When we last left off, we were getting on a plane in Bangkok and heading for Singapore. I mentioned that the airport in Singapore would likely need its own post - and I could’ve easily filled up the whole post with photos of the Rain Vortex… but I get ahead of myself.

We were on Thai Airlines, which is very nice and very purple. In a short two hours we arrived at Changi Airport and headed to The Jewel, a donut-shaped glass structure with the aforementioned Rain Vortex. But first, we ditched our luggage at the baggage depot - and for $67 (Singapore dollars, about $71 Canadian or $50 US) they’ll hold your bags for you while you explore. “Singapore is expensive” will be a running theme throughout the next few days.

Anyway, we were originally going to arrive in Singapore around 7pm, but we changed to an earlier flight so we’d have time to hang out at the airport and see more of this:

Unfortunately, the Rain Vortex was undergoing maintenance and wasn’t operating. Le sigh. It still looked pretty neat, even without the water.

The Rain Vortex is the hole of the donut-shaped building. Around the outside are shops and restaurants and on the top level, there are hedge mazes, canopy walks, and other kinds of activities.

We were too tired to be in the mood for shopping and a quick pop into the Polo store told us that things were much, much cheaper at home, anyway. So we stopped in a little coffee shop and sipped a couple of bevies while we waited for our hotel check-in time. (One coffee, one lemonade: $20)

After a bit of discussion, we agreed that we should just get a cab to the hotel and if the room wasn’t ready yet, we’d just have them stow the luggage and we’d walk around the neighbourhood. It took a hot minute to find the taxi stand, but at least the walking-around was nice and air-conditioned.

We usually arrive in a place a few days before the start of the cruise so we can get over jet lag and travel fatigue (22 hours in the air, plus 9-ish hours of layovers is exhausting!) before the fun starts. The easiest thing is to simply stay at the same hotel where Viking puts up people who arrive the day before. We’re already in the official host hotel, we hop on the shuttle to the ship with everyone else. Easy peasy.
But the hotel Viking was using was $400/night. Aw HALE naw. So I looked around for better options and found a little boutique hotel in a great location. How cute is THIS:

The hotel opened in 2004, but the building is circa 1836. It’s fun and funky and charming and the staff are great. Getting to the room is a labyrinth of red hallways with lots of twists and turns, but we’ve pretty well got it figured out now. The room is a little tight with all of our stuff, but that’s fine. I love it!

After dumping our luggage, I was afraid to sit down for fear that I might not get up and get going again. Besides, I had to things I needed to acquire ASAP: The first was a power outlet plug adapter, as I brought two EU adapters, but Singapore uses UK style plugs.
The second is a camera battery. I packed my Nikon in the checked bag, but you aren’t allowed to put the rechargeable batteries in checked bags, so I took those out of the camera bag before I packed it… and then left the batteries on the table at home.
A quick google-fu turned up a Nikon store about a 20min walk from the hotel, so off I went.

I mentioned that the hotel is in a great location… and it is! It’s sitting on the dividing line between Chinatown and the Central Business District. The mall with what I needed was also on the boundary, so the walk there was interesting, with Chinatown on one side of the street and the CBD on the other.
One thing I did notice was that the Nanyang Kopi shop was very close, which is awesome. I’ll explain kopi tomorrow.

I love contrast and juxtaposition and my favourite cities usually feature that - Copenhagen (my fave city) certainly does, with modern and heritage buildings coexisting seamlessly. That same dichotomy is at play in Singapore, too, with old and new living in harmony.

Singapore’s nickname is The Garden City, which is contradictory in itself - at least until you see it for yourself. For a country that is one big city, greenery is everywhere. Even in and on the buildings themselves.

Getting to the mall was easy. Walk to the end of the street the hotel is on, turn right, then follow that road until you see the Supreme Court building and the mall is across from that. The Supreme Court building is impossible to miss, as it looks like a flying saucer.

Singaporeans love to shop, as is evidenced by the number of malls. Unlike malls at home, though, these tend to be interesting and fun. The mall with the camera store has a bike path running right through the middle of it.

I got the power plug adapter and my camera battery, then headed back to the hotel. We were getting hungry, so we decided to try the hawker centre right around the corner from the hotel. I should explain.

A hawker centre is a very Singaporean thing. It’s an open-air market with tiny little food stalls, similar to a food court in a mall. It’s not fast food chains in these, though, but mom and pop restaurants serving up delicious food at super-cheap (for Singapore) prices. The famous one is Lau Pa Sat - and the proximity of it was key in my choosing a hotel - but tonight we wanted to stay closer to home, so we opted to check out the Maxwell hawker centre instead.

There are four of these aisles in the place, and probably 80 or so food vendors. It looks like several of the ones here are only open for breakfast and lunch, as they were shuttered by dinner. We decided to keep looking, as this place was very crowded and we wanted something quieter.

We found it literally two doors down from the hotel. The BFF Cafe (and BFF stands for something different than what you’re thinking. It was on the menu, but I forget what it was). It’s cute, it’s quiet, and there’s a host dog named Dogo.

We had gin & tonics and a super-healthy dinner of popcorn chicken and fries. The food was tasty, the G&Ts were really good, and Dogo was a fine host. We’ll be back, I’m guessing.

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