SINGAPORE x PART 1 x ORCHARD

A country of incessant summers, lush greens, clean streets, endless shopping and delightful food. That's how I remember Singapore. I can't even begin to list in detail the amount of fun and discovery I had on this trip, but here are some picturesque details.

Singapore is an island city-state located at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula. I will admit, every time I've looked for Singapore on a world map, I have an excruciatingly difficult time locating it, it's tiny! You can drive from one side of the country to the other in about 30 minutes or less, if there isn't any traffic.

While visiting, I stayed on the on the west side of town at my friend's condo (I think the closest point on the above map is Bukit Panjang).

He had a ridiculously awesome pool right outside that tempted me every morning to go take a dip or just relax poolside.


I took public transport a lot of the time to get around town when I was by myself, usually to go to Orchard Road (the area aptly labeled "City" on the above map) and just about everywhere else, except when my friend drove. I am proud to say I never once took a cab! (...except from the airport after getting back from Bali) I am pretty well acquainted now with the Singapore public transport.


On Orchard Road, where I spent a vast majority of my time. Glorious food and tons of (window) shopping, what else does a girl need?





Orchard was pretty much packed at all times of the day, every single day while I was there. Perhaps it had to do with last minute Christmas shopping. The streets were filled with large and decadent Christmas decorations on every strip and corner.





By day...


And by night.



One of my favorite things in Singapore was the street vendor ice cream that came in a block. They chopped a big chunky slice off and wrapped it with colorful bread... all for only $1! Super yummy and came in a multitude of flavors.


My only regret was not eating this more often!



Later that evening, we went to Geylang to watch a ballet performance.


It got pretty interesting when they started bringing in audience participation, especially when my friends hopped on stage (some unwillingly).


Afterwards, trekked nearby the red light district to grab some dinner (is that a prostitute walking by me?) I've never actually been in a red light district before and for a while I felt like a birdwatcher in the woods, peering around every nook and cranny trying to spot them out -__- I guess you can say I've been pretty sheltered on this front.


Super yummy soup.




Afterwards, headed back to Orchard for some dessert at...


Big O Cafe for some naughty themed dessert. All of the delicacies were named after some type of sexual innuendo or another.


I have no idea why there were pictures of dogs on the walls. Talk about a clash of themes...


I had a deliciously moist slice of blackforest cake -- it was named something else that I can't seem to remember, but it definitely wasn't something innocent ;)


More to come soon!

Cheers!
Liang