Singapore & Penang

After Bali, we flew to Singapore for a quick two nights to quickly check this city-state out.  It was a very nice change of pace to spend some time in a modern city with all its conveniences (but not its higher prices).

We arrived at our hostel around dinner time so we just dropped off our bags and headed out to find some good food.  India Town was close by so we headed there to find some good Indian food. It was a Sunday night, so Sharon and I were very surprised at how hoppin' the area was.  The crazy part was that the male to female ratio was at least 100 to 1.  I'd like to know where all the ladies were at.  Anyways, we found a good place to eat and we proceeded to gorge ourselves.  I'm not sure why, but I don't think I ate any Indian food until I was 28 or so, and since then I think it has become my favourite food to eat.  I love Indian food.  10 days and counting and I have all the Indian food I could ever need.

We only had only one full day in Singapore, so we decided to buy tickets for the hop on/hop off tour bus so we could see as much of the city as possible.

 Rocking the Hop-On/Hop-Off Bus in Singapore (aka the Hippo Bus).

One of our first stops at my request, was the Marina Bay Sands which is this recently built hotel/conference center/casino/mall that I first became aware of when I saw it on an episode on Build It Bigger on the Discovery Channel.  The coolest thing about the show, was that it showed how they were going to build a large park on top of the three hotel towers.  So of course being in Singapore, we had to go check it out.

A scaled model of the Marina Bay Sands.

First stop was the observation deck which provided a crazy view of Singapore.  Unfortunately, they had closed off public access to the gardens and pools, so I was a little bit disappointed about that.  Next time we are in Singapore we will have to stay at the hotel so we can get free access.

Some of the views of Singapore from the viewing deck.

This is as close as I could get to the gardens and infinity pool.

Sharon was super excited about the "floating" Louis Vuitton store.

Next stop was of course the casino, but unfortunately you needed your passport to get in, and we had left ours at the hotel.  Huge bummer.  Sharon's plan of winning enough money to buy a new bag at the floating Louis store were dashed.  So instead we decided to go check out the mall which was pretty crazy.  Along with numerous super high end stores, was a canal reminiscent of Venice where you could pay to have someone take you from one end of the mall to the other in a boat, and a sweet fountain which I deemed the "Toilet Fountain".  It consisted of a huge bowl that water was sent into which proceeded to swirl around the bowl until it reached a hole in the bottom where it would then fall into the pool below.

Too tired to walk the 100 meters to the other end of the mall?  No problem, hire a boat.

The "Toilet Fountain".  Where's a giant O'Henry bar when you need it?

After the Marina Bay Sands, we road the Hippo Bus all around Singapore, getting a feel for what the city has to offer.  In the late afternoon, we went to a movie theatre to watch Hunger Games.  Yes, I know, kind of a lame thing to do with only one full day in Singapore, but we had both read the book and were dying to see it, and we weren't sure when our next opportunity would be to check it out.

After the movie, we were pretty hungry, so we went out looking for a good place for dinner.  This was my top choice:

"Come on Sharon!  What screams Singapore more some delicious Hooters wings?"

Unfortunately, Sharon vetoed this idea.  Seriously though, we had made plans to meet an old friend of Sharon's back from her high school days in Chicago for dinner.  For a while now, Sharon has been dying to try some chili crab, so we decided to meet up with her friend Eddie at a top chili crab restaurant.  The crab was fantastic (we preferred the pepper crab over the chili crab though), and we had a really good time catching up with Eddie and hearing all about his adventures in Singapore.  Eddie also picked up the tab for dinner, which was incredibly nice of him to do.  So thanks again Eddie if you are reading this.  We owe you a really nice dinner in the U.S. next time we see you.

Sharon & Eddie, wearing some bibs, and eating some chili crab.

The next day we flew to Penang for another quick two nights before heading to Ko Samui.  Our time in Penang basically revolved around food.  After dropping our stuff off at our hostel in Old Georgetown, we walked a bit around town, checking out some of the old colonial buildings, and then proceeded to try to find us some good street food.  We hit up a bunch of spots, but the most interesting thing we ate was at our last stop of the night where we ordered a rama burger...

Step #1: Fry egg.

Step #2: Place burger on top of fried egg.

Step #3: Wrap burger in fried egg.

Step #4: Add bun, veggies, mayo, ketchup, etc. = DELICIOUSNESS.

The next day we slept in a bit before heading out to grab some lunch at a delicious chicken rice stall just down the street.  This was our first time eating chicken rice, and it has since become one of our go to meals in SE Asia.

Yummy, chicken rice.

After lunch, we looked to rent some bikes so we could continue our search for some more delicious food.  Sharon had read about this supposedly awesome outdoor food center that was about a half hour bike ride away.  We found some pretty decent mountain bikes to rent and were on our way.  We made it to the food center at around 3pm, but found out it wasn't open until around six, so we decided continue riding along the coast to see what we could find.

Sharon braving the streets and traffic of Penang.

We road another 15 to 20km along the ocean until we hit a nice beach where we stopped to grab a couple of cold, refreshing beers.  While we were stopped, Sharon spotted a women who was selling grilled corn on the cob which Sharon had to try.  She was not disappointed.

A happy Sharon eating some grilled corn on the cob.

A nice view to enjoy while drink some cold, refreshing beer.

After our beers, we turned around and headed back the way we came.  On the way back we stopped at the "Floating Mosque" which was a total letdown as it wasn't floating at all, but merely supported by stilts on the shore.  What a ripoff.

Floating mosque my ass.

We finally made it back to the outdoor food center which was now bustling with activity.  The food there is dirt cheap, so we decided to get a sampling of many different dishes.  We made sure to eat up all the calories we had burned during the bike ride and then some.

Can you spot Sharon surveying our food options in this pic?

After dinner we rode the rest of the way back to our hostel so we could get a good night's sleep before our long day of travel to Thailand the next day.  

That's it for now.  Sharon will write about our time in Thailand shortly.