The Beauty of Singapore

A Night View of the Garden by the Bay

As Americans, our passport grants us access into foreign countries and allows us to return to our home country. A visa, on the other hand, is an official government document that temporarily authorizes us to stay in a country. If you are working as a foreigner in Indonesia, you must renew your visa every 9 months. In order to do that, you must leave the country. Singapore is a quick flight away from Jakarta and the closest country to us, so we will be making many visits!

I have so much to share with you from my first week in Jakarta, but since we have just returned from our visa run this weekend, I am eager to show you the beauty of Singapore!

Our first stop after leaving the Visa office was the Botanical Gardens. It is hard to imagine a more beautiful place smack in the middle of a bustling city. The Orchid garden literally took my breath away!

Even the creatures in the garden made us smile!

We spent a few hours here, but could have easily spent the whole day. Singapore, however, is famous for its food and we were getting hungry! Luckily there are restaurants on every corner, even in the Botanical Gardens, so we enjoyed our first meal before leaving the park.

Shrimp, Lemongrass & Mango Salad, Heirloom Tomatoes and Pan Fried “Sun Chokes”

After our late lunch we were ready to check in to our hotel. The famous Marina Bay Sands was waiting, and for anyone else who has seen the film “Crazy Rich Asians”, you will know why I was excited to get checked in!

We headed to our room and after picking our jaws up off of the floor we snapped a quick photo of the view:

Next, we headed up to the top of the hotel to enjoy the famous pool area where we proceeded to drop our jaws again 🙂

Seriously, can you believe this view??

We spent most of the evening enjoying the pool area before heading out to a nice dinner of……burgers! 🙂 After 8 weeks abroad Michael was jonesing for some American fare. I didn’t argue since the restaurant is famous for its desserts as well!

After heading back to the room and quickly falling into a food coma we woke bright and early to fulfill some promises. Our good friends, Deb and Art, used to live in Singapore and we wanted to visit some of their favorite haunts. First stop was their old house on a famous historical street in Singapore:

We couldn’t resist snapping a pic of their neighbors’ houses as well!

I honestly don’t know how they ever left. Not only was the neighborhood beautiful and right in the heart of the city, but the bar “Ice Cold Beer” and other great shops and restaurants are just a few houses down!

Yup, the beer is literally ice cold!

We had to try Deb’s favorite, Din Tai Fung, which serves dumplings filled with soup. She says they are like a “party in your mouth” and she isn’t kidding. They are delicious! Even in the very hot and very humid Singapore weather (yeah, that’s my excuse for the crazy hair!) they are still wonderful!

We learned to use the clean and efficient underground transport system after a few wrong starts and stops. We visited some wonderful Hawkers Centers (outdoor Singaporean food courts!) and Holland Village, a great outdoor center for shopping and quick foot massages! Michael became adept at tucking in and out of shopping centers to avoid the heat and take advantage of the all air conditioned walkways. The city has amazing light shows every night and we enjoyed watching them from high above the crowds!

Singapore is the greenest city I have ever seen and a stark contrast from the city we now call home! We are looking forward to our next “visa run” already!