Seven Wonders of Singapore II - Food

Singapore's Hawker Culture is a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage. What this means is that you can come to Singapore, stay in the Marina Bay Sands hotel, take pictures of the Rain Vortex at Changi Jewel (at Changi Airport), see the Merlion, wander through Gardens By the Bay, and tick all the boxes of iconic sights of Singapore, but if you have not ate at a hawker centre, you have not really experienced the quintessential Singapore.

If you ask for a recommendation for a hawker centre, invariably, tourists are guided to Maxwell Road Hawker Centre (famous for Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice), Lau Pa Sat (for their Satay and Barbequed Seafood), Newton Hawker Centre, and maybe Old Airport Road Hawker Centre (Char Kway Teow, and other food). 

Of the 4 hawker centres mentioned above, Lau Pa Sat and Newton cater to the tourist trade. You may read that to mean that they are "tourist traps", but this is Singapore. Even our so-called tourist traps have soft teeth. Lau Pa Sat has nice architecture and could offer some nice opportunities for photos/instagram.

Lau Pa Sat (outside view)

Seven Wonders of Singapore I - Seven Tourist Icons

Ask any Singaporean what is there to do or see in Singapore, and you are likely to get the jaded reply that Singapore is a boring place, with nothing to do or see.

And... in a sense they are right. For them.

But what would a tourist seeing Singapore for the first time be intrigued, if not impressed by?

Here are Singapore's, Seven Tourist Icons (Instagrammable!)

(my opinion).

Using SUICA (travel and convenience card) in Japan

If you have been to Japan, you might have seen signs for SUICA at train stations, or you might have seen other travellers (probably Japanese/locals), using a card for transit travel.  

The video above shows how to get such a card, charge it, and use it for train travel, buying from vending machines, and convenience stores.

The price they pay for your perfect vacation photo

MAY 15, 2021

Shane Gross

The New York Times


BAHAMAS — It took nearly three months, but Mr Jody Pinder eventually succeeded. Endangered green sea turtles, usually shy, skittish and satisfied with a diet of sea grass and algae, were accepting handouts of squid that he and other local tour operators were providing at Bottom Harbor in the Bahamas.

“If you don’t feed them, they won’t come close enough for you to see them and photograph them,” Mr Pinder said.

Before the pandemic, Mr Pinder and others had been selling this assured adventure to a booming population of tourists. Day after day, boats would flock to Bottom Harbor and tourists would hop into its shallow turquoise waters holding squid morsels in their hands or on wooden skewers.

The turtles would then grab the snacks as the visitors snapped Instagram-worthy images.

Rules for using the onsen

So, here are 8 rules for onsen bathing,

Airfares post-Covid19

I am pessimistic about leisure travel in a post-Covid19 world.

Airfares are unlikely to be as low as they used to be. Covid19 broke the airline pricing model. This video explains it better than I can.

Leisure travel in a post-Covid 19 world

"We've gone for our last overseas holiday. At least for a long while," I told my wife.

This was in Feb? Mar? of this year (2020).

When did flights get grounded? (Spoiler alert: in mid March, countries all started to restrict entry of non-residents by turn.)

By 23 March 2020 SIA had cut 96% of their flights.