Singapore – Has The Craziest Pool Ever!
It was 5:00 am and “Welcome aboard” were the first words I heard as we began our journey from Reno to Singapore. The first leg was nearly 9 hours long into Korea where I caught a Singapore air flight, making the total travel time for the day nearly 24 hours. By the way Singapore airlines is the bomb! Even in coach we all had our own TV’s to watch dozens of movies or play video games and there was plenty of legroom.
Singapore:
Flying in was beautiful! You can see the entire island on the way into the airport. The country of Singapore is about the size of LA County. The airport is beautiful even at 1:00 in the morning.
I learned a few things about the rules right away.
1) It is against the law to chew gum
2) It is against the law to spit
3) Drugs will get you 6… meaning 6 feet under! Death penalty for drugs
4) Nothing is cheap!
The city is impeccably clean and very safe. It was about 80° our entire visit, with about 60% humidity… perfect for us just leaving 10° weather.
The cities inhabitants are comprised of Chinese, Indians, Malaysians and… It’s a little odd that if you ask any Singaporean what their heritage is they will not claim China, India etc, only Singapore.
Our first stop is the M hotel in the financial district (closer to Shelley’s work that week). After asking the concierge where we could get some sushi we made our way down the street, to what we later found out is like the “McDonald’s” of Sushi… complete with sushi rolls going by on a motorized buffet.
Everywhere you go there is FOOD! This is no exaggeration, food, food, food. If you walk into a mall, an outdoor market anywhere there is 80% food vendors to anything else. I don’t know how they stay so thin!
If you want to buy a car in Singapore it will not only cost a little more there, but it will cost you an additional $90,000 paid to the government to allow you the privilege of driving for 10 years. This is their way of cutting down on traffic jams, I guess!
All the cars have fast passes installed in them so the government can charge for all the roads you drive on which I am told increases often without notice.
The taxis are all government owned. Each driver pays $100 to $150 a day up front depending on the type of car they choose.
Although there are casinos there, the government frowns on Singaporeans gambling. In fact if you live there, you have to pay $100 just to enter the casino… every time!
Next, we stayed in THE best and famous Marina Bay Sands Resort, featured in the recent Time magazine as a Man-Made Wonder of the World.
Once again, Shelley’s consulting work led us there and we were lucky to stay in such a spectacular place! Beautiful views, accommodations, and best of all is the Infinity pool at the top overlooking the city. Their Rooftop Pool is voted Top 10 of all rooftop pools.
Sightseeing highlights included: the Botanical Gardens, 
Chinatown, and Gardens by the Bay. Our dining stops in Chinatown were quite memorable. We gathered recommendations from locals on where to eat. Hands-down, all recommended Yum-Cha for homemade Dim Sum. It was delicious and totally authentic! As with most restaurants in Singapore, the menu is full of photos to order from. We tried many variations of Dim Sum, and then Mike saw a photo of what he thought was crispy chicken tenders. When they arrived, we both questioned what these chicken things were. They looked a bit like octopus…. More slimy than crispy and fried. He took a bite and quickly sat it down and covered it as though he had enough. I looked at the photo again of what he ordered. Ahhhh… chicken CLAWS. Ugh! Apparently they are a delicacy there. Not for us. Mike suddenly said, “Un mas Cerveza Por Favor.”
Another favorite in Singapore is Chili Crab or Pepper Crab. We LOVED the pepper crab and the fun in eating it with our plastic gloves.
All the people we met in Singapore were friendly and helpful! It was memorable and though we didn’t fit everything in, we left with a great impression and hope to return again.
Check out this cool video of the wall at Marina Bay.
Next stop for Shelley’s work…. Barcelona. Then Chicago!
More To Come Soon!
