Singapore - eating, drinking, shopping and sleeping

Wine Connection, Robertson Walk

Singapore is hot and humid. We're not good with the heat, so we try to find ways to escape it and cool down. Often, that might involve a nice air conditioned bar, but drinking here is ridiculously expensive. And when I say that, I mean more than double London prices. There are a few places that are better value - we found a good wine bar and restaurant called Wine Connection in Robertson Walk, and some places have good happy hours, but most places left us a bit shocked, especially after being used to Myanmar prices.



Orchard Road Shopping, Singapore

We did find a nice microbrewery called Brewerkz, which stages its prices throughout the day. Lunchtime are reasonable, and then it gradually goes up until it is double the price by the evening.

Another option for keeping cool is to join in with the popular pastime of shopping. The place we stayed in most of the time was close to Orchard Road, which is the main area for department stores and high end shopping.



Singapore

But travelling as we are, buying any non essential stuff isn't really an option. We did however, take advantage of the numerous air conditioned cinemas to get out of the heat whilst catching up on a few films.


Little India, Singapore

The Clarke Quay area is a good place to eat and drink if you want a more 'western' experience and are happy to be mixing with business people and expats. If you want to eat with the less well off locals, then a popular choice is to use the food malls in and around the shopping centres.



Little India, Singapore

One part of town that feels a little more real, and does have non expense account locals in it, is the area around Arab Quarter and Little India. That's not to say it isn't touristy, it absolutely is, but has far more character than most of Singapore, which we generally found to be quite lacklustre.







Tekka Market, Singapore

We stayed here for our last few nights, in one of the capsule hotels - which is an interesting experience, but definitely not the best way to get a good night's sleep. But we did like the area.



Little India was the site of a riot in 2013, which has resulted in an alcohol ban in much of the sector, but it is a colourful area and vibrant place to walk around. We ate in the Tekka Market, which is great for cheap and tasty food; we especially enjoyed the murtabak, which is a stuffed pancake, the Prata Banana and the Chendol drink.



Arab Quarter, Singapore

The Arab Quarter is just as vibrant and Bussorah Street, Arab Street and Haji Lane have a great mix of eating and drinking establishments and lovely shops ranging from fabrics to souvenirs.

We also happened to be there for a great little event that had people doing traditional Indonesian music and dancing. All were interesting, some were really good. We especially liked the Sundanese angklung, musical instruments made of bamboo that are shaken to produce different notes and tones.



Sundanese Angklung, Singapore