Perhaps foolishly, I gave up my only opportunity for a famous hawker stand meal just so I could take a ride on the Singapore Flyer at dusk. You really don't want to know what I had instead -- suffice to say it was one of only two gastronomical transgressions during my trip around the world...
Despite reaching a maximum height of some 42 storeys the experience wasn't at all thrilling -- and really, the same could be said of my entire weekend in Singapore.
It seems that this small island city-state is positioning itself as the Vegas of Asia -- the sterile, family-friendly kind as opposed to the one with gangsters and Frank Sinatra. You can see the towers of the massive casino project there already under construction to the left in the photo above.
Maybe it's because I was bummed that I wasn't able to meet up with an old friend there, but Singapore was for me too gentrified and joyless, and left me craving a more authentic Asian experience. And boy, did I ever get it...
