Category: Travel

Ashley’s Guide to Singapore

Welcome to Singapore, the tropical sunny island located just north of the equator! This bustling Asian metropolis is on the rise as a tourist destination and makes a great jumping off point for a Southeast Asia trip. You’re not likely to stumble into a crazy rich Asian like Nick Young on the street but you will find a melting post of Chinese, Malay, and Indian residents (and food!) Here’s your handy guide to planning a trip to the Lion City.

Planning a Trip

  • Days – 3 days is the optimal amount of time to see the main sights, after which you can spend your time shopping and eating like the locals do. Bali, Indonesia is a short flight away and I also recommend the highly underrated Malaysia or very popular Thailand to round out your Southeast Asia trip.
  • Flights – You can fly direct from Seattle, LA, SF, or NYC via Singapore Airlines, one of the top airlines in the world. If flying on a regional budget airline, make sure to fly one with high safety standards like Jetstar or Scoot.  Avoid AirAsia and Thai Lion Air.
  • Accomodations – Book a hotel (Airbnb is illegal). I recommend staying close to the CBD and near one of the Downtown (blue) line stations. This includes the Central area, Esplanade, Little India, Bugis or Chinatown. Many of the higher end hotels are in the Orchard area, great for shoppers. For the iconic infinity pool shot, you’ll have to pay a pretty penny to stay at the Marina Bay Sands.
  • Attractions – Klook consistently offers the lowest prices for attractions like Gardens by the Bay and anything on Sentosa Island. By pre-booking you can pay with credit card (and even pay in USD). Show up with your voucher for easy check-in. Save S$5 on your first order with my referral link!

Know Before You Go

  • Weather – Average temperatures are in the 80s but can feels like 90s+ with the humidity. There are no seasons so you can visit year-round, though it’s slightly wetter in the rainy season (Nov – Jan).
  • Timezone – GMT +8 – When it’s 8pm in NYC after Daylight Saving Time ends, it’s 9am in Singapore. In the summer it’s a 12 hour difference (flip the am/pm).
  • Language: English (and others) – As a tourist, you will have no problem conversing with others though you will hear locals and expats speaking many other languages. Some hawkers or restaurants in ethnic neighborhoods like Chinatown might not be as English-friendly but they’ll still take your money!
  • Safety & Cleanliness – Singapore has one of the lowest crime rates in the world. It’s also impeccably clean. You can drink the tap water, unlike the rest of Southeast Asia.
  • Money – $0.74 USD = $1 SGD (also noted as S$1). You can withdraw cash from any ATM or use the currency exchange at the airport. If you have a credit card with no foreign transaction fee, you will only need cash for hawker centres, taxis, and a few discount stores. When asked what you are paying with, it’s best to say “Visa” instead of “credit” or you can say “paywave” if you intend to pay with a contactless card or Google/Apple Pay.
  • Transportation – You can reach most places using buses or the MRT, Singapore’s clean and efficient subway system. You can purchase an EZ Link card at the airport tourist desk or at any 7/11 or MRT station. Or use contactless payment! You will need to tap upon entering and exiting MRT stations as the fare is distance-based. When not using public transit, you can use Grab, the SEA version of Uber, or hail a taxi. Not all taxis accept credit card and can incur a 10% surcharge when they do, so make sure to ask.
  • Electric plug: UK type G plug, bring an adapter.
  • British influence – Walk/drive/stand on the left. Use words like air con, takeaway, lift, queue.
  • Singaporean things – The locals like to queue for things and infer value from how long a line is.
  • Apps to Download
    • WhatsApp – Messaging app of choice
    • Wireless@SG – Automatically connect to free Wi-Fi
    • Grab – Ride-hailing app like Uber. Do not use GrabShare, only JustGrab.

Things to Do

Must See

  • Spectra – This Vegas-style light and water runs every night at 8pm and 9pm (+10pm Fri/Sat) in front of Marina Bay Sands. It’s most impressive right up front but you can get some great shots across the water.
  • Gardens by the Bay – Check out the Supertree Grove and the largest indoor conservatory in the world. Make sure to catch the dazzling Garden Rhapsody show nightly at 7:45pm and 8:45pm. The views from the OCBC Skyway (requires ticket) are stunning, but it’s free to watch on the ground.
  • Marina Bay – Take a nice evening stroll on the promenade at night to see the Merlion, Spectra light and water show, and Helix Bridge .
  • Jewel at Changi Airport – This impressive rain vortex was completed earlier this year and cost a whopping $1.7 billion. Terminal 1 has a ton of good food and drink options, including Shake Shack if you’re craving a burger.
  • Skyline views: Altitude, Atlas (art deco cocktail bar), Marina Bay Sands rooftop at Lavo or Ce La Vie.
  • Chinatown – Visit the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple, stroll the souvenir streets (maybe try some durian?), and shop/eat at Chinatown Point.
  • Little India – Check out the Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple and eat Indian food at Tekka Centre, a hawker centre frequented by Indian residents.
  • Kampong Glam – See the impressive Sultan Mosque and take pictures with the surrounding street art. Walk through Haji Lane and shop at the boutique fashion stores. Also try the murtabak (Muslim stuffed meat flatbread) at Zam Zam.

More Attractions

  • Singapore Botanic Gardens – This UNESCO world heritage site is full of lush tropical plantlife and a nice respite from the city’s urban core. It’s free to enter and S$5 for the popular orchid exhibit.
  • Sentosa Island – Spend the day at Universal Studios Sentosa (buy on Klook to save $) and the S.E.A. Aquarium, or visit the man-made beaches and hang out at Tanjong Beach Club. At 8pm, there is a free Crane Dance show with light, water, and visual effects. 
  • Take a stroll by the river around the Esplanade, Asian Civilisation Museum, and National Gallery. Boat Quay and Clarke Quay have many nice restaurants with riverside views.
  • Chijmes – This former convent also happens to be the location of the Crazy Rich Asians Wedding. It’s now a complex of bars and restaurants that is popular at night.
  • Peranakan Houses in Joo Chiat – All of the influencers come here to take pictures in front of some of the most expensive and colorful shophouses in Singapore.
  • ArtScience Museum – Great for kids, especially Future World, the teamLab permanent digital exhibition. Sign up for the free Sands Rewards program to get 1-for-1 (i.e. buy one get one free) tickets.
  • National Museum – See artifacts from Singapore’s colonial past and learn about the history of this young nation.

Shopping

  • Orchard Road – Here you’ll find the most concentrated area of malls from low end to high end. Many are connected underground so you don’t even have to go outside! The best food in is in the basement food halls.
  • Daiso – S$2 ($1.50 USD) Japanese dollar store filled with cute and useful items. Go crazy and bring cash!
  • Don Don Donki – This Japanese superstore sells all kinds of goods and also has a few food stalls including the popular Japanese sweet potatoes.
  • Any grocery store’s snack aisle – It’s always fun to try new snacks or familiar snacks in new flavors (popcorn kit kats taste like kettle corn in the best way!)
  • Irvin’s salted egg snacks – Go bold and try the salted egg fish skin or pick up the salted egg crunchy roll, always a crowd pleaser.
  • Uniqlo – It’s even cheaper than the US but take note of sizing, which runs on a smaller scale. Also bring your passport: if you spend S$100 you’re eligible for a tourist tax refund, a 7% discount.

Food

Must Eat 

  • Chicken rice – The national dish of Singapore is simple poached chicken served over a bed of fragrant chicken-infused rice with cucumbers and fresh chili sauce. Tian Tian at Maxwell is the famous one but Ah Tai a few stalls over usually has shorter queues. 
Chicken rice from Tian Tian
  • Roti prata – South Indian crispy flatbread served with curry. Can be doughy or crispy like a scallion pancake.
  • Hokkien mee – Wok-fried egg & rice noodles cooked in a flavorful prawn stock and lard, topped with a squeeze of lime.
  • Satay – Juicy chargrilled meat sticks served with a peanut sauce. You’ll find these all throughout Southeast Asia but preparation styles can vary.
  • Soya sauce chicken at Liao Fan Hawker Chan – The famous “cheapest Michelin star meal in the world.” I recommend the egg noodles instead of the rice, as the noodles have a nice chew. Go to the original stall in the Chinatown hawker centre.
  • Soup dumplings (xiao long bao) at Din Tai Fung – Consistently the best pork XLB around. Even their veggie dumplings are very good! Most locations don’t take reservations so try to avoid peak lunch and dinner times unless you are willing to wait .
  • Carrot cake – Forget everything you know about the sweet American dessert. Here it’s savory stir-fried cubes of radish cake and egg in a smoky garlic soy sauce with caramelized bits. Can order black (sweet) or white (no black sauce, savory).
Not the prettiest thing you’ll eat but don’t worry, carrot cake is delicious

Hawker Centres

  • This is the best thing about Singapore and is also distinct from the street food stalls you’ll find in the rest of Southeast Asia. Hawker centres are open air food courts where you can find inexpensive, delicious, freshly prepared local food.  All of my must eats listed above, except for Din Tai Fung, are found at hawker centres. Grab a table beforehand and chope your seat by leaving a set of tissues then walk around and join the queue at the popular stalls.
  • If you want to avoid the touristy atmosphere, skip Lau Pa Sat and Newton Centre.
  • My personal favorites are Old Airport Road and Chinatown (also like Maxwell and Tiong Bahru Market) and these are all close to downtown by public transit.
  • It’s generally better to go during the day at lunchtime, as many stalls close in the evening.
  • If you are vegetarian, be aware that many stalls use lard so look for stalls that specifically have “vegetarian” in the name or ask the hawker. Shrimp paste is also commonly hidden in sauces like the peanut sauce served with satay.
  • Oh and be prepared to sweat 😉
Lau Pa Sat is pretty but for the tourists

More Asian food

  • Tipping is not a norm, though many sit down restaurants will tack on a 10% service charge (on top of 7% GST).
  • Water is not always free at restaurants and not always cold, unless you specify.
  • Dim sum – Classic Chinese small plates, best with a group! Try the salted egg yolk custard (lava) bun, also known as liu sha bao.
  • Hotpot/steamboat – You can find these all over the island, even a street full of restaurants near Bugis. For a premium experience, go to Haidilao and make sure to order the tomato broth and fresh noodles!
Swishing meat is fun!
  • Peranakan cuisine – fusion of Chinese and Malay cuisines – If you like coconut milk and curry-based sauces, check out Violet Oon or True Blue.
  • Egg tarts at Tong Heng 
  • Japanese food – ramen, unagi, fluffy pancakes, wagyu beef, you name it and it’s here – Check out Takashimaya Food Hall for an array of options.
Souffle pancakes at Antoinette

More local dishes

  • Chili crab at No Signboard Seafood or Jumbo Seafood – Actually more sweet than spicy, make sure to get the fried mantou buns to dip in the rich sauce.
  • Bak kut teh at Song Fa – Herbal pork rib soup is comfort food for Chinese people.
  • Kaya toast at Ya Kun Kaya Toast – Kaya is a coconut jam infused with pandan (hence the green color) usually served with soft boiled eggs and kopi (coffee).
Kaya toast with soft boiled eggs at Toast Box
  • Laksa – Thick wheat noodles in a spicy coconut curry soup base. Sungei Road Laksa is the famous one.
  • Nasi lemak – Malay dish with coconut rice, fried chicken, egg, cucumber, peanuts, anchovies, and sambal chili. Available at many hawker centres and the Coconut Club.

Singapore is a fun place to visit and I hope this guide makes your trip easier to plan. Let me know if you need any further recommendations. I am happy to help! 🙂

Flying Singapore Airlines Premium Economy on the longest nonstop flight in the world

“It’s a pretty long flight to Singapore, isn’t it?”

“Actually, it’s the longest flight in the world!”

When it came time to book my one-way flight to Singapore, I wanted to make sure I had as comfortable of a flight as I could get away with. I was given permission to book Premium Economy, so I started looking at direct flight routes from hub cities outside Chicago. In general, I’ve found the experience on transcontinental routes served by Asian airlines like EVA Air, to be far superior to American airlines like United in service, food, and comfort. I had never flown Singapore Airlines before but had heard very good things, so this was an easy decision. 

Coming from Chicago, I had to connect in either New York (Newark), Los Angeles, or San Francisco. The total flight time including the initial leg from Chicago was actually faster via New York, not to mention my previous bad luck with delays flying to SF. I decided to fly to New York the night before my 10:25am flight so that I could break up my travel. Side note: Singapore Airlines will also start flying nonstop to Seattle beginning September 3rd!

As for the long flight time, I wasn’t bothered by the idea of it. I’ve flown nonstop to Asia a few times, most recently Chicago to Shanghai (14 hours). Does a 17 hour flight really feel that different from a 14 hour flight?

Airport Check-In

Singapore Airlines offers a special check-in lane for Premium Economy. Since there were no regular Economy seats on the plane, this didn’t really matter but for other flight routes it might. There was no one in line when I arrived at the airport 1 hr 40 min before my flight. 

Singapore Airlines Premium Economy check-in lane

Terminal B was surprisingly small, only 10 gates. No water bottle fill stations, unfortunately. While charging my phone at the gate, I befriended an expat couple who were also making the one-way trip to Singapore – what are the chances? We exchanged WhatsApp numbers and have since met up a few times.

In-Flight Experience

I forgot which seat I had selected at check-in, aside from the fact that it was an aisle seat. I was delighted to see I got a front row seat which meant plenty of extra leg room. I put both my backpack and carry-on up in the cabin and got settled.

Singapore Airlines premium economy front-row seats

The flight attendants brought us hot towels – so nice! – and an amenity kit with socks and a toothbrush.

Singapore Airlines premium economy amenity kit

The entertainment on board included the standard movies, TV shows, and even podcasts. We also had noise-cancelling headphones, which were a nice touch. I ended up listening to an NPR podcast about travel tips, one of which was to always carry a deck of cards because you never know when or where you’re going to be stuck and everyone knows how to play a few games.

Ashley in-flight selfie
Work travel is so glamorous!

Food

Eating is one of my greatest joys and while airplane food usually leaves a lot to be desired, I was hoping premium economy would have somewhat decent options. I read through the menu booklet and was pleasantly surprised to see some healthy options from Singapore Airlines’ partnership with Canyon Ranch. I tried their Baked Pistachio Crusted Tofu, which was pretty tasty albeit a little soggy.

Singapore Airlines Baked Pistachio Crusted Tofu in-flight meal

Later I had an apple and eggplant hummus wrap as a snack. My last meal was chicken with Chinese pork sausage in mushroom sauce. Pro tip: always choose the Asian option over the Western option – which in this case was beef hamburger steak with pasta.

Singapore Airlines Asian chicken in-flight meal

Overall, the flight was pretty comfortable and I didn’t feel all that different by the end of it compared to previous shorter flights to Asia. I even managed to take a 3 hour nap, which was a nice surprise because I can usually never sleep on planes.

Even if you don’t want to splurge on premium economy, I highly recommend flying Singapore Airlines if you’re looking for a nicer in-flight experience on your way to SE Asia!