Singapore

Apologies for the lack of blog posts recently as we've been away on vacation and decided we'd post about our travels upon our return to Canberra. So here's our first post of ~3 for this trip.

We started our vacation by traveling to Sydney and spending Friday night at a hotel near the Sydney International airport (we had an early departure the next morning). Without a doubt, this was the worst hotel we've ever stayed at.  Let's just say that the day (Friday, July 13th) was quite fitting, as this hotel felt like something out of a Friday the 13th movie. (Note that this was the one time Stacy allowed Blair to choose the hotel. Lesson learned? She thinks so!).  ;-)

On Saturday morning, we escaped left our 10'x10' prison hotel room and departed for the airport, where we caught our flight to Singapore (via Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) on Air Asia. We were a bit skeptical of Air Asia due to what some friends had told us (after booking our flights), however, the flight and connection all went smoothly and 11hrs later we landed in Singapore. Even though our flight arrived in the evening, we still had time to snap a few photos and head out for supper after checking in to our (upgraded to a fantastic view!) hotel room at Clarke Quay.

View of Clarke Quay from our hotel room balcony

We had 3 nights/2 days in Singapore (which was sufficient only to get a quick overview of the city), so we decided to try and cram in as much sightseeing as we could in our first day. Saturday morning we got up early and headed to Chinatown after breakfast. Singapore has a large population of Chinese immigrants, which has lead to significant Chinese influence in its food and culture. While in Chinatown, we stopped by the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple, a well-known landmark in Singapore due to its colorful façade.

Buddha Tooth Relic Temple

Next we we made a visit to the famous Maxwell's Food Center (hawker center) which is home to dozens of food stands serving lots of authentic Asian food. We sampled some freshly 'squeezed' sugar cane juice - which, oddly enough, looked and tasted a lot like kiwi juice.

Maxwell's Food Center

Sugar cane juicer and raw sugar cane

After our tour of a few temples in Chinatown, we headed back to Clarke Quay where we had a late lunch/early dinner at a restaurant called Mad for Garlic. Let us just say, the name is very fitting as everything on the menu is loaded with garlic! Just so you properly understand just how much garlic is in their dishes, have a look at this photo while keeping in mind that there are truly only four food items on the plate - mushroom, onion, beef and garlic:

Garlic (4 ways!) with a side of steak! Soooo good!

With a healthy dose of garlic in our system, we decided to take a water taxi down the Singapore River to the Marina Bay area. Marina Bay is home to the famous Marina Bay Sands hotel and was the site of the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics. We decided to head to the top of the Marina Bay Sands hotel for some great views of the city.

Water Taxi and Marina Bay Sands hotel

Floating Stadium and city skyline

Twice a night, the Marina Bay Sands hotel performs a light show so we decided to stick around to check it out. We're very glad we did as it was pretty spectacular! The hotel uses a combination of light, water, fire, and sound to show a series of images showcasing how wonderful the world is.

Start of the Light show

A flower projected onto the water mist

A harpist projected onto the water mist

Lights which moved likes waves of water in the bay

Only a few hundred meters away from the Marina Bay area, we came across the Singapore Food Festival (by complete accident)! The festival had dozens of food stands from restaurants all around Singapore. So we stopped by to grab a late night snack. Before heading back to the hotel to crash for the night, we snapped this cool picture of the hotel again.

Marina Bay Sands hotel at night

The next morning we decided to head to Little India to see the area, some temples, and grab some Indian food for lunch.

Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple

Streets of Little India

We spent the rest of the day on a hop-on hop-off bus tour of Singapore. It was a good way to see the renaming sights such as the botanical gardens, the famous Raffles Hotel, and other interesting monuments and buildings. We ended the day back at Clarke Quay where we enjoyed a Singapore Sling

Raffles Hotel - home of the Singapore Sling

Singapore Sling night cap!

On Tuesday we slept in a bit before heading to the airport for our afternoon flight to Bali. All-in-all we really enjoyed Singapore. The city is very clean, the people are very friendly, and the food was fantastic!

One final thing that deserves mention is Singapore's International airport (Changi). This place really knows how to cater to travelers.  Have a few hours before your flight? Why not soak up the sun and take a dip in their rooftop swimming pool? Would you rather watch a movie?  Head to their free movie theatre. Need some sleep?  Head to their napping facility. Other free services include: foot massages, showers, internet, a walk through their themed gardens, or a tour into Singapore (if you have more than 5 hours). What a place!

Coming up next.. our adventures in Bali! :)