After getting acclimated to the time and the protocol for dealing with the hot and humid weather here, we spend the past few days doing what Singaporeans do best, staying inside during the hottest part of the day!
We stared out day 3 by eating a traditional breakfast here, Kaya toast. This is a toasted or charcoal-grilled bread layered with sweet kaya (a traditional coconut and egg jam flavoured with pandan or caramelized sugar) and cold butter served aside soft boiled eggs. Was it my favorite, no but I’m glad I tried it!
Following this we decided to beat the heat and head to see Street Fighter in the theatre. It was an experience seeing a movie in a different country with Chinese subtitles on the bottom. Fun movie though, I’d give it a sold 7 out of 10.
We ended the night with dinner in Chinatown and since a lot of the places were closed, came back early the next day to check out the shops and to visit the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple which was probably one of my favorite things in Singapore. We were able to go inside and watch the monks chant and see locals that had come to worship. It was such an amazing site to see!
Later that day we went to the Raffels hotel, home of the Long Bar which invented the Singapore Sling. When this was invented, it was not proper etiquette for women to drink in public so a bartender made a drink that looked like fruit juice but was in fact spiked with gin! The bar felt a little like the old school Texas Roadhouse as they gave us a bag with peanuts and we were able to just throw the shells on the floor. We ended the night again by just grabbing food at a hawker stall.
Our final full day in Singapore we did a tour that included a boat ride through the harbor and well as the Garden Rhapsody light show at the Gardens by the Bay Supertrees and the lazer light show at the Marina Bay Sands. While I enjoyed everything (minus the humidity at the Supertrees lol) the boat ride was my favorite. Hearing the history of the city and seeing the famous Mirlion from the water is what made the boat ride.
The Merlion is the official mascot of Singapore. The body of the fish represents the beginnings the city had as a fishing village and the lion head is an ode to the country’s name Singapura in Sanskrit which translates to Lion City. According to legend, Prince Sang Nila Utama who founded Singapore in 1299, saw a mythical lion after landing on the island, hince the name given to it, Singapura.
As I sit in the airport waiting for our flight to Hong Kong writing this, I am filled with so much gratitude. I am beyond grateful that I have the means and ability to travel like this at this point in my life and it is something I will absolutely not take for granted!
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