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Published: July 29th 2009
Anthony Bourdain, host of the show No Reservations and an idol of Rachel and I, has this to say about Singapore:
"Your first time it's sweltering, it's steamy, the temperature and humidity punch you in the chest; the second time you start to see and understand that this, if you love food, might be the best place on earth."
I think he's probably right.
We heard that smart travelers get to Singapore, hit the ground eating, and never never never stop. So more or less, that's our strategy. We arrived in town too late and exhausted to do much but crash in our hotel room. Not to worry, though, as the 13 hour time difference made sure we couldn't sleep more than a solid 4 hours.
Since we were wide awake at 5am, we decided we might as well take a stroll down to the nearby beach and watch the sunrise. I love sunrises. Oh, what's that you say? Isn't it dangerous to go wandering around an Asian city in the wee hours of the morning? Probably a good general rule... but it doesn't apply in Singapore. Clean, safe, modern, beautiful, with a pretty affluent population - it's amazing what you can accomplish when your entire country is just one city. Of course it's not perfect, they have to deal with an authoritarian government and some media censorship (though it's pretty mild compared to other countries in the region), but I guess you can't have your human rights and use them too.
Anyway, after our morning spent on the beach watching the sun, surf, and early morning meditators, we tucked into the food and haven't really looked back. Singapore is a melting pot of SE Asian cultures and cuisines, so the variety here is endless. So far today we've had food from cultures such as Malay, Muslim Indian, South Indian, Thai, British pastries, and whoever came up with this heavenly chicken and rice in a bun/dumpling. In these varying cuisines I've managed to try liver, tripe, and some sort of soup dish with fish cakes, uncooked fish, and some other stuff I'm not really sure of. Every single thing I've ordered so far has been absolutely awesome. And usually running about $3 for a meal. I could probably get used to this.
Also worth noting - English is the official language of Singapore. Everyone usually learns their mother tongue and then English. This the makes the city even more appealing to an Anglophone such as myself.
We've also done some wandering/sightseeing inbetween meals, which has been pretty cool. Singapore is just such an attractive city. We wandered through the Colonial District and up and down the river, which provided us with classic views of the city skyline. We also did some exploring in Little India and the Muslim Quarter, which was a lesson in extreme sense stimulation. The area was overflowing with character, clothing, fruit, and new smells. It felt incredibly different from the pretty sterile downtown.
One other thing about Singapore deserves mentioning for now. As the quote from Bourdain says, the heat here is ridiculous. It literally takes me about 10 seconds before I'm sweating anytime I'm in the sun. The temperature is typically in the 90s I believe, but couple that with the sort of humidity that could never exist anywhere but an island on the equator and you get a potent energy killer. Luckily the Singaporeans are not afraid to air condition every single thing they can get their hands on, so a refuge is always nearby. Also lucky, I happen to have pretty much perfect clothing to deal with this weather.
All things considered, I think I love it here.
P.S. Rachel's pretty much floating in and out of sleep right now so I don't think I'll try and get her to say anything too profound. Pretty sure I could some up her feelings as "I looooooooooooooooooooooooooove Singapore!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
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Jason
non-member comment
that was fun to read, keep blogging like that and you could just write travel books for a living