Singapore: No Longer a Stopover

We were lucky to go nonstop from San Francisco on Singapore air in premium economy. This gives one a bit more legroom and recline plus upgraded meal service. A 16 1/2 sounds daunting but with some hours of sleep a few movies and a good book it wasn't too bad.

We arrived and were met by Singapore tourism and taken about 20 min to St Regis which is an incredible hotel in a great area. The service and rooms were amazing. Our next few days consisted of learning about the fascinating mix of Indian, Chinese and Malay cultures. We visited the famous chop houses where the enormous amounts of immigrant from China ended up and lived while they worked in Singapore. We visit Chinatown and Little India where food, traditions and life continues by the natives of those countries. We visited the Shangri La and stayed at the Mandarin Oriental and Fairmont hotels. Each was its own unique experience. We especially loved our visit to the famous Raffles Hotel which was a beautiful oasis in a big modern city. We visited and leaned about the Peranakan (mix between Indian Malay and Chinese) culture by visiting the museum.

Two of my favorite highlights were the Makan food tour which was an area locals eat bowls of noodles with chili and chicken pork and other Chinese/Indian mixed cuisine. I also adored the Gardens by the Bay which was an enormous greenhouse spanning acres and acres with every imaginable plant from around the world.

Singapore is an easy place to navigate. Everything seems to take 15 min. Walking the city is really enjoyable especially the waterfront quay area where there are fun restaurants and shops.

The thing a took away from this wonderful experience is the clean safe easy city with and underlying culture that is diverse and rich. It is definitely a great stop for the first time Asia traveler because of English being widely spoken. I am excited to send my clients there not only as a stopover but as a destination.

-Kathy Hirst,
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