Europe 2025

After a manageable 10 hour flight from Istanbul (despite the twin toddlers in business class who tag-team screamed the whole trip, thank goodness for noise cancelling headphones), we arrived in Singapore at the ungodly hour of 4.30am. At least the airport was quiet! We got a taxi for the half-hour drive (which only took 20 minutes at that time of morning) to Jacqui and Martin's apartment in Ardmore Park. Only good friends will be pleased to see you when you turn up on their doorstep at 5.30am!

Once we'd caught up, showered and settled in, our hosts presented us with a range of options for things we could do for the day. We've been to Singapore before and so were happy to do things that locals might do, rather than touristy things. There was hot competition between a Jacqui's childhood-themed morning and the Botanic Gardens (which Martin made a strong pitch for). As Jacqui had taken the day off, we opted for a visit to the Chinese and Japanese Gardens, a place she used to go to as a child and saved the Botanic Gardens with retiree Martin for day 2.

The gardens were about a half an hour by car away in the ulu ulu (which I think is Singaporean for the outback). We started the visit with a typical Singaporean breakfast of nasi lemak with chicken curry. We hadn't slept on the plane and so our bodies didn't think having curry for breakfast was unusual at all. We then spent a few hours walking around the enormous gardens, sweating profusely. There was hardly anyone in the gardens, probably because it was the day after the Diwali public holiday which meant a lot of things were closed for cleaning. It was pleasant to be in wide open green spaces again after the bustle of Istanbul and lovely to visit somewhere from Jacqui's childhood with her (see photo). After a sticky ride home again in a cab, we decided a dip in the resort-style pool would be in order in the afternoon. This turned out to be a great idea both to cool us down and keep us awake as we pushed through the jet-lag barrier (Frequent flyer Jacqui is a strong believer in the push through approach).

That evening, we went to East Coast Park for dinner overlooking the Singapore Strait at a restaurant called Long Beach, which claims to be the creator of Black Pepper Crab. We sat out in the warm evening, looking out at the hundreds of container ships, with Jacqui taking responsibility for ordering her favourite dishes for us. We had special prawns, a steamed whole fish, crab fried rice and, of course, black pepper crab. Adrian and I donned the paper bibs, not being crab cracking experts, but managed to have our fill of crab meat without making too much of a mess of ourselves. It was a fun night of tasty food and it was nice to be eating a spicier cuisine again.

I am pleased to say that we stayed awake until 10pm (about 36 hours without sleep) without a nap before falling into bed for a solid 9 hours deep slumber.

The next morning, we were up and out by 7.30 to visit the Botanic Gardens with Martin before the heat of the day. We got the MRT to the gardens in Bukit and went to Martin's regular place for coffee and breakfast. He tempted us with a couple of different typical Singaporean breakfast items. One was called kaya toast or toast with butter and coconut jam, served with soft boiled eggs (which looked like an uncooked omlette). We passed on the cultural experience this time.

The Botanic Gardens are a top tourist attraction because they were created by the British in 1859 and are a UNESCO World Heritage site, but they weren't too busy at that time of day. They are lush and tropical, and well worth a visit. Martin took us around his regular walking route, pointing out all the places of interest as we went. We went into the National Orchid Garden and were treated to such a beautiful range of colours and shapes of orchids. There was even a cool house designed to emulate high elevation forest, which was also a nice respite from the heat (but our glasses fogged up when we came out). We walked back to the apartment from the Gardens, walking about 7km all up, thinking about another swim and rest afternoon. Turns out we just rested in the air con and packed.

For the final night in Singapore and for our holiday, we went to Dempsey Road and another one of Jacqui and Martin's favourite restaurants called Candlenut, a one Michelin star restaurant which serves Peranakan (sometimes called Nonya) cuisine. Peranakan is a fusion of Chinese, Malay, Indonesian and Indian cuisines and originated from Chineses migrants who settled in the Malay peninsula and intermarried with local populations. Again, Jacqui recommended her favourite dishes with a request for rendang from Adrian. The Blue swimmer crab curry was a stand-out, but we also had interesting things like a wing bean salad (no idea what a wing bean is) and slow cooked pork jowl with black nut (which is poisonous if not prepared properly which takes months). Then, of course, we had to share/try three desserts to finish off. We enjoyed good food and nice wine, and laughed a lot. It's so nice to spend time with old friends and it was a lovely way to end our holiday.En savoir plus