We love having visitors

It might seem a little bit sad, but some of my favourites times in Singapore are when we have visitors over to stay with us, and we get to show them around some of our favourite Asian haunts over the weekends and evenings. Coming to work during the week while they are here is always a bit rubbish, but with Catherine and Jeff in town for two weekends and one full week in between, I think we should have ample time to show them around and then also leave them with enough napping time to battle the hefty jetlag too.

Curry for breakfast 

It’s always tricky to travel between the US and Singapore because it’s just so far away and on totally backwards time zones, but at 2am on Saturday morning I met Catherine and Jeff from their 26 hour journey, and we welcome them to Singapore in the only way that you can: with cocktails and a good catch up session.

Preparing the durian for tasting

Seeing as their body clocks were insisting that they were only really at lunchtime, we managed to keep awake through until about 4am when we decided that, for the sake of not wasting the whole weekend on jetlag, it was time to go to bed and try and get in sync with Singapore time.

            On Saturday morning I was awake and ready to play by 9am, despite the late night, and in their sleep deprived confusion, the Americans were up and about too, so after a preparatory cup of tea we threw on clothes and headed to Tekka Wet Market. I wanted to make sure that they got a really strong burst of culture shock as the first thing they did, and to my mind, Tekka is both amazing and slightly terrifying, so it felt like the perfect introduction.

            Catherine loves Indian food, so we welcomed them to Little India with roti parata and bajhi for breakfast from some of the hawkers at the front of the market before wandering around the main body of the market, trying durian (a very stinky, famous local fruit) and checking out the veggie, fruit, meat and fish options (which for the first time that I have seen, included baby shark by the bucket load).

Drinks on the beach

After braving a stinky and culture shock session, the rest of our Saturday was spent in a slightly more casual way. We made the trip over to Sentosa island for a quick drink, and run down the hill on the amazing Street luge and a walk to a beach which means that we were on the most southerly point of all continental Asia!

Street luge!!

Following a dip in the pool and a quick shower, the evening was then spent at the top of a lot of high buildings. Drinks were had at both Southbridge, a favourite rooftop cocktail bar of ours, and at Altitude Bar, which is the highest alfresco bar in the world meant that we got to point out the sights and really give them a proper birds eye view of Singapore. Dinner was then at the Chinese restaurant on the 68 floor of an office block, but that is less about the view and more about the amazing food and the tea ninja who pours tea through the most ridiculous teapot you can imagine, but with some serious skills. 

Serious tea pouring skills 

I had worried that Jeff would want to stay out and play until the wee small hours, which might have made Sunday a little but trickier to handle, but thankfully by around 11pm we were all ready to call it a night, and so with one final cup of tea we all headed to bed, ready for what promised to be a Sunday of excess! 

Drinks with a view up at Altitude bar