Singapore Sling

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If you follow me across social media, then you'll already know me and Pete got to spend a couple of weeks sunning it up in Singapore and Vietnam. I have so many pictures from the holiday (as you could guess with the instagram spam) So I've decided to split our travels into two posts. One for Singapore, and one for Hoi An. I'd been meaning to get these up sooner, but the post holiday blues and anxiety crept back in much stronger than I expected them to. Once we got home, I had a week off (which was mostly spent getting over the jet lag!) before I went straight back into a new film job. That's me signed over my assistant art direction services for the next 11 weeks, on a movie which is starring the most high profile actors I've ever worked with. I can't share many details about it at the moment (keep an eye out on twitter for some sneaky clues) but the script is fantastic and I'm counting my lucky stars that I'm working right up until Christmas. Now, time to share some travel tales while I'm cosied up on the sofa with a hot cup of tea and my fluffy pj's while Glasgow seems to be freezing over. Such a contrast in weather from our first destination - Singapore.

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My Uncle Chris was 15 when I was born, so he's really the closest thing to a big brother I've ever had. I followed in his footsteps studying at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, and although my career has ventured into TV and Film, Chris is very much still working (and kicking ass!) in Theatre. After being production manager at the likes of The Citzens Theatre in Glasgow, and the National Theatre in London, last year he jet off to work at the Esplanade Theatres on the Bay in Singapore. Chris is living out there with his wife Rachel for 3 years and we were over the moon to finally get out and visit them.

Chris took a couple of days off work when we arrived, and we couldn't have asked for a better tour guide! On our first day, we went to Universal Studios and the S.E.A Aquarium on Sentosa Island, followed by dinner in Little India in the evening. The second day we started off with an amazing breakfast at Atlas Coffee, then got the bus up to Bukit Timah nature reserve, for a 12k walk through the rain forest and across the treetop canopy bridge. The heat was insane, extremely humid but we felt amazing after it, albeit knackered. I feel like I consumed more water on that walk than I would in a week back home.

After our short but sweet into to Singapore it was time to head over to Vietnam. I'll save that for the next post, but we did have a few more days back in Singapore before we came home. Chris was working so me and Pete ventured out into the city on our own, mostly eating, shopping, and navigating their tube system, the MRT.

Image may be NSFW.
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Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

The Singaporeans sure know how to shop! We spent a full day wandering through the shopping malls on Orchard Road, and the ION Orchard was our favourite. It was amazing to shop Sephora, Kikki K and Pull & Bear in person rather than just online. The malls are all air conditioned and mostly linked to one another under ground, which makes it far too easy to spend hours stuck down the rabbit hole of retail heaven. The 5 star Marina Bay Sands hotel is connected to a mega luxurious shopping mall which contains all of your usual designer numbers, which we had a good time window shopping in! There's a skypark, restaurant/bar and infinity pool at the very top of the hotel, so we went up there for some amazing views over the city.

I was overwhelmed by the cuteness of  Pompompurin cafe in Orchard Central, and dragged Pete in for lunch much to his delight! The food looked adorable but wasn't the best afternoon tea I've ever had (BUT IT WAS THE CUTEST, SO YOLO!) The best meals we had in Singapore were definitely street food from the Hawker Centres. The most delicious satay on appropriately named Satay Street at Lau Pa Sat, and some fantastic chicken rice at Chris and Rachels local Hawker Centre in Holland Village. All accompanied by some jugs of cold tiger beer to wash it down. Lau Pa Sat means 'Old Market' in Hokkien, which is appropriate since the handsome iron structure shipped out from Glasgow in 1894 remains intact.

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By our last day and all the walking, we were pretty tired and had went over to check out Gardens By The Bay but decided against it when we got there. I really wanted to see the Cloud Garden as it looked amazing, but we were totally beat. We found it quite easy adjusting to the time difference, with Singapore being 7 hours ahead of GMT, but it's the heat that takes it out of you. Chris and Rach have a pool in their apartment complex, so going for a quick dip in the evening before bed was the best way to cool down. That evening Chris took us to the Night Safari for one last outing, where you literally walk among the animals in the worlds first noctural zoo, each enclosure made visible by lighting which resembles moonlight. I gained a fair few mozzie bites that evening and got peed on by a fruit bat, but it was one of the most special nights of our trip.

I can't thanks Chris and Rachel enough for being the best hosts, letting us stay with them, and showing us so many parts of the city which we otherwise might not have found on our own. We were able to cram quite a lot into our split 5 days there, with so many more nooks and crannies still to explore if we go back. When we go back, I mean! Hopefully I can tempt Chris with a few more packs of potato scones and cans of irn bru packed away in our suitcase for a visit next year. I feel like this post doesn't really even scratch the surface of our time there, so if you're heading out to Singapore and want to have a chat about places to visit then drop me a message... on the condition that I fit in your suitcase, of course!