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I always thought Singapore was an island, and technically it is, but it is fully connected to mainland Asia. Theoretically we could get a car and drive to Paris from here. Anyway, the first night we arrived, Yanmei was pretty tired after the 8 hour flight, so she stayed in while I went out to look around. We are right on the edge of Chinatown, so I went to check it out. Since Chinese New Year is coming up next week, Chinatown is extra busy and decorated for the celebration.

As you can see in the first picture, mandarin oranges are a lucky symbol for CNY in Singapore. Nicer shops have mandarin orange trees in pots outside. It will be the year of the dog, so there are a lot of dog statues up as well.

One thing that struck me is how many restaurants there are. I know Singapore is densely populated, but most people must eat out all the time to support this many restaurants and food stands. As you walk down a street it seems rare if the storefront isn’t a restaurant, and then every so often you come to a big area with 20-30 food stalls.

The next day Yanmei and I set out to see the famous mer-lion statue in the bay. It was only about 15 minutes walk.

After that Yanmei wanted to head to Little India, because she had some good food there last time she was in Singapore. We took the MRT (subway). It seems like a pretty good system, and affordable too. Our ride was $0.77 SGD (about $0.58 US), compared to $4.30 AUD ($3.35 US) for a short ride in Melbourne. One of the rules I found funny was “no durians”.

As we stepped out of the MRT station we instantly found a big building with 40+ food stands.

After Little India we headed back to our apartment. The warm, humid, sunny weather drains your energy. It’s not oppressive, but it is sapping.

That evening Yanmei was still tired so I went out towards the bay and the gardens there. As I got close I could see the tail end of the light show they have.

BTW, that building with the boat on top has become one of my favorites. It is the Marina Bay Sands hotel, and it is on a peninsula so it really draws the eye because there are no other buildings nearby. It just looks really cool to me. When I got closer I saw this:

I headed over to the gardens and Supertree Grove, which is formed from giant artificial trees. Unfortunately it was so late that the domes and skywalk were closed.

Eventually I assume the climbing vines will cover the entire frames and it will look really green and lush. Anyway I headed back to the Bay for the 10pm show. It was pretty good. They definitely tried to do 3D projections in water mist, but it didn’t quite work. Seems like a very cool idea that could be spectacular with some refinement.

It was cooler but still quite warm as I walked back to the apartment.

David

6. Taiwanese Hotpot, Guantian district, Taiwan, 2015. Hotpot is where you add meat and vegetables to a boiling pot of broth, which can be savory or spicy. What made this meal special was it with Yanmei's friend Yaya who she hadn't seen for many years. It was also overcast and a bit rainy which makes hotpot more appealing.

7. Korean Bibimbap, DMZ, South Korea, 2015. This was on Yanmei's list, but not mine since I think we had better meals in Korea, but of course it is a classic Korean meal. This was the lunch we had on the DMZ tour. It was served at the cafeteria of the customs building near the Kaesong industrial complex, if I remember correctly. I think that makes it very authentic, if not as fancy as a Bibimbap you might get from a restaurant.

8. Vegetarian feast, Buddhist restaurant, Seoul, South Korea, 2015. This one was memorable because it was arranged by my friends David and Elizabeth, and it took place on Buddha's birthday. After the meal we went outside to the big Buddhist parade. There were a large variety of dishes served family style.

Korea was one of the best countries for having good food on our 2015 trip (as was Taiwan, for that matter).

9. Hiltl, Zurich Switzerland, 2015. Hiltl is a popular vegetarian buffet. Buffets are one of Yanmei's favorites because you can pick exactly what you like. It was not all you can eat, instead you paid based on the weight of your dish. Hiltl was not Swiss food, but they had a huge variety, probably 60+ dishes, from salads to Indian curry, Italian pasta, even American stuff like fries. We liked it so much we came back the next day to eat there again, which I think is the only time we repeated a restaurant during that trip.

10. Pasta, Grottaferrata Italy, 2015. Unfortunately I don't remember the name of the restaurant, but it was in a small town south of Rome called Grottaferrata. We got there early, as I guess dinner tends to be later in the evening than we were used to, so initially we were the only ones there. I'm sure they've had tourists before, but they aren't as common as in Rome, and they seemed particularly enamored with Yanmei since she was Chinese. We got a three pasta sample plate and all three were delicious.

David