Another Friend in Town

It sometimes seems like my blog is turning into a play-by-play account of me donning my tour guide's cap for various friends who’ve made their way to Singapore and Hong Kong. It’s no secret that I love showing off the places I love to people who are just discovering them, so it’s not really that surprising that this has become a quasi-record of my visitors and what I’ve done with them. And honestly I couldn’t care less. Some of the greatest memories I have of my time in Asia are from when friends were in town and I got to shape their impressions of a new place. This past weekend, with my friend Sarah here in Singapore, was as fun and memorable as they come, and I’m glad to have a record of our adventures posted for posterity on here.

The level was set pretty high for Sarah’s first trip to the Lion City. You see, the last time I played tour guide for her was back in June. You may remember that my friend Jackie was visiting me from the States, and Sarah was visiting my ever-working roommate Ally. She piggy-backed onto our Hong Kong itinerary, and lo and behold wound up quitting her job in the U.K. and moving permanently to the Pearl of the Orient a month or so later.

Sarah found herself a job and built herself a life in Hong Kong, and I’ve loved watching her adjust to that new life and relish each and every crazy experience. Her job involves planning law conferences, often in Hong Kong but occasionally in other cities in the region. And last week’s conference found her in Singapore. Although the big event was on Thursday and she had a few meetings on Friday afternoon, she opted to extend her trip and spend the weekend with me and Sonia instead of jetting back to Hong Kong immediately.

Our first Singapore reunion was on Wednesday evening at my office. She had just arrived earlier that afternoon, and she came up to see where I spend most of my waking weekday hours. We went up to the roof deck and she got her first glimpse of the beauty of Singapore from above. Post-work, we headed down to Boat Quay for Happy Hour, nabbing a waterfront table at the Prince of Wales, a popular pub. After having downed a couple of pints of cider each we took a stroll around Chinatown, one of my favorite parts of town—past the old colorful shop houses and market stalls, the lantern-lined market streets and assorted temples.

View of Boat Quay

Singapore's favorite spot for Happy Hour

We met my friends Johannes and Leza for dinner around 8:30pm at a tasty Peranakan restaurant called Blue Ginger. Set on quaint Tanjong Pagar Road, the restaurant was truly a find, and I hope to make it back soon. The Peranakan culture came about from the fusion of the Chinese and Malay traditions, and the Peranakan people had a strong hand in shaping Singapore. Their cuisine is a mouth-watering mix of ethnic spices and sauces, and it’s truly delicious.

Thursday was Sarah’s big day, and she was occupied from dawn till dusk with her conference, so the next time I saw her was at Friday lunchtime. She had some commitments in the afternoon, so we just strolled around the Marina Bay for a bit before I ultimately deposited her at the venue of the first meeting. And around 4:30pm, she was back in my office, a free woman for the remainder of her time in town.

That evening, I had booked tickets for an event we had both been looking forward to for weeks—Shakespeare in the Park’s Othello, an outdoor presentation of one of the Bard’s most famous tragedies. I had seen the signs and advertisements all over town and investigated a bit. When I realized opening night was Sarah’s only Friday in Singapore, it seemed like a foregone conclusion to book tickets. Luckily I booked early, because it wound up selling out!

From my office we headed to Cold Storage, a popular local supermarket chain. There, we stocked up on goods—plates, forks, knives, cheese, chips, guacamole, a yoga mat to act as our picnic blanket and, of course, champagne and red wine. We traipsed over to Fort Canning Park and got in line for the show, and the gates opened right on schedule at 6:30pm. We staked out a good spot and began to feast away, until we realized we had completely forgotten the bread for our cheese! A near calamity!

Luckily, a food stall was selling (overpriced) meals for people who hadn’t (wisely) planned ahead, and one of their options was beef stew with some bread on the side. I was relieved and asked the staff at the counter how much I could pay for just some bread.

I was confusingly told that they couldn’t sell the bread by itself, as it only comes on the side of the stew, (and even then only four slices). “Can’t you just sell me the bread alone? I really don’t mind what I have to pay,” I begged. But the inevitable prognosis was negative. (This type of idiocy is, sadly, all too common in Singapore, yet it never manages to be anything less than wildly frustrating to a Westerner.)

“Look, I’ll take the stew with the bread on the side, but I’m just going to throw the stew away, because all I want is the bread. So if that’s what you have to do, do it,” I said, quite frustrated. However, one man behind the counter just said, “Charge him the price of the stew, but just give him lots of bread.” Thank goodness! In the end, it was pretty pricey bread, but sitting in the open air with Sarah, excitedly waiting for the play to begin, sipping on wine and munching on delicious cheese, I knew it was money well spent!

The play was amazing, and the cast was uniformly excellent. I was only mildly familiar with Othello before that evening, never having seen it performed in its entirety or having  actually studied the text in school (to the best of my recollection). But it’s fair to say I was pretty blown over by the power of the story and dialogue. To boot, the set was really cool, and the staging felt clever and fresh, with the action having been relocated to modern army camps and naval ships. After the final curtain, five or six of the main actors came out to do a question and answer session with the audience, which was enlightening and entertaining.

We strolled around the heart of old Singapore afterwards, passing the National Museum, the Singapore Art Museum, CHIJMES and the Raffles Hotel. And we ultimately made it all the way to Arab Street for a post-theater cocktail at Blu Jaz before heading home (via my office to pick up Sarah’s belongings). In a moment of poor timing, I got a text from a friend about a get-together at her friend’s apartment while we were in the cab home. So after depositing a tired Sarah at Sonia’s house, back I went to downtown Singapore to continue my Friday night.  

It was a late start the next morning, way behind schedule. But it was relaxing and fun none-the-less, with former schoolmates Sarah and Sonia catching up while flipping through an old year book. Sarah had also never met Motez or seen an episode of Modern Family (afterwards referred to as “that funny show”), both of which also took up significant portions of the morning.

Eventually we got our act together and caught the local 32 bus from Frankel Avenue to Arab Street. Sarah got the idea of finding a Middle Eastern buffet for lunch, and we grabbed a quick beer at Istanbul Grill while Sonia used her trusty iPhone to try to find a suitable place. Her first phone call was most promising: “Hello, is this Amirah Restaurant? … Do you do a lunch buffet? … No, you don’t do a buffet but you can make a buffet for us on the table? … You’ll bring us lots of dishes and keep refilling them until we say to stop?” It sounded about perfect, and it was only a couple of doors away, so we booked a table and made our way down the street.

Lunch was delicious, with all of us getting uncomfortably full. We had chicken kebabs, a Middle Eastern fish dish, beef stew, lots of vegetables, garlic bread, hummus, baba ghanoush and pita bread for dipping. And, as promised, the food was unlimited.

Afterwards, we had a stroll through Bugis to the MINT Museum of Toys, a small museum that I had heard about but never actually visited. Inside was a gem of a collection, apparently the passion of one man who amassed the various toys over years and years and finally found a way to share it with the world. We spent about an hour wandering passed dozens of glass display cases chock full of every kind of toy imaginable. There were old Mickey dolls and Batmobiles, Tintin models and old-time lunchboxes, games featuring characters both beloved and obscure. It was a tour around the world, across generations, and I really loved it. Sonia seemed a bit disappointed that it wasn’t more interactive. She heard “toy museum” and though she’d be playing games and getting to handle old dolls. While that would have been very cool, I was thrilled with the reality of the museum, and I heartily recommend a visit to anybody who makes their way to Singapore.

After the museum, we grabbed ice cream at my favorite Singapore creamery, Tom’s Palette. I am now a frequent visitor, going several times a week. I’ve even rearranged my evening commute home so that I pass by the place and can stop in on a daily basis. While there are some standard flavors, many others are quite out of left field—salted egg yolk, chocolate stout, durian and garlic butter. And the friendly staff are happy to take fanatics on an around-the-freezer tour, giving out free samples of every flavor your heart (and curiosity) desires.

One place Sarah had specifically wanted to visit while in town was the iconic Raffles Hotel. Sipping a drink in the storied Long Bar is one of those Singapore traditions that every guide book insists is a “must-do.” I love me a drink at the legendary watering hole, and was happy to oblige my visitor. I also invited Taz to join us there, since she hadn’t been yet.

Raffles Hotel Long Bar

So the five of us grabbed a table and—in a first time ever occurrence for me at the Long Bar—everybody at the table ordered something other than a Singapore Sling. It’s funny, but I’d say 95% of patrons to the Long Bar imbibe on that single, sweet cocktail. What madness! Although I agree it’s a cool Singapore tradition, the bartenders know how to mix some killer concoctions back there, and that the vast majority of visitors opt for a pre-mixed Sling is practically a crime. That evening, I chose a drink called “The Rink by Charlie Chaplin.” It was a combination of gin, balsamic vinegar, basil and lime juice, and it was served over dry ice to keep it cold. It looked like something from a mad scientist’s laboratory, and I was delighted with my choice.

We lingered over our round, since drinks at the Long Bar, although delicious, are also quite pricey. We probably sat there for over an hour, just chatting and snacking on peanuts, littering the tiled floor with their shells.

Sonia and Motez had to head home afterwards, but Taz, Sarah and I headed to the Esplanade waterfront to watch the nightly laser-light show. As you know, Hong Kong’s light show is a signature attraction that I always take my visitors to see. I hadn’t yet made the effort to view the Singaporean competition, so this seemed like a great opportunity. The Marina Bay Sands shoots off lasers and spotlights, while plumes of water from the bay fly into the air as flames shoot off behind them. It was a pretty nifty presentation, and I need to actually see it from the proper viewing area so I can get the full effect of the music. Even without it, it was a stunning display—a notch below Hong Kong’s perhaps but worthwhile nonetheless.

We took a brief stroll around Esplanade Park afterwards, but the truth of the matter is that we were all exhausted. Taz went home, and then Sarah and I caught the next cab back, too. Although I put on an episode of “that funny show,” I was asleep before I knew it.

The next morning we woke bright and early, having gone to bed so early the night before. An original itinerary I wrote out allotted the morning to chili crab in East Coast Park and a potential cycle along the waterfront. Sarah’s flight was just after 4pm, so we had until around 2pm to continue the adventure. But I’m not exaggerating when I say the heaviest rains I’ve yet seen here constantly poured down from the heavens for hours on end. The rain usually comes all at once in a short burst lasting under half an hour, but this particular morning, it just kept coming. 

I tend to over-plan, over-think and over-cram my itineraries, especially when I’m trying to impress someone… In the end, spending the morning in Sonia’s home, watching the rain fall, watching “that funny show,” eating pancakes and ordering Pizza Hut turned out to be a perfectly chilled out, awesome Singaporean Sunday. Sarah kept saying how great the day turned out, and when she got in the taxi around 2:30pm to head to Changi, I was so glad we hadn’t rushed about the whole morning.

I’m not sure Sarah will be uprooting her Hong Kong life to move down to Singapore any time soon, but I still think the weekend was pretty stellar. And I’m glad how many new things I got to do myself here, including Shakespeare in the Park, the MINT Museum and the light show! Here’s to many more Asian adventures to come!