We weren’t sure what to expect with Singapore. For most people Singapore is a quick 1 night stopover on the way to Australia, or a 2 night shopping spree on the way back. Known as a good introduction to Asia, Singapore is clean and fairly westernised. Not many people we know have actually spent a lot of time there so it was hard to get much info about the place other than from the library’s copy of the ‘Rough Guide’ (dated in 2000) that we took with us. As usual, when a travel guide is that old, absolutely none of the restaurants are where they are supposed to be, the hotels have all changed hands, and the prices have quadrupled, but for Michelle the most important part is the history and that pretty much always remains the same!

Me I was looking forward to the food. Of course.

We had booked into the InterContinental Hotel (one of the advantages of earning British pounds…) as it was one of the few 5 star hotels that had a kind of ‘heritage’ stamp still imposed on it. The government apparently provided some funding if the original shophouse buildings on the site were restored and incorporated into the hotel. It was something of a treat. We stayed in one of the shophouse rooms – timber floors, high ceilings, shuttered windows and exposed beams, and of course air-conditioning – it was lovely.

Outside the temperature didn’t drop much below 32 degrees Celsius – even at night, and the humidity was high. My tan that I had painstakingly nurtured through sunburn and blisters from Palm Cove just slid off me with all the humidity in the first few hours of wandering about in Chinatown.

Our hotel was vaguely in the Colonial District of Singapore. Only a block from Raffles, and fairly central to most things. We spent our first day walking between meals, starting with Dim Sum in the morning, Japanese paper curry at lunch, some noodles for afternoon tea, and Thai for dinner. It was a good introduction. We wandered about Chinatown, through the old quarter, the market areas, new shopping centres, trendy designer streets and miles upon miles of hawker stands. The food was amazing.

Another day we took the hop on/off bus tour around the circuit they do of Singapore. We didn’t get off to visit, we just took the trip to get an idea of the layout of Singapore and a quick look at the touristy sights to be had. In fact the bus was put on by Singapore Airlines and it pretty well just ferried you between shopping arcades from one end of the city to the other, with a couple of stops in the out of the way places like the Botanical Gardens, entertainment centre and the newly developed areas like Clarke Quay. A bit disappointing all in all. Instead we jumped off at Sim Lim Square, mecca for the electronic gadget collector. Millions of electronics and accessories stores over 6 floors – kept us busy for about 4 hours. Every time we were ready to leave, we’d be drawn in somewhere else and would find ourselves sitting up at the counter bargaining for something we never even realised we needed desperately! We managed to escape eventually, arms full, wallets lighter and all bargained out. It turns out, it’s not THAT much cheaper in Singapore, but for the same price you pay here in the UK you get several generations ahead in technology in Singapore….

We visited the Arab quarter which was beautiful and village like – in the foreground of a spectacular mosque, and Little India which was colourful and alive. Lots of fresh fruit and vegetables and gorgeous materials abound on the streets – plenty of people and action and of course street upon street of food stalls. It’s surprising really because normally when it is really hot, the last thing you want to do is eat, but the smells are so good – you find yourself sitting on a stool on the edge of the street slurping noodles from a spicy hot broth in a plastic plate with the rest of the population.

Our last night we ate dinner on the riverfront in a seafood restaurant. It was late, about 11pm and we were happy to let the waitress order on our behalf. We wanted to try the specialty of chilli crab but we couldn’t be bothered to have to do all the work involved in eating a crab, so we negotiated with the waitress and were served the most amazing crab, boiled in this thick spicy chilli soup’ish sauce. She had another waitress come over, glove herself up, prepare her tools, and then she stood there and shelled the crab for us, handing it to us to eat as she went. It was divine. Like butter melting in your mouth. The woman was covered up to her elbows, and all down her front in red chilli sauce and shell – and we sat there like two queens eating her efforts. So worth the £8 a head it cost us!

That’s the thing. The food is so good and so cheap. We ate so much! In my case, about 2kg worth.

We didn’t manage to do any of the tourist trail. Nor did we get to Orchard Rd – and the high street stores. I think the only typical thing we did was the obligatory ‘Singapore Sling’ at Raffles. Just something you have to do. Do it once and that’s it, never necessary again.

Singapore was great. I’d go back. Definitely the place to wander, eat well, search out the real life and stay away from the shopping malls and the tourists. We had 4 nights this trip and we both felt we could have happily stayed longer and split our days between visiting and sitting by the pool.

That’s not to say we didn’t manage a couple of afternoons with a book and a pina colada… Life is good.

More photos here