We flew out to Singapore on Boxing Day, intending to spend the better part of a week just hanging out and knocking back some food and drink. Like a lot of people I’d been through Singapore airport plenty of times but had never escaped the terminal.
Having had a couple of friends who worked the expat circuit there for about seven years I was expecting a giant authoritarian shopping mall with cheap noodles. And there is that. But overall I was surprised and pleased to see how much of the old city remained.
There seems to have been an effort made to hold onto particular blocks of old colonial architecture, and these mini-districts are generally the most interesting parts of the city.
There’s some genuinely quirky shit in the back streets. Like a type-writer bar.
Thoroughly enjoyed every time we've been to Singapore. It's like a gateway drug to Asia, with commercialised hipster bits and European convenience thrown into the mix.
And the weather seems to be just the right level of summer, whatever the time of year.
I've always wanted to visit singapore - my mum lived there for a short time while pop was stationed there after the war. They lived above a laundromat and were spoiled rotten by the owner - nan, mum and my uncle all had red hair so people came from miles around to do their laundry. It is where our family heirloom set of mahjong comes from. Mum went back in the 90s when they won a trip OS but said it had changed too much for her to recognise anything.
They're corralled, but there's dozens, maybe a hundred or more of the hawker 'centres'. They're massively crowded and busy and kinda gross tbh. I gave up when I saw the hundred metre line for ten ten chicken at the Macleay hawker centre. Just walked into some random shopfront and got a great feed for three peeps for about $50.
Famously described by William Gibson as 'Disneyland with the Death Penalty', however that was in 1993 so things may have changed.
Certainly not the government in such a benign dictatorship.
Best recommendation I think I've ever come across as to why I should break up my flights to Europe with a couple of days in Singapore.
Thoroughly enjoyed every time we've been to Singapore. It's like a gateway drug to Asia, with commercialised hipster bits and European convenience thrown into the mix.
And the weather seems to be just the right level of summer, whatever the time of year.
We were there in what I assume was their winter. Thirty-plus every day. And people wearing puffers and hoodies!
I've always wanted to visit singapore - my mum lived there for a short time while pop was stationed there after the war. They lived above a laundromat and were spoiled rotten by the owner - nan, mum and my uncle all had red hair so people came from miles around to do their laundry. It is where our family heirloom set of mahjong comes from. Mum went back in the 90s when they won a trip OS but said it had changed too much for her to recognise anything.
The last of the old Singapore disappeared when Bugis Street was gentrified.
I hope you went to Atlas bar. The classiest bar I have ever lowered the tone at.
We tried to but you had to book a couple of weeks in advance.
Singapore is a delight, it seems to have things for all tastes and interests.
How was the cat museum?
Closed. But there was an elegant sufficiency of alternate cat experiences around every corner.
Noooo! I guess that gives you an excuse to return, just to visit the museum when it's open 😅
Yes, but how were the hawker street satays? Or are they all corralled into covered markets now? (But they were still good, right?)
They're corralled, but there's dozens, maybe a hundred or more of the hawker 'centres'. They're massively crowded and busy and kinda gross tbh. I gave up when I saw the hundred metre line for ten ten chicken at the Macleay hawker centre. Just walked into some random shopfront and got a great feed for three peeps for about $50.
I'm trying to remember which writer used a type-writer bar to write a novel on. I want to say Hemingway, but I'm not 100% on it.
Bradbury! Fahrenheit 451!