The Fullerton had one of the most expansive breakfast buffets we have ever seen. All the cuisines from all over the world seemed to be covered. From dim sum, to spicy noodle dishes, to English breakfasts, to French breads and pastries, meats and cheeses, yogurts, fresh fruits, even waffles, pancakes and French toast. We tried a station where you could customize noodle soup with all sorts of vegetables, noodles, meats and exotic things like slipper lobster and boiled quail eggs. Needless to say, we ate enough to last us til supper each day.
On our third day we visited the Singapore Botanic Garden, yet another UNESCO world heritage site to add to our list. The highlight of this park is the national orchid garden, which contains over 1000 species and 2000 hybrids of orchids. The garden has been in existence since 1859 and is responsible for numerous new hybrids – some of them named after politicians or celebrities. We saw some orchids named after Joe and Jill Biden as well as Kamala Harris. It was a beautiful place to spend the afternoon despite a consistent light drizzle.
After the garden we went to Chinatown, which is pretty important in Singapore as a lot of Chinese immigrants make up the population. Unfortunately, the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple we wanted to visit closed early for an event. Outside, there were long tables full of different offerings people could buy before visiting the temple. There were beautifully prepared platters of egg rolls, dim sum, vegetables, rice, juice and more. The sellers were dumping and packing up everything when we arrived. Curious to see so much stuff prepared only to be wasted at the end of each day?
There was a famous hawker market right across from the temple called Maxwell Food Centre where we ate at that night. We wanted to try a couple of the dishes we had heard about. The first was Hainanese Chicken Rice which was basically boiled chicken and rice, with the rice cooked in the chicken stock. It was fine, but nothing in our opinion to write home about. (Though I think I just did.) We also tried fried hokkien prawn noodles (also good but not great). Our drinks were good though. I tried fresh squeezed cane sugar juice. They have a machine that simply squeezes the raw sugar canes. They run the canes through the machine several times until the juice is extracted, then simply pour over some ice. Sophie had fresh squeezed lime juice, which we had had before and is very good. For dessert we tried fried sesame balls.
On our way back, we once again enjoyed the amazing streets of Singapore. We passed a crazy looking Hindu temple, and several covered streets full of bars and restaurants. It seems like an ideal city if you like to eat. There were many neat public statues and works of art – some from well recognized figures like Salvador Dali and Fernando Botero.
We spent the next morning around the hotel and its environs. Before leaving the hotel, I took a video I have to share of our toilet. (You may think I’m obsessed with toilets, but I think they are really on to something here…). Not only does the seat goes up and down automatically, it washes and dries your bum for you. Really makes you rethink our primitive toilet paper practice…
We left for the airport plenty early as the airport is a tourist destination in its own right! Like everything else in Singapore, it wows you. Attached to the airport is a multi-level shopping mall with this incredible 5-story waterfall in the middle. To me, this is the perfect representation of Singapore. Green spaces, modern, safe, convenient and an extra dose of something incredible just in case you weren’t wowed enough.
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