There were a few reasons why we wanted to travel to Singapore on our world trip. It is close to other locations in South East Asia we’re travelling to, it is known for being a very advanced and clean city with a diverse population, and most importantly it is where my former college roommate Jermyn lives! I had told Jermyn years ago that I would visit him one day, and so I kept my word!

Jermyn was an extremely gracious host, providing us with free lodging and serving as a local tour guide. He took us around the city to see some of the highlights and also introduced us to his favorite restaurants and foods. The first night he took us to his parent’s place to eat a large meal of numerous different Singaporean eats. Chili stingray, shrimp chicken (chicken fried in shrimp paste), cabbage with glass noodles, chicken satay with peanut sauce, and several more. This must be one of Jermyn’s favorite places to eat!

Jermyn also took us to a highly rated Dim Sum restaurant called Din Tai Fung that served amazing dumplings. They were insanely good!

And who could forget the Bak Kut Teh, another Singaporean specialty. The dish is pork ribs cooked in a broth. You dip them in soy sauce or chili sauce to taste. Unique and tasty!

Jermyn had to work during the days, so we explored the sights he recommended on our own. One of our favorite places was the Singapore Botanic Gardens. It is a very peaceful place that houses a world-class Orchid Garden. The gardens are even recognized as a Unesco World Heritage site they’re so beautiful.

We also spent an afternoon on top of the Marina Bay Sands Casino. The casino is built to look like a boat riding atop 3 buildings. It is unique looking, but more importantly, it has great views of Singapore from it’s “boat deck”. We were able to see all of Downtown, the Gardens by the bay area, as well as the Port of Singapore (2nd busiest port in the world by the way).

We also had the privelege of meeting up with another Singaporean local named Min. She knows Andy and Holli from their time in the UK and so we spent an afternoon with her. She was also very gracious. She took us out to a typical brunch of soft boiled eggs and toast with Kaya jam (cocunut and honey flavored jam). Afterwards she showed us around the Chinatown area and the area along the Singapore river known as Boat Quay.

After a few hours of walking around, Min took us to a restaurant to try some more Singaporean food. This time we had chicken rice and chili crab. The chili crab was messy, but had a perfect mix of spicy and savoury flavors. Boston needs to up its crab game to compete!!

For our last dinner in Singapore, we attempted to repay the hospitality that Jermyn had shown us. So, Kathy and I went to a local supermarket to search for food to make an Austrian specialty for dinner. I did the chopping and Kathy did the cooking. She made Geschnetzeltes and Erdapfel Leibchen (chicken in mushroom sauce with potatoe patties). Even though we couldn’t find the exactly perfect ingredients for an Austrian dinner in Singapore it still turned out great!

Our foray into the culinary delights of Singapore weren’t quite over. On our last evening, Jermyn took us to the Gahlong area of eastern Singapore in search of the so called King of Fruits. We had heard about this fruit while in Thailand and Malaysia but had yet to try it. So, in Singapore we finally sat down to test our mettle with the Durian fruit. From the outset, this fruit shows why it isn’t to be messed with. It’s huge and the rind is loaded with thick spikes that make it difficult to even hold. Once the fruit is cut open you are treated to a pungent smell that makes you wonder why people ever even tried eating this fruit. With a bit of courage, we pushed through this difficult smell and sat down at a table to try out this local delicacy. The first bite was rather appalling to put it bluntly. The texture of the fruit is mushy and a bit slimy, but the worst is the taste. It is hard to desribe what it tastes like, but maybe wet gym socks is a good description? Yeah, imagine eating warm, mushy, sweaty, gym socks and you’ll have a decent idea about what Durian, the King of the Fruits tastes like. I actually tried a second bite to see if things got better, but nope, I was still chewing on mushy gym socks. At least the aftertaste only lasts for a few hours…

However, our Durian experience contrasted greatly with our overall experience of Singapore. We were treated like royalty by my good friend Jermyn, as well as our new friend Min. We were lucky to get a behind the scenes look at the local life of Singapore through these two wonderful people. The food of Singapore is amazing, the people are courteous, and the city is extraordinarly clean and well managed. We are glad we made S’pore one of the stops on our world trip! Thanks again Jermyn and Min for everything!