Flying through Singapore and Bali

We were only in Singapore for 36 hours, so we arrived with a rough plan, which mainly revolved around food. On our previous visit to Singapore, we visited what most would consider the main attractions, so we didn’t feel the need to squeeze any others in during the short time we had.

Singapore is expensive, and we were aware that our normal daily budget wasn’t going to get us very far. Katy had found a hotel (Hotel by Wassie’s) in a good area of the city, between Chinatown and a Little India (Hong Kong Street in Clarke Quay). It was still around £100 per night, and got us a box room. It was so small that we couldn’t unpack, so we dumped our bags on the bed and headed straight out.

Katy had arranged to meet Dan, a family friend who lives in Singapore. He took us to the Arab Quarter (Kallang) where we’d never been before and caught up over drinks and some food.

We spent the night in a bar called Blu Jazz on Bali Road, where there was live music. It was great to speak to someone who knows the city and plan for what we would do the next day to make the most of our time.

After drinks, we walked back to Chinatown to hit one of the late night hawkers at Maxwell Food Centre. Only a few stalls were still open, but we managed to get a couple of nice dishes before walking back to our hotel.

The next day, the plans we had made the night before to get bikes and tour around the city were out of the window. It was pissing it down. Instead, we made good use of the covered walkways and spent a few hours in the nearby National Gallery. Thankfully, there were a couple of exhibitions that were really interesting, and it allowed enough time for the rain to die down.

Once outside again, it was dry, hot as hell and we were hungry. We found a nearby hawker centre (Hong Lim Food Centre) in Chinatown and went in to see what we could find. The first mistake we made was to visit during lunchtime; it was very busy. The second mistake we made was to assume you could pay by card.

We had come to Singapore with no cash at all, as over 95% of the country has gone cashless. This includes the hawker centres. Unfortunately, you have to use a specific payment app for most stalls here, and we didn’t have any WiFi to set it up.

O2 also wanted to charge me £6.99 per MB, so there was no way I was turning on data roaming. So we left hotter and hungrier than when we entered, but quickly found somewhere for some noodles and dumplings at Darling Dumplings.

After a few afternoon beers to cool down, and a brief visit to see the Merlion, we were out to meet another one of Katy’s friends, Yen. They both used to work together and share a love of food. It just so happened that Yen was visiting family at the same time we were there.

We headed to another area we hadn’t been to before (Geylang) and a restaurant famous for it’s seafood and specifically its pepper crab, No Signboard Restaurant. We were joined by some of Yen’s friends, and having six of us at the table allowed us to try more food (check out Katy’s Instagram post for more food detail).

It was a lovely meal, and it was great to meet new people. It blew our budget out of the water, but it was worth it. It was a nice end to a very quick visit to Singapore.

The next day, we took a quick flight to Bali. We’ve been before, and to be honest, we didn’t like it. It has been over ten year’s since we last visited, and our budget was much tighter back then. So we thought we’d give it another try.

Within minutes of leaving Denpasar airport in a taxi, I was reminded why we didn’t like it. The traffic is awful. Its chaos. It took an hour and a half to do a 15-minute journey, and even once we arrived in Legian, it didn’t stop.

This time, we not only arrived in peak season but also on a national holiday weekend, so Kuta, Legian and Seminyak were heaving. It was also forecast to rain all week. Let’s just say the place wasn’t winning us over.

Thankfully, we were staying in a really nice hotel (Mahata Hotel). The staff were lovely, the room was big, clean and comfortable, and it had a nice pool with a swim-up bar. All this bang in the centre of town for around £35 per night.

As soon as we walked out of the hotel, we were constantly harassed every couple of meters, and struggled to find a bar or restaurant that didn’t have Aussie rules football on. Thankfully the weather cleared up, and we got to spend a couple of days on the beach. After a second try, I’m not sure we’ll be coming back in a hurry.

We did get to eat some nice food though, which included beef rendang and rowan at Warung Bernadette (see Katy’s Instagram post for more food detail) and Korean fried chicken and nasi goreng at Warung Pacman.

After three days in Bali, we decided enough was enough. We also opted against going to Ubud and a 6-hour round trip. Instead, next up is Nusa Penida, a small island 39 minutes away by fast boat.

Sam