28th – Training the food

Went to bed quite late last night so I took it easy in the morning. I am slowly running out of things I want to do and see in Singapore. Had I been more culturally inclined I could have visited some of the museums but they don’t have my interest. I did consider the zoo and/or night safari though I do feel weird travelling somewhere and then spending time in a zoo. In this case though it would have been with the purpose of killing time, and also the zoo is considered among the 5/10 (depending on who/where you ask) best zoos in the world. But getting there would require half an hour by train and an hour by bus each way and I felt it was way too much effort.

Due to my soreleggedness I started easy today with visiting a toy museum; close to 50.000 items stuffed together in 6 small floors. It was mainly old stuff up to the ‘80s – and some of it was very rare – but quite interesting overall and a good few hours of entertainment. I continued to the almost-next door national library that had an exhibition on Malay manuscripts and books. A historical walk though how the writings developed and was influenced from outside cultures. The handiwork behind some of the publications was awe-inspiring, the historical walkthrough was less so (likely due to not being very culturally interested enough to enjoy something more adult than old toys….).

I was planning on having lunch by eating sushi but realized that nearby there was a Korean barbecue buffet. You paid a small price (lunch rebate!) and you had, for two hours, unlimited access to drinks (sodas, juices, tea, water), 7 different meats, sausages, squids, sides, salads and sauces. You grabbed what you wanted and returned to your table where you prepared it as you wanted on the small (electrical) grill embedded in the middle of the table. The meats were good and cut thin so the time needed to prepare the food was minimal. And in the end you had access to ice cream for dessert.

I continued and took the MRT to Labrador Natural Reserve which apparently had a lot of historical defences and whatnot spread out in the area. It turned out to be less of that and more of recreational stuff with picnic tables, grills and playgrounds spread out throughout the park. I got an ocean view with the harbour I walked by yesterday on my left, a long line of waiting cargo ships in the middle and another harbour to the right that dwarfed the left harbour. Apparently, this is all known under the common name Port of Singapore (not much imagination there) and in the global top-3 among largest ports.

Curving on two axis, one of the more peculiar-looking buildings.

I left and followed a boardwalk along the coast back towards Vivo City (the mall from where I took the monorail to Sentosa yesterday) and from there walked 20 minutes to get to Faber Point, 100m above, that according to rumours would give an alternative viewing angle of the city. It wasn’t incorrect, unfortunately most you could see was residential high-rises. I would have wanted to see more clearly downtown and the financial district, but it did give a good view of the residential areas that I otherwise wouldn't have seen.

Back down I returned to not-lunch’s sushi restaurant where I arrived around 1930-2000 and a short wait later I was seated despite them being busy. All tables are connected to one of the three small kitchens with a track, and all orders are entered on a tabled associated with the individual tables. A short moment after ordering your food arrives on a train, it stops at the table, beeps at you, you grab your food and press a button to return the train to the kitchen. Not sitting at the end of the line I occasionally saw the train whizz by with food. It was a delicious experience and an hour later I left and returned to the hotel and called it an early night at around 2130. No need to terrorize my legs any more than I have already done.

I’m checking out from the hotel tomorrow and already checked in last night to my flight home so leaving tomorrow night will be a breeze. As the departure is late I’ll be able to have both lunch and dinner in town. Planning the day’s activities on where I want to have my meals seems like the right way to plan.