Photo Diary: Singapore and Japan
When my person and I were planning a trip for a late anniversary celebration, we were ultimately thinking Hawaii and then we started our research. If it’s one thing we love to do is our research — we took to online guides, friends, and spending time looking for the right island, what to do, etc. Then we hit our searches online to see flights and hotels at like 1 a.m. one night and as we were searching the numbers started looking rough.
In all honesty, Hawaii is expensive as hell. In between just those flights and a hotel or various air bnb’s, shit was ridiculous. It started seeming more and more out of reach the further we got to looking. So during one of our late night searches I asked him “what about Singapore?”
And that’s how we ended up on the sickest trip to the Far East.
17 hours later — in Japan!
Our first day was spent traveling. Between a 17hr flight to Japan, a 3hr layover in Tokyo’s Narita Airport, to another 6hr flight to Singapore, we finally made it at like 2am. We got settled in and went straight to bed to nip jet lag in the bud and get on the right sleep schedule. Literally the best tip for anyone traveling anywhere far from their time zone is to to force yourself to either stay up as long as possible (if you land in the AM/daytime) or go straight to sleep if you land at night to train your body right.
We spent a good six days in Singapore filled with lazy strolls in Chinatown, a day on Sentosa Island with a few hours at the spa, sightseeing, and A LOT of good eats. If you ever find yourself in Singapore, DO yourself a favor and visit a hawker center. We went to Lau Pa Sat and we went to one very close to our hotel (Maxwell Hawker Center) and we had tremendous success with both. We also went to eat the famous Chili Crab at Keng Eng Kee Seafood and it was SO GOOD. For good drinks, because in Singapore there are some really famous bars, DO visit Atlas Bar — it is so beautiful and they have a collection of gin that spans back from the 1920s. Din Tai Fung is a must too if you’re in any part of Asia — their Dim Sum is unmatched.
TOKYO!
Now we originally weren’t planning on staying an extra two days in Tokyo when we were en route back to the States but it hit my partner while walking around in one of the many malls in Singapore. “Hey do we stay an extra two days in Tokyo and split up that travel day?” Of course I panicked when he asked me, because 1) holy shit TOKYO and 2) I hate deciding life-changing things like this even though I’m pretty easy when it comes to spontaneity strikes. After giving it a little thought and discussion with him, we went for it. Changed our flight dates and went for it!
We ate plenty of Tonkatsu, fluffy pancakes, ham croquettes at Family Mart, sushi and Wagyu Beef Tonkatsu during our 48 hours and it was nothing short of amazing. There was not one bad food decision and we truly enjoyed every second of it (even if it was raining almost all day on our full day).
To the beautiful people we met on this trip — thank you! You were so wonderful and so welcoming and it made all the difference. Singapore, Japan, you were both so dreamy and we cannot wait to go back!
