Singapore the City State

Despite having had the same party, and effectively the same Government,  in charge since its independence over 50 years ago, the people of Singapore appear to be pretty gosh-darn happy.  Singapore has a healthy economy and all seems well - things really hum there.   We spent five days in Singapore.  More specifically, we spent five days in Singapore eating.  The city-state is heralded globally as a world-class food city and it did not disappoint.  (Not even after coming from Melaka by way of KL and Bob's food extravaganza.)

Singapore's food is really good, but what really makes it great (truly, to paraphrase Anthony Bourdain, "a foodie's paradise") is the food culture that seems to eminate from the whole city.  There are food, or hawker, centres (we would call them food courts, but these have much more soul than our version) everywhere, most forehead-smackingly cheap and delicious.  People in S-pore like to eat out as much as we do (and who can blame them with such amazing food costing less from a hawker stall in a food centre than it would to make it yourself at home?), so there always seemed to be plenty of people slurping, munching, cramming, and crunching wherever and whenever we were in the mood for food.  We didn't eat the famous Singapore chili crab until the night before we left and, even though it was a highlight meal of our trip, we could have left the city without eating it and been happy with our food experience.

Our chili crab meal was near perfect, even though it took us a while to decide where to eat it.  It is probably true that almost anywhere we got it would have been tasty, but we wanted to eat amongst some locals and not over-pay too much for what we were to be served.  We eventually decided, after much research and discussion, to go back to a food centre we had been to before and order from one of two stalls situated on the outer edge facing a row of seafood and satay BBQ carts.  We picked our stall, chose our (live) crab, waved goodbye to him, and sat down.  We ordered a side of buns along with the crab, both of which appeared soon enough.  Our little crab had transformed from creep crustacean to delicious-looking meal.  His shell had been cracked to make our access to his jucy flesh less of a chore and he had been soaked, cooked, and carefully placed in a bright red-orange sweet chili sauce.  The crab meat was succulent and fresh.  The chili sauce just spicy enough, with a nice underlying sweetness that brought out the flavors of the crab rather than overriding them. 

And the buns.  Well, the buns turned out to be the best call of the meal. They were crispy on the outside, and soft on the inside.  Not a buscuit or a roll.  Just a really marvelous bun.  They soaked up the sauce and stray bits of crab flesh with grace, and stayed firm in your hands because of their crispyness.  It might seem silly to go on  like this about some buns, but they were so perfect for their task that they deserve a moment or two of reverence.  Needless to say, we ordered another round of buns and everything went down nicely with some light (what else do they make in Asia?), cold Tiger beer.

The Laksa Man!

We also ate and fell in love with laksa and fried carrot cake.  Laksa is a spicy fish soup that is popular in Malaysia and Singapore.  We searched out a hawker stall mentioned by Bourdain (a frequent visitor to S-pore) only to find it was no longer in the spot it used to occupy.  We wandered blindly for some time and, eventually and quite by chance, stumbled on to an out-of-the-way food centre housing the laksa stall we had been looking for earlier.  The laksa was well worth the line and the (roughly) $2.  Laksa is not a clean or delicate soup.  It is rough and bold, and though it may have been made better by the circumstances, we think the use of fresh fish, a variety of unexpected flavors, and a light (spicy) heat made it such a delight (even in the hot, sticky Singapore weather. The fried carrot cake, called chai tow kway, is actually fried radish cake.  It can be ordered "black" or "white" (sweet or savory).  This fried carrot cake, even ordered sweet, is nothing like our carrot cake, but it is a sensation all its own.  It may have been one of Jeff's favorite Singapore dishes for its amazing dough and simplicity (well, those two things, and the fact it is fried).

Singapore also has some sights.  The funniest is its Merloin, which is the city-state's mascot for some unfathomable reason.  The most prominent Merlion in Singapore is the giant statue that spews water near the CBD (Central Business District).  Not far from the eternally barfing Merlion is the amazing Marina Bay Sands, which is just one of S-pores seemingly endless collection of fantastic architectural achievements.  Clever and creative buildings loom beautifully all over Singapore, adding to a really clean, well-designed city, quite bright and airy feeling, despite the often-oppressive heat.  Singapore is one of the most impressive cities either of us has ever been to.   The Singapore Botanical Garden was an unexpected highlight, shady in all the right places.  We were endlessly awed by the collection of orchids at the National Orchid Garden with over 400 varieties of the exotic plant arranged in a sprawling, romantic wing of the park.

We also visited the highly-regarded Singapore Zoo.  We saw tigers and other big cats of every kind, but where the zoo truly shined was its handling of their extensive money and primate collection.  They have smartly and successfully implemented an "open concept" in the zoo, which means orangutans can climb and frolic directly above you.   Annette's favorite were the baboons who entertained us for almost 45 minutes with their antics (the best was at feeding time when a smaller baboon ran to a corner of their enclosure with a carrot in its mouth and so many in its little arms that it had to keep stopping to pick them up as they fell).  We spent hours at the zoo and followed up our zoo visit with a tour of the Night Safari that evening where you get to see nocturnal animals out and about.  We saw a Siberian tiger prowling through his jungle enclosure and wolves howling to the moon (and unforgettable sound!).

Singapore dazzled us with its design and architecture.  It filled us with its delicious and soulful food.  And surprised us with its cheerfulness and contagious positive vibes.  We really enjoyed the city-state and were sad to leave.  But there is no time on the road for tears, for we flew from Singapore to the Southern Hemisphere and a new continent: Australia!


Next up: Brisbane: The City We Would Move to if it Wasn't Half Way Around the World from our Friends and Families