Singapore
Marina Bay
Hands down, Singapore is my favorite city in ASEAN! The architecture is amazing, the streets are pristine and transportation to explore the city is very easy to navigate. If you’ve never been to this wonderful country, you must put it on your bucket list!
There are so many touristy places to visit like Chinatown, or the Marina Bay Sands hotel and mall, or the “Avatar” like gardens across the way, but it’s the places the locals go that intrigue me the most when I visit.
My favorite place to exercise is the Fort Canning park; with its steep stairs to run or climb and its winding brick paths that wrap around the elevated water reservoir in the middle, this place is such a wonderful respite to break away from the modern surroundings. Take a look at the pictures below, showing the brick pathways in the park.
To eat, it’s impossible to name all my favorites but the one I take clients to every time I’m in town is the best Persian food I’ve ever had at Shabestan, located in Robertson Quay. For dessert, there’s a great place off the beaten path called Pantler, located on Amoy Street. You can get great coffee and traditional Japanese bakery desserts there. One last gem you have to try is called Jun Oden & Sake Bar. There’s a great article written about several Oden places in Singapore but this one really transported me to a place I didn’t expect. On my first visit I had yet to visit Tokyo but eventually came to appreciate how tiny and “hole in the wall” this Jun Oden’s was when I finally made it to Tokyo and discovered this small restaurant feel is very common. To quote the article I reference, “After a day of hard work, wind down and relax at Jun Oden & Sake Bar. Open since December 2016, this establishment is an escape from the bumbling Orchard Road crowds. Decked with antique Japanese paraphernalia, the bar transports you to the late Shōwa Period (1926 - 1989).” It’s hard to put into words how this small shop transports you to a different era, but the Japanese music playing on the old TV nonstop from the 1980’s, really sets the mood. Jun’s shop will make you think you’re in her home and next to the kitchen just waiting for some great Oden to arrive at your table.
