GSS, Hawkers & the Raffles Hotel

As far as I can tell there are a few things that Singapore is famous for...I'd list them as

1) Hawkers Centers
2) Shopping
3) Singapore Sling Cocktails at the Raffles Hotel & Pepper Crabs
4) Being the "McDonalds" of SE Asia.


Here is a breif run-down.

Hawkers
These are basically food courts with heaps of stalls in them offering a variety of different cuisines at very cheap prices. The closest thing I can think of is if all the street vendors in NY decided to sell their fare under 1 roof. It is tad bit overwhelming, the activity in Hawkers centers. The Asian Wall Street Journal did a big story on Hawkers Centers and claimed they uniquely Singaporean/Malaysian. So if you area subscriber to the WSJ you can read about here
( http://online.wsj.com/public/page/0,,public_home_search,00.html )

Shopping
Singapore is all about bargains, not you won't find the unbelievable cheap prices of China, Thailand, etc. Mainly due to the modernism of Singapore, (more on that later). There are shopping malls everywhere. There is a place called Sim Lim Square and Sim Lim Tower, which are all about electronics. Sim Lim Square is basically a 8 Story shopping mall totally dedicated to Consumer electronics (Digital Cameras, DV Recorders, PC, Audio Equipment, PC's/Laptops, PC Upgrades/Hardware) I think it may have been my fathers only acceptable shopping mall. Directly accross the street is Sim Lim Tower, which is also purely technical, but real technical, Voltage meters, circuit boards, optical lenses, etc.

The main clothes shopping strip is on Orchard Road (as far as I could tell). And one of the big events in Singapore is "the Great Singapore Sale" where basically every store in Singapore has a sale (10-50% off) and the sale lasts for 6 weeks. It started on Friday May 28 and lasts until July. It was little nutty that city as big as Singapore (about 4 million) has a city-wide (and country wide for that matter) sale. So it would be a great time to find bargains.

I actually went shopping to see what it was all about, and Orchard road was MADNESS!!!! I was looking for dress pants, and it turned out to be a little difficult to find 32 or 33 lenght inseams. I'm assuming b/c the average Singaporean male is not 5'11". The pants were found, and now I can say I have taken part in the Great Singapore Sale ;)

Cocktails and food
Singapore is an interesting combination of Malaysia (was actually a part of Malaysia until the 40's I think), Indonesians, Indian, Singaporean, Chinese and other countries. The majority of their food is either fusion or directly Korean, South Indian, Thai, etc.

A couple of the things that genuinely are Singaporean are:

The Singapore Sling: Which is a bizzare bitter-sweet pink cocktail invented at the Raffles Hotel by a Hainase-Chinese bartender at the turn of the Century. I Sing Sling at the Raffles is now considered one of the "must do" events in a trip to Singapore. (At least according to Lonely Planet)

The recipe
30 ml Gin
15 ml Cherry Brandy
120 ml Pineapple Juice
15 ml Lime Juice
7.5 ml Cointreau
7.5 ml Dom Benedictine
10 ml Grenedine
A Dash of Angostura Bitters
Garnish with a slice of Pineapple and Cherry.

Peppered Crab: Peppered Crabs are also another dish invented in Singapore, it is basically a crab cooked in a black pepper sauce, and it is GOOD. Craig and I went to a place called Long Beach Marina Seafood and we had been the previously when I was in Sinpapore in Feb. But at Long Beach, we've had Black Pepper Crab, White Pepper Crab and Chilli crab. All were amazing. So as you can imagine a tropical island has fantastic seafood, and Singapore does. I highly recommend a trip to Long Beach Marina for Peppered Crab.!

Accessibility
Singapore is a very modern city with great infrastructure and city planning (and very clean), so it is a piece of cake to get around. Add to that English is the spoken languange, well probably closer to "Singlish" but they read/write english ;) There is also pretty big culture to "win", so many Singaporeans work very long hours, and we they are certainly driven to get a bargain when they shop. This leads to some people to consider Singapore the "McDonalds" of SE Asia, nicely packaged, etc. I find it a very accessible. I have never been to Thailand, or Malaysia, so I can't comment on the authenticity, but it offers a glimpse into SE Asia.