In and Around Singapore

Touring Singapore: This is a Continuation of “Trip Report – A Private Jet Experience: Alone in First Class on ANA and Thai, Plus Singapore First, a Suite, a Villa, and Some Incredible Food Porn”

Past installments:

I wasn’t to bed until nearly 4am, the internet wasn’t working properly in my room and I needed to have the outsourced company that manages it for the hotel reset the connection. I had somehow gotten frozen out of my work server, and even after getting the internet going I still needed to get on Skype, call the office, and pull someone from IT out of a staff meeting in order to help me with it. Alright, I suppose I was self-centered and demanding. But I had been traveling for well over a day and probably didn’t have the patience I should have. Plus I couldn’t check my most pressing email from the lounge in Tokyo. It had been two business days, messages were certainly accumulating and most of all I had no idea what they were. I didn’t think I’d sleep well without knowing. So I got online for a bit, then finally crashed.

I woke up around 7:45am, went down to the lounge for some breakfast, while my wife continued to sleep. We hung around the hotel as we got up slowly, and managed to go check out Singapore for a bit in the afternoon.

First stop, though, was coffee. Had to have some coffee if we were going to stay up until a reasonable hour, jetlagged as we were.

I’ve never had much difficulty coming home from Asia. But going to Asia I’m usually up in the middle of the night. Not so much on this trip, probably because I fell asleep right away, got up at a normal hour, and forced myself to stay awake for the day. Still, I was dragging a bit.

We walked around and took in the city

And then went to Hock Lam Beef on China street for a bit of dinner.

While the next couple of days featured some absolutely fantastic gourmet meals, those will take on their own posts separately. For now, let’s just say I sampled many things.

Of course, we made a stop at the zoo.

We visited an ice cream place that we were told was not to miss, though honestly I wasn’t especially impressed.

The food stalls, of course, are what’s most famous. This was my favorite at the Old Airport Road hawker center:

But my absolute favorite dish was found at the East Coast Lagoon Food Village.

It was Roxy Laksa, and admittedly this is hardly my find, they are pretty famous. They’ve got a picture up of Martha Stewart eating there…

But it was just so darned good.

And a little beverage from the stall next door:

Mind you, the next two posts will actually be about food. Which is why I do enjoy Singapore. It’s not because, as some folks argue, it’s a “safe” introduction to Asia. I’ve certainly done “unsafe” Asia. It’s because there’s so much interesting to eat. There are other things to do of course (and not just the zoo), it’s worth more than connecting in the coolest airport on the planet, give the place at least a handful of days if you haven’t ever.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Pingbacks

  1. […] Past installments:Prologue: The decision-making and booking process Washington Dulles – Chicago in United First Class and the Greatest Airport Hotel Ever, the Intercontinental O’Hare Alone in First Class on ANA, Chicago-Tokyo Singapore Airlines First Class, Tokyo-Singapore JetQuay Planeside Pickup in Singapore Intercontinental Singapore Ambassador Suite In and Around Singapore […]

Comments

  1. Glad you liked singapore! and in fact i did not even know about roxy laksa despite being a singaporean! looking forward to your other food posts and maybe I MIGHT discover something new….

  2. If I am coming from the airport, do you suggest that I stop enroute, or should I go to the hotel, drop my luggage, then return? Roughly how much is taxi fare from central Singapore?

  3. @Carol do you mean stop enroute at Old Airport Road food stall? Old Airport Road isn’t near SIN, it’s near where the pre-1951 airport was. Taxi from central Singapore probably ~ SGD$10, or at least from the Intercontinental. But I may have missed the question!

  4. Ahh, thanks, Gary. I had the erroneous impression that the food stall was between the airport and the hotel, thus perhaps more efficient to stop enroute. Using google maps before posting would have been a good thing. Thank you for setting me straight.

  5. I love Singapore and love reading your trip reports (especially seeing pictures). I actually stayed at the Intercontinental Singapore 2 trips ago and didn’t think it was that great, although still fine. What are favorite things to do in Singapore? I love how people can visit the same place, stay at the same hotel, and have such different experiences! Thank you for sharing and please continue!

  6. Gary- I haven’t taken this type of international flight using miles so I’m curious, how much did this trip cost in terms of miles and cash including fuel charges?

    Thank you

  7. @Chris G in the first post of the trip report I laid it out — per person: 120k US Airways miles for US to Tokyo / Bangkok to Tokyo to US in ANA first and Thai first… ~ 45k Singapore miles for Tokyo – Singapore in Singapore first… 7500 bmi miles (cash + points) for Singapore – Bangkok – Phuket in Thai business. Only the bmi redemption had fuel surcharges.

  8. I hope to get back to Singapore soon – a very diverse place. eatbma.blogspot.com offers some good recommendations for Singapore dining.

  9. It’s funny to me that you mention the Old Airport Hawker Centre as my office is next door in Mountbatten Sq. Most of our office eats daily at the hawker centre so it seems quite pedestrian to us. I am glad that you made it to that one as it is much more “local” compared to others like the Newton Hawker Centre which is known to have two price lists–one for locals and one for tourists.

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