The journey continues in Singapore! The last two days of our vacation were spent roaming the streets, taking in the art scene, window shopping, flower sniffing, and of course, eating mad amounts of food!
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| Some people think vacations are for relaxing... not us, HA! |
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| I cannot reiterate how clean the city was, and for being so large, there really were not many cars. We learned that parking permits are far more expensive than the vehicles themselves, so public transportation and walking are the preferred modes of getting around! |
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| Cute craft in a shop window. |
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| This street was FULL of cool sculptures! It was a really expensive shopping district.. fun to browse. We are too cheap to get into it, LOL. |
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| Almost, baby, almost... |
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| Joel was in HEAVEN! Ginger is his FAV! Who knew there were so many types?! |
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| Now orchids... those are MY FAV's! |
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| And GIRAFFES! Don't even get me started on the cool factor of GIRAFFES! |
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| Makes me think of our old science lessons, Mom! |
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| Love the colors! |
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| We made it to Chinatown and were able to see all of the Chinese New Year decorations! (They celebrate in February) |
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Anthony Bourdain told us (via his TV appearances... alas, we are not that tight with Tony...) that we HAD to go to a Hawker Center while in Singapore to try legitimate street cooking. Well, we found this one, and it truly met the bill for authentic! It's basically a covered area where individual "Hawkers" come to set up shop and sell their food. The tables are maintained by a cleaning staff who would collect the trash and empty plates.
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| We did a full circuit around the Center (it was HUGE!) before settling on this place. Tony said the Chicken and Rice is a staple in Singapore and a must-try! |
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| Here it is! Very simple, but the sauces, cilantro soup, rice and cucumber underneath we are a great touch! |
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| This is fried white carrot cake... didn't know what to expect but this wasn't it. It was tasty and hearty and very starchy. |
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| Peanut Soup. SO peanut-y and delicious! While we were eating our food, two locals shared a table with us and asked us to sample their food. Totally not sure at all what it was, but it was completely new texture and flavor-wise. We may never know what it was (sorry, no pics) but it was a wonderful experience to share with complete strangers despite the language barrier. |
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| Finished our Hawker Center adventure with fresh fruit smoothies! I got Dragon Fruit with Soursop and Joel ordered Snow Pear and Ginger Juice. A-MA-ZING. |
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| Pretty sweet flower pizza at Pizza Hut in honor of the New Year! |
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| Joel and I got SUCH a kick out of this restaurant! We didn't eat there, but if y'all recall, the Shinkansen is the super fast bullet train in Japan! Hence the restaurant's slogan, bwa ha ha! |
So, I read about these real life adventure games in Singapore. We chose Breakout Games - it's like a video game, but we were actually playing it! We were placed in a room (sorry, we weren't allowed to take pics!) for one hour (dramatic music was playing with a countdown clock) and told we could move, mess with, figure out anything in the room that we wanted to solve the puzzle and "break out" of the room before the clock hit "0"!. No pressure at all, right? Just locked in a room... with creepy music... in a foreign land...
The plot was this: we snuck into a researcher's science lab to steal the cure for cancer! Not sure how I feel about our morals in the game, but we went with it. We were all over the place finding secret panels, solving puzzles, figuring out really hard clues, and on and on! It was pretty dark, but we had flashlights and had a BLAST! We only needed a hint from the staff a couple of times (they said we did really well! Normally, folks play in groups of 4 to 6 and STILL need help, so we felt pretty sleuth-y). It was HILARIOUS and UNIQUE and SO MUCH FUN! Maybe we will start something similar in the States - I think it would be a BIG HIT in Va Beach for the tourists!
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| After solving the scenario, there were a bunch of props we could use for a photo op. |
Also, of important note, Joel and I had the experience of a lifetime at NOX: Dine in the Dark. It is exactly what it sounds like. We dined in the dark. And not just a little dark, like A LOT of pitch blackness that our eyes NEVER adjusted to. Let me explain: We start in a dimly lit lounge area and let the staff know which type of course we'd like. I went all out and said I'd eat meat, so we were able to enjoy 12 courses (3 groups of 4 small plates) without a clue as to what we were eating until after the meal was complete!
We were led to the dining room by our server who was blind (all of them are either blind or visually impaired). He was moving around like it was nothing and I was holding on to his shoulder for dear life! He was so conscientious and kind, though, and made sure we knew how to find our silverware and how to eat our food. As I mentioned, it came out in three different waves, each with four food courses. Everything was prepared in bite-ish sized pieces so we didn't need our knives at all.
Joel and I would take each course and smell it, make some guesses, taste it, make some guesses, laugh, have difficulty with our forks, laugh, and move on to the next course. We made sure to talk about everything, but everything smelled and tasted like steak to me! I think because I have deprived myself of meat for so long, that was all my brain registered, LOL. My biggest guffaw was the fact I thought a scallop was steak... a SCALLOP.
We got A LOT right, though. We guessed Foi Gras, steak, we thought the duck was chicken, but were close, nailed the desserts and some of the other, more difficult flavors.
After the meal was complete, our server led us downstairs where we were able to see pictures and read a summary of our various courses (after completing a form with our guesses). It was their first night implementing a new course menu, and I must say, we were HIGHLY impressed! Fine dining quality, and an experience we will NEVER forget!
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| Our before dinner cocktails while we were still able to see. The menu let us know what flavors to expect, but didn't tell us what was in them.... both were YUMMY! But, the food is what knocked it out of the park for us! |
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| Our last night in Singapore, Joel and I walked right around the corner from our hotel to a place called "The Beast". Joel was SO happy because it was all kinds of smoked meat! All the food I don't cook or buy anymore! Poor, deprived spouse of a Pescatarian! (I ate meat the whole trip though. It was awesome, but I PAID FOR IT! My body hates me...) :-p |
So, is anyone wondering whether or not we'd recommend Singapore as a vacation spot?! We'd go again in a heartbeat since there's SO MUCH we didn't even get to touch!
