Singapore

What an incredible little island and who would have thought such a place could come such a long way, from swamp to a megatropolis with one of the highest global GDP's year after year. An island that has defied expectations time after time and comes out smiling, clean, robust, friendly and probably the finest place to be in South East Asia.
You can read the history of this tiny little island on the southern most tip of the Asian penninsular in any number of books. Built from scratch out of a swampy lowland by a British Empire that saw the potential for a shipping port to further their ambitions in the region and beyond. I am sure even Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles couldn't imagine how this island would transform the region and demonstrate to the rest of the world how nations can perform. Singapore is the standard by which all other cities can be judged.

One thing we noticed about Singapore is the cleanliness of the island. It was not that the litter was not obvious, its that it was virtually non existent. This might come from a Singaporian pride in the island or it may come from the profliferation of cleaning staff who maintain, prep and clean the streets and buildings. It may, I hear you think, come from strict penalties imposed on would be litter louts. Whatever the cause, it is worth it. The city does not have graffiti that is unintended, but similarly it also does not have adverts and branding shoved in your face. Bill boards are discreet and placed in minimal impact locations. What does shine through is the architecture, the structures themselves, the colours and respectful flambouyance, the personality of the different regions. Everything from Chinatown, to Arab Road, to Little India fits together in a chaotically constructed fashion, and I chose the term fashion carefully. There are temples interspersed with corner shops, mingled with street markets, layered with art works, integrated with murals and all collected together with well crafted engineering that encompasses Europe, the USA and Asia in one neat package.


Nowhere is this collage more visible than from the top of the UBO building and a delightfully expensively charming bar/restaurant called Altitude, aptly named being the highest public bar in the world, which awards your entry drink with a 360 degree panoramic of the whole island. We've been privileged numerous times on this trip to breath taking views of the world. Here was the literal pinnacle of views, not just because it was high, but because unlike the towers or viewing platforms that we've been to before, Sears, Empire State, KL, Seoul or the Pru, the wind catches your hair and the only thing between you and the pavement over 70 stories below is a sheet of clean tempered glass. Around you, a sunset brings out the first twinkles of dusk as the hundreds or thousands of ships, yachts and vessels of all kinds light up the seemingly continous harbour that surrounds the island. Unbelieveable.


The cuisine is as ecclectic as the people with every dish available in fusion form or as intended. Arabic coming together with Thai, Malay bound with Chinese, American with French. Any and all combinations are possible and encouraged. We sampled more than we thought we could with Phil and Sundus treating us to a sumptuous Crab and Chinese buffet. The Crab sourced from Sri Lanka apparently. Where ever it grew up, it was delicious in a giant bowl of chillied tomoatoes and egg. Messy, very messy, but very delicious.
The evening meal was fine affair also, this time from Zam Zam, a fusion of Muslim/Arabic cuisine served in plain unrestaurant like surroundings by staff who didn't seem to care much about anything but somehow added to the quintessentially delicious cuisine. Murtabak is a bread filled will all kinds of deliciousness. Ours happened to be filled with beef, mutton and chicken, separately of course. I think the whole meal cost less than a pair of beers in Altitude.

Of course no trip to Singapore would be complete without a visit to Raffles Long Bar and a Singapore Sling. Delicious it was too, thank you Phil and Sundus.


The following day Rin and I went for a hike round McRitchie Reservoir, a real jewel in Singapore and a great place to get away from everything. The distance round the reservoir itself is only about 11 to 12 km and the route is lovely with large sections of it on a wooden broadwalk deck that runs next to the water. We also climbed a tower at the far end, a perfect place to observe the lush jungle about us and take a refreshing slurp of water.


That evening we met up with Phil and Jess, one of his colleagues from the office. She reports to him though there seemed a wee bone of contention when that was pointed out ;-) A great evening started with frogs legs and fish head soup at G7, an establishment of some esteem such that our taxi driver got very hungry when we told him we were going to be dining there. The frogs legs were certainly tasty but a little finickety to eat, getting round the bones was an art in oral manipulation. The fish head soup was terrific and the spicy coconut milk broth to die for. It tasted far better than it looked I assure you.





After that feast Phil insisted we try out some Durian. This is a fruit that Rin and I have wanted to at least try since starting our travels around South East Asia. We were intrigued more because durian is one of the very few foods that Andrew Zimmerman of Bizarre Foods fame cannot stomach. That takes some doing. So, durian, fruit or oniony cheese. Well, to be honest it's a bit of both and you either love it or you hate it. We bought the best our money could buy, about $34SD for one piece of fruit. Inside the pungent fruit is divided into three or four segments of different sizes and they are sold and priced according to the quality of the durian inside. We tried two different types, one high end, one lower end. I can say the higher end fruit was better, sweeter almost. The lower end fruit was more bitter. This is Rin eating hers.
Before


After,


If people do like it, they are ga ga for it, it's like crack to them. Phil was an ardent connoisseur and I think that we're both glad we tried it but it might not be our dessert of choice. It certainly has an interesting flavour, unlike anything you've tried before, and the texture is truly unique, like a very ripe brie.
The night was completed with a little jaunt to a couple of local drinking establishments. There are a few interesting incentives to alcohol. Here's one we couldn't pass up.


but it does come at a price


Singapore, oh how we miss you and your oppulence and attention to detail. We said goodbye in style though. Here's the final picture, the toilets at Changi airport. The view above the urinal was through foiliage, stright through to the check in desks. As far as we're concerned, Changi Airport, not Incheon (Korea) is the finest airport in the world, hands down.


and thank you Mr Loh Kam Beng