Singapore, and my First Impressions.

Well we made it! We have officially spent our first few days in Southeast Asia frolicking amongst the locals of Singapore, or at least trying too! In order to obtain the honesty of this blog, I must report that we have fallen into TWO tourist traps in our first few days here!! LOL we came out unscathed, nonetheless! LOL just a few dollars shorter than we would have liked to spend on food/drinks!

Many times throughout these short 72 hours, I have stopped in my tracks and thought, “Am I really here? Am I actually this far from the people I love most (besides my sweet hubby standing next to me of course)?  Well yes, YES I am, and GOD IT FEELS GOOD!! IT IS SURREAL. Let me rephrase, it does not feel good that I am far away from my family and friends ( I LOVE YOU GUYS VERY MUCH AND AM CONSTANTLY THINKING OF YOU), BUT MORE SO that I am dropped in the middle of the world 100s of 1000s of miles away doing what I love most, EXPLORING, diving into culture, tasting new food, reading about the history of a place I know NOTHING about. It feels really good sitting here writing this post and looking out my hotel window at the skyline of Singapore. This is what I love, this is what makes me happy, this is what I am meant to be doing. 

Singapore is a beautiful place! Sean and I have loved walking around, and exploring the different neighborhoods and areas. We have only traveled by public transport, and I must say it puts the U.S. public transport system to shame. The subways, known as the MRT, are so easy to use, very clean, and air conditioned! There is absolutely no drinking or eating allowed, and it is very safe, with security, cameras, and signs everywhere allowing you to report lewd acts, crime, or any type of breaking the law by picture text via whatsapp, so tourists can join in. You could incur heavy fines as high as $500 SG for drinking/eating within the MRT station. More so, there are TV’s and ads in the train stations showing examples of acts of terrorism, harassment, and crime, how you can stop them, and the punishments incurred for doing so. BASICALLY, EVERYONE IS AWARE OF WHAT WILL HAPPEN SHOULD YOU STEP OUT OF LINE, and most importantly, they know how to act and protect themselves should that scenario actually happen. It is very big brother esque; however, it works. It was very interesting to witness.

Our first full day in Singapore was spent exploring Marina Bay, Marina Bay Sands, and eating the most delicious HAWKER food. Food and drinks in Singapore are very expensive. It is one of the most expensive cities in the world, so you can expect to pay top dollar on everything. A great alternative to this, and every backpackers dream is eating at Hawker Centers. Hawker centers are food courts with traditional Asian cuisine. Sean and I have now eaten in multiple hawker stations and 2 restaurants, and we have vowed that we will NOT be eating in restaurants anymore throughout our time here. The food at the Hawker stations are 2 things: CHEAP & DELICIOUS. Wanna know why they are delicious?! Because they are AUTHENTIC. My favorite has been the carrot cake, recommended by my BEST FRIEND and TRAVEL INSPO, blogger herself: Kylie over at Ohmyitskye ! Check her out!! I know what you are thinking, her favorite food is dessert, thats normal! She has the biggest sweet tooth imaginable!! Alas, it is not dessert, it’s better, just kidding nothing is better than dessert! It is little cubes of rice flour and radish rapidly fried to crispy perfection with egg, and secret sauce deliciousness. It is my new favorite meal, and I will be eating it every day for the rest of our time here. PS, it only set us back $4.50 SG, which is $3.31 USD. Am I a cheap date or what?! It looks like this: 

I keep saying to Sean over and over again that Singapore is some sort of real life Disneyland. The colors, the buildings, the amount of activities, you can stay amused here forever, but then you’d go broke too! Ha!

We have spent a lot of time at Marina Bay, which is absolutely beautiful, as detailed in the slideshow below. From the bay, you can see 360 views of the city skyline when standing at the Esplanade.

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Most young people hang out at the Esplanade, and it is home to our favorite hawker station: Makansutra, otherwise known as Gluttons Bay, where it is customary to sit with strangers and share tables.

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There  are so many fun things to do in Singapore and just walking around the city is fun in itself. You never know what you are going to come across. For example, who would have ever thought we would find the Singaporean version of the Chicago BEAN? Not me!

Overall, Singapore has been great to us, and these first 3 days have been a whirlwind! I absolutely love this city. So much more to come on the tourist traps to avoid (by experience), Chinatown, Gardens by the Bay, and Sentosa Island.

XO,

Christina