Bangkok again with Singapore and Batam.

[drron]

Sheesh the Singapore Flyer has really let itself go.

No wonder as it lost weight taking off and landing in Batam.

 

[stm1sydney]

Great trip report but why is there no local street food?!?!

 

[mrs.dr.ron]

Great trip report but why is there no local street food?!?!

I am always kind to my GIT and hence hardly ever get Delhi belly. Ron on the other hand .....

 

[drron]

Well the real reason is because there was nothing anywhere near the HI. The nearest I got was local food in a mall. My mobility issues mean I am very unlikely to do walks in the local areas that I did until the beginning of the year.

 

[markis10]

I did a mattress run at waterfront city must be 10 years ago, there was nothing nearby and I had full mobility.

 

[Quickstatus]

Great trip report but why is there no local street food?!?!

One of the issues with street food is the heat and humidity as a lot of the Hawker centres are open air
More importantly, Singapore has elevated itself from just a Hawker foodie destination.
Singapore has some superb fine dining which match the very best in the world: Whitegrass (reviewed by the Rons here), Odette, Jag, Flutes, Pangium, Labyrinrth, Zen etc

I have not been to many of the above but Zen has been highly recommended by my friends.

 

[drron]

My count is 11 of the Michelin starred restaurants that we have been to. Pre covid most were very good value and many we have been to more than once.
The only one we wouldn't go back to is Odette but not becauseof te quality but the quantity. 16 courses took us several hours and we could hardly walk.
Whitegrass, Iggys, Alma, Les Amis and Jaan are the ones we would consider when going back. We had been back many times to iggys and got to know him. He learnt cooking initially in Australia. His first job was in a certain fish and chip shop in Ipswich.

 

[drron]

I certainly slept well here though on the first night there was a lot of lightening, thunder and rain. seemed to finish about 2300.
We got down to breakfast a bit after 0900. There was a decent spread at the buffet. a section for western tastes.






beef bacon today. Alternated with chicken bacon.




Mushrooms and tempura veggies.


There were selections of fruit, veggies, cheeses and salamis, pickles and condiments and yoghurt,










And a selection of local dishes and curries.






A good beef rendang.


And a good selection of sambals.




Juices
And my first plate.

 

[drron]

Then selection of cereals.


Always an Indian curry and breads,

Always bread and butter pudding with vanilla sauce AKA custard. really nice if you didn't take any of the bread.


Various breads and pastries.








local cakes.



And outside an egg station and freshly made pikelets and waffles.




there was also noodles and congee bbut no pictures of them.

 

[drron]

Aft er breakfast we did a walk around some of the resort.
The grounds around the accommodation blocks is kept well/




Lots of things for kids.




our balcony













The spa.




and the view as we walked to our room.

 

[drron]

That night we went to the Thai orchid on the ground floor of our building. there were 4 others there. One night we didn't see any dine rs there. we shared Som tum,chicken and cashews,fish in ginger and shallots. nothing outstanding.

 

[stm1sydney]

Well the real reason is because there was nothing anywhere near the HI. The nearest I got was local food in a mall. My mobility issues mean I am very unlikely to do walks in the local areas that I did until the beginning of the year.

Yeah, I see what you mean about the HI location...

 

[NSun]

I've only caught up with this report now. I'm next in Singapore in November and after reading this report, I am now considering trying Batam for a change rather than Johor Bahru just for a change. Only concern would be if there would be too much 'wear and tear' on my passport then I wouldn't be allowed into Indonesia.

 

[mrs.dr.ron]

And don't stay there on a weekend !!
The place is a zoo with a zillion kids and expats/ locals on weekends. !!

 

[drron]

Wednesday and Some different dishes for breakfast.




The dishes didn't look nice but the curries were quite good.
We decided to get the hotel shuttle to a mall. It leaves at 11am and you get picked up at 3pm at the mall. Normally it takes you to the Grand mall but 4 Indian ladies wanted to go to the Nagoya Hill mall so that's where we went. The traffic was horrendous and it took nearly an hour to get there. Fond a well named restaurant.




It had some competition.


Easy to work out the Aussie price. With over 10000 IDR to our dollar just put a decimal point before the 4th last number. So 25000 becomes 2.50 in Aussie dollars. Between those 2 restaurants was a Sushi place - Sushi Rio. We had lunch there and it was really nice and just $25 for a big feed. It included tempura prawns and salmon sashimi.




A large place. we had another 10 plates from the conveyor belt.






Now I was also able to buy a pair of"Armani" shorts quite cheaply. It was necessary as Mrsdrron had packed me 9 shirts but only 1 pair of shorts. She had rearranged things after I had done my check.
On the ground floor on one side of the mall is a food court with lots of little local stalls but also chain restaurants. This was a sign outside A&W.


This hairdresser might be popular in Australia.


Waiting for the shuttle.

 

[drron]

Some pics from the shuttle.