Fancy Schmancy Singapore

I will admit, I didn't want to leave Bangkok. Our arrival to Singapore represented our trip's halfway mark and I wasn't happy about it! A few weeks before we left, I had been emailing with Cordoba's Singaporean distributor -- he offered to pick us up from the airport and show us around town. Terry was a true Singaporean. He was bursting with hospitality and pride for his city.

Especially when compared to Bangkok, Singapore was SO clean. As clean as you would expect it to be. The roads were heavily regulated, the tolls and parking lots were all electronic and all the architecture seemed new. There were no homeless people and I felt like I had found preppy Asian paradise! In my opinion, all this was much less "interesting"...we weren't going to run into any kathoey's here, that was for sure! We stayed at the Rendezvous Hotel - it was the cheapest one that we could find in the middle of town. Because of the good rate, we weren't expecting much, but we were blown away with all of the accommodations. This was much different than our European backpacking days. Two words: Toto and Waterfall. I was stoked to find the Toto Washlet in our room - ever since someone showed me the website (it has changed since I last saw it...darn!), I have been nervous/excited to try one. Not to go on a major tangent but this toilet has a heated seat, a butt spray and a blow dryer!!!! Bah!! Secondly, there was a waterfall shower. Ahh yes.  Mmhmm.

Throughout the entire trip, this was the only place where we had access to a TV...good timing too. A couple days before getting to Singapore, the major Japan earthquake/tsunami happened. We kept a close eye on the news and couldn't believe the footage that we were seeing. Luckily there was no threat to Indonesia and Singapore...but we wanted to be sure.

Highlights from the trip (other than our awesome hotel) included catching up with Jackie's friend Chris *he took us to a place that had fresh handmade noodles...had I died and gone to heaven?*, Indian food on a banana leaf with Terry, the botanical gardens, wandering around the harbor looking for dessert, trying the chicken & rice dish, and last but not least, finding the "best laksa in town". For those of you who haven't tried laksa, it's awesome. It's a spicy local curry noodle dish that is traditionally served up with cockles. YUM. Yum yum yum.

Enjoy these photos and click any of them to see more!

Last stop...Bali.