Singapore - (Spring 2025) - Day 3

Buddha Tooth Relic Temple

Located in the middle of Chinatown, this temple is said to hold a tooth of Buddha’s somewhere in the site. A nice short excursion where you can enter and appreciate the ornate interior of the building.

Chinatown Complex

This is one of the larger hawker centers. You can literally get a little lost in this place as it has multiple winding sections and also a walkway that leads you to a separate part of the building.

Teo Kee Hainanese Chicken Rice (Chinatown Complex)

We decided to finally sample some of the famous Singaporean chicken and rice at one of the stalls in the center.

Maxwell Food Centre

Another hawker center not far from the Chinatown Complex, Maxwell is famous for having two very popular chicken and rice stands. Unfortunately, it seemed that there are always very long lines for the dish and honestly there are very few things that I am willing to wait in line for. I’m sure the chicken and rice I just had was just fine. We decided to snack on the other items below instead.

Special Shanghai Tim-sun (Maxwell Food Centre)

I can always appreciate a well made dumpling.

The 1950’s Coffee (Maxwell Food Centre)

This stand had a Michelin Bib Gourmand sign for their traditional coffee or “kopi.” The women behind the counter slow drip brew the coffee and add a splash of milk to the coffee before they serve it.

Enak Sedop Nasi Kawhin (Lau Pa Sat)

While walking by Lau Pa Sat hawker center again, we stopped in to do some more snacking. We picked this spot for some Malaysian style fried noodles. This is one of those foods that you know will taste good just by the looks of it. The dollop of hot sauce is on the side so you can control the heat.

Fountain of Wealth

Our next stop was to see the Fountain of Wealth. The fountain is in the center of a business park/mall complex. The buildings surrounding it are mostly business buildings and the mall is underneath them on the first floor and below. Everything is connected underground. The area surrounding the fountain is one big food hall.

*Here in the land of free trade, you can see cars for sale that you don’t see in the US.*

365 Juices Bar

After eating all morning, it was good to have some refreshing watermelon juice while walking around.

*As you would expect here in Southeast Asia, a downpour happens every once in a while.*

The Coffee Academics

I am actually not sure if this place still exists but it was a nice upscale coffee shop where we waited out part of the rain downpour outside.

Little India

Our next stop was Little India. The pictures actually do not capture the utter onslaught of humanity. The shopping areas were super crowded and was difficult to walk through. It was like being transported to a different country as it seemed so different than the sterilized order of the more upscale places in Singapore.

Tekka Centre

This commercial center was probably even more packed than usual because of the rain. So many people were hanging out sheltering and shopping and eating that you could hardly move inside the space. The lower floor has a produce and meat market as well as a food hall. The upstairs is pretty much all clothing in a maze of aisles.

We had planned on possibly getting a snack here but it was just too busy and no seats were available. Many families were just camped on some open floor space having their meals.

Little Easy

Braving the rain and leaving the chaos of the Tekka Centre, we stopped in a mall that was a bit less crazy and found this bar where we could have some drinks to wait out the storm.

Kok Sen

Golden Dragon Chicken

Back in Chinatown, we headed to Kok Sen because I had seen this dish on TV called Golden Dragon Chicken that they serve here. It is chicken skin stuffed with shrimp paste. They serve it on weekends (until they run out) or you can pre-order on a weekday.

The line when we arrived was small enough to make it tolerable to give it a try. It was a pretty popular place as the line was longer when we left. They have seating inside and outside and we were lucky to sit inside with the AC.

Marina Bay Sands Light Show

One of the free attractions in Singapore is the fountain light show in the bay. It is a mini-Bellagio style show set to music with the picturesque Singapore night time skyline as the background.

Super Trees Light Show

After the fountain show, you can conveniently walk back through the Marina Bay Sands and head out to the Gardens by the Bay and see the Supertree light show. You sit/stand beneath the tree-like structures while they change colors while choreographed to the music being played.

After the main the light show, they pump out a mist and shine laser lights on it to simulate northern lights that the crowd can walk through while exiting the gardens.