Last hours in Singapore: Time for one more meal

We awoke early on Wednesday to pack up all the stuff we had strewn about our room at the St. Regis. Karen’s bag (nicknamed R2D2 because it is a silver hard case with four wheels, making her C3P0 when she’s pushing it around) was dangerously close to the weight limit for Vietnam Airlines. So she offloaded some items into Eric’s as yet unnamed suitcase.

Motivated by the idea of getting in one more delicious meal in Singapore before having to catch a cab at 11am for the airport, we made quick work of packing and set out for Ion Orchard’s Food Opera, the sight of our original Singaporean food triumph. We were basically there when they opened the stalls at 10am but we didn’t care that some of the vendors were still setting up for the day – we were hungry!

Tempted by the ducks hanging in the window, Eric chose roasted duck with noodles and bok choy. 

Karen chose beef and noodles, a dry version of the pork soup Eric had on the first day. She also enjoyed a blended orange, carrot and green apple juice. 

Tummies full, we trouped back to the St. Regis, for one last seat in the elevator (seriously, there’s a bench in there), to grab our bags, check out and head off to the airport. When sitting down to check out (there’s seating there too), Melissa, the same woman who greeted us at check-in, approached us hesitantly to say the hotel’s records had us scheduled to check out the previous day. We were also puzzled until we realized that while the original reservation was in Karen’s name, we had added one more night in Eric’s name when our itinerary for the trip changed. Melissa checked, and sure enough, there was the second reservation under Kerensky. Because our late-night check in at the St. Regis had been so seamless, we had never visited the check-in desk and established this confusing fact about our stay. Melissa consolidated our records and bid us a fond farewell. We promised to visit again.

At the Singapore Airport, we visited the ghetto lounge for airlines with no lounges of their own and no affiliations with other carriers that do have lounges (note to Sky Team – fix this) and found it to be pretty unimpressive. We were interested to learn that each airline is responsible for its own security screening, with metal detectors and baggage screening at each gate. We boarded the pretty teal plane and took off for Ho Chi Minh City, or Saigon if you want to be like the locals. 

Stay tuned...