Week 2 - exploring Singapore

On Saturday we headed over to East Coast Park, rented some bikes and cycled around for a couple of hours, working up a bit of a sweat in the 36c heat! Phil taught me to cycle with no hands - possibly one of my biggest achievements this year..

We then stumbled into Little India, spotting some fun umbrella trees before getting lost in the extremely busy and intimidating, 400,000 sq ft department store called the Mustafa Centre. (Top tip: DO NOT GO ON A WEEKEND).

Umbrella Tree

In the evening we had set up a bit of a blind double-date (an intro through a friend of a friend) with a lovely couple who treated us to drinks at Rabbit Carrot Gun on the East Coast Road. Not only were they a fun couple to get to know, but Phil's going to join the guys football team and they've also put me in touch with someone who works in International Development which I'm really interested in being involved with over here.

We treated ourselves to another terrific brunch on Sunday at a little place called Jones's on Dempsey Hill. Dempsey Hill seems like a pretty cool place as it's an old army base with a few little quirky shops and eateries. The brunch we had was absolutely delicious so will be back there in a heartbeat I'm sure.

The Brunch of Champions

We then braved ION at Orchard which was productive albeit a little stressful. Shopping on Orchard reminded me a little of shopping on Oxford Street, but just a tad hotter. Not somewhere I want to be popping back to on the regular.

Later in the evening we headed up to Fort Canning Park and watching an open-air theatre production of Romeo & Juliet. The actors captivated the several hundred of us watching and Phil and I both loved it. The MBS light show began right over the top of the park, really brining it home for a moment that we were indeed sitting in the middle of a park in Singapore watching Romeo and Juliet. Another slightly surreal one for us I think.

Shakespeare in the Park

 
Phil had this whole week off work so we were able to spend the days together. We planned a full day of condo hunting on Monday and we knew immediately that a condo on Holland Hill was the one for us. The condo is minutes away from two MRTs and Holland Village has a good strip of restaurants, as well as a couple of Hawker Centres and a supermarket so a great location for us. We put an offer on immediately and are buzzing for it.

We went to a couple of other amazing restaurants this week. The first called Level 33 which is in Tower 1 of MBS Hotel. It's the best meal I've eaten in Singpore by far and cannot wait to go back there.

My delicious venison dinner at Level 33

The other delicious meal was at Latteria which is on Duxton Hill. Latteria is a mozzarella restaurant so every starter and main is cheese based - I never knew there were so many types of mozzarella but knowing this has made my life just that little bit happier.