Singapore

 

December 6, 2019

I landed in Singapore early morning at 1.15 a.m. on All Nippon Airways flight from Tokyo. As expected the ANA service was good. Surprisingly the service on United Airlines flight from Denver to Tokyo was extremely good. Folks were very courteous and the food was extremely good. The aircraft was new and had spacious seats. I am coming back to Singapore after 19 years! 

I have slept only a little over 3 hours! However, I went for a morning walk to see the beach. Afterwards I had a nice breakfast of fruits. I then walked to the local market. We then had brunch at home. 

We then took a bus and train ride to see the Singapore URA master plan museum showcasing how Singapore was transformed from a Colonial backwater town into a world class financial center that is livable. The museum shows Singapore's plans for the future including the planned construction well into couple of decades into the future. Their focus is on building an environmentally friendly and renewable city.

In the afternoon we walked through Chinatown. We went to the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple.

This temple is an absolute gem. Serene, Calm and peaceful. Beautiful architecture and precious artifacts. The temple houses Buddha's tooth relic. The temple has a wonderful terrace garden with a prayer wheel. The main sanctum is really spectacular.

Singapore has numerous regulated hawker centers that serve a variety of food that is cheaper than in restaurants. I had sugarcane juice at the local hawker center.

We then walked to see the Mariamman Temple that has a wonderful Gopuram. This area has wonderfully preserved old buildings. People were enjoying the street food.

We walked through Little India shopping for vegetables. There are lots of restaurants with people in this area. We had dinner at MTR's. There was lot of walking today, around 18000+ steps!

We used bus and train for transportation. Everything is very well maintained. City streets were constantly being cleaned.  Apartment complexes have permanent cleaning crew. Tree are all trimmed. There are lots of cameras for security everywhere. There was a sign at the airport which warned about getting demerit points for doing anything unlawful. Even the flight attendant warned everyone not to bring in chewing gum into Singapore!

December 7, 2019

I had fruits for breakfast followed by couple of hours of walk on the beach. There were lots of people walking and cycling. Marine Parade park is wonderfully maintained. There are cafe's and restaurants along the trail by the side of the ocean. There are bikes for rent. We had breakfast at a restaurant facing the beach. There were people camping along the beach. There are also great art sculptures that were installed along the beach. We got lots of cool breeze from the ocean. I saw a huge line of ships entering the Harbor. It was a perfect lazy Saturday morning.

Afternoon lunch at home was sumptuous and delicious. I lazed in the living room and enjoyed the ocean breeze.

Late afternoon, we took a Bus ride to Changi airport to see The Jewel. I noticed that there are security cameras inside the bus as well. Everyone is very quiet and orderly inside the bus. The Jewel's main feature is a massive indoor waterfall from the roof in the center with greenery all around it. There are all kinds of activities. There are hundreds of shops in this indoor mall along with a very large number of eateries. Jewel is also connected to the airport terminal. It also includes a Hotel. It has become an attraction for travelers.

The Jewel is probably at least 10+ floors high. It seemed like entire Singapore was visiting it on a Saturday evening. There were a magnitude of people I saw indoors than I have seen outdoors so far. In the evening there was a colorful musical show along with performances. The city has indeed spent a fortune building it. I had tea at the food court. Late in the evening we took the bus back home and had dinner.

December 8, 2019

I did an early morning meditation and yoga followed by a long 5 mile walk along the beach. There were lots of joggers, walkers, campers, bicyclists, people fishing and some jet skiing. I got a beautiful view of the ocean. The clouds were hanging low and it was misty. The cool ocean breeze didn't make you sweat. A hawker center nearby was serving all kinds of food. There was even a surf shop. There were restroom facilities every few blocks. There were more cafes and restaurants overlooking the ocean. I saw massive number of ships waiting to be berthed in the Singapore Harbor. Finally, I saw a single monkey in the wild which was quite surprising here in orderly Singapore!

After lunch we took the bus to the city to walk around Orchard Road. This is where the majority concentration of shopping malls are. The malls are a maze. The crowds were simply astounding. There was hardly any space to move in the department stories or on the sidewalk. I was surprised to see a street performer here as everything seemed so regulated here. There are lots and lots of American and Japanese companies. It had rained here heavily earlier. The tropical rains are so different! There were lots of Christmas decorations and lighting on Orchard road. The crowds were grabbing Christmas deals. The bus route back took us to a part of town that had old Peranakan restored buildings.

December 9, 2019

I had good deep sleep. I had nice breakfast at home. We took a bus to the city. We visited some shopping malls. There are lots of bakeries. We went to an electronic store. I took lots of photos of old restored buildings, church and modern buildings.

We had lunch at Suryas, a typical south Indian restaurant in Little India. Little India is filled with lots of little shops selling every little thing. There were fresh flowers and fresh fruits everywhere. There are lots of restaurants.

I took a two hour walk to a local library and the Giant Supercenter. You get to walk a lot here everyday and stay healthy. The people have lots of options to eat. There are hawker centers like dining halls serving all kinds of cheap food. They are there every few blocks. This is in lieu of street vendors as they are almost non-existent. They are open until late in the night. I still see security cameras are everywhere.

December 10, 2019

I had a breakfast of fruits. In the morning we headed to see a wonderful south Indian temple, Sri Sivan Temple followed by a wonderful serene Buddhist temple, Foo Hai Chan Monastery, next door. We spent some time walking around both these temples.

We then took the train to the city to see the Gardens by the Bay. We bought a pass to see the flower dome. While there were some interesting flowers most of them were of the type that is seen commonly in North America. There was a 4D show at the end that showed around the Gardens by the bay. The attraction seemed a bit touristy for me and seemed over-priced. It started raining. We walked around the promenade to see the gardens. The design of the garden was artistic and wonderful. The iconic Singapore Sands casino and hotel towered over the Gardens by the bay.

After walking through the Singapore Sands Hotel & Casino, we took a bus to downtown for lunch. There was the office going crowd at the lunch food court. We ate at a restaurant called Extra Virgin Pizza. The pizzas were really delicious especially the one which had pesto made out of almonds, the pizza topped with pumpkin and a whole bunch of dandelion with some shaved Parmigiano. I simply loved it.

After lunch we walked around the food court aimlessly. The crowds were big. There were all kinds of food especially a lot of Japanese joints. We got some wonderful coffee and tea that we really enjoyed drinking while watching the crowds go by. We then took the bus to home while the rain continued to pour.

In the evening, I went for a 2.5 hour walk along the beach watching the sunset. It was cloudy but you could see the Sun peak through the clouds. Its really a different feeling walking on the beach at sunset. We then went to buy some fruits at a store called Fair Price which is run by the local governing party in Singapore. We walked across to buy some more fruits with a local vendor. He was pushing us to buy more fruits as that would have been a better deal according to him. There were lot of people walking around, some biking and some jogging. People were eating at the Hawker centers. The food is very cheap here. We walked back home and had dinner.

December 11, 2019

Its been raining heavily this morning. We had breakfast and lunch at home. I took a local bus and went shopping at Daiso and Setan, Japanese stores, in the Park Center mall. There were lot of people shopping even in the middle of a working day. I took the bus back home.

We then took a bus into town to the Raffles city mall. This is one of the original malls, quite huge and also connected to other malls. We took our time aimlessly window shopping. We shopped at Muji a wonderfully curated Japanese store. It was still drizzling a little outside. We walked to another mall and had dinner at Nalans.

We then took another bus to Orchard road to see the Christmas lights. The streets, buildings and the malls were beautifully lit. Lots of people on the streets to see the lights. The beauty of Singapore is that there are lot of people but its just he right amount where you never feel claustrophobic. It appears that they have social engineered the right amount of population!

We had an amazing ice-cream dessert from a street vendor for all of just $1.20. There were lot of people queued for the ice-cream. After a long day we headed home. It was 11.30 p.m. by the time I hit the bed.

December 12, 2019

After a nice session of Yoga and breakfast, I headed into town by bus to see the Singapore Botanic Gardens which is an UNESCO World Heritage site. Today was the first day I saw full sun after coming here. It was warm and a big muggy. I walked through the Botanic Gardens for the next three hours. There were all kinds of tropical trees, shrubs and plants. There were lot of places to sit under the shade and enjoy the beautiful nature. There were ponds and lakes. I saw some wonderful turtles by the lake. 

There were lot of medicinal plants and were nicely explained. The paths weren't marked except for signage every once in a while. So you had to find your way through the map. There were fragrant flowers as part of the fragrant garden. There were all kinds of plants growing on the trellis. The attendants were very courteous as they were encouraging people to drink lot of water. There were different buildings housing artifacts, seed bank, restaurants and cafes. I walked a whole lot and then went to the wonderful Orchid Garden. This was the center pieces of the Botanic Gardens as there were all kinds of imaginable orchids of all hues of color. I saw a Komodo dragon crossing a pathway! I took lots of photographs as you can imagine. 

Two Australian elderly gentleman offered to take my photograph. I struck a conversation and they told me to come to Australia and New Zealand. They gave a list of cities and places to see. They said to spend at least 3 weeks in Australia and couple of weeks in New Zealand! They asked me when I would do it. I said I might not have that much time. I said I have the money but not the time. They said you have only one life and to do it before its too late! 

I then went to the Ginger garden. I did not realize that there were so many varieties of ginger. I then walked out of the garden and took the bus back to the city. I would highly recommend this oasis within the city - very well maintained and truly a gem. 

I then went for a wonderful vegetarian lunch at this fully vegetarian Chinese restaurant called Ling Zhi at Lait Towers. This restaurant is fine dining at its best. The appetizers were boiled peanuts with a nice hot and sweet chili sauce. The floral tea was simply exquisite. The hot and sour soup was really different than what I have had before. The mushroom dish was glazed and was very delicious/ The brown wild rice fried rice was out of the world. The fried soft tofu was very artfully done. This restaurant is truly a gastronomic marvel that shouldn't be missed. 

We then went to the financial district to exchange money for our upcoming trip to Indonesia. I haven't seen so many money exchange places all packed in one shopping center. There were hoards of people waiting in line to exchange money at various shops. The spreads they offered is the best I have seen. At a sweet shop in the same shopping center, we had a wonderful dessert delicacy made of coconut and pandan which just melted in the mouth. It had the perfect amount of sweetness. We then took the subway to drop off stuff at an acquaintance's place. 

Then we headed back home again via the subway train. We walked back home along the SIGlap  canal. There were all kinds of houses along the canal. There were some modern apartments. Lots of play areas for children all along the canal. There is a bike path and a pedestrian path. The canal is an overflow path for water from the high tide of the sea. There was absolutely no litter anywhere. I didn't see or feel any mosquitoes or any bugs of any kind. There were lots of people walking and biking. We stopped by Giant express store. We then walked back home.  Today was the maximum I have walked in this trip so far; 23000 steps. I have already done 90000+ steps in 4 days! This is a very walkable city and everything encourages you to walk more. I was totally drenched in sweat. After taking a shower I had nice dinner. I packed for tomorrow's trip and hit the bed pronto!

December 17th, 2019

We woke up early and went to eat breakfast at a famous Singapore restaurant called Murugan Cafe. The food was prepared very fresh and it was indeed very tasty. We walked around the area, bought some vegetables at a market and then took a bus back home. It had started raining heavily. Later on after lunch at home, I headed back into town by bus to the Orchid area. We shopped at some Japanese stores; it was really busy at all the stores even in the middle of the working day. The Christmas shopping was indeed at its peak. We had tea at a wonderful Japanese Cafe called Hvala; they served some really wonderful team from Japan and Taiwan. We caught up with an old friend at the tea house and before we realized we had spent over 2 hours just chatting. It was now getting to be 7 p.m. We really had a wonderful time and after bidding adieu, we took the bus home. After having dinner, chatting for a bit, we called it a day.

December 18th, 2019

It was a lazy morning and after having finished work, I went for a short walk to the acupuncture area in the apartment complex.  It is great to see that every apartment and garden has these acupuncture stones where you can walk on your bare feet and where you can rejuvenate oneself.  After lunch, we went to a local mall to do some shopping.  I wanted to get a haircut and stopped by a local salon.  I was really surprised by the Singapore $4 charge for the haircut. They were super efficient and did a fantastic job. I got some last minute shopping done. Singapore is indeed a city for shoppers; it caters to every budget. The cheapest haircut at the mall was Singapore $12 and a more expensive one was Singapore $32! We had some tea and enjoyed some local delicacies with it; they were made of coconut, pandan and other local ingredients. In the evening I finished packing, had some wonderful home cooked soup and then called it a day.

December 19th, 2019

I woke up at 3.30 a.m. to get ready to go to the airport. I left home at 4.30 a.m. and reached airport at 4.45 a.m.. I was at the gate by 5.10 a.m. The Singapore airport is extremely efficient. In between all of this I was also able to get sales tax refund for part of my shopping! ANA Flight to Tokyo departed on time at 6.35 a.m. Whatever Singapore lacks in history and monuments, it tires to make it up with modern master pieces. This has really been a wonderful trip where I could spend time with family and see beautiful places. I am truly blessed and lucky!

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