Day 5 – Singapore
Happy New Year everyone! Sad to leave Raffles today, but excited to check out the scene at Marina Bay Sands. We got a late check out, so were able to spend a leisurely morning having breakfast to hanging out to the pool. We have really fallen in love with the street food scene (Hawker centres) that are dotted throughout Singapore, and opted to make a return trip to Maxwell Food Centre for our favorite dishes, duck rice and kebob roll.
After lunch, we headed back to Raffles to check and out then headed to Marina Bay Sands, or as the locals call it MBS. The hotel is one of the icons of the Singapore skyline and, since its construction in 2010, has become a symbol of Singapore and a key tourist attraction. The hotel itself is very much like one of the large Las Vegas hotels: casino, high end shopping, lots of restaurant options and several towers of spacious rooms.
But the coup de grace of this hotel is the pool. Perched across the three towers on a giant surf board-shaped deck, on the 57thfloor, the infinity pool has been a popular spot for social media posts (us included). There are also several restaurants on the roof, including two American brands that are popular in Vegas, Lavo and Spago. It’s very touristy, but if you are visiting Singapore, it’s definitely worth a night or two, and admittedly the pool is truly epic.
Dinner tonight is at National Kitchen by Violet Oon, a pioneer in the Singaporean food scene. The menu is all Singaporean, but elevated versions. We ended up getting chicken satay, Buah Keluak Ayam (stewed chicken in spicy broth), Sayur Lodeh (mixed vegetables in a coconut sauce), and Hainanese chicken rice. The food was amazing, the staff was over-the-top nice and accommodating and the dining space, located within the National Gallery, is beautiful and reminiscent of architecture for 100 years ago. We can’t recommend it more. Absolute must do!
After dinner, we tried to go to Atlas Bar, which is on many “World’s Best” lists, and was highly recommended by a friend who spend a lot of time in Singapore. Unfortunately, it was closed for the New Year holiday, so we headed back to MBS to get a good night’s sleep.