Asia

Singapore is a very unique place. It’s the only place that is a country, a city and an island all at the same time! Singapore is home to 5.6 million residents and lies on the southeast of Asia, with Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia as neighbouring countries. The majority of the people of Singapore (about 75%) are of Chinese origins but the most westernized Chinese people I’ve come across. In my mind, I expected Singapore to be a lot more traditional than it actually is.


Before our trip, I read up a bit about Singapore and checked out the interesting places we could visit while we were there, but nowhere in my searches did I come across anything that would have prepared me for how westernized Singaporeans are. I was in total shock when we arrived at our hotel and made our first trip to Orchard road, the most popular shopping district in Singapore, and I quickly realised how much the fashion here reflects a strong western influence. I didn’t expect to see so many ladies walk around the streets in shorts, and I’m not talking about the modest type but the really extreme and bold shorts. Even I felt like I was conservative in my dress code, and those who know me, know I don’t do conservative. I was shocked, in a good way though, if that even makes sense because to me it just meant that I wouldn’t have to feel self conscious walking around the city in my short, summer dresses.

On this note, I recommend that if you’re going to visit a country you’ve never been to before, be sure to check out the dress code as there may be certain limitations in some countries, where women in particular are restricted in what they can wear. In some places, women cannot expose their legs or arms etc. Egypt, is one such country. You won’t get arrested or fined for dressing ‘inappropriately’ but you will get the uncomfortable stares, particularly from the men. It’s crucially important to obey the dress code for places such as temples and other holy places as here you may even be turned away if your dress code does not comply with their requirements.

Anyway, back to the Singapore experience. Orchard road was an absolute delight! This is where the fashionistas shop. All the big brands are along the 2,2km stretch of shopping malls and it’s hard not to get excited but before you get too excited, let me prepare you by telling you that Singapore is not one of the cheapest cities out there. You’ll still find plenty of great stuff that is affordable but you’ll need a little bit of maneuvering to do that ‘shop ‘till you drop’ because I think your bank balance will drop before you are done with the shopping! The trouble is; there are so many great things to get you excited throughout this shopping experience! From the hi-tech stuff to fashion. Luckily, there are plenty of shopping malls for the more affordable options. If you're watching your bank balance then rather seek these out. The choices out there are incredibly mind-blowing. Shopping in Singapore is exciting and it’s easy to go overboard, hence I had to throw in the little disclaimer. Go prepared.


The shopping expedition literally took us the whole day and we had to stop for lunch at some point. This was our first meal in Singapore and I must say, I was a little disappointed. I’ve always believed Asian food to be among the best cuisines in the world but perhaps we need to accept that there’s Asian food and then there’s Singaporean food because Singaporeans don’t make the tastiest food out there. I found their food to be plain and boring, which is the total opposite of what you’ll find in the likes of Thailand or China. That lunch was not the only thing that brought me to this conclusion because every other meal we had in the various other places, including our hotel, was equally disappointing. It led us to eat at McDonald’s on one of the occasions! The only food we found tasty was the street food. We were shopping at one of the popular night markets and some tourists recommended we try out the food market. We sat at one of the vendors and ordered a few local dishes to try out. At least among the selection we ordered, there were things we liked.


Singapore is a very clean city and they’ve kept it this way because they have very strict rules. Something as simple as chewing gum in public is a punishable offense and you’ll be slapped with a fine on the spot. Even selling gum is illegal! The fact that the people there obey such rules is admirable because I know of a few places where such rules would never even be given a chance.


The people of Singapore themselves are fairly friendly. I’d say not quite as friendly as their neighbours in Thailand but they are cordial towards visitors and that’s sufficient. We had a strange encounter with the staff at our hotel because on our first night, we had forgotten to set our phones to local time and so, when we went to bed that night, and set our alarms so we could get up for breakfast, we had our time zones wrong to begin with. How we found out was a bit of a rude awakening. So we casually got ready for breakfast, not realizing we were actually late. We went to the dining area and found it was closed. There were a couple of staff members who were just cleaning up and they told us breakfast was closed. We argued with them, telling them it cannot be closed because it was not closing time yet.

Well, Singapore is 6hrs ahead of our time at home, so you can do the maths. Needless to say, the conversation was just unpleasant and we made them feel our disappointment. The gentleman and the lady said they had nothing to offer us and that was basically how our day started. We had to go and find a restaurant that served breakfast. Needless to say, when we realised how this whole mishap occurred, our watches were set to local time with immediate effect. I don’t recall if we ever went back to them to apologise for the confusion but I do know that when we returned to the hotel room later, we found a big basket of assorted fruit, with a written apology from hotel staff/management. It was a lovely gesture considering they were not exactly in the wrong but that was one big lesson learnt. Always set your watch to local time unless you have a digital one, which resets itself automatically when you enter a new time zone.


As far as sightseeing goes, nothing beats the Observation Deck on the 57th floor of Marina Bay Sands! Some people even go to the extent of saying 'You haven't seen Singapore until you've seen it from Sands Skypark Observation Deck'! This is the one place I had said to my husband we have to see because from just looking at the pictures of this incredibly artistic structure, I knew we would love being there. Marina Bay Sands was opened to the public in 2010 (we went in 2012). It was designed by Moshe Safdie and looking at the building, you may be convinced the idea was to bring to life a gigantic structure that resembles an eel.

Singapore is a small city and you can literally go to all the key points of interest within a couple of days. Getting to Marina Bay Sands was a short drive from our hotel. As we were being dropped off outside, we immediately noticed the big, shiny structure that rose above our heads. It looked even better in real life because you get to see the light reflecting on its glass walls. You also get to have a much better appreciation for just how high this building actually is. It is absolutely breathtaking. Right across the street at the base of this monstrosity of a building is the Louis Vuitton island store, which instantly caught our attention. We decided to first stop at the Louis Vuitton store.


We met a young Singaporean gentleman at the door who welcomed us into the most glamorous store we’ve ever seen. He immediately offered to take us on a tour of the store because he could obviously tell we were tourists. As we were going around the store he would do the casual name-dropping ‘This bag was custom made for Lady Gaga and we’ve since had many requests for it and so we had a few more made. It sells at just two hundred thousand Singapore dollars.”. Well, okay. I’ll just swipe my card for that, I guess. Needless to say, this wasn’t a shop for us to do actual shopping. It was part of our sightseeing. The store itself is built on water, hence it’s called ‘an island store’ and ironically, they have a small museum inside, which is an extension of the store that is built under water. Once we were satisfied we were made to feel poor enough, we left to go and explore the rest of Marina Bay Sands.


There are a number of moving parts inside Marina Bay Sands. There’s the hotel, then the casino, the shopping mall, several theatres and the lounge/club on the 57th floor, just to mention a few. Each of these are of the highest standard you can imagine. Everything will impress you but the highlight for me was the 360 degree views of the city from Observation Deck on the 57th floor. To say it was breathtaking seems like a huge understatement. I’ve been to the top of the Eiffel tower. I’ve also done the London eye but the views of the city from the Observation Deck at Marina Bay Sands is the best I’ve experienced so far. The hotel’s infinity pool definitely adds some pizazz to that experience. There’s just no other city view like this view.


Of the things we did in Singapore, Marina Bay Sands definitely comes right on top. The Singapore Botanical gardens are a marvel too. It was great to pop into The Raffles hotel, which carries a lot of history. We wanted to visit Sentosa beach but our time to head out to Bangkok, Thailand, had arrived and it was time to bid Singapore farewell. I was heart sore when we left this place. It was as if I was leaving a piece of me there. I remember telling my husband that Singapore is the place I’d love to come back to for my 40th birthday celebration but God already knew that I’d be in Vienna, Austria, 2 days after my 40th birthday. That is a story for another day. I’m just here to tell you that Singapore is worth adding to your bucket list. Go and then come back to share your experience with me.

In the western part of Asia, at the southeast end of the Arabian Peninsula, lies the oil rich country of the Emirates, officially known as The United Arab Emirates or UAE in short. The sovereign absolute monarchy is a federation of seven emirates consisting of Abu Dhabi (the capital of the Emirates), Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah and Umm al-Quwain. Don't ask me to say all these names out loud, especially the last one. I am however happy to tell you about Dubai because that is the Emirates I've had the privilege and joy of exploring.

It was September 2015 and Dubai was the last leg of a trip my husband and I had undertaken. Let's not talk about the fact that we had spent most of our money in the countries we had visited prior to this because that's a sore point. Those who know how expensive Dubai is will understand my pain. Expenses aside, I was thrilled to finally have the opportunity to explore Dubai because I had been here for many stop-overs and the inside of the airport was the only piece of Dubai I had been able to experience, until the day we arrived for a brief stay with one of my good friends who was living in Dubai then. I'll forever be grateful for her generosity, hospitality and warmth because she was the most gracious host we could have asked for. We arrived early in the morning from Rome, Italy. It was the first time we were leaving the inside of Dubai International Airport and I was excited to finally get to experience Dubai. Either we were still trying to ‘wake up from our sleep’ or we were just disorientated but it took us an unnecessarily long time to get out of the airport. We just didn’t have our ducks in a row but after much toing and froing, we finally found the taxis and hopped into one, heading to The Palm Jumeirah, where my friend stayed. This would be our home for the next 3 days.

The Palm Jumeirah is basically a collection of artificial offshore islands of Dubai, which have been built in a shape that resembles a palm tree.. Here you’ll find some of the most upmarket apartnents, hotels, restaurants and any other amenities fit for the elite. It wasn’t long before we arrived at the apartments where my friend lived. Stepping outside the cab was like being slapped in the face by a heat wave! I don’t think we were ready for the heat or the humidity. My friend was just getting ready for work and we caught her just in time! After celebrating the much-awaited visit, it was time for us to go and explore the city. So, after freshening up (even though I had a strong suspicion the freshness was not going to last for long) we got onto the red bus. The hop-on-hop-off buses are a great way to get around any big city. We’ve done these in almost every big city we’ve visited overseas. The convenience of not having to worry about catching a cab and finding your own way is great but I also appreciate the many educational tours they do. So, while driving to any point of interest, you learn about the history of Dubai, the people, the culture and so much more.

Our first stop was Dubai Mall. You may be wondering how a mall makes it onto a tourist’s to-do list apart from just a simple shopping experience but Dubai mall is no ordinary mall. Firstly, this mall is the largest mall in Dubai and the second largest in the world. The mall opened in November 2008, with 1,000 retailers. The number has since increased to 1,200 shops. The mall houses the Dubai Aquarium and underwater zoo, which is home to over 300 marine species, including sharks and rays. For those with a sweet tooth like me, this mall has the largest sweet shop in the world. That should get your taste buds going and your sugar level rising. There’s so much more to experience and just to give you a sense of the popularity of this mall, they hosted over 47 million visitors in 2010. Now, imagine what that number could be today?

Among the many other places we experienced in Dubai, was the old souk. Being in the old town was like being in another country altogether. Driving around Palm Jumeirah you won’t find people walking up and down the streets but here there’s a great buzz. There’s always someone transporting some goods from one shop/stall to another. This is clearly where the masses live. This is where they do their shopping for clothes, food and much more. This is where they go for entertainment. It’s a lively atmosphere with the expected hassling of stall owners trying to sell you something at every corner. This is also the place you can buy plenty of fabrics, spices, without spending huge amounts of money, something we cannot say about the other side of Dubai.

We also experienced a bit of Ski Dubai although there was no skiing on our part. Ski Dubai is an indoor skiing resort created right inside the Mall of the Emirates. An impressive aspect of the mall that simply separates it from the rest. I figure the Emiratis are about doing everything better than everyone else. I mean, they are afterall the only nation I know who create their own rain. Yes! Being in a desert, they don’t get much rain and as you can imagine, this could be detrimental in many ways but being the resourceful people they are, no rain presents an opportunity to create artificial rain. Everything they do is impressive. The Burj Al Arab. The Burj Khalifa. These are just some of the very visible pieces of art that further illustrate the level of creativity in this place.

We were unlucky with the weather because the days were always overcast and so, buying tickets to do the city viewing from the observation deck of the Burk Khalifa was going to be a pointless exercise. That’s just the one thing I felt we missed out on. Soaring high at 555 meters, At the Top, Burj Khalifa SKY is fittingly a must for your trip to Dubai. All you have to do is search the net for the images and You’ll understand why I’m saying this even though I wasn’t able to experience it due to weather conditions beyond anyone’s control. All I know is, I’ll keep Dubai on my bucket list until I’m able to do the Burj Khalifa observation deck, reportedly the highest in the world.

We did however, get a chance to go out clubbing at 360˚, the hugely popular spot for night life at Jumeirah Beach Hotel in Palm Jumeirah. I was thoroughly shocked and sad to discover just recently that this amazing place was shut down earlier this year! If you never got to experience it before the unfortunate closure, I’m completely shattered for you! 360˚ offered splendid views of the sea as well as an up-close of the iconic Burj Al Arab hotel. Not only that, the energy in this place was absolutely electric with DJ’s that played music that would keep you on your feet the whole night through. The setting is stylishly chic and the crowd was young and vibrant. The sad part is that I’m now writing about something you’ll never get to experience, if you hadn’t already. So, before you miss out on any other amazing spots in Dubai, start looking into getting that holiday booked, pronto!

When you do make your trip to Dubai, make sure you try out as many restaurants as you can. While we were there, we went out for brunch at a Jamaican restaurant, something I least expected to find or experience in Dubai and boy was I blown away! It should be expected though because Dubai is one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world and Ting Irie is a great place to feast on Jamaican cuisine. There were 4 of us and we ordered a few different dishes to share. We were all raving about every single dish we tried out and I walked away with my taste buds still tingling from the amazing sensation. So, apart rom the shopping , the sightseeing and everything in-between, Dubai has an endless choice of places to visit for a great culinary experience too. Your palate will thank you.