Enlightened by Cosmopolitan Singapore
This is one of the most significant travel adventures I have experienced, fulfilling many of my goals (tick✔️)
To provide some background, my parents were born in pre-partition India and moved to Kuala Lumpur after they married in the early 1950s. I’ve recently learnt my Dad had lived there since he was 15 as his beloved older sister was already based there. She was the only one of Dad’s 7 older siblings I’d met and was like a grandmother to me when she moved to the UK later in life. Needless to say, I wish Dad was around to share what KL was like in the 1940s. And why he moved there before coming back to get married.
All of my older siblings were born there and this part of the world has been as much an influence on my life as India. Or so I have discovered.
So this is part family history, part travelogue.
Part 1: Singapore
Having flown out on Singapore Airlines (✔️) on a Sunday, we arrive at Changi Airport (✔️) late on Monday afternoon. A perfect time to unpack, refresh and get out to acclimatise to the heat. Indeed if it wasn’t so humid in this part of the world, this winter baby may have visited much sooner.
Based on the edge of Chinatown, we decided to explore that in the daytime. On our first evening, we noted one of Singapore’s many shopping centres was on our doorstep which gave us a base from which to explore the neighbourhood. Prioritising dinner, we found a bar that served tacos and that was the healthy light meal I craved after a 13-hour flight. This was the only time I recall having alcohol on this trip, other than the obligatory half a glass of wine with dinner on the flights which aids sleep. The beers felt right at that moment, celebrating both getting here and being in the land (ish) of my ancestors for the first time.
It was only in daylight the next day, that I saw my mum everywhere. Or at least what seemed to influence her impeccable dress sense. As in other Asian countries I’ve visited, Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo, everyone is impeccably dressed.
I think in Malaya, as it was then (when it included Singapore) my mum, developed her sense of style. Something (I hope) I have picked up from her.
As we had 3 days in Singapore, saving the bulk of our time for KL, we packed in our time.
We, as citizens of Singapore, pledge ourselves to forget differences of race, language and religion and become one united people.
A priority was to visit Little India which fully represented the organised chaos that I recall of the country that I visited once as a child. I extended my understanding of how Singapore is such a cosmopolitan mix of nearby countries, China, India, Indonesia and Thailand in the main at the Indian Heritage Centre. I learnt about the freedom fighters, the peacemakers, the record breakers and the pioneers. I could have spent much more time here, especially to people-watch.
This was the first time I saw an umbrella drying machine, something invented in my head in Canada, where brollies are used a lot but all the shopping centres offer single-use plastic bags. The planet is thankful 🌍
Toilet Talk (part of a regular series)
It was day one so also my first sighting of a hole-in-the-floor-style toilet, a regular sight in Tokyo too. However, Singapore is the first time I’d seen a handheld shower attached, a handheld bidet (something I wish I was brave enough to use as being able to splash cold water on me would have been so welcome in the searing heat!). As I have said after trips to Tokyo, Hong Kong and Seoul, we can learn a few things from Asia about hygiene. And saving on loo roll🌍
Singapore is big on gardens, as is evident in Changi airport, which is a destination place itself, even if you are not flying. Not just for the magnificent waterfall, which happens to be the largest indoor one in the world but lots of other features. Walking into the airport is as comforting as stepping into a 5-star hotel and there is no other airport I have been to that I can say that about.
Coffee
It has to be super hot, over 28c for me to have an iced coffee and during this trip, the temperature was so far beyond that, I avoided looking at the forecast. After a good look around the Little India arcade, an inside market with lanes so narrow you had to dip inside the vendor spaces to let others pass, Cotti was our first coffee stop. It’s at one end of the shopping centre after which we braved the Tekka Centre opposite, a maze of colourful, fragrant stores and cafes, which overwhelmed us. Despite walking end to end and seeing how inexpensive the food was, we found some cool calm in the Little Easy Bistro Bar back in the shopping centre instead.
Other coffees at The Wired Monkey a takeout hut but we were able to grab a bench nearby to enjoy a rare sit down outside as it was still mid-morning. Although I still needed my portable fan on.
We sat in for one at super slick Tag Coffee before we took the Sendoza Express to the beach. And then got right on the next one and came back having endured around 6 minutes in the heat. We did see an actual crocodile on the path, which may have determined our hasty retreat back to the relatively cooler train station.
We even grabbed one from Tim Hortons when we needed a sit-down.
After visiting the impressive Singapore City Gallery we popped into the swanky Providence for a chai. This is opposite the touristy Raffles Hotel, which we did have a good look around. It is the birthplace of the Singapore Sling after all; a drink I never tried, not even on the plane! I’ll have to go back.
The best coffee experience, as is so often the case, came on the last day. We had a couple of hours before checking out of the hotel and trekking to the outskirts of the city centre. Passing the narcotics police department maybe said something about the area. However the beloved had heard good things about Nylon. Tucked into a quiet residential neighbourhood overlooking a park, is a parade of shops and cafes, ending with Nylon. It was standing room only in this calm, minimalist space that drew us in regardless. The first murmurings of the heat were starting to make themselves known. We sat outside the bakery we’d already spotted to have the first food of the day. My stomach settled enough to allow me to enjoy the magnificent Nylon experience, especially after I for-went the only bench available to stand at the communal table. This allowed me to look around and keep my mind occupied which is when I spotted the poster promoting KAGAMI by Ryuichi Sakamoto and Tin Drum which had a somewhat calming effect on me on several levels.
Quite often, it’s the service, space and surroundings of a coffee shop that makes it memorable, as is the case for Nylon Yes we bought some beans back.
Breakfast
We knew the breakfast at the hotel was going to be negligible and instead had French toast at Punch and shakshuka at Carrot Sticks.
Dinners were mostly at the much anticipated Muji cafes other than tacos on the first night which with much research I have found was at Senor Taco.
Singapore is a shopping place and we did stock up at Innisfree, a favourite skincare retailer we discovered in Hong Kong. However, we knew everything would be cheaper in Malaysia so we saved our dollars and waited for the ringgit.
Muji is a top 10 favourite brand anyway and I will always visit any location, especially in Asia where prices are generally lower. I’m looking forward to a daily visit while in Japan in 2025. M&S on the other hand, was astronomically priced.
A surprise was the discovery of Charles and Keith branches everywhere. A footwear brand I’ve only seen in John Lewis turns out to be from Singapore. Again, I waited to shop in Malaysia and spent my unexpected work bonus there.
This was an emotional and inspiring trip, and Singapore is an easy city to navigate. As a solid substitute for out-of-bounds Hong Kong, I can already sense that it will be regularly visited.
October 2024
