"Shiok"
We visited Singapore December 27-29 right after Christmas. We've gone several times, but this time managed to visit all our good friends and eat lots of Singaporean food. Below, we've highlighted our shopping, restaurants with our names, visits with old friends, local food, and logistics.
Shopping – A Girl’s Best Friend
Namesake
When we think Singapore, we think SHOPPING! Every time we go to Singapore we walk up and down Orchard Road. This time, we decided to try Vivo City, near Harbor Front MRT station, and City Link’s underground mall. Jackpot.
We bought a few summer dresses for when the weather gets warmer in the US, which is probably never. And some work clothes. We chose to peruse Singapore's local brands including Kitchen, Nichi, O.A.M.C, Hypnosis, and M]phosis.
It's interesting how packed Asian shopping malls are as compared to the US. Malls in Asia are for hanging out, eating, watching movies, and shopping. Malls in the US are generally for shopping but people can also shop online and visit outlet malls.
Namesake
What are the odds? Two days in Singapore and we went to Tian Tian Chicken Rice and PuTien. Yes, none of the those restaurant names were exactly the same as mine but I still I felt a special connection. We also saw Coco chocolate and Coco Loco dessert in Kuala Lumpur (KL). Feeling the love in Singapore and Malaysia!
Tian Tian Chicken Rice in Joo Chiat, Singapore
Coco Loco sells Taiwanese shaved ice desserts at Suria KLCC in KL
Oldie but Goodie
We met up with many good friends this time round. Our friends were from Wharton, Northwestern, University of Michigan, and the International School of Kuala Lumpur.
A drink with Wharton friends on their Southeast Asian trek trip. New Asia Bar, 71st floor of the Swiss Hotel
Dinner with Northwestern friends at Marche restaurant in Vivo City
Dinner with Northwestern friends at PuTien near City Hall metro station
Chilling with Tsu's six months old baby. Tsu's a very good high school friend
Amazed that Kev kept the 'Walao" birthday collage made for him at University of Michigan nearly ten years ago :)
Shiok (means pleasure and happiness in Singlish)
Chicken rice, shiok! Carrot cake, shiok! Thanks to our hosts, Kev and Eileen, we tried some of Singapore’s finest hawker centers (or inexpensive food centers). In general, we found Singaporean food quite spicy and quite oily. But, delicious. Thanks to Kiwi, we found Garrett's famous Chicago popcorn near Marina Square! Of course, we promptly bought a bag.
One of the many hawker centers in Singapore
Chwee Kueh, water rice cake, for breakfast. This is steamed rice cake with dried preserve radish and chili sauce.
Chili crab for dinner
Tian Tian chicken rice for lunch. This is one of the best chicken rice in Singapore with tender juicy chicken served with, you guessed it, rice.
Fried carrot cake with egg for breakfast. Carrot cake is made with white radish mixed with rice flour and then steamed. This is a common dish eaten throughout the day.
Our lovely hosts
The Important Stuff
We took the StarMart bus from Times Square in Kuala Lumpur to Golden Mile Complex in Singapore. Tickets were $40 round trip and the trip took 5.5 hours. No visa is needed for Taiwanese citizens, although we were detained by immigration officers for twenty minutes with no explanation or apparent reason. Our fingerprints are now in Singapore's security system.
By way of lodging, we stayed at Kev and Eileen’s place in eastern Singapore. Our hosts drove us around but we also took the MRT, which was very good. The trains came every 4 minutes and each trip cost 3 Singapore dollars. The exchange rate was 1 US dollar to 1.3 Singapore dollars.
The cute condo where we stayed
Signed, Jie
