned that the day Mia & I had left Kathmandu, the fatal storm and avalanches had hit the north eastern part (near Manang) of the Annapurna Circuit. This explained the weather we had on the way to the airport. Apparently the area copped the tail end of Cyclone Hudbud that had ripped through India and was the worst storm to hit Nepal in a decade with almost 1.8 metres of snow falling within 12 hours. 43 people were killed including 21 trekkers plus guides and local yak herders. We checked Facebook and had friends asking if we were ok. (The trail we were on was part of the circuit but on the other, lower, side of the Annapurna’s.) We were shaken to hear the news - it's always a shock when something like this happens when you are so close to it.

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Photos

'Eng Seng'
Mmmmm - amazing black pepper crab

'Eng Seng'
Black pepper crab restaurant

'Eng Seng'
Sambal water spinach

'Eng Seng'
What a mess!

'Eng Seng'
Best pepper crab ever!

'Eng Seng'
Mia and the owner