We woke up at 7.30AM to have the suck-iest hotel food I have ever had. It was so bad I ended up eating koko crunch and toast bread for breakfast. What a way to start our day. Today’s activity was touring around the city, taking pictures and buying cheap stuffs. The first place to visit was none other than the Merlion. Opposite the statue is the Esplanade, the biggest durian in the whole world.

Then, we were dropped at “Pearl Point 珍珠坊” and “Bull Cart Water 牛车水”. I don’t remember the proper English name for the 2 places, hence the direct translation. As it was still very early, not even 10AM, most of the shops were closed and we had nothing to do. There were not many cars on the road too.

I don’t know what the aunties and uncles were doing, but me and my sister were looking out for shops and restaurants that were opened to have another round of breakfast. We found a restaurant that was selling chicken rice and noodles, and we had that for breakfast. Not very tasty, I would say. Then, we took a seat to rest right in front of this shop called “Pau Dian”. The shop was featured in one of the local newspapers / magazines and is famous for its “Char Siew Pau 叉烧包”. Itchy mouth-ed, I bought one for SGD0.90. Cheap but not when you convert it to Ringgit Malaysia, freaking RM2.10 for a “Char Siew Pau”. My conclusion, the magazine / newspaper was telling a lie.

While walking back to the meeting point, we spotted “Tian Jin Lou 天津楼” and again, we went inside. Immediately they served us two small plates of appetizers, salted peanuts and pickled lotus. I ordered a tray of “Shang Hai Xiao Long Bao 上海小龙包” It tasted not too bad actually. Decent amount of soup inside the pau but the meat fillings were a little salty though. I paid the bill as we had 5 minutes left to reach the meeting point. The bill came to SGD11.

After that, it was lunch time and we went to a restaurant that serves “Mongolian Barbecued Beef 蒙古烤肉” and lunch buffet. Just when I thought I was about to eat something delicious and different, I was disappointed when I had my first bite. This isn’t barbecued beef but stir fried beef. The chef will prepare bowls of beef / chicken and its accompanying ingredients (Onions, vegetables, carrots, pineapples, bean sprouts, cabbage and etc.), 4 different types of sauces (Sesame oil, garlic oil and don’t-know-what-sauce.), stir fried it over a giant hot plate and serves it in a big bowl. The taste? Sucks. Period. The buffet? Sucks.

We then visited I-don’t-know-the-name-of-the-place where according to the tour guide, the “Guan Yin Temple 观音庙” is very “efficient”. The people were literally flooding the temple. I prayed for a girl friend, let see how efficient she is. -blek- Further down the road, there is a “Laughing Buddha 笑佛” statue which get molested by almost everyone, young and old, who walk past him. I pity the statue, very. The place is very similar to Kuala Lumpur’s Petaling Street where you get to buy pirated stuffs, bags, CDs, dry goods, shark fins, flowers, mushrooms and anything under the sky for a cheap price. Since my sister and I had no money to shop, we sat down by the road side listening to those handicapped singing oldies / pop songs and eating ice cream.

After getting bored of sitting down, we roamed around to look for something to eat. We walked into this building called “Fortune Centre” and inside, we found a stall that sells desserts. Aparently, a few Singapore’s famous actors and actresses patronzied this stall before as seen on the pictures sticked on the glass. Their most famous dessert is actually the “Grass Jelly 凉粉”, which they claimed their grandmother started selling it more than 50 years ago and the secret recipe was passed down to the younger generation.

Their grass jelly was really good, smooth and spring-y. We ordered another bowl of chilled double boiled papaya with white fungus. Another thumb upped for this one. Not satisfied, we ordered another bowl of steaming hot black sesame paste. Two thumbs upped for this one. In fact, the most satisfying meal throughout my Singapore trip was these 3 bowls of desserts.

Our last stop was the “Haw Par Villa 虎豹别墅”, where they display a lot of Chinese culture’s statues. They even have a tunnel that features all 18 levels of hell.

We left Singapore for Malaysia around 5.30PM and by the time we reached home, it was nearly 9.30PM.

Overall, the trip to Singapore, or to be precise, Sentosa Island was just average and the sucky food was a big blow for me. Not to mention, the tour was consisted of uncles and aunties, which I didn’t know anyone of them. I would definitely prefer to visit the Singapore National Zoo or the Night Safari. Another disappointment was I couldn’t meet up with my one and only outside Malaysia reader, Earthtone at Singapore.

Well, since it was my mum who sponsored the trip, I got nothing to complain about although I just did. Thanks, ma!

Related posts:

1. Singapore Chicken Rice, Kepong
2. Singapore Trip - Part I
3. KL Trip #4