(There was a nice exhibition at the Singapore Art Gallery of old Malay films and TV shows… they decorated the room with lots of old-school cinema velvet as you can see!)
Spent last week in Singapore and it was a welcome break. The four-day trip was overall relaxed and what I expected, although a few more days would’ve been nice to basically do nothing. But I guess spending time on the beach doing nothing would be better option. For some reason a lot of people consider Singapore to be a boring city/state/country with not much to do other than eat and shop. While I have to agree, there’s still plenty to do and, if you’re like me who’s living in Bangkok, sometimes its not just about what you can or cannot do, but just that things run smoothly and there isn’t a language barrier. My friend Nobu, who’s on his 4 month of a 3-year contract in Pakistan, thinks Bangkok is heaven compared to Islamabad… I can’t argue with that…I guess it’s all about perspective…
(Hanging out by Esplanade, a theatre/concert hall on the water, with lots of events/festivals and even a cool boardwalk… Singaporeans refer to it as the “Durian”)
With the alarm sounding at 5am, we awoke to our holiday a little grumpy and sleepy… after a quick prep, we were off to the airport for our 8am flight. Flying cheap airlines are always a little nerve-wrecking and AirAsia didn’t disappoint. We were a slightly delayed due to a “navigation” problem. Basically they airline had to replace a vital part of the aircraft 10 minutes before departure…
(This a great little place for food and to be a more conscious consumer. A percentage of what is spent goes to development projects like helping communities access clean drinking water and helping educate youth and poor communities. On top of all that, the food is REALLY GOOD! If you’re interested, read this blog.)
Anyway, we arrived, dropped our bags off at my aunt’s home and headed out for a buffet dim sum lunch. Oh, how I miss REAL Chinese food! Full of aroma with a bit of spice, Muriel and I gorged on dumplings, buns, and all other yummy dim sum. Stuffed from lunch, we headed back to my aunt’s and took a 4-hour nap. That’s what I call a vacation. With nothing planned, we headed down to the harbour for an evening walk… to end the evening, my cousin took us out to a very French place in Little India for some home-cooking, French-style! Again, more gorging…
(Hindu’s just finished celebrating Diwali (aka the Festival of Lights) and we were treated to see the lights still up in Little India)
The next few days of the holidays went the route of typical tourist outings since Muriel had never been to Singapore. So we visited the Night Safari, the National Museum, Art Gallery and just hung about in town… I won’t go into detail, but Singapore is a great little place if you don’t mind a city being almost clinical in how it is organized. We didn’t get to explore too much, but the city also boasts lots of outdoor activities, festivals, sights, and things to do. While there aren’t nice beaches and the city wouldn’t be considered the most exotic of places in Southeast Asia, the city has much to offer… you just need to dig a little deeper… Isn’t that what traveling is all about?
(Muriel was showing my cousin Eric and I just how good her shooting form is for basketball… I’m not kidding, she’s really good at getting the ball into the basket)