As the plane flew past the dozens of container ships waiting to dock at the fourth former British colony of the trip, we were exited to be arriving in yet another continent. The official ruling of this, I suppose is up for debate as Singapore is an island and not really part of mainland Asia. In either case, the tour of the old empire continues, this time we were welcomed with free beer.

We took a train into town and stopped at a bar to try the local beer in recognition of the occasion. The Tiger beer was better than most countries’ version of a light tropical lager, but the more significant thing about this particular bottle was that it was the last one ever to be ordered from this particular bar. After eleven years, the owners of the place were closing up shop due to lack of business. They had a sizable supply of beer left over that apparently needed to be finished that night. Even though they found a way to take several toasters home on a bicycle, the transportation of a few bottles was for some reason not possible. They were just glad that we were available and willing to help with their evening project. Since we were within easy stumbling distance of our bed, we decided to stick around for a while and participate. It was the polite thing to do. Aside from a lively argument with the meter-reader from the gas company, the details of which remain a mystery as it was all in Chinese, nothing else remarkable happened that night. We were just trying to figure out why such a transaction had to be conducted at almost midnight on a Friday.

Over the next two days, we rode the subway around the city and saw the sights. Both Chinatown and Little India neighborhoods had interesting food, crowded shops, and interesting temples to visit. The temple containing Buddha’s Tooth, and other relics, was particularly interesting. It was six stories high, contained a museum explaining the story of Buddhism, a nice rooftop garden, and thousands of statues of Buddha. On the more secular side of things, Singapore is also famous for it’s malls. There must be hundreds of them. All were very large and busy with people. We didn’t have much shopping to do, but they did provide a nice air-conditioned escape from the hot, humid, and sunny conditions outside.

The food throughout the city was also very good and quite cheap. It seemed primarily influenced by either Chinese or Indian cuisine, but being a huge modern city, every type of food imaginable was available in Singapore. Mostly we had some sort of noodle dish, but also splurged one evening and had a famous “chili crab” – a large steamed crab covered in a slightly spicy red sauce. Delicious.

Another food highlight was the beverages. In addition to the beer, we drank large quantities of fresh fruit juices. Every type of juice was available, some we’d never heard of before. Dragon fruit and sour sop accompanied the more normal choices of watermelon, star fruit, mango, banana, and a dozen others, often only for one Singapore dollar. For dessert, we were excited to be introduced to the Milo Dinosaur. It was basically a version of chocolate milk, but made from Milo powder (think Nesquik) and condensed milk, then served with a heaping spoonful of the chocolate crumbs added to the top. If you find yourself in a similar situation, eat the chocolate sprinkles first and avoid the embarrassment of being seen stirring it all together like we did. Such behavior is apparently frowned upon so much that stall owner felt the need to stop and inform us of our mistake. I guess that cancels out the enthusiastic thumbs-up I got from an old Chinese man while eating lunch the previous day. I’m still not sure what that was all about.

Tags: beer · food · Singapore