Covid Restrictions Lessened
Starting March 29, 2022; Singapore has allowed for gatherings up to 10 people instead of 5 and masks are not required to be worn when outside! When all the exchange students heard of this, everyone was so excited and many of us booked seatings at restaurants so that we can start hanging out with more people.
Bowling
After eating at the District 10 restaurant, we made our way to K Bowling Club located in 313@somerset mall. The one thing we regret doing was making a reservation for the blowing lane because when we went on a Friday evening, there were no lanes available within the hour. So, while waiting for the lane to become available we ended up eating some bingsu desert which is Korean shaved ice. I shared a matcha flavored bingsu with two others, and it was really refreshing to eat. After that we finally got to bowl. We only played one game but, it was fun to bowl again after not doing so in a long time.
Sunrise Yoga
At 7am we went to the Marina Bay Sands Hotel to take a 45 minute yoga class! The class was on the 57th floor and was held outdoor on a deck area. The view from up there was beautiful and an even better view when the sun starts to come up. This was my first time taking a yoga class and properly doing yoga, and I have to say it was much more challenging than I expected. The class had already come equipped with a mat, foam blocks, towels and headphones so that we could hear the instructor and listen to some calming music. Majority of the class was engaging our arm muscles and core, and because I'm not used to training my arms it was hard attempting the different poses or just doing the regular repetitive poses. In yoga it's all about breathing and focusing on our balance but, it was hard to relax and breath when doing a difficult pose. But, overall it was a nice and unique experience.
Padel
After sunrise yoga, some of us had courts reserved so we could play Padel. If you don't know what Padel is (like I didn't before I played for the first time) it's a game similar to tennis in a way that you play in doubles, and hit a ball over the net. But, the main differences are that the racket is solid and shorter, and the court is smaller and surrounded by glass walls which makes the rules of the game different from tennis such as serving the ball from the height of about where your hips are, and after hitting the ball it must bounce on the ground first before you can pass it back to your opponents. Having played tennis before, it wasn't too hard to get familiar with playing Padel and it was really fun to play with friends.
Cycling pt. 3
I went to cycle with a few new friends starting from Changi Beach Park, through East Coast Park and ended at Marina Bay Sands. Since we started at Changi, we checked out the indoor waterfall at the Jewel mall and it was such a cool thing to see. Then we used the app SG Bike to locate the bike stations and from there you just unlock the bike by scanning the QR code on it, and thats it, the bike is yours to use for as long as you need. Only until you return it to a designated station and lock the bike again, will the app charge you for usage. We started our journey at 4 pm and passing through East coast park it was busy with people doing all sorts of activities such as walking, biking, camping, rollerblading, and there was even a little pond for wake boarding. Then near Marina Bay the sun started to set so we took a moment to capture the iconic Marina Bay buildings with the beautiful sky in the background. After we continued to ride through the downtown building district, making our way to Chinatown for dinner. It was really fun cycling through the busy streets because it was more of a challenge making our way through the people and sidewalks and I got to see more things as compared to walking around. The night ended with us eating Korean BBQ and waffle ice cream for dessert.
Food Highlights
District 10 Bar & Restaurant
This restaurant was the first I've been to that offered the experience of eating pasta prepared from a huge cheese wheel! All of us ordered the same thing which was carbonara pasta and shared a margarita pizza. Then a worker came to our table with a cart and prepared our dinner right in front of us. The pasta is already pre cooked and simmering in a pan and then its poured into the cheese wheel with bacon bits, and an egg, then stirred around until ready. The plate was topped off with some previously grated Parmesan cheese, and a small piece of bread. The result was a gooey, cheesey pasta and it tasted really good.
Forbidden Duck
Now this dish was probably the best I've had here so far, other than the Mexican food chimichangas that I also love. Located in the downtown district (near Marina Bay) this cantonese restaurant is quite popular and has a Michelin star. The picture below was the main reason for going here and its to eat Peking duck a well known dish of Chinese culture. This dish is so popular that we had to reserve a duck for our dinner. Its eaten by first getting a wrap (pictured in the top left corner) and putting the duck on it then adding some type of sweet sauce and others things like sugar, cucumber, onion or lard. After that just wrap up everything and enjoy! The duck was so crispy yet juicy and fatty...so good. We also ordered sweet and sour pork which usually has pineapple chunks in it but, this time had lychee. Additionally we got two vegetable dishes, one with scallop and mushrooms that had a truffle sauce as well as a seasoned vegetable dish. Then for desert we ordered egg tarts that don't look like traditional shaped tarts and had a Yuzu filling on the inside.
