Spectacular Singapore...

Singapore is one of our favourite cities so we were excited to be able to visit there to both catch up with some old friends as well as explore some of the sites we missed during our last trip.  

For us, no visit to a country would be complete without some kind of walking tour so we signed up for “Sultans of Spice” to see a different side of Singapore.

This tour  explore the British East India Company’s attempt to build Singapore as a hub to control the Spice Trade Route and the transition of Singapore to British control.  It also looked back at the former Malay royal family including a stop at the former palace and cemetery.  Finally, it highlighted the important Muslim influence in Singapore (one of the many thriving religions in Singapore), including a visit to the local mosque and the infamous Arab Street.  And somehow, as an added bonus, we even got chosen to be the guinea pigs for a dress-up party of Malay fashions.  Lucky us.

The tour reinforced our learnings from the “700 Years of Singapore” exhibit at the Singapore National Museum.  It also took us to a new part of town (Bugis Village) which offered more traditional and historical architecture, lots of feng shui inspired buildings (including a building shaped like a knife that inspired a "cutting board" courtyard development to keep its sharp blade from slicing the surrounding buildings)  and a wealth of different ethnic restaurants.  We even found a heavenly food court that was almost entirely vegetarian and vegan.

During our downtime, we wandered around other areas of town such as Tiong Bahru, Clarke Quay, Raffles City Hall, Singapore University precinct, and Holland Village. We were struck by the incredible diversity of the city, each with its own distinct feel and vibe and culture. But all felt green and spacious and orderly, even those spots in the downtown core.

Divine Wine Bar with Flying Fairies

When not touring or working, we got together with friends and their quickly growing kids who were slightly shy at first (the kids, not the parents) but then loved to show of their swimming tricks and dance moves (again, the children not the adults).  We also tasted delightful wines with Geoff’s old university friend, Graham, and his friends while they phoned old buddies from the Sweden School of Economics to get reacquainted.  And of course, we headed up to the top of Marina Sands Bay for a sunset drink overlooking the city, followed by a delightful (although tad spicy) dinner at the Punjab Grill before checking out the unicycle “gangs” hanging out by the boardwalk.

With warm weather, great architecture and infrastructure, a motivated and thriving multicultural community, Singapore is one of the truly great cities of the world.