A Singaporean Thanksgiving (SQ ULR J)
Dec 14, 2018, 12:29 am
#18
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: EWR
Posts: 2,112
The next morning I slept in a bit before heading over to Amoy Street Food Centre in the CBD. This is a two-level food centre with many options. However since I kind of showed up during brunch not too much was open, so I enjoyed some more excellent food while leisurely wandering through the market.
Mid-morning activity
Wanton mee from Wah Kee (and best wanton mee of the trip!)
Kopi-o from Coffee Break
Potato curry puff from Famous Crispy Curry Puff
Line-up for Han Kee Fish Soup before opening
Amoy Street
After a leisurely brunch, I headed over to the the Singapore Botanic Gardens for most of the afternoon to get the legs moving some more. The National Orchid Garden is within the Singapore Botanic Garden and charges admission, however they were running a school holiday special allowing students (even international ones!) free admission. The orchid garden is magnificent with all types of orchids displayed in a myriad of ways.
Botanic Gardens
No mowers were spotted
Found this friend though
Snakes on trees
The first thing you see when you enter the orchid garden
My favorite shot of the gardens
Ginger flowers
Waterfall at ginger garden
After exiting the other side of the Botanic Gardens, I saw that I was pretty close to Orchard Road, and decided to walk over to see if there was anything interesting. I'm not sure why I thought this was a great idea because I generally don't do any shopping and Orchard Road is full of...shopping. However soon after arriving it began raining and I sought refuge at the M73 food court and grabbed a small snack.
A dry Orchard Road
A wet Orchard Road
M73 food court
Roti prata and dragonfruit juice
I eventually made my way over to ION mall to wander around, and mostly just ended up window shopping at the food court. I was awfully tempted to buy some food, but ended up buying some tea as gifts from the 1872 Clipper Co.
My type of shopping
After dropping off my shopping at the hotel, it was time for dinner, and I decided to hop on a bus over to Chomp Chomp Food Centre. This one was also pretty crowded, and the food overall was excellent. I spent a good amount of time exploring a few food options and just observing the hustle and bustle of the food centre.
Entrance
Hustle and bustle
This was one of the busier food centres I went to, and I noticed at this one people would leave an umbrella or something at a table to claim it while waiting in line to order food. This system seems to work pretty well and no one would really ever disturb your stuff. I gave it a shot as well and it worked out pretty well for me as well. ^
If you ever wanted 30 liters of sugarcane juice
An excellent and very spicy sambal stingray from Hai Wei Yuan BBQ
Satay bee hoon from the namesake stall
With an added lychee drink with whole lychees
Afterwards I was craving something sweet, so I walked over to the nearby Dessert Bowl and ordered a yammy coconut dessert and a lychee ice to both satisfy the sweet tooth and cool off a bit from some of the heat before taking the bus back to the hotel and calling it a day.
dessert and ice
Mid-morning activity
Wanton mee from Wah Kee (and best wanton mee of the trip!)
Kopi-o from Coffee Break
Potato curry puff from Famous Crispy Curry Puff
Line-up for Han Kee Fish Soup before opening
Amoy Street
After a leisurely brunch, I headed over to the the Singapore Botanic Gardens for most of the afternoon to get the legs moving some more. The National Orchid Garden is within the Singapore Botanic Garden and charges admission, however they were running a school holiday special allowing students (even international ones!) free admission. The orchid garden is magnificent with all types of orchids displayed in a myriad of ways.
Botanic Gardens
No mowers were spotted
Found this friend though
Snakes on trees
The first thing you see when you enter the orchid garden
My favorite shot of the gardens
Ginger flowers
Waterfall at ginger garden
After exiting the other side of the Botanic Gardens, I saw that I was pretty close to Orchard Road, and decided to walk over to see if there was anything interesting. I'm not sure why I thought this was a great idea because I generally don't do any shopping and Orchard Road is full of...shopping. However soon after arriving it began raining and I sought refuge at the M73 food court and grabbed a small snack.
A dry Orchard Road
A wet Orchard Road
M73 food court
Roti prata and dragonfruit juice
I eventually made my way over to ION mall to wander around, and mostly just ended up window shopping at the food court. I was awfully tempted to buy some food, but ended up buying some tea as gifts from the 1872 Clipper Co.
My type of shopping
After dropping off my shopping at the hotel, it was time for dinner, and I decided to hop on a bus over to Chomp Chomp Food Centre. This one was also pretty crowded, and the food overall was excellent. I spent a good amount of time exploring a few food options and just observing the hustle and bustle of the food centre.
Entrance
Hustle and bustle
This was one of the busier food centres I went to, and I noticed at this one people would leave an umbrella or something at a table to claim it while waiting in line to order food. This system seems to work pretty well and no one would really ever disturb your stuff. I gave it a shot as well and it worked out pretty well for me as well. ^
If you ever wanted 30 liters of sugarcane juice
An excellent and very spicy sambal stingray from Hai Wei Yuan BBQ
Satay bee hoon from the namesake stall
With an added lychee drink with whole lychees
Afterwards I was craving something sweet, so I walked over to the nearby Dessert Bowl and ordered a yammy coconut dessert and a lychee ice to both satisfy the sweet tooth and cool off a bit from some of the heat before taking the bus back to the hotel and calling it a day.
dessert and ice
Dec 14, 2018, 12:36 am
#19
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: EWR
Posts: 2,112
Thank you stu1985. In my limited experience SQ blows everyone else out of the water, though I have yet been able to fly the premium products of a large number of airlines.
Thank you for the kind words chongl. I found the sauce/broth of Ah Tai to be more flavorful and there was never a line while I was there.
Thank you SQTraveller. I did go back to the Gardens by the Bay another day later in the evening when the crowds had dispersed and was able to do some long exposures as well!
The placard definitely caught my attention and elicited a chuckle from me...right before I dug into those dumplings! Thank you TA
Thank you for the kind words roadwarrier. I think Little India is a bit of an underrated destination within Singapore. There is a lot of great food from throughout the subcontinent and of course lots to see. Interestingly there are also a large number of jewelry stores and pawn shops.
Thank for reading injian! When you only plan for food it better work out, and thankfully for me it worked out very well.
Thank you for the kind words chongl. I found the sauce/broth of Ah Tai to be more flavorful and there was never a line while I was there.
Thank for reading injian! When you only plan for food it better work out, and thankfully for me it worked out very well.
Dec 17, 2018, 1:42 am
#20
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: EWR
Posts: 2,112
The next morning I headed over to the Southern Ridges. The Southern Ridges comprises a number of parks to form a decently large green area within the city. I started from the west end at Alexandra Road and trekked all the way back to HarbourFront station. Overall it was an interesting mix of environments, with areas overlooking the city and other areas that are more enveloped by the limited forest canopy. It didn't help that I generally did this without a map or much guidance and did get lost a couple of times as well. By the end I was breaking a decent sweat and my shirt was visibly soaked.
The famous Interlace
Singapore seems to have this thing for walkways in canopies
Over the trees
Canopy
Telok Blangah Hill
Looking towards Sentosa
Henderson Waves
Not sure what that guy is doing with the heart
Cable car to Sentosa while walking back to the MRT station
After sweating it up I headed over to Tiong Bahru Market for yet another food centre lunch. I should also say that Miss Tam Chiak was a fantastic resource throughout the trip and I used it as one of many resources that helped guide me through eating Singapore. Overall though I would say that this market was a bit of a letdown, but it may have also been due to it being towards the end of lunch (and a Saturday), so it may have contributed a bit to the letdown. After eating I explored the market on the first floor, though many vendors seem to be closed on the weekends.
Food centre on the second floor
Line for Zhong Yu Yuan Wei Wanton Noodle
Their wanton mee was just ok-the char siu pork was too tough
Curry puff and raddish cake from Tiong Bahru Pau
Some broken shui kueh from Jian Bo Shui Kueh
Market
A little bit of activity
More emptiness
Street art
After another leisurely lunch I headed over to Bugis Street, a covered indoor market. I didn't really know what was there or what I was getting into, and it turns out that it was a really crowded market with a lot of vendors spread over three floors. A lot of the stalls seemed to sell really cheap goods, making me think that a fair number of them are either knock-offs of some sort or they were items of questionable quality. I explored the market for most of the rest of the afternoon mostly trying to move through the crowds and people who just stop in the middle of everything...
Peacock seen on the walk to Bugis Street
Solo karaoke party!
Entrance
Relative calm, or calm enough to take a picture without being in the way
Making kaya balls
Kaya is a type of coconut jam
Eventually I got hungry and I was going to head over to Jaggi's Northern India Cuisine, one of the highly recommended northern Indian restaurants. However on the way there I got distracted by the Albert Centre Food Centre and decided to stop in for a bite to hold me over to Jaggi's. And by on the way there, I mean as soon as I left Bugis Street I saw the food centre and decided to stop by.
Albert Centre Food Centre
An excellent shrimp bee hoon from Bai Nian
After the stop at the Food Centre, I walked the approximately 10 minutes over to Jaggi's and enjoyed a garlic naan with their highly recommended and divine butter chicken.
Ofo (side note: I found this humorous since Ofo had recently left Seattle)
Garlic naan and butter chicken from Jaggi's
After having my second dinner, I decided to make my way back to Gardens by the Bay. This time it was well after sunset, and I was hoping for reduced crowds so I could get some long exposure shots, especially since my earlier short exposure shots were really grainy. I arrived at about 8:45, which timed with the final music and light show of the night. Afterwards the crowd gradually left, leaving some room to take some long exposure shots. However I didn't have a tripod with me (if you know of any small tripods that will fit in a carry-on that you like, please recommend them to me!), and I had to use my daypack to prop up my camera for 10+ second exposures. At this time there were already some Christmas decoration that were up as well. I spent a while walking around a relatively empty Gardens and took a few shots here and there. On the way back to the hotel I stopped by the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Beanstro for a slice of coffee speculoos cheesecake before calling it a day.
Lying on the ground for the show
Lights
Marina Bay Sands
OCBC Skyway
Catching the moon
Coffee speculoos cheesecake from the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Beanstro
The famous Interlace
Singapore seems to have this thing for walkways in canopies
Over the trees
Canopy
Telok Blangah Hill
Looking towards Sentosa
Henderson Waves
Not sure what that guy is doing with the heart
Cable car to Sentosa while walking back to the MRT station
After sweating it up I headed over to Tiong Bahru Market for yet another food centre lunch. I should also say that Miss Tam Chiak was a fantastic resource throughout the trip and I used it as one of many resources that helped guide me through eating Singapore. Overall though I would say that this market was a bit of a letdown, but it may have also been due to it being towards the end of lunch (and a Saturday), so it may have contributed a bit to the letdown. After eating I explored the market on the first floor, though many vendors seem to be closed on the weekends.
Food centre on the second floor
Line for Zhong Yu Yuan Wei Wanton Noodle
Their wanton mee was just ok-the char siu pork was too tough
Curry puff and raddish cake from Tiong Bahru Pau
Some broken shui kueh from Jian Bo Shui Kueh
Market
A little bit of activity
More emptiness
Street art
After another leisurely lunch I headed over to Bugis Street, a covered indoor market. I didn't really know what was there or what I was getting into, and it turns out that it was a really crowded market with a lot of vendors spread over three floors. A lot of the stalls seemed to sell really cheap goods, making me think that a fair number of them are either knock-offs of some sort or they were items of questionable quality. I explored the market for most of the rest of the afternoon mostly trying to move through the crowds and people who just stop in the middle of everything...
Peacock seen on the walk to Bugis Street
Solo karaoke party!
Entrance
Relative calm, or calm enough to take a picture without being in the way
Making kaya balls
Kaya is a type of coconut jam
Eventually I got hungry and I was going to head over to Jaggi's Northern India Cuisine, one of the highly recommended northern Indian restaurants. However on the way there I got distracted by the Albert Centre Food Centre and decided to stop in for a bite to hold me over to Jaggi's. And by on the way there, I mean as soon as I left Bugis Street I saw the food centre and decided to stop by.
Albert Centre Food Centre
An excellent shrimp bee hoon from Bai Nian
After the stop at the Food Centre, I walked the approximately 10 minutes over to Jaggi's and enjoyed a garlic naan with their highly recommended and divine butter chicken.
Ofo (side note: I found this humorous since Ofo had recently left Seattle)
Garlic naan and butter chicken from Jaggi's
After having my second dinner, I decided to make my way back to Gardens by the Bay. This time it was well after sunset, and I was hoping for reduced crowds so I could get some long exposure shots, especially since my earlier short exposure shots were really grainy. I arrived at about 8:45, which timed with the final music and light show of the night. Afterwards the crowd gradually left, leaving some room to take some long exposure shots. However I didn't have a tripod with me (if you know of any small tripods that will fit in a carry-on that you like, please recommend them to me!), and I had to use my daypack to prop up my camera for 10+ second exposures. At this time there were already some Christmas decoration that were up as well. I spent a while walking around a relatively empty Gardens and took a few shots here and there. On the way back to the hotel I stopped by the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Beanstro for a slice of coffee speculoos cheesecake before calling it a day.
Lying on the ground for the show
Lights
Marina Bay Sands
OCBC Skyway
Catching the moon
Coffee speculoos cheesecake from the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Beanstro
Last edited by steveman518; Dec 17, 2018 at 1:55 am
Dec 20, 2018, 4:18 pm
#21
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: EWR
Posts: 2,112
The next morning began with a walk over to a nearby Barcook Bakery for some pastries for breakfast. While eating I spotted one of the legendary Singapore ice cream carts that serves ice cream by the slice inside a slice of bread or between two wafers and I just had to have one to experience it for myself. It seems a bit weird to have ice cream wrapped inside bread, so I went with the wafers instead, with the lady cutting a slice of ice cream from the block and placing it between the two wafers.
Breakfast
Ice cream
Afterwards I headed back to the hotel to check out before going over to Tekka Food Centre for an early lunch. Even though Tekka Food Centre is located in Little India, about half of the stalls were still dedicated to more Chinese specialties compared to subcontinent cuisines. I stopped by Sri Tiffin for a delicious masala dosa and vedai with a strong ginger tea, before making my way over to Pak Kashmiri Delights for a Kashmiri naan and a really disappointing butter chicken accompanied by a nice teh tarik from Ar-Rahman Cafe.
Tekka Food Centre
Masala dosa and vadai from Sri Tiffin
Butter chicken and Kashmiri naan from Pak Kashmiri Delights
After lunch I decided to make my way to the MacRicthie reservoir and MacRitchie trail to the treetop walk (this continuing theme of canopy walks continues). Throughout the area there were a lot of macaques, including some just chilling out in the middle of the trail. Compared to the Southern Ridges, walking on the MacRitchie trail seemed far removed from the city, since the canopy was much thicker and the city wasn't visible through the small forest. Additionally this walk was decently strenuous; particularly the last hill climb before the treetop walk. The loop to the top and back took a little longer than anticipated, so by the time I got out of the reservoir I was hurrying to catch the bus back to the hotel to pick up my belongings and head back to Changi.
MacRitchie Reservoir
Just chilling
Playing
Hanging on
Trail
Macaques on the trail
Treetop walk
Some dude found a giant millipede and wanted everyone to take pictures of it
Path
Eating
Story of my life
Playing
Breakfast
Ice cream
Afterwards I headed back to the hotel to check out before going over to Tekka Food Centre for an early lunch. Even though Tekka Food Centre is located in Little India, about half of the stalls were still dedicated to more Chinese specialties compared to subcontinent cuisines. I stopped by Sri Tiffin for a delicious masala dosa and vedai with a strong ginger tea, before making my way over to Pak Kashmiri Delights for a Kashmiri naan and a really disappointing butter chicken accompanied by a nice teh tarik from Ar-Rahman Cafe.
Tekka Food Centre
Masala dosa and vadai from Sri Tiffin
Butter chicken and Kashmiri naan from Pak Kashmiri Delights
After lunch I decided to make my way to the MacRicthie reservoir and MacRitchie trail to the treetop walk (this continuing theme of canopy walks continues). Throughout the area there were a lot of macaques, including some just chilling out in the middle of the trail. Compared to the Southern Ridges, walking on the MacRitchie trail seemed far removed from the city, since the canopy was much thicker and the city wasn't visible through the small forest. Additionally this walk was decently strenuous; particularly the last hill climb before the treetop walk. The loop to the top and back took a little longer than anticipated, so by the time I got out of the reservoir I was hurrying to catch the bus back to the hotel to pick up my belongings and head back to Changi.
MacRitchie Reservoir
Just chilling
Playing
Hanging on
Trail
Macaques on the trail
Treetop walk
Some dude found a giant millipede and wanted everyone to take pictures of it
Path
Eating
Story of my life
Playing
Dec 21, 2018, 11:37 am
#23
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: East Ester, Alaska
Programs: Alaska Million Miler, United Million Miler, Wyndham Rewards Diamond, Choice Hotels Diamond
Posts: 12,145
If you must fly to Singapore in anything but First Class, Singapore's Business Class looks like a great way to go. That meal service looks as nice as First Class on many airlines. Thank you also for the photographic tour de force of Singapore. Nice report! ^^
Dec 22, 2018, 10:25 pm
#25
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2008
Location: San Francisco
Programs: GM on VX, UA, AA, HA, AS, SY; Budget Fastbreak
Posts: 27,549
Great TR - thanks so much. The foods looked delicious. I’ve never seen speculoos cheesecake! Wow. Only have cookie butter in a jar.
The ice cream with bread is hard for me to fathom! I’ve never seen it before
The ice cream with bread is hard for me to fathom! I’ve never seen it before
Dec 22, 2018, 11:03 pm
#27
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: EWR
Posts: 2,112
After arriving at Changi it was time to begin the return journey back home. Even at the end of November Changi was already in the Christmas spirit, with Christmas decorations set-up throughout the airport.
Ticketing area decorations
I headed over to the terminal 3 SilverKris lounge to spend what time I had left before boarding, which is tucked in the back corner of the lounges area on the upper level. The lounge has been probably reviewed to death, but overall it's an adequate lounge, though I did find it a bit dark. In addition to the standard hot and cold buffets, there was a "live action station" where someone was preparing wonton noodle soup for guests. For those of you keeping score, this naturally meant I had to have some form of wanton noodles for the fifth time this trip.
Lounge seating
Wanton noodle soup
After finishing the snack I headed over to take a shower. At the SilverKris lounge, the showers are inside the bathroom. The location in the back of the bathroom makes it a little bit odd since it does require some maneuvering if you're dragging a carry-on bag. Additionally the shower rooms don't have toilets, so be sure to take care of your business before or after you decide to take a shower. Like the lounge, the shower room was relatively dark but adequate. I brushed my teeth and took a quick shower before heading over to board my flight.
Shower
SQ38
SIN-LAX
Airbus A350-900ULR
11F
After using the rest of my Singaporean dollars at a duty free store I arrived at the gate and cleared security well into boarding. During check-in I had been able to select another middle bulkhead seat, 11F. For those of you who remember SQ37, I originally had 11F before getting switched to 11D. I'm going to spare you most of the pictures, since you can imagine what the seat looks like if you look at the pictures of my first flight and flipped them in your head.
Obligatory legroom picture though
One thing I did neglect to mention on the earlier flight is that the IFE is controlled by a touchscreen remote which is decently responsive. The screen itself is not touchscreen. Additionally, KrisFlyer members can log in and are able to add movies/TV shows/etc to "watch later" lists and, on the ULR flights, are supposedly able to access an additional 200 hours of content compared to the already expansive KrisWorld offerings. The additional offerings are marked as "exclusive" or another similar word.
Remote
Upon arriving at my seat I was offered a welcome beverage, and I went with the Canyon Ranch agave lemonade. I found the lemonade, the Canyon Ranch beverage on SIN-LAX, to be amazing and definitely much better than the coconut pineapple fresca that is the Canyon Ranch beverage on LAX-SIN.
Welcome beverage
Soon after take-off, we were offered the DIY amenity kits again, and this time I went for the works, with the kit comprised of lip balm, lotion, crease release, ear plugs, and a laundry bar in a small leather pouch. Additionally the crew came around to begin the beverage service, and since I completely screwed up and didn't have a Milo on the ground, I requested a Milo dinosaur. I know, I'm not 10 anymore, but why not.
Amenity kit
Milo dinosaur
Soon after the main meal service begun. The food menu is as provided below. The drinks menu is the same as previous and can be seen on the earlier post. Both meals are available for Book the Cook.
For the meal I used Book the Cook to book the classic lobster thermidor. Soon after the crew confirmed my Book the Cook order, the meal began with the classic satay service. Overall I enjoyed the meal, though something about the lobster dish seemed off. It was a little bit fishy and I did find the sauce to be just a touch on the rich side as well. The crew were excellent in making sure that drinks were topped up and the meal concluded relatively quickly.
Satay
Marinated prawns
with Jerusalem artichoke, bell peppers, and anchovy cream
Classic lobster thermidor
Sicilian cannoli with ricotta cheese-chocolate
and morello cherry
Selection of cheese
Chamomile tea
Immediately after the meal service I changed into my pajamas and went straight to sleep. Due to the nighttime departure from Singapore and the early evening arrival in LAX my plan on this flight was to sleep for a few hours before staying up the remainder of the flight to better align myself with my home sleep schedule. I had requested for another wake-up call about 5 hours later, but once again I woke up a little early and once again all the crew that passed by my seat noted that I had woken up early. Upon waking I was offered a beverage and I once again went with the lemonade, and ordered bee hoon with veggies and ice cream from the refreshments menu as my second meal of the flight. The noodle soup and ice cream were delicious and were quickly consumed. I enjoyed the meal with the seat in bed mode, and since I was sitting cross-legged, I adjusted the tray table a little higher.
Bee hoon with leafy greens and mushroom
Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream
(and my fat finger)
After the meal I passed some more time watching non-memorable movies and TV shows and using my J class wifi allotment of 30MB. A couple of hours before arrival the cabin came back to life for the second meal service. I did not reserve a Book the Cook entrée, so instead I went with the tandoori murgh. Overall it was a nice meal to finish the flight, even if the chicken was a little dry.
Smoked duck breast
with cabbage, rock melon, dried cranberry salad, yuzu pepper vinaigrette
Tandoori murgh, sabzi masala, biryani pulao
Indian baked chicken, vegetable curry, biryani rice
served with cucumber pineapple salad and mint chutney
Green tea tiramisu cake
Black tea to finish
After the meal service I went to the lav to change back into my street clothes and I noticed there was a cake and a card going around in the galley to celebrate a couple's anniversary. I also saw a couple of the "first to fly" teddy bears that were seen in the reviews of the early ULR flights. I asked one of the crew if there were any of the teddy bears available and she was able to procure one for me. Overall this was another excellent flight with Singapore Airlines with another excellent crew. After flying this round-trip I can see where all the accolades come from.
Teddy
After landing at LAX I made may way through immigrated and onto the hotel shuttle to the Marriott LAX. Due to the relatively late arrival and the fact that it was the Sunday after Thanksgiving, it was more economical to stay at an airport hotel and fly back to SEA early the next morning. The rooms are decently appointed and clean, which was all I was really asking for, since as soon as I arrived I went straight to sleep. I awoke the next morning at 5:30AM for my 8AM flight back to SEA. However I awoke to my phone alarm, since the hotel forgot about my wake-up call...oops.
Room
UA5608
LAX-SEA
E175
21D
There's not much to say about this flight. I boarded and immediately fell asleep and woke up right before arrival before heading to work.
And that brings this Singaporean Thanksgiving adventure to an end! Thanks to all of you who followed along!
Ticketing area decorations
I headed over to the terminal 3 SilverKris lounge to spend what time I had left before boarding, which is tucked in the back corner of the lounges area on the upper level. The lounge has been probably reviewed to death, but overall it's an adequate lounge, though I did find it a bit dark. In addition to the standard hot and cold buffets, there was a "live action station" where someone was preparing wonton noodle soup for guests. For those of you keeping score, this naturally meant I had to have some form of wanton noodles for the fifth time this trip.
Lounge seating
Wanton noodle soup
After finishing the snack I headed over to take a shower. At the SilverKris lounge, the showers are inside the bathroom. The location in the back of the bathroom makes it a little bit odd since it does require some maneuvering if you're dragging a carry-on bag. Additionally the shower rooms don't have toilets, so be sure to take care of your business before or after you decide to take a shower. Like the lounge, the shower room was relatively dark but adequate. I brushed my teeth and took a quick shower before heading over to board my flight.
Shower
SQ38
SIN-LAX
Airbus A350-900ULR
11F
After using the rest of my Singaporean dollars at a duty free store I arrived at the gate and cleared security well into boarding. During check-in I had been able to select another middle bulkhead seat, 11F. For those of you who remember SQ37, I originally had 11F before getting switched to 11D. I'm going to spare you most of the pictures, since you can imagine what the seat looks like if you look at the pictures of my first flight and flipped them in your head.
Obligatory legroom picture though
One thing I did neglect to mention on the earlier flight is that the IFE is controlled by a touchscreen remote which is decently responsive. The screen itself is not touchscreen. Additionally, KrisFlyer members can log in and are able to add movies/TV shows/etc to "watch later" lists and, on the ULR flights, are supposedly able to access an additional 200 hours of content compared to the already expansive KrisWorld offerings. The additional offerings are marked as "exclusive" or another similar word.
Remote
Upon arriving at my seat I was offered a welcome beverage, and I went with the Canyon Ranch agave lemonade. I found the lemonade, the Canyon Ranch beverage on SIN-LAX, to be amazing and definitely much better than the coconut pineapple fresca that is the Canyon Ranch beverage on LAX-SIN.
Welcome beverage
Soon after take-off, we were offered the DIY amenity kits again, and this time I went for the works, with the kit comprised of lip balm, lotion, crease release, ear plugs, and a laundry bar in a small leather pouch. Additionally the crew came around to begin the beverage service, and since I completely screwed up and didn't have a Milo on the ground, I requested a Milo dinosaur. I know, I'm not 10 anymore, but why not.
Amenity kit
Milo dinosaur
Soon after the main meal service begun. The food menu is as provided below. The drinks menu is the same as previous and can be seen on the earlier post. Both meals are available for Book the Cook.
For the meal I used Book the Cook to book the classic lobster thermidor. Soon after the crew confirmed my Book the Cook order, the meal began with the classic satay service. Overall I enjoyed the meal, though something about the lobster dish seemed off. It was a little bit fishy and I did find the sauce to be just a touch on the rich side as well. The crew were excellent in making sure that drinks were topped up and the meal concluded relatively quickly.
Satay
Marinated prawns
with Jerusalem artichoke, bell peppers, and anchovy cream
Classic lobster thermidor
Sicilian cannoli with ricotta cheese-chocolate
and morello cherry
Selection of cheese
Chamomile tea
Immediately after the meal service I changed into my pajamas and went straight to sleep. Due to the nighttime departure from Singapore and the early evening arrival in LAX my plan on this flight was to sleep for a few hours before staying up the remainder of the flight to better align myself with my home sleep schedule. I had requested for another wake-up call about 5 hours later, but once again I woke up a little early and once again all the crew that passed by my seat noted that I had woken up early. Upon waking I was offered a beverage and I once again went with the lemonade, and ordered bee hoon with veggies and ice cream from the refreshments menu as my second meal of the flight. The noodle soup and ice cream were delicious and were quickly consumed. I enjoyed the meal with the seat in bed mode, and since I was sitting cross-legged, I adjusted the tray table a little higher.
Bee hoon with leafy greens and mushroom
Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream
(and my fat finger)
After the meal I passed some more time watching non-memorable movies and TV shows and using my J class wifi allotment of 30MB. A couple of hours before arrival the cabin came back to life for the second meal service. I did not reserve a Book the Cook entrée, so instead I went with the tandoori murgh. Overall it was a nice meal to finish the flight, even if the chicken was a little dry.
Smoked duck breast
with cabbage, rock melon, dried cranberry salad, yuzu pepper vinaigrette
Tandoori murgh, sabzi masala, biryani pulao
Indian baked chicken, vegetable curry, biryani rice
served with cucumber pineapple salad and mint chutney
Green tea tiramisu cake
Black tea to finish
After the meal service I went to the lav to change back into my street clothes and I noticed there was a cake and a card going around in the galley to celebrate a couple's anniversary. I also saw a couple of the "first to fly" teddy bears that were seen in the reviews of the early ULR flights. I asked one of the crew if there were any of the teddy bears available and she was able to procure one for me. Overall this was another excellent flight with Singapore Airlines with another excellent crew. After flying this round-trip I can see where all the accolades come from.
Teddy
After landing at LAX I made may way through immigrated and onto the hotel shuttle to the Marriott LAX. Due to the relatively late arrival and the fact that it was the Sunday after Thanksgiving, it was more economical to stay at an airport hotel and fly back to SEA early the next morning. The rooms are decently appointed and clean, which was all I was really asking for, since as soon as I arrived I went straight to sleep. I awoke the next morning at 5:30AM for my 8AM flight back to SEA. However I awoke to my phone alarm, since the hotel forgot about my wake-up call...oops.
Room
UA5608
LAX-SEA
E175
21D
There's not much to say about this flight. I boarded and immediately fell asleep and woke up right before arrival before heading to work.
And that brings this Singaporean Thanksgiving adventure to an end! Thanks to all of you who followed along!
Last edited by steveman518; May 17, 2019 at 2:27 am
Dec 22, 2018, 11:08 pm
#28
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: EWR
Posts: 2,112
Thank you offerendum. There are definitely many things to eat in Singapore, and I feel like I only scratched the surface.
Thanks for the kind words Seat 2A. SQ has a very nice business class product, though it may be a bit of a squeeze for something who is a bit taller like yourself.
Thank you iluvcruising2. I'm sure that it's not hard to be a SG tourism ambassador when the city basically sells itself!
Thanks for the kind words gaobest. I thoroughly enjoyed eating in Singapore, but there was no way I was going for ice cream with bread!
Thank you HLT1904. There's always great reasons to revisit any destination we have been to!
Thank you HLT1904. There's always great reasons to revisit any destination we have been to!
Apr 13, 2019, 11:04 am
#30
Join Date: Apr 2016
Posts: 380
Interesting report. I'm quite the fan of trips to Singapore as I'm a big fan of the place and the food. I also have several friends there.
From looking at your pics, you spent most of your time at food centres
. Not a bad choice, I suppose.
Singapore is the ultimate nanny state. There's a saying about it. It's a fine city. There's a fine for everything!
From looking at your pics, you spent most of your time at food centres
. Not a bad choice, I suppose.Singapore is the ultimate nanny state. There's a saying about it. It's a fine city. There's a fine for everything!