Shopping Malls and Kueh Tutus

I’ve been hanging out in the wonderful country of Singapore for a week now. So far so good. My wonderful husband thought staying in almost every hotel in Singapore would be a great idea, so I’ve been hopping around from hotel to hotel every other day. It’s awesome because it’s easier to explore new areas but, it sucks because I have to pack up and carry my stuff around the city quite often.

The first hotel we stayed at was the Parc Sovereign Hotel– which was meh… It was loud, really tiny and wet. Yes, wet. The floor, walls, and bed all were in a state of dampness due to the humidity. Also there were little kids screaming down the hallway at 5:30AM! Jetlagged Hetal was getting cranky. We were supposed to stay there 2 days and instead cut it short and moved onto our next hotel, the ParkRoyal on Pickering. This was by the far the BEST hotel we stayed at, so much so that we ended up extending our stay here. The hotel is covered in greenery and has an amazing infinity pool on the 5^th floor overlooking the city. The room was pretty big and really pretty. They provide you with a hot water heater and a French press to make coffee! How very SF! Normal coffee makers are too mainstream for Singapore.

The MRT (Singaporean Subway system) is half a block away from the hotel making it super convenient to get around. On my first day there I took the MRT to Orchard Road. The subway system here is really easy to navigate and very cheap ($1.30-$1.50 for most rides). I mentioned in my earlier post how I wasn’t really impressed with Orchard Road since it was all high end shopping stores that I could find in the USA. What I’ve learned while being here for a week is that Singaporeans love 2 things; food and shopping. I have now been to over 10 HUGE malls that put my beloved Garden State Plaza, my teenage hangout spot in Jersey, to shame. Every mall also has massive food courts that serve all types of food. However, a lot of the ethnic food restaurants aren’t vegetarian friendly, so my husband and I have been resorting to a lot of American and Indian food which kind of sucks because I reall wanted to try other cuisines. We were lucky enough to try Kueh Tutu, which is a Chinese steamed rice cake filled peanuts or coconut. They weren’t too sweet and the coconut filled cake quickly became my favorite after I shoved 3 of them in my mouth almost all at once.

The Asian Civilization Museum is a 5 minute walk away from the hotel and totally worth visiting. I joined the 11am guided tour and learned a lot about Singapore and all the religions/people who live here. The walk over to the museum is along the Singapore River and there are many colorful buildings along the way.

That night my husband joined me and we went to Clarke Quay and walked around. Clarke Quay is full of nightclubs and fancy restaurants. We sat on the bridge for a bit and people watched and walked back to our hotel to relax.