Breakaway in Singapore

A pre-Christmas weekend in Singapore after cancelling 2 previous trips in 2013 wasted my flights and hotel bookings. I have to ask my friend in Singapore to check into the hotel room since they don’t let me cancel my booking at the last minute.

So here I am in a mad rush to take in some of the latest Singapore sights (since these places were not ready during my last trips) during my less then 48 hours in Singapore.

After checking into Rendezvous Hotel, we went out for lunch and found Tim Ho Wan, the Michelin Star Dim Sum joint in Plaza Singapura. It’s a smallish restaurant but since is still early for lunch the place is not too packed so we decided to lunch here. (The queue at the recently opened KL outlet is madness during weekend that I refuse to waste time lining up). Looking thru the menu I was surprised that it doesn’t have much variety but after trying a few I am pretty happy with it especially the roast pork bun, which is totally different from the usual steamed bun. Here it is baked with a crispy skin and the filling is still moist and tender. Yummy.

Spend some time with my sister and family at their new home in Yishun and had dinner with them at Northpoint. After that it’s happy hours with friends at Clarke Quay catching up on what’s happening in the city and planning tomorrow outings.

Saturday morning, the weather is not promising with cloudy sky and soon it turn to rain. Getting to Universal Studio in Sentosa Island is a breeze, with MRT taking you right to the entrance literally. Don’t you just love their transport system? I did as it was raining and I don’t even get wet as it’s under ground subway right to the mall, where the monorail whisk you to the entrance of Universal Studio. No sweat. Spend the next few hours exploring the attractions there especially enjoyed the ‘light, Camera, Action’ set up. The transformer ride is not bad. As it was still drizzling I avoided the outdoor rides and spend time with other indoor entertainment. We left after lunch to meet up with friends for our afternoon outing to the Garden by the Bay.

Spend a couple of hours at the Flower Dome and Cloud Forest Dome, which are packed with people. The flower Dome is having a Christmas theme at this time. Both Dome requires some walking especially the Cloud Forest Dome with is multiple stories high walk way. We took a quick break at the café and waited for sunset, and then we went to the super trees, which took on a more Christmas atmosphere with theme stalls and additional festive lightings.

As the sky gets darker we make our way to Marina Bay Sands and took in the night skyline of Singapore business district, followed by a walk thru of Singapore shopping haven of Orchard Road. With a selection of Singapore photos in my SD card and a few bags of Christmas shopping, we are ready to have a taste of typical Singapore food at Chinatown. Had a few dishes of seafood including the famous chilly crabs all washed down with Tiger beers. Then we hopped over to nearby club for a couple more rounds of drink to end the night. A need a break to recover now.