Food Heaven, Singapore!

My traveling bug is still very much alive and all I want is to get back to it! One of the finest trips I took was to the Lion City. Maybe my views were blurred by my other interest in that city, but I made two great trips down there that I look back to with fond memories. A Fine City, Singapore. To me Singapore has the best of both worlds, it is Asian and looks modernized. Another good things is that I’m not really short there!

As life there is half the prize for me, shopping and going out for dinner were great pastimes. I spend a lot of time walking around town going in and in out shopping malls, one even bigger and fancier than the other. Especially after my first trip I came back with so much more than I came with. Did some of my best music buys from the past years. The College Dropout by Kanye West, Jay Z’s Black Album, picked up some old classics like Illmatic by Nas and Ice Cube’s Amerikka’s Most Wanted. All those albums rank very high on my list. Most of them were bought at HMV down at Orchard Road where I could spend hours skimming trough the albums and DVDs. The Queensway Shopping Centre in Queenstown got plenty of my money as well. The amount of sports gear, shoes and other clothing is great. My love for football had me drooling over the jersey’s they sold there and of course I had to get one from the Singapore national team. Obviously that wasn’t the only one I got, the sleeveless Cameroon jersey was a nice buy too.

Ok, enough about shopping , let’s get to the food! Singapore is FOOD HEAVEN! Everything I want and then some. Like most Asian cities there’s food on every corner and you can get it almost the entire day. The hawker centers are good for a quick bite and a lunch, but I don’t to get my dinner there either. It seems a bit dodgy at times, but the food is usually pretty good. I recommend to take the Indian or Malay food. The Chinese food is my least favorite and at times the hygiene seems not all the good. That said, there’s enough nice Chinese food as well, but it’s just not much for my liking. Curry puffs, satay or popia’s are great snacks and don’t forget the fish balls. I never had a better range of noodles than in Singapore. Fried noodles, tom yam noodle soup and others, the Japanese ones and so much more. Great other dishes are the laksa, rice noodles in a coconut curry gravy with shrimp, egg and chicken. Nasi lemak, coconut rice with omelette, anchovies, cucumber and chili paste. Sometimes it is wrapped in banana leaves, which enhance the flavour. The Malay cuisine is definitely my favourite, but some good Indian food is always welcome. Chicken madras and a nice tandoori can be served to me anytime. I love all the spicy food and that surprised some of the local people I met there. I sweat, turn read, but love eating it. Barbequed stingray is making my mouth water when talking about it. Quite spicy but a welcome change from all the chicken and beef. Ooh shit, how could I forget about all the yummy sushi. However, the best dish I had is not available in stores. The homemade sambal from my ex-mother-in-law (not that I was married) that was all over some big ass prawns is top-notch. Wake me at any time for that dish and I’ll be happy. That alone is worth the trip back there.

Everybody’s hungry now, mission accomplished!

I stayed in the area of Sembawang MRT, near Sun Plaza and the 2^nd time I stayed around Yio Chu Kang which are both fine neighbourhoods. I can see myself live down there and enjoy it. Some of the best places to walk around in Singapore are Boat Quay and River Quay. I was absolutely tricked there by a Turkish ice-cream seller. I enjoy walking up and down Orchard Road. I know it’s damn crowded and all, but I love to go up in the masses and observe what’s going down around me. The east coast beach area is extremely nice for a good stroll or just a romantic picnic. A trip down to Sentosa Island is a must. The big Lion in the centre of the island looks amazing, the aquarium should be nice (didn’t go inside, maybe next time) and you obviously have to see Fort Siloso. The great historic value of that place was very interesting. If you’re lazy, tired or just want something different, you can move around in a monorail. Last but not least is the great beach area to swim. It looks absolutely amazing and tropical

I must have forgotten so many other great things about Singapore that I might cover some other time. I have to get back there anyway. I met some really nice people there that made my stay unforgettable and I want to thank all of them. The best thing about my trips there was that I saw all the tourist places and was taken to some less known places by my friends there.

I’ll be back!