Singapore

*Draft was forgotten, now published...

It has been just about two years since our last visit, but Singapore seems to have gone through a major transformation during that time. It seems to be more modern, more cosmopolitan, more grand and definitely more expansive. With Singapore dollar, appreciating close to 20% since our visit two years ago, everything is more expensive for the visitors.

Our visit this time took place between 29 January to 3 February. Apart from the four of us, Felicia's Dad, Freda, Frank, Annie and Jonathan were also there to celebrate the Chinese New Year holiday. While we know we would be visiting Singapore during the "raining season," this year's raining season was very different than ones we have experienced during our four year plus in Singapore. Rain was non-stopped during the first two days of our visit. The rain also brought comfortable temperatures of mid to low twenties Celicious.

Food, as usual, was a highlight of our trip. We started off with seafood at Long Beach on the night of our arrival. The Sunday Brunch at the Equinox was memerable, mainly for the foei gras and caviar, but also for the view from the 70th floor of the Swiss Hotel (formerly the Westin Plaza). The breakfast at Tiong Baru was also special as it brought back a lot of happy memories for Felicia and Peter. The major disappointment was the DB Bistro which is a Daniel Boulud (a three Michelin star chef) restaurant at the Singapore Sands resort. While the menu looked promising and the prices relatively reasonable, the food was not particularly inspiring. Peter had the DB Burger which was a burger made with sirloin, short ribs and foei gras. Peter found the burger to be rather bland, terribly underseasoned. The steak frites was also very ordinary as with the lamb cous cous. Most disappointing was the cheese plate which was a collection of rather tasteless cheeses (imcomparable to the cheese spread from the Equinox). This disappointment was made up partially from the Chicken rice and Indian food at the Far East Plaza next day. The Brazil Charusco or Brazilian BBQ on Sixth Avenue was as good as it's ever been. Almost everything we tasted there was great and the food was abudunt.

Visiting Singapore also means seeing our friends, Rosa, Kwan, Glenn, Lisze, Clarence and Roseline. These were our closest friends while we were in Singapore between 1996 and 2001. The timing our trip this time, however, prevented us from spending too much time together. We spent about two hours with the Koos on Sunday evening. We did have dinner with the Wongs and the Lees, but it was short and sweet. Rosa and Kwan, as usual, were the most hospitable. Inviting us over for repeat visits and allowing the children to spend some times together. Catching up with Peter's old colleagues Nick and Peter was quite good fun as well. It has been a few years since we met up and it was great to bring everyone up to date.

Walking around the streets of Singapore, especially around the Botanic Garden and Nassim Road, brought back a lot of fond memories. Apart from Taipei, Singapore was a place were we have spent the most of our time together as a family. While Singapore has changed a lot as a City and a Country, there are still a lot of Singapore that have remained the same.