Getting to the hotel was a breeze. Hopped on the MRT to City Hall and then caught the #51 bus for a 10 minute ride that dropped us right opposite our
destination. Bob’s your uncle as they say. We walked in at 7am which is obviously way too early to check-in. The front desk rep checked us in and had a room ready for us. He informed us in a passive-aggressive douche bag tone i.e. “I’m doing you a favour” that since we were being provided a room well before the normal check-in time, he would give 125 points as the bonus and put the other 125 to two drinks that we could claim at the hotel bar. With my eyes internally rolling, I took the room keys, gave him my resting b***h face look and had him deliver our bags to the room.

We freshened up and went out in search of breakfast. Google Maps indicated that the Tiong Bahru food centre was a 10 minute walk away – sweet!

Here we are.

First stop, a breakfast staple other than Kaya Toast ofcourse.

Steamed rice cakes with a preserved vegetable topping and sambal on the side. The sambal really hit the spot.

Mrs wanted more but I cautiously advised that we should try other things. After checking out other joints, we settled on some Lor Mee. The pig organ soup joint looked tempting but well … not our sort of thing.

There was a 4 person line up but when my turn came up, I copied the locals and held up 3 fingers to signal that I wanted the $3 bowl.

Presentation is key …

But it’s all the same in the belly.

The early morning heat eventually got to us and found an old favourite as a thirst quencher.

Went down to the first floor that housed the wet market and checked out the local goods.

Headed back to the hotel to figure out what we would do next but ended up crashing. We intended to wake up in a couple hours but sleep got the better of us and we woke up at 6pm. #fail

We decided to head over to Chinatown for some grub and change out to local currency. It was a 20 minute walk since we did not have the EZ link pass and had to buy them anyways at the Chinatown station. Didn’t see any of the Friends cast in there.

After changing money near the People’s Park food centre, we walked down into the Chinatown MRT station and bought the EZ links cards. With a tap of the credit card, we were back out in 5 minutes.

Walked over to the Chinatown Food Complex to see what was appetizing.

The claypot rice stall was closed and nothing else was appetizing to Mrs, so we decided to head back to the People’s Park centre. We walked in to the Michelin 1 star joint, Hawker Chan, but there were all out of the good stuff.

Since hawker centres are hotter inside compared to sitting outside, I decided to cool down in the best way I know.

And walked over to this roast meat stall for some deliciousness.

Roast pork.

Roast chicken with a big broth.

With our faces stuffed to the max, we headed over to Clarke Quay to check out the night life.

Trying to be artsy on the MRT but total fail …

Definitely a bumping vibe at CQ.

Mrs saw this place and demanded satisfaction. Didn’t take a pic of the goods but was damn freaking good. I’m a believer in Hokkaido natural ice cream.

We walked into the bowels of CQ to check out what was on offer.

Called it a night after a couple hours of just relaxing by the waterfront. Woke up early the next morning to head over to the Botanic Gardens. Hopped on the bus that would drop us directly opposite the Tanglin Gate entrance. A quick google check on food options revealed that the Adam Road food centre was on the opposite side of the gardens near the Bukit Timah gate. The leisure walk from one end to the other took us around 20-ish minutes.

The entrance to the Orchid Garden and locals performing morning exercise routines.

Finally, at the other end.

By the time we got to the food centre, we had a good sweat going but this was more from the heat at 8.30am versus the walk.

Not a lot of joints open in the morning but this one was and we ended up getting the Chicken Nasi lemak and Adam Special Nasi lemak. The only difference is that the Adam Special had mutton rendang in addition to the items from the Chicken set.

My oh my.

Mine and hers. A typical nasi lemak consists of coconut rice, fried egg, ikan bilis, anchovies, sambal, potato cake and cucumber.

Some thirst quenchers to wash down the food.

Ice bandung with grass jelly + ice milo.

Back to the gardens in the sweat inducing heat.

We came back to the Orchard Garden and paid the $5 per person entrance fee.

Mrs taking a moment to pose for an IG shot.

Tree of life.

After the Botanic Garden, we headed over to Orchard Road for a stroll.

Where we ran into the Infinity gauntlet that Thanos apparently lost and was under constant guard by the Singapore authorities. I sent a pic of this to my friends and family back home and the overwhelming response was to steal it. Like, don’t people know about corporal punishment in Singapore – no thanks. 🙂

I know what to have for dinner. 🙂

Shade.

After working up a really good sweat, we headed to Demsey Hill for lunch at Samy’s Curry.

Chill atmosphere.

We chose the biryani, masala chicken, mutton and cauliflower 65. Freebies thrown in were pumpkin, dhal and papadums. Extremely satisified with the quantity and quality – like mama’s home cookin’.

After heading back to the hotel for a rest, we came back to Orchard Road to pick up a special gift that I bought for myself.

Here is said gift. The last bottle in all on Singapore … or the shop I bought it from … I forget which one. Mrs is still questioning my justification for buying it.

Extremely happy with my purchase, it was time for dinner.

And finally on the bus back to the hotel.