Advertisement
Published: January 28th 2012
Edit Blog Post
This is how it felt!...As soon as I boarded the plane and was handed the drinks menu (yes, I know...a drinks menu in economy!) my eyes scanned the list and as they fell upon "Australian Sauvignon Blanc" I did a tiny yelp of delight! Finally White Wine! Bring me 3 please!
I'm staying with my Singaporean friend Irene for 3 days whom I haven't seen for nearly 4 years! She meets me at the airport and we get a cab back to her beautiful apartment in the city. The first thing I notice is how quiet the traffic is...No horns, no screeching of brakes, no zipping in and out of tuk tuks, no near death experiences (always a bonus); Singapore is beautiful! Everything seems brand spanking new and clean and shiny! I love it!
We go to one of the many local hawker centres for dinner where there are many street food stalls, and order lots of yummy dishes to share...Spicy Calamari, Sting Ray, Chicken Satay, Pork dumplings...The table is full of meat & fish (two things I've been deprived of for three whole weeks!) and a big mug of sugar cane juice to wash it down with, which
is suprisingly not sweet at all just really refreshing in the hot humid air. I do feel like I'm eating my way around Asia at the moment! Initially I thought "Oh I'm bound to get ill in India and lose weight" (I even got lazy and brushed my teeth with the water but no - a stomach of steel!) but I feel like I must have put on about a stone! All this amazing new food it's so hard to refuse!
The next day Irene takes me sightseeing. We have a wander around China town, a Buddhist Temple, Bugis Market (where we try yet more street food, incuding a Durian pancake which is the only thing I've eaten that I didn't like!) and then down to the Marina before going up to the Sky Park for an amazing skyline view. I buy my most expensive beer at the top (SD$12 for a small bottle of Tiger) and we drink until sunset and watch the light show (which I have to say is much more impressive than Hong Kong's!)
We meet Irene's husband, Khoon Wah, and go for a sushi dinner before heading to Clarke Quay for the classic
Singapore Sling amongst other drinks. Clarke quay is on the marina which is full of lively bars and restaurants and I think it seems a good place to spend my 30th birthday (eek!) when I return at the end of March to meet friends & family. There's an abundance of any cuisine you could wish for from Lebanese complete with belly dancers to Italian to "authentic" British pubs with barrells for tables. It's all there in this shiny metropolis! There is even a BK Whopper Bar - a Burger King that only serves Whoppers and jugs of beer - I can think of a few boys back home who would love this!
Another gem is Harry's bar. There are a few dotted over the city. Not particularly special but they have an app that you can download that you can use once every 24 hours which is a mini roulette wheel - you spin it and can win anything from a free glass of wine to a pitcher of beer! Love it! So we stand outside, give it a go, but only win a bowl of french fries (and we've just eaten) so we give it a miss until
tomorrow.
Irene has her own fabulous tea chop chain in Singapore called Woobbee. It's a new tea concept from Korea called "bubble tea" by which the tea (normally iced, with or without milk) has chewy bits of tapioca or aloe vera in. You suck it all up through a big fat straw and get the chewy bits every now & then - sounds weird but is lush! My favourite is the hazlenut milk tea...she also does the most AMAZING milk butter toast & peanut butter toast! Check out her website at
www.woobbee.com She spoils me for breakfast then I take the sky train to Sentosa Island to have a walk on the beach and check the place out for my mum and dad, who are hopefully coming to Singapore to celebrate my 30th (eek again!) birthday. It's perfect. Lush palm trees, White beaches, peaceful surroundings and just a stone's throw from the thriving city...of course it's all man made but then what part of Singapore isn't? It's all done in such a tasteful and impressive way - every shopping centre, museum building, park bench etc is actually DESIGNED and not just made. It's not over the
top or overtly crude, it's just right. I stroll along the white sand and stop for an iced tea, but no sooner than I do the heavens open and literally bucket down! For 2 hours it's none stop so I have no choice but to stay and drink!
My final night here and Khoon Wah, Myself & Irene (see what I did there?) and a couple of their friends head to a club called The Boiler Room (which, as it happens, is in fact an old boiler room.) Girls get in free but the boys have to pay SD$20...God I love being a girl! They also have Ladies night pretty much everywhere in the city every Wednesday, whereby entry AND drinks are free for girls...ALL NIGHT! I am making damn sure I'm here on a Wednesday next time I visit! Can you imagine if such a thing existed in the UK? Utter carnage...
There's a cheesy Filipino band live on stage which are singing everything from Michael Jackson & Shakira to Rick Astley & Bananarama! I'm in my element! (Shamefully!) We dance away, then the interval comes and the DJ asks if it's anyone's birthday. Irene & her
friend Denise decide to tell him it's my birthday to get me up on stage. I go along with it, hoping there might be a bottle of champagne in it or something...But no. Much to my disappointment, two other guys also claiming to have a birthday get on stage too.. Everyone sings "Happy Birthday" to us, and then I am made to kiss them both!! (I'd like to point out that since neither were attractive I made sure it was just a peck) And even more disappointingly no champagne! Being quite drunk, we all found it funny, especially Denise, who 30 minutes later was throwing up in her mum's BMW as her boyfriend drove her home...poor thing!
So I board my flight to Bangkok the next morning. Sore head & thirsy, I make a bee line for a Maccy D's breakfast (the only thing I will ever eat from McDonalds and it's actually better than in the UK!) I've been spoilt and pampered in Singapore, this vibrant, super clean, uber modern city! Now for 2 months in Thailand, Vietnam & Cambodia before I return for the big 30 (eek for the final time!) for a little bit
more luxury of which I'm sure I'll be in need of by then!
xx
Advertisement
Tot: 0.066s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 12; qc: 28; dbt: 0.0268s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb