Singapore: Just What We Needed

Theo and I knew that after three weeks in India, with all of its sights, sounds, and smells, we would need to go somewhere very different to let the experiences of India settle in and to prepare ourselves for more travel adventure through Asia. We picked Singapore, and it was just what we needed.

Our hotel was on the 37th floor, and our rooms looked out over the docks. It was sky and sea as far as the eye could see, and that expansiveness helped clear my mind a bit. We had no agenda here, which kept us open to following our instincts instead of forcing ourselves into seeing it all.

We swam in the hotel pool, ate at the market down the street, took a nice walk through downtown early in our stay and didn’t sweat the monsoon rains later in the week.

As nice as it was, the hotel wasn’t where we wanted to spend all of our time. So, in addition to that walk, we rented kayaks at the Singapore Sports Hub, went to the zoo for the Night Safari, saw The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 in theaters, and visited Gardens by the Bay for their nightly Christmas light and sound show.

To end the week, we met a friends of a friend for dinner. They were incredible hosts, with three kids of their own. The kids played and ate pizza and watched Elf while the adults talked and drank wine and ate home cooked Thai food. We heard about their travels as young adults and we shared about our travels with kids. We connected over our East Coast roots and swapped travel tips. When it was time to leave (at almost 1 a.m.), Tori pleaded to come back the next day. I truly hope we see these new friends again.

On our very last day in Singapore, I fell ill with a nasty GI bug. Bone pain, low-grade fever, the whole nine yards. Thankfully, it was short-lived and I was able to convalesce in a very comfortable hotel. Although we had no agenda, we experienced quite a bit of Singapore. I can see us, though, planning a return visit. It’s easy to be a tourist here, and its charm surprised me. Singapore was just what we needed for this stage of our travel, and a little more.