FAB Singapore Day 3 | Photo Spots
We explore a couple photo spots, check out the Attack on Titan museum and the new Apple store and finish up at the famous Maxwell Food Centre.
FAB is our travel blog series where we cover everything food and beyond during our travels
On our third day in Singapore - we start doing some touristy stuff!
Quick links
Morning photography
Paige had a couple things to wrap up in the morning, so I spent the morning mindlessly exploring - something I like doing while travelling. This goes hand in hand with one of my other favourite things to do. Photography.
Before heading to Singapore, I consulted with a good friend and local Perth photographer - @dylanzchen. Dylan suggested checking out Wheelock Place, Orchard Library and People's Park Complex for shots.
Wheelock Place was literally across the road. By day 2, I was getting comfortable with navigating the many underpasses Singapore had to offer. You might think "wow that's so lame" - but when humidity is sky high, the last thing you want to do is to be out in the humidity 😂.
When not shooting food photos, I enjoy other types of photography, with street photography being one of them. You can think of street photography as candid photography, or people watching in a (non-creepy) way.
I had the wrong camera settings on which made for a completely unusable image. But the beauty of carrying a dedicated mirrorless camera, in this day and age where smartphone cameras are great, is how much data the camera sensor can capture. This allowed me to salvage my otherwise unusable shot.
A made my way into ION Orchard and did a bit of window shopping. Having previously confessed my love for watches, I knew many of these brands were out of reach, or as the saying goes, "if you have to ask, you can't afford it".
The next adventure was to the Orchard Library. The route didn't seem to bad - about 1 km away, or a 10 ish minute walk. Boy was I wrong.
By the time I got to 313@Somerset, I was dripping with sweat. Luckily, by the time I found the library, I had cooled down.
Not wanting to repeat the mistake of walking in the heat, I caught the train back. If you don't have an EZ-Link card, you "tap" onto and pay for public transport using your bank card.
Just before heading back, I swung by an inconspicuous looking watch store which we had been passing on the way to the hotel.
Lots of these pieces are easily worth a solid chunk of your house or multiples of your annual salary. After seeing these on the internet, it was cool to see them in real life. This made me think - if some fairly expensive stuff is shown in the window, I wonder what else they have inside. For those who don't have to ask, check out Zen Watches.
Lunch @ PIPES by HATTENDO
After we devoured the insanely delicious Hattendo pudding gula melaka, we set out to try source some for ourselves at PIPES by HATTENDO. Our logic - if it's made by Hattendo, they must sell it there, right? We were wrong.
PIPES by HATTENDO serves up Japanese sando. We'd recommend getting no more than one each - as all of these are substantial.
Eagle eye eaters might also recognise Hattendo - the Japanese cream bun outlet which sadly no longer exists in Perth. You can find a number of cream buns at PIPES by HATTENDO.
Check out our post for more info on PIPES by HATTENDO.
More sweating and Peoples Park Complex
Conveniently enough, the next photo spot I had planned would only be an easy 8 minute, 600m walk away. That's in a perfect world. We took at least 40 minutes and got lost, hot, sweaty and annoyed 😂 (a.k.a. we walked in the wrong direction / we got lost).
We did manage to get some cool snaps on the way though!
In a place like Singapore, where your humble Toyota Corolla can set you back $100k+, it's crazy to think how much something like a Rolls-Royce Phantom would set you back.
It turns out the house on the right is where Singapore's first Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew spent part of his childhood. It's since been tastefully restored. Read more about it here.
We eventually got to Peoples Park Complex. After following the somewhat sketchy path up to the rooftop, we were there! For access instructions, check out this article.
The big apartment complex reminded me of the architecture in Hong Kong.
Below the apartment complex you'll find lots of shops. Prime real estate in Chinatown!
Afternoon snack @ Toast Box
We caught a taxi to Marina Bay Sands. We were ready for another snack, so we popped by Toastbox. Paige was disappointed when they served her pork floss with... Wholegrain bread!
Attack on Titan Exhibition
Every time we're in Singapore, we try visit the ArtScience Museum, cause there's always cool stuff going on there. During my first ever visit to the ArtScience Museum in 2015, they had a neat Leonardo Da Vinci exhibition and when Paige and I last visited, they had the teamLab exhibition (which is still on apparently).
At time of writing, the Attack on Titan exhibition has already ended. It made for a cool exhibition.
The actual pages that Hajime Isayama drew on were displayed. You could literally see the pencil strokes and inking on the paper 🤯.
More photography and the Apple Store
The last shot I wanted to take was of the Death Star, more commonly known as the Apple Store at Marina Bay Sands. Apparently this is the first Apple store in the world entirely surrounded by water.
At the time of our visit, entry was via The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands. Customers could exit via the walkway outside the store.
By the time I was done snapping away, it was time for dinner.
Dinner @ Maxwell Food Centre
Maxwell Food Centre is one of the best known hawker centres in Singapore. Unfortunately, according to our Grab driver, it does cater towards more of the lunch crowd, so visit during the day instead of dinner.
We learned this the hard way as many places were closed when we got there. Nevertheless, we had some delicious food!
I can't exactly remember how much I spent - but the chicken rice was delicious. The chicken was silky smooth.
During the day, the internationally famous and Bourdain and Michelin Bib Gourmand endorsed chicken rice store, Tian Tian, is probably one of the places to go to.
We grabbed the rest of our dinner from the lovely uncle at No.1 Maxwell. We were pretty full by the end. All up, three dishes for myself, and two dishes for Paige (laksa and the fried kway teow).
It was around 9 pm by the time we were done. It was surge pricing for taxis. Be sure to install Grab, Gojek and the Comfort DelGro app so you can compare the cheapest taxi fares.
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