May, 2023

We had about 20 hours in Singapore on our way home from Bali to Chicago. I scheduled this long layover somewhat purposefully, because I’ve always wanted to see this Island City, and Noah was the only kid without a Michelin Star experience under his belt, and this was the place to do it. We arrived in Singapore around 3pm and we had to leave for the airport at 7am the next morning. It was going to be a very short layover, and it was tough to decide what to do, where to eat, and where to stay here.

I decided to stay at the Westin Singapore, mainly because I had a free room credit to use up by June of this year. However, this hotel is also very well located, near the Gardens and Marina Bay area and near Chinatown and all of the restaurants there. This hotel was modern and comfortable, with incredible views from the rooftop pool. Our room was very spacious and was perfect for our short overnight stay.

Since we were near Chinatown, I decided to spend the one hour we had before dinner checking out a few of the temples here. First, we headed to the Buddha Tooth Temple. They claim that there is actually a tooth from the Buddha here, and there is an incredibly ornate golden display area. You couldn’t enter the area as it is totally closed off, so you can’t really see the tooth, but the rest of the temple was very impressive as well.

We then walked over to the Thian Hock Keng temple, and managed to sneak a look around inside just before it closed. This is a Daoist temple, and is the oldest and most important in Singapore. There are lots of ornate carvings and paintings around the main area of the temple. According to their website, it looks like they will be giving guided tours soon. I would probably recommend this as you would get a whole lot more out of your visit than just kind of standing around not really knowing what you’re looking at. Nevertheless, this was also a beautiful temple to visit.

Finally, it was time to go back to the hotel and get ready for dinner. I chose Cloud Street for a two-star Michelin dining experience. Our service, food, and experience here were exquisite. Check out all of the details in my article here!

A few hours is definitely not enough to check out all of what Singapore has to offer. This incredible city had a very cool vibe that I am super interested in returning to check out. The food culture here is tops, and I really want to check out Marina Bay and the Super Trees as well. Until next time, Singapore!