I was recently asked: Based on all of the places you’ve been…, which one has been the best of all? We have liked many of the places we’ve visited, so picking a single “best” one isn’t easy. I’ll consider the following criteria: People: Is the city diverse? Are the people interesting? Are they generally nice?…
Hello A! Thank you! I am very lucky to have a job where I can work from different places and at weird times. The things you liked—the beauty, the food, and the customs—are some of our favorite things, too! One place in particular—Singapore—was a very diverse city (a country that is one city!). It’s a…
We were in Singapore for two weeks and a few days. Most people were shocked that we were staying so long, but we found plenty to do, and we thought we got a good feel for the city. Haw Par Villa: I don’t know why Wikipedia calls this a theme park, since there are no…
I am not a fan of modern art. One of my earlier experiences with it was going to the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago at the age of twelve. I recall walking into one museum room and seeing a faded orange rag. This was the sort of cloth we might put in a rag pile and use for cleaning, and here…
It seems like we ate all the food in the world in Singapore. All the Hawker Centres: Described elsewhere, this is where we ate the majority of our meals. Everything was cheap, with one full meal and one drink coming to $4-$5 together. The selection is broad, though it does skew to being ‘fast food lite,’…
Singaporean cuisine is a fusion of Chinese, Malay, Indian, and similar cuisines. That means that biryani (Indian spiced rice) is just as much a local food as pig’s organ soup (Chinese and exactly what it sounds like). One thing that local dishes have in common – especially the kind found at hawker centres – is the use of a lot of oil.…
We didn’t set out to do it, but we’ve been on an inadvertent tour of Singapore’s hawker centres. A hawker centre is a grouping of many food stalls in an area with tables and benches or chairs. It looks like a US high school cafeteria, but with anywhere from dozens to hundreds of cuisine options.…
Neighborhood: Haw Par Villa Also Called: Queenstown, West Side Pros: It’s peaceful and quiet. It’s quite safe, though that’s true of much of Singapore. You can see how people actually live, rather than just the touristy spots. It’s close to the Harbourfront (where Sentosa is) and a wholesale market for produce, along with several hawker centres. Cons:…
Here is what surprised us most about Singapore: Food: There are Hawker Centres, which are like a cross between a giant market and a food court. They have many food options there, along with produce, toiletries, decorations, and even things like farm equipment. We bought everything from a pair of shoes to a toothbrush at…
For a while now, I’ve been wanting to try ‘Dining in the Dark,’ the idea of eating out in complete darkness. There are restaurants that offer it in SF, LA, San Diego, New York, Dallas, Boston, London, Paris, Barcelona, St. Petersburg, Seoul, Kuala Lampur, and in Singapore. We happened upon the one here and decided to give it a try. The…