Tiong Bahru history; Gong Xi Fa Cai!; Tiong Bahru, historic Art Deco Singapore neighbourhood; Geraldene Lowe, national treasure; black-and-white houses, Emerald Hill, Little India and Katong; Tiong Bahru architecture and heritage trail; Lynn & Kim’s gorgeous flat; history of 78 Moh Guan Terrace; eclectic shopping; Tiong Bahru Market; foodies or greedies?; the price of eggs; the price of molestation!
Happy Year of the Dragon!
It’s always good to be back in Singapore. First of all, Gong Xi Fa Cai and Happy Chinese New Year at the start of this auspicious Year of the Wood Dragon. Here’s a photo I took in Upper Cross Street, Chinatown.
Bawah Reserve, dream private island destination; friends for life, and choosing them wisely; travel agents who slack on the job; the uneventful flight of the Panamanian refugees; gorgeous Tented Beach Suite; beach babe Roy; spa bliss and sunset cruising; table-dancing at Elang Private Residence; beef rendang, popcorn prawns and so much more; homeward bound via Singapore
If you like to travel in style to exotic locations, I seriously recommend you choose your friends wisely.
One of the huge advantages of living in Singapore from 2000 to 2016, when Roy retired from a lifetime in the shipping industry to become my full-time travel agent*, was the opportunity to meet an eclectic bunch of people from all over the world. One of these is Paul Robinson. Party animal and self-proclaimed friend for life, this is a man who takes friendship so seriously that he’s virtually turned it into an art form.
Friends for Life
We’ve known Paul for over 20 years, since those early days in Singapore. Formerly with Elite Havens, where he spent most of his time visiting and rating/reviewing upmarket accommodation in exotic locations (how does one get a job like that?), he’s currently COO of gorgeous Bawah Reserve. (Click here for its outstanding website.)
Florie and Paul Robinson, murdering a couple of after-lunch cocktails last year at Chijmes, Singapore
Singapore cultural attractions: a humble admission; Roy, then and now – a historical artefact?; Now Boarding: Experiencing Singapore through Travel 1800s – 2000s; Palawan Beach, Sentosa; meditating on dengue in Fort Canning Park; running up hills and through treacle; paths diverge at Botanic Gardens MRT
I wanted to title this “Culture Vultures in Singapore”, but had to admit it would have been an overstatement. Visiting one museum, two gardens and a theme-park island does not a culture vulture make.
What was more, the title had already been used: click here for a PDF of my recent Expat Living magazine article on our visit to Phuket. (But please remember to come back!)
National Museum of Singapore
Situated on the edge of Fort Canning Park, the National Museum of Singapore is a magnificent attraction worth visiting and revisiting – but at first I doubted I’d be able to drag Roy along with me. I’d probably have to go alone. (I could already hear the protestations: he’d been there before, what had changed, etc.)
Singapore National Museum, next to Fort Canning Park, Stamford Hill Road
Then, jogging past this lovely building on my way into the park one morning, I saw a possible way to lure Roy in: a current exhibition titled: “Now Boarding: Experiencing Singapore Through Travel, 1800s – 2000s”. Ha! That would be irresistible to a man who first visited Singapore as a teenaged BI (British India Steam Navigation Co. Ltd) cadet in the 1960s.
Eating out in Singapore; same old bleat about winter and a change of scenery; avo-smuggling and avo-PTSD; small, sweet sins; real food – Taiwanese dim sum, French rustic at Le Bistrot du Sommelier, superb Sri Lankan, Indian tandoori and more; cheap eggs and coffee; decadent Sunday champagne brunch
Le Bistrot du Sommelier
As I like to remind my husband and anyone else who will listen, I was never supposed to do winter. Roy and I were in tropical Singapore for 16 years, until he retired from shipping in 2016 and we embarked on travels that ensured we’d always be in the appropriate hemisphere to benefit from eternal summer. (If you have a moment, click here, here and here for some of my earlier blog posts.)
Eating out in Perth WA often means heading into the city. Our northern coastal suburbs offer wonderful beaches, lots of fresh air and a healthy lifestyle, but not much in the way of good restaurants.
Sometimes, we’ll even pack our bags and do a dirty stop-out for a night or two – like we did on the first weekend of June. It just so happened that our great friends Lynn and Kim (based between Yallingup WA and Singapore), were enjoying a touristy stay-cay in the city, complete with a walking tour and a cruise to Fremantle.
A touristy weekend – but mercifully stopping short of boarding this topless bus
They would be at The Citadines. So Roy went online and booked us a studio apartment there too. It’s conveniently located at 185 St Georges Terrace. (Is it just me*, or are you wondering about the road name? I’d be surprised to learn that there were multiple saints with the same moniker. Ah… seems the Terrace was named after St George’s Cathedral, but the apostrophe simply became too hard.)
Travel in France: Post-Plague family reunion in Saint-Geniès; dining in the Dordogne; Death Row dinner; tricked into being side-tracked to Montech for lunch, poor Roy!; canal-side in Carcassonne, and why we seldom eat steak in France; Hotel Renaissance at Aix-en-Provence; murals and Ricard at La-Seyne-sur-Mer; cliffs and calanques at Cassis; flagrant disregard of cycle-path etiquette in La Ciotat; homeward bound, with a lot of excess baggage!
Three nights in the Dordogne
As a reminder, this is the first leg of our French triangle: from St Jean-de-Losne in Burgundy to the Dordogne. (NB: There will be a test.)
The heavier line, heading southwest from SJDL to the Dordogne
Before reading about beautiful Burgundy, please check out French Triangle Part One, where we said goodbye to our boat, Karanja; gorgeous gîte in Esbarres, near St Jean-de-Losne; homage to crossing the Channel on Karanja with David; flashback to cassoulet in Carcassonne; lamb shank and lavish scenery in Dole; by train to Dijon for lunch at Le Gourmand; onward to the Dordogne!
So, when we weren’t busy tearfully clearing our personal possessions off Karanja, prior to handing her over to her new owners at the St Jean-de-Losne Salon Fluviale, what were we doing? Exploring beautiful Burgundy while drowning our sorrows in duck-fat and Chablis, it would seem.
Goodbye to boating in France; dirty minds and a pretty map; shamelessly nostalgic Karanja flashback; 18 Pipers piping; celebratory sake with Masako and Yoshi; apéro, gorgeously Gorgonzola-ey pizzas and Toshi’s sushi; sterling beef tartare, and whitebait with too many eyes
For any dirty minds out there, no – this French triangle of which I speak is nothing nearly as exciting as a ménage á trois in a French farce. In fact, it’s mostly about the breaking up of the triangle that was Roy, me and our Dutch barge Karanja.
The last photo taken of us on Karanja, May 2023
In addition, it roughly describes the route from St Jean-de-Losne in Bourgogne, where we said goodbye to Karanja; southwest to the Dordogne to visit Roy’s sister Lyndsay and brother-in-law John; down to daughter Wendy in Provence; and back to Bourgogne.
One week in Phuket is barely an introduction to this lovely Thai island. After two tremendous nights in Phuket Old Town (see 1st Part), Roy and I spent five fabulous days on the popular west coast of Phuket – a good balance of gorgeous beaches, copious cocktails, Soi Banglah girly-bar sleaze, and pukkah Royal Thai cuisine.
When it comes to choosing accommodation, it’s tricky to advise anyone where to stay on their first visit to Phuket. That said, I think you’d be safe choosing any of the western or southern coast beaches.
Patong Beach, Phuket west coast
But which one? – Kalim, Patong, Karon, Kata, Kata Noi? And which hotel? Here’s a map of just the Patong hotels – the choice is mind-boggling.
Kalim Beach, closest beach to Indochine Resort & Villas where we spent three nights
With just one week in Phuket, here’s where to eat and stay – starting with two nights in the fabulous culinary melting-pot of Phuket Old Town
“I get my kicks above the waistline, Sunshine.” Me too, but not that far above the waistline. Right in the region of the stomach, actually.
Travel doesn’t have to be all about food – but for us it often turns out that way. Phuket is no exception: Southern Thai is a melting pot of Thai, Malay, Burmese and Chinese cultures, and Phuket was named “Thailand City of Gastronomy” by Unesco in 2017.
Roy and I visited Phuket at least half-a-dozen times during our Singapore years (2001-2016), but never spent any time in Phuket Old Town. I hadn’t been to Phuket since around 2014. For Roy, it had been even longer. Thailand is our favourite Southeast-Asian country – apart from Singapore of course. I was itching to get back.
Green papaya salad, laced with slivers of fiery fresh chillies
Though it pains my dearest to take time off from watching our new house in Iluka WA not being built (here and here), he agreed to a fortnight away from Perth. It helps that spicy green papaya salad (above) is one of his favourite dishes ever. We’d have a week in Singapore, plus a week-long side trip to Phuket.
Three nights in the Dordogne
