Our second stop was Newton Food Center, a quick 10-minute drive from Long Bar and the first of many hawker centers we visited during our stay in Singapore. We hadn’t eaten anything since we left Thailand earlier that morning (well, except the aforementioned peanuts) and were ready to put together a feast from any stall that looked good—which didn’t exactly narrow it down. Some stalls were starting to shut down by the time we arrived around 9 p.m. (something to keep in mind if you’re arriving later as we did), but that didn’t stop us from filling our table with two or three trays piled with satay, wings, fried rice, carrot cake, and cold, crisp beer to wash it all down. Fun fact: if you are a fan of Crazy Rich Asians, like we are, this is the hawker center they go to when they arrive in Singapore—which may or may not be the reason we made this our first stop on the island.
Over the next two days, we visited a few more hawker centers, including Maxwell Food Center (apparently Dua Lipa’s favorite from her tour stop in Singapore) for Hainanese chicken rice and fried dumplings, and Chinatown Complex for xiao long bao, wontons in chili oil, popiah and fried pork buns. To cool down, we tried chendol, a type of iced sweet dessert, and fruit juices that were available at every other stall. There were many other centers we wanted to try but there simply aren’t enough meals in the day: Tiong Bahru Market, Tekka Center, Amoy Street Food Center… the list goes on. An excuse to return one day soon!
Photo: Courtesy of Katie Henwood
Photo: Courtesy of Katie Henwood
Find your inner child at the ArtScience Museum
The next morning, we crossed the pedestrian-only Helix Bridge to get to the flower-shaped ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands. We weren’t sure what to expect at the museum, but figured it would be a fun way to escape the sticky Singapore heat for a few hours. Little did we know, this would become a highlight of our trip.
Our favorite exhibition was Future World: Where Art Meets Science, a collection of digital interactive installations created in collaboration with teamLab. The rooms have unique light features that move with you, mixed with hands-on installations that could entertain both kids and adults for hours. The best part? In one of the rooms, you can pick a sea creature to color in with crayons, then watch as it comes to life on the walls around you. I was giddy watching my spotted seahorse follow me around the room, chasing it with child-like wonder alongside five and six-year-olds excitedly pointing out their creations. A multi-generational hit!
Video: Courtesy of Katie Henwood
Photo: Courtesy of Katie Henwood
Stroll through Gardens by the Bay
After a morning well spent at the ArtScience Museum, we ventured back out into the humidity to see the famous Gardens by the Bay, situated behind Marina Bay Sands. You could get lost winding through the many garden paths, so we armed ourselves with water bottles and headed straight for the Supertree Grove in the center of the park. Here, visitors can walk the OCBC Skyway to see the gardens from above—it started to rain, so we snapped photos from below and then hopped in a cab to Maxwell Food Centre for lunch (see above).
