On the last leg of our adventure from Hong Kong to Vietnam and Cambodia, then finally Singapore, I found what appears to be a sister city to New York, but on steroids.
I call it that because it a world financial center with seemingly endless skyscrapers, fine restaurants, world-class shopping, cultural institutions and vibrant ethnic neighborhoods, as we do. And yes, it is a clean city and there is no graffiti.
The city-state is jam-packed onto a tiny island, only 14 miles north to south. It is creatively using every square inch, even reclaiming some of the waterfront for more construction projects.
Leaving our ship, the Seabourn Pride behind, we found a taxi driver, David Woo, to take us to our hotel. As we drove, he talked to us about being our guide and driver for our two days in Singapore. It was a wise choice.
My talented husband Stu is great at using our credit card points to make hotel and plane reservation upgrades. In Singapore, we were able to use our Starwood points to stay at the stately and elegant St. Regis Hotel. Recently opened and conveniently located in the center of the city, the luxury hotel with spacious rooms offers butler service, entitling us to many extras, from tea, coffee and fruit each day to shoe shines and even suitcase packing services.
Our hotel concierge, Eric, knowledgeable about everything in the city, recommended two places for dinner. One was an excellent Italian restaurant on the fringe of “Chinatown”; the other was the dining room on the rooftop of the tallest hotel in Singapore, Swissôtel’s The Stamford.
But of course, no one can visit the city without sampling a Singapore Sling at the famous Raffles Hotel. The historic hotel, built in 1887 and named after the British Colonial administrator, Sir Stamford Raffles, has been lovingly restored to its original glory.
We went upstairs to the Long Bar, and with old-fashioned fans slowly cooling the air, we sat as a small table with a huge bowl filled with peanuts. The fun was drinking my Singapore Sling and munching on the peanuts and throwing the shells onto to the floor as everyone else did too!
After a light lunch, David picked us up and we visited “Arab Street,” lined with fabric and rug stores. It is similar to Orchard Street in Manhattan, where you can find one store after another selling like products. I was looking for some red silk and soon found that though there may have been 75 fabric stores on the street, only three sold silk.
As we walked through the jam-packed area, we found multiple Iranian merchants selling rugs. Of course, we could not resist, and after heavy negotiations, we ended up buying two rugs and having them shipped home. We headed back to the hotel to change our clothes and rest our exhausted bodies. It was as hot as any day we experienced in Cambodia, with temperatures in the high 90s.
After our busy day, refreshed, we took a taxi to Oso Ristorante, the immensely popular Italian restaurant. The chef happened to be at the entrance, so he welcomed us into his two-story venue. We were about to experience the best Italian dishes we ever ate!
One was a Burrata cheese filled with cream and flown in daily from Puglia, Italy. It tasted like the most moist succulent mozzarella, but better. In the dining room is a temperature-controlled, enclosed glass room, where all the meats and cheeses are cut to order. We sampled these razor-thin sliced meats with the antipasto. It was a treat to the palate. On the main floor there was jazz quartet playing at the bar, as well as a sealed cigar room. The upstairs dining room was packed, but the service was impeccable – attentive and helpful.
On our second day, David picked us up at 10 a.m. to visit the beautiful Botanical Gardens, with its world-class National Orchid Garden. It was special, but honestly, the heat got to me. Stu had bought a hat with a solar panel on top that powered a fan in the brim, but even that did not help. We muddled through, and David was there to pick us up in his air-conditioned van, stocked with bottles of ice-cold water.
Our next stop was a trip around the tip of Singapore on a tour boat, giving us a great view of the city. We passed the official symbol of Singapore, a huge white stone Sea Lion, constantly spouting water, and the many skyscrapers, museums and hotels hugging the coast.
The heat was getting to us, even on the water, so we decided to have lunch in Chinatown and find an air-conditioned restaurant. When we saw a closed door on Temple Street with a sign in English reading “Chinese Restaurant” we correctly assumed it had air-conditioning. We were about to experience unique to me Shanghai Chinese cuisine at Shang Man Lou restaurant.
We had the tastiest fried garlic barbecued ribs, a soup with duck, chicken and tofu and finally fried noodles with seafood. Alec, our host, took our picture and we took his. I had brought New York picture post cards and gave him one with our testimonial for the spareribs!
Now out onto the street and a walk around the bustling Chinatown. It is over 100 years old and was “allocated” to that community in 1828, by the founder of Singapore, Sir Stamford Raffles. Today the Chinese community is the largest group in the country, comprising about 76 percent of the population.
Although it was very hot, we wandered through the streets and alleyways watching the people, seeing the local merchants and food vendors. The city offers dozens of modern shopping centers for every price-point, but I preferred just walking through the ethnic neighborhoods and feeling the pulse of the city.
On our last evening, we had dinner at the Equinox, in the tallest hotel in Singapore.We thought that would be an easy way to see the city sparkle at night and we were not disappointed by the spectacular views from 72 stories in the sky, but I’d recommend just going for a drink.
The restaurant had a pricey menu, small portions, and charged us $20 extra for a window seat. After dinner, we went up two more flights for drinks at the “Sky Top” bar and got a different view of the city. The room itself was filled with bubble-like glass fixtures and floor lamps with huge white silk blossom tops. I could not decide which was more spectacular, the room or the view!
Sadly, all good things must end, and so our journey to Southeast Asia culminated with the glamorous city of Singapore. David was reliably at our hotel to drive us to the airport at 6 a.m. If you plan a visit to this towering city-state, contact him at outlaw@pacific.net.sg. He made it possible to get around the city and enjoy every minute.
