It was no rest for the wicked. As soon as we touched down on Singapore, having finally finding our cases on the side of a conveyer belt due to having taken a long time getting through customs, we were off exploring. A quick shower, a bit of makeup and use of my straighteners, we were off. We caught a taxi/ Grab, to maxwell food market first. This was street food at its best. Two permanent parallel stalls lined the centre with plastic permanent round tables filled the middle spaces. Chicken and rice and duck and rice for around €4! We then decided to walk from here to Gardens by the Bay to catch the 8.45pm show. In hindsight a taxi would have been best but we got there with 5 minutes to space and to follow the crowd by laying on the floor directly underneath the tree structures. The show was mesmerising, the music combined with the lights were cleverly done and at most parts quite magical. We then headed to Marina Bay Sands. After much deliberation about which was ‘the bar’ to go to, we found the one we were after. 57 floors later the lift opened and we were confronted by a lot of Asians in their robes and the most amazing infinity pool looking over the city. We were sat in the most perfect spot and ordered cocktails. Around £40-£50 later for the two drinks, we made the most of the view and were given two free shots for our recent engagement. It was a great start to our experience in Singapore.

Our second day, and our only full day in Singapore, was a day ticking off our big ‘to do list’ of the city. Our free breakfast in conjunction with the hotel was in a local stall. I’m not sure if it was the alcohol from the previous night but we couldn’t stomach the semi part boiled eggs so moved on to a slightly more westernised breakfast in Starbucks. From here we walked to Orchard road and shopped. The large, glittering malls were all air conditioned which was a light relief from the heat outside. (Tom has turned another shade of brown since, meanwhile I’m still a shade of white!) From here we took the train to Chinatown. Coming up the escalators that lead us from the station to the China town itself was quite spectacular. The backdrop of the city behind with hanging lanterns and Chinese decorations in the forefront. We found a lovely chopstick shop where we purchased a lovely set for home. We then took the train to the Gardens by the bay. We walked around and although still impressive the gardens in the night time were more spectacular in our opinion. After more browsing of the shops, we headed to the famous Raffles for the Singapore Sling. The bar was classy with fans hanging from the ceiling. The floor was covered in the traditional peanut shells, the bags of nuts are in the centre of each table and you can help yourself and then throw the shells on the floor. A child’s heaven, bar the alcohol! Having only had breakfast the tasty cocktail when straight to our heads but it was oh so tasty! When we left, the queue was huge so we had definitely come at the perfect time of 5.30pm. We then headed to a recommended restaurant ( by our first taxi driver) called Jumbo. I had the famous 900g chilli mud crab all to myself. My table definitely wasn’t as white as when we first sat down! It took about an hour to crack and eat the crab but the experience and taste was worth it. Having been out for 10 hours it was time for a late night dip in the pool at Lloyd’s inn, which turned out to be freezing but a very pretty setting, followed by a hot chocolate in bed.

Next stop Bali.

B x