Our flight from Christchurch to Singapore was surprisingly long. It takes 11 hours to complete the journey - almost as long as our LA to Tokyo flight. Fortunately, similar to that hop over the Pacific, we were on Singapore Air and had excellent service the whole way. The views out the window were pretty nice too.

Flying over the west coast of New Zealand.

By the time we landed – 8pm local time, 1am New Zealand time – we were ready to just get to our hotel and crash. The early bed time (and unadjusted body clocks) allowed us to get an early start to Wednesday morning, though, so we headed out for a run around 7am. The streets were still mostly deserted so it was a great way to begin getting a feel for Singapore. We ran down to the waterfront, which has nice running tracks all along the Singapore Straight, and paused to look at all the ships anchored just offshore and the morning sun creeping through the clouds.

After we were both too sweaty to continue – it’s VERY hot and humid here! – we grabbed a coffee and walked home. I thought I had inadvertently led us on an excellent running route that miraculously ended right at a Starbucks; as we later learned, there are 100 Starbucks in Singapore (which is a lot for such a tiny place). Regardless of the non-novelty of the coffee, it was still the perfect end to our run.

Our goal on Wednesday was to see a few of the ethnic neighborhoods Singapore is known for: Arab Street, Chinatown and Little India. First up, Arab Street. Unfortunately, the Masjid Sultan (the neighborhood mosque) was having some renovation done to the outside so scaffolding covered most of it. The inside was still nice (although we are still a bit spoiled from our time exploring Istanbul).

I think we were spoiled by the mosques we saw in Turkey…this just doesn’t compare.

We strolled over to the Malay Heritage Center next, which was a good primer on Singapore’s history. By the time we had finished walking through the museum we were ready for lunch – we headed back to Arab Street to have some Middle Eastern food at Beirut Grill. Very good, and very cheap; we’d highly recommend if you’re in the area!

Our next intended stop was Chinatown, but Mother Nature had other plans. We got as far as Raffles, which is a sight to be seen in its own right, just as a downpour of rain began. Fortunately, we figured it was as good a time as any to stop into Long Bar to try the famous Singapore Sling.

It tastes about as sweet as it looks. Very cool bar to see, by the way.

After waiting out the rain, we headed over to our other intended destinations but our time was a little rushed as we had other big plans tonight: two separate rendezvous with friends. Our first was at Oxwell & Co with Max and Afsan, two friends-of-friends who currently live in Singapore. The drinks were good but the company was better – always good to make new connections on the other side of the world! After saying goodbye to our new friends, we walked over to LeVel33 to meet someone we actually knew beforehand, Sara. LeVel33 is a craft brewery atop one of Singapore’s many skyscrapers…so we had good beers to accompany excellent views of the city!

Reunited on the other side of the world.

A better shot of Singapore’s skyline at night.

We woke up pretty early again on Thursday, this time no run though: we had a 3 hour walking tour of Singapore scheduled so we didn't want to wear ourselves out. We made our way to the heart of downtown Singapore to meet our tour guide. By the way, the area where we met is called Raffles Place. There are also shopping centers, hospitals, numerous streets, etc. named after this guy. He is the “founder” of Singapore and they don’t want you to forget it! (First class on Singapore Air used to be called Raffles Class. No joke.)

Wei, our guide from Indie Singapore for the next three hours, was great - he showed us all around the heart of Singapore and we learned a lot of the country’s history. (Not to mention that the tour was free!)

Our tour group walking along the Singapore River.

Wei’s favorite sculpture along the river: children jumping in.

The former Ministry of Propaganda. Now the Ministry of Information… (Sarah liked the rainbow colored shutters.)

The tour ended with a great view of the city’s skyline.

We were ready to get out of the heat and into some AC so we headed straight for downtown to grab some lunch. On the way, we passed The Clifford Pier and Sarah suggested we duck quickly to check it out. I’m very glad we did.

After lunch we headed back to our hotel to do some laundry and rest up before another night out. Around 5pm, we headed to the Marina Bay Sands to catch the sunset from their legendary roof deck. I had a wardrobe issue, though – just after we got there (around 5:30pm), they began enforcing the no shorts rule. And I was wearing shorts. I tried to convince Sarah to go up without me, but she refused. Oh well, we’ll save that one for the next time we’re in Singapore.

Our view of the lightshow from water-level…still pretty spectacular!

After the nightly light show (which some say is government propaganda…not sure we were left with that impression) we headed to Chinatown to meet Sara again at one of her favorite local spots: a hawker microbrewery. We caught up for a few hours, then said our goodbyes and headed home.

We had about half a day today to squeeze in the rest of what we’ll see in Singapore. We decided to head to the Botanical Gardens, which are deservedly legendary, before heading to the airport. The grounds are huge, well maintained and definitely worth a visit (especially the orchid garden!).

After strolling through the gardens for a few hours, we had lunch at Nando’s. This place would be a goldmine in NYC – the chicken is deliciously prepared, the sauces have just the right balance of spice and flavor, and Chrissy Teigen posts about it fairly regularly on Instagram (Sarah added that last fact). A great last meal in Singapore.

We’re at the airport now, about to make the short flight to Bangkok. New adventures in Southeast Asia await!

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