Welcome back! First things first, if this is your first time joining us, you are coming in on part two (technically four if we are counting Malaysia) of this blog series! If you don’t feel like diving head first into this whole ordeal then I would advise you to go back &, at the very least, read part one of the Singapore portion of this adventure before we continue on. Don’t worry, I’m not going to make you go searching for it, I’ll have a nice set of links waiting just below this paragraph for you to go in & visit! If you’ve already read part one, welcome back, thank you for returning to finish out this blog series with me! I appreciate your patronage! I hope we’re ready to bring this on home together! Alright, enough of my blathering, let’s get going shall we?
PART TWO:
Day Eleven
Our initial plan was to wake up at a relatively decent hour & potentially go back to Barry’s Raffles Place. Between the slight hangover & the struggle I had sleeping with my eye feeling like it was being tased out of its socket, we slept in. Feeling like I shouldn’t continue flying by the seat of my pants where my ocular health is concerned, I woke up & immediately went to digging about the internet for my medical options as someone visiting the country.
My vision was perfectly clear at this point. No fogging, no halos, none of it. What was hanging around from the day prior was the eye burn & a new found extreme sensitivity to light. I still felt that if some of the symptoms were hanging around that I probably should go about some form of medical treatment just in case.
What I found basically said that unless you have specific travel insurances, you have to pay out of pocket for medical treatment in Singapore. Even with that being the case, it was reassuring to see that I wouldn’t be going into debt over a specialist or urgent care visit like one does potentially anytime you need anything in the states. I reached out to a local hospital & their ophthalmology department to see what their options for me were. They were able to book me a same day appointment for midafternoon & I was told that the visit, medication, & imaging would be around $300 Singaporean or $235-ish in USD…for a specialist…at a hospital…with imaging & everything…I was warned that if it turned out to be something & further tests were required it would max out at around $1,000 SGD or $785 USD. I booked the appointment & began to get ready for the day.
I’d texted my Singaporean friends, Linus & Karen, pretty late in the evening prior asking their recommendations as someone on a tourist visa looking for medical care. They’d sent me a recommendation for a walk-in urgent care just down the street from us, which they have trusted for years to house their primary doctor. They said it would also be less than $100 SGD/78USD for the visit in total. Evan & I got to talking & we both agreed that it might be wise to swing by a walk-in for preliminary testing & analysis & if they didn’t find anything wrong to go ahead & just wait til we got back stateside to have an appointment with the doctor in Nashville who has treated me in the past.
Yueh Hai Ching Temple. Photo Credit: Evan Buddenbohn
It was just before noon when we left the ParkRoyal Pickering to start the day. The directions that Linus had given me to the clinic were that it was right next to the Yueh Hai Ching Temple on the way towards Lau Pa Sat. Evan brought his camera with him, as the day prior, he’d wished he’d had it on our walk back from Barry’s so he could take some photos of the temple. Now he had his chance.
I left him to take some photos while I walked next door to The Medical Clinic (yes, that’s the actual name) to get checked in. It was just short of lunch time so the clinic was a little crowded, but they assured me that it would probably only be around 30 minutes to be seen. I started filling out all the online documentation right around the time that Evan rejoined me.
I genuinely think it might have only been about 20 minutes before I was seen. The receptionist called my name, then directing me to a door that housed a small, personal doctor’s office on the other side. He introduced himself, I sat down & explained my symptoms, he did a series of tests on my eye, & gave me his diagnosis.
He basically reinforced the Ocular Migraine theory. They treat glaucoma & glaucoma like symptoms very seriously in this part of the world as those with Asian decent are far more prone to having it, but he didn’t think it was that. At least not something in need of immediate medical attention. He thought that the stain & burn of my eyes was probably brought on from my eyes trying desperately to focus for the duration of a day & he told me that my affected eye, the left one, looked incredibly tired. He prescribed me an antibiotic eye drop to fight any potential infection that might have caused it or might result from my eye working over time, & told me to cancel with the ophthalmologist & wait to see a doctor til I got back home. The entire cost of my visit, medicine included, ended up being $43 USD…
Getting Directions. Photo Credit: Evan Buddenbohn
Hunger was setting in (for one of us whose name starts with an ‘E’ it was hanger…) & the slight hangover/leftover headache from my eye was demanding caffeine & food. I went through my travel list to see what coffee shops were near by that I’d been recommended or found on my own & we landed on Common Man Stan.
Just about a 10 minute walk from The Medical Clinic (proper noun) was Common Man Stan, located on Stanley Street. Cute. Common Man Stan is a cafe that came highly recommended by the folks on the internet & the reviews on the page. It was voted one of the top coffee spots in Singapore from several different sources, so off we went!
As it was lunch time (remember I told you that above?), CMS was very busy. There was a line of people waiting to be sat, but, since we had plans to find the majority of our lunch elsewhere, we got our coffee & pastries to-go. Which there was no line for. We both ended up with iced Kaya Toast Lattes & went in on an Almond Croissant to share.
Chinatown. Photo Credit: Evan Buddenbohn
We didn’t know that the pastries in the case were from Tiong Bahru Bakery, a pastry shop that had come up multiple times when I was looking through restaurants pre-trip. But when either of us tried it, we were amazed. I took a bite, Evan took a bite, I looked at him & said “…should we get a few more of these?” He immediately approved & we went in on another almond croissant & his favorite, a Pan Au Chocolate, for either later in the day or the next morning.
A similar thing happened with our coffee. We took a drink of the latte they’d made for us & we unanimously decided we needed to buy beans from them for our espresso machine back home. I’m actually sitting here drinking a hazelnut latte as I type that uses beans from Common Man Stan!
Now it was time for a proper lunch.
There are several dishes that come to mind when it comes to Singapore. We explored a lot of them in part one of this blog; satay, chili crab (kind of), Peranakan, laksa, kaya toast, but there’s one stand out that is missing here. That would be Hainanese Chicken Rice.
Hainanese Chicken Rice is a very simple dish. Often considered the national dish of Singapore, it simply features steamed or roasted chicken served over chicken broth rice & paired with a garlic-chili sauce. Sounds basic enough, but there is something simply exquisite about this dish when is done well, & there are a lot of places in Singapore that do it exceedingly well.
There are literal thousands of chicken rice shops in Singapore & everyone has their favorite. I went to one the last time I was in Singapore that I really enjoyed, but I didn’t want to limit myself to the places that I had already been this trip, even though I did enjoy a lot of the stops last time. We also were in a different part of town, so I pulled up Google & looked through several different blogs, articles, forums, posts, etc. while we were waiting for our coffee at Common Man Stan. The general consensus, & the one we were closest to was a stand down the road at Maxwell Food Centre called Ah-Tai Hainanese Chicken Rice.
Thian Hock Keng. Photo Credit: Evan Buddenbohn
Our path to lunch took us by Thian Hock Keng, a Tianfu temple to the sea goddess Mazu. The building was spectacular from the outside & there was some form of ceremony being held as we went by. Additionally we passed through Ann Siang Hill Park where Evan stopped to take pictures of some of the resident cats sleeping amongst the bamboo.
The centre was pretty crowded, almost every one of the hawker stalls had a line. Ah-Tai is one of the 290 Michelin recognized stalls so its line went down the corridor. We got in line before realizing that they were cash only. I left Evan there & went in search of an ATM, telling him to let people in front of him if he got up to the front & I still hadn’t returned with cash.
Sleepy Cats In Ann Siang Hill Park. Photo Credit: Evan Buddenbohn
I found an ATM at the north entrance of the centre, except that I had taken out my debit card from my three card wallet the day or two prior in favor of two of my credit cards that doesn’t have international fees & my ID. I tried to pull out cash with either of them but neither have a pin, so I had to go back to Evan & swapped places with him.
Chicks In The Park.
Eventually cash was secured, a few people got to cut in front of each of us in line, & we ordered the combo plate which came with the chicken rice, chili-garlic sauce, bok choy, cucumber, & black sauce (a thicker, sweeter soy). We wondered around the crowded tables before finding an open shared spot to hunker down & eat our meal.
The chicken rice was out of this world. I’m always blown away by how cozy yet so simple it is. The chicken was perfectly juicy, the rice salty & savory, the bok choy still had some bite. It was excellent. I think our total for the two of our lunches was less than $10 USD as well, which is just wild.
Buddha Tooth Relic Temple. Photo Credit: Evan Buddenbohn
After lunch we decided to do a bit of wandering around. One of the things I’ve started doing when we visit different places is trying to visit a local fragrance house. Whether I end up with a bottle or samples is beside the point. I just like going in to see what the local scent stylings are, what’s being distilled & combined, what unique footprint a city or country has that gets infused in the scents being produced. Google maps lied to me though, so the one I was after that was near our dining spot had moved since the last update online. We decide instead to walk back towards our hotel & see if anything caught our eye along the way.
Chinatown Street Market. Photo Credit: Evan Buddenbohn
On our walk we ended up across the street from the Maxwell Food Centre & next to the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple & Museum, which, as the name suggests, claims to house one of the teeth of The Buddha. The last time I was in Singapore the temple was closed for renovations, but today the doors were wide open & they were welcoming in guests. As we entered the temple they began an afternoon prayer ceremony. We stood & watched reverently before making our way around the outer wall of the temple, observing the many statues, & heading out the back.
From there we made our way into the China Town Market where we perused the many shops, took the occasional photo or step out of the afternoon heat, & got some fresh squeezed lemonade. Mine was passionfruit, Evan got regular.
Around this point the humidity & sun were starting to get to us, so we decided to go in search of some caffeine to take back to the hotel with us. I’d taken us back to the main road to head to one of the coffee shops I enjoyed the last time I was through, September Coffee, just to find them closed when we walked up. After a quick recalibration we ended up finding another coffee stop on my list that was in the direction that we were heading, Muro Coffee.
Smoked Mocha Affogato At Muro
Muro Coffee is a black & white, vintage leaning specialty coffee shop. It’s on a second floor walk up, with its own third floor loft space, & windows that overlook the street below. Their menu is a mix of standard & inventive coffee & tea beverages, in addition to some bites that looked pretty incredible as well! We propped up in the corner by the stairs, against one of the windows so we could sit there & people watch as we recaffeinated.
I ordered a Smoked Mocha Affogato & Evan got the Strawberry Matcha. Both drinks were outstanding, but I am always keen on a great affogato! We sat & sipped & enjoyed the air conditioning for a minute before we thanked the staff & continued back to our hotel.
Gardens At ParkRoyal Collective Pickering.
Back at the ParkRoyal the obvious ailment to the hot day was the chilly, chilly pool. We went back to the room, changed, & headed down promptly once we’d returned.
We first walked the garden loop that makes its was around the outer edge of the fifth floor. As it was spring, many of the flowers were in bloom & the entirety of the walk smelled decadent. After looping back around we set our things down on a lounge chair & dipped into the frigid water of the ParkRoyal’s pool once more.
Cooling Off At The ParkRoyal Pickering. Photo Credit: Evan Buddenbohn
We hung out here for a little bit, Evan did a little photo shoot of me against the ledge of the pool (no clue yet if any of those turned out, guess if there’s one in here they did), then got out to get a closer look at the locker room facility, the gym, & the massage center.
Our plans for the evening were laid out. I still had interest in the fragrance brand we’d sought out earlier, but their only location close to us was at The Shoppes At Marina Bay Sands. We needed to head that way anyway to make the 7:45 PM SuperTree show & then get over to our 9:15 PM reservation at Jigger & Pony.
We got dressed for our evening ahead before heading downstairs & across the street to the subway to catch the North-South Line to Marina Bay. Just a three stop trip, we were there in no time. The subway let out right under The Shoppes. We took the escalator up & found the interactive map of the facility to chart our course.
We had three main goals at The Shoppes. The first, naturally was the fragrance shop, we also were planning to hit Aesop for more sunblock as The US stores carry a different formula than the international locations, & I was entirely out of clean clothes for the trip home, so I wanted to pop into Lululemon for some things to wear on the long trip back. While examining the map we also found that they had a COS in the center. COS is H&M’s higher quality brand & there are only a few physical stores around the world.
We popped into COS first. I ended up getting a nice, plain light blue T-Shirt, & Evan found a fragrance of theirs that he liked that is only available in international markets. Then came Aesop.
The Shoppes At Marina Bay Sands.
Right across the indoor river (yes, indoor river) from COS was Aesop. We were welcomed in, they gave us tea, & despite knowing & picking out exactly what we were after, we chatted a bit with the staff before checking out & receiving a vial of the tea to take home with us. Next up was Lululemon.
Just around the literal river bend we found Lulu. I ended up getting one of their freshly launched sweat shorts & a zip up hoodie. My travel plan was to pair the two of those with my freshly purchased COS shirt. While we were in Lulu the staff was very interested in Evan & I. They asked about our travels, how we met, what each of us did, which then ended up landing the group pulling up my music page. I got out of there before songs could be played. I don’t generally enjoy listening to myself…
I bet you’re wondering why, at this point, that I haven’t given you the name of the fragrance shop I was trying to hunt down, especially since I am typically fairly meticulous when it comes to tagging & naming locations throughout my blogs. Well, it’s because we never got to go. We did find the shop itself, after a whole bunch of trial & error within The Shoppes, but when we walked up to it…the shop was closed. Not closed down, just closed for the day, something that hadn’t been in the listing of the multiple places we looked. So that was a bust, unfortunately.
From The Shoppes At Marina Bay Sands we took the massive escalator up into the Marina Bay Sands hotel itself.
The hotel is a monolith of modern Singapore. It overlooks Gardens By The Bay on one side, the Marina Bay/Singapore River on the other, then the Downtown Core on one end, & Raffles Place on the other. It is truly the most iconic building on the Singapore skyline & she knows it. I personally have never stayed in it as, from what I’ve seen from the vibe of the facility, it’s a little too clean cut & ‘beige’ for my taste. It’s also a pricy stay for most. But, in addition to acting as the focal point for the area, it also is one of the main gateways to the gardens beyond.
We ended the hotel on the ground floor then followed the prompts outside to an elevator that took us up to a suspended bridge that cuts back through the hotel & down into the gardens, across the Dragonfly Bridge & finally into the SuperTree Grove.
The first time I was in Singapore I actually just happened upon the SuperTree Grove & the show that happens therein. After a day of a lot of cocktails at MO Bar I was trying to make my way to Satay By The Bay for dinner & stumbled into the nightly show. It’s shockingly magical! I don’t say that lightly either. Evan definitely did not grasp the experience himself until he’d witnessed it in person.
SuperTree Eclipse. Photo Credit: Evan Buddenbohn
On paper it’s a pretty mundane pitch. The SuperTrees are these giant metal structures that have all sorts of climbing plants, bromeliads & orchids all up the sides. They’re equipped with a series of lights & effects & some of the larger ‘trees’ have a sky bridge that connects them that you can pay to go up on. The main cluster has 4 large SuperTrees with 8 additional smaller trees around them. All in all the gardens have a total of 18 SuperTrees, but the light show happens at the main SuperTree Grove.
People gather around the grove sitting on the benches, some of the grassy areas, or they do what we did & lay right on the concrete (judge if you will, I’d do it again & probably will). The show is announced & changes theming every so often. There’s a calendar posted online. Tonight’s show of Garden Rhapsody was Opera In The Gardens & featured prominent opera songs from an assortment of different operas from the Romantic Era. It was quite honestly, breathtaking.
Garden Rhapsody. Photo Credit: Evan Buddenbohn
I studied a great deal of opera in college & thus, have an appreciation, but I was concerned that the show wouldn’t entirely translate to someone without that history, such as Evan. That fear went unwarranted. He was just as in awe of it all as I was & walked away from it raving about the show. Again. Simple lights & music against a bunch of manmade metal trees sounds like a hard sell to most. It’s entirely worth it. To quote Evan “this beats any firework show I’ve ever seen.”
Borealis.
On Saturday-Monday, after Garden Rhapsody, they switch over to a program called Borealis that mimics the Northern & Southern Lights. It uses garden misters to create a base layer of fog overhead before they cast lasers into the mix. The swirling particles of the mist in the wind catch the lasers & create an effect similar to the Aurora Borealis/Aurora Australis. It’s absolutely mesmerizing.
We were a bit hungry after all of the amazement & had a little bit of time to kill before we needed to hop the train to Jigger & Pony, so we went over to the nearby Jurassic Nest Food Hall & got calamansi juice, ice cream, & some fries with sambal. Trying to relive Malaysia with that last one I guess. We then walked through the gardens to the Thomson-East Coast Line which we took from the Gardens By The Bay stop back up to Maxwell.
Jigger & Pony, much like Odette, is on a whole bunch of lists. #9 on the list of The World’s 50 Best Bars 2025, #3 on Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2025/Best Bar In Singapore. It’s won many Spirited Awards including World’s Top 4 Best Cocktail Menus. She is that girl. We got sat at the bar with our Italian bartender, Saverio. He walked us through the menu, pointed out a few favorites, & we were off to the races!
They were on their “Embrace” menu, which used the motto: Embrace Change, Embrace Tradition, Embrace You. It focused on the celebration of the new cocktail world, the traditional cocktail world, as well as celebrating the things that make a person special & the celebration of self expression.
Negroni At Jigger & Pony
My first drink was from the traditional portion of the menu & was in fact a drink of Saverio’s design. A Negroni, but not just any negroni, a negroni that featured Ford’s Gin, Campari, Mancino Chinato Vermouth, grapefruit, & orange bitters! Evan went the embrace you route got the Espresso Martini with Grey Goose Vodka, Jigger & Pony espresso martini blend, sweetened with rainforest honey, & featured a cocoa tuile on top that you cracked with a spoon! My negroni knocked it out of the park, but Evan’s martini was also deserving of top marks.
Along with our first round of drinks we also ordered food. Black Pepper Crab Dip with Toast; Blue Crab, Mascarpone, Rice Wine, & Kampot Pepper. Bomb. The real thing we need to talk about here is the sandwich though…The Bikini Sandwich. Woof. Burrata. Serrano Ham. Black Truffle. That’s it. Heaven. Heaven on bread. Holy wow. Truly one of the best sandwiches I’ve had in my life. Yes, it’s that good. The surprise of the evening right there.
Pony Star Martini At Jigger & Pony.
Our next round of drinks was an alcohol switch up. I know, a big “no no” for those of us, myself included, prone to hangovers. The drinks just sounded too good, & were! I went embrace you & did the Pony Star Martini. A riff on the Porn Star Martini, the Pony Star is Don Julio Blanco Tequila, passionfruit, makrut lime leaf, lemon, egg white (it makes it silky & gives it a foam), & Telmont Reserve Brut Champagne. The passionfruit aspect comes in a half dollar sized boba-like bubble of juice that is served sidecar. It’s fun & light & fruity & ultimately very refreshing. Evan did the Paloma. Off the traditional menu (I guess we traded from the first round), the paloma was concocted with Espolòn Reposado Tequila, lime, guava, & pink grapefruit soda. It also fit the bill of everything I just described the Pony Star with above!
As we were sat there, drinking & eating away, this rather young couple on their honeymoon came up & sat next to us. They were only in the bar for about 30-45 minutes & in that time they have to have ordered & absolutely slammed about 8 drinks. They would literally order a drink as a duo, pass it back & forth, & drink it. As soon as they were a few sips in, the next drink had already been ordered. They were having a great time! It wasn’t drinking out of frustration or anything negative, I think they just wanted to try the majority of the menu & the way they went about doing that was just to full on go hard in the paint with it. Like I said, they were only there for around 45 minutes tops. It was just a charming scene to watch unfold.
Slinga Sling At Jigger & Pony.
Our last drink of the night was a shared one. I felt we couldn’t leave Singapore without having at least one of the cocktails that the nation is famous for, the Singapore Sling. In honor of the 60th anniversary of Singapore becoming a country, J&P had created their own twist on the over 110 year old cocktail. They called it the Singa Sling. Monkey 47 Gin, Cointreau, cherry, pineapple, & carbonation. Served tall & foamy, their sling was designed to mimic the Singaporean Flag. This drink too was light & fizzy, just with a little bit stronger gin-ness to it.
From there we called it a night. We paid our tab, thanked Salverio for his & the rest of the staff’s hospitality, grabbed a grab, & went on back to the ParkRoyal to sleep off a long day.
Lantern At Yueh Hai Ching Temple. Photo Credit: Evan Buddenbohn
End Of Day Eleven
Day Twelve
Shutters. Photo Credit: Evan Buddenbohn
We slept in until about 9:30/10 AM. It was as long as we could with the long travel day ahead of us while still wanting to do a few things that morning. Our checkout time from the hotel was set to noon, although we did try to get a late check out time. Unfortunately they couldn’t accommodate us because the hotel was entirely booked that evening & they needed to get in to clean the room. We did a preliminary pack of our things before we headed out for the morning to run a few quick, last minute errands & hit a few more stops.
Coffee, of course, was a must. We decided to go back to Muro. We’d enjoyed it so much the afternoon prior & I had wanted to get a mug from there that was made by a local potter, but they only took cash for that portion of the business since it was separate from the coffee shop itself. On the way there we ate the pastries we’d acquired from Common Man Stan the day before.
Trio Of Drinks At Muro.
We sat down at Muro, this time by the coffee bar, & ordered an assortment of drinks. Yes, an assortment of drinks. We thought three of them sounded good, so we got all three & just passed them around. The drinks were their orange espresso tonic, their iced matcha latte, & a local iced tea blend. I think we may have ranked them in the same order. On our way out the door I purchased my mug & we also got a bag of their espresso beans to take home!
It’s worth noting that one of the things that Evan & I collect on our travels is ceramics. We have plates, bowls, cups, etc from all around the world. I had chosen one from Muro, Evan had his eye on a shop that had been closed the day before called Late Morning.
Late Morning is a tableware shop located in Chinatown. They have an assortment of ceramics & glassware from local, as well as world renowned, artisans. They also sell flatware & a few other items like soft lights, incense & room sprays. In the back they also have a small coffee shop that primarily does pour overs & simple milkies (as the aussies call them). Evan unfortunately struck out here, but the shop was definitely still worth the time & the singling out that we gave it.
We got back a little later than we’d hoped so we had to rush upstairs to shower, change, & get our bags entirely put together. We ended up at check out right as the clock struck noon. I know they probably would’ve given us a few minutes grace, but we felt that we should be entirely prompt for one reason or another. Cleaned up, packed up, & in the new fit that was purchased yesterday, we left our glorious time at the ParkRoyal Collection Pickering behind & hopped at cab to Changi International Airport.
The Jewel. Photo Credit: Evan Buddenbohn
We were very early for our flight, part of the reason we requested the late checkout, but fortunately EVA Airlines allowed us to drop out bags & check in for our flight as soon as we arrived! With a lot of time to kill we made our way from the terminal we were in over to The Jewel to see the waterfall once more & walk around the shops.
It was surprisingly hot in The Jewel. I’m not sure if the AC was out, or if the multitude of windows just makes it impossible to keep cool during the day, but it was warm. This made our time there less than I think we would’ve stayed other wise. We popped into a few separate shops, including The Pokemon Center, but ultimately ended up leaving empty handed.
Striking out at The Jewel we ended up just going ahead & heading through security. Changi has a pretty decent food court & we were both getting hungry. We took the escalator up, divided, & conquered.
Butterfly In The Garden. Photo Credit: Evan Buddenbohn
I ended up doing a Hot & Sour Noodle Soup. I am a huge fan of hot & sour soup & had never seen it with noodles before. It slapped. Might need to make it here soon. I also got a Kaya Toast for us to share, some Soup Dumplings, & each of us a calamansi juice, which we both ended up going in for seconds on. Evan got a Bahn Mi & some Bao Buns for us to share.
Butterfly Gardens. Photo Credit: Evan Buddenbohn
After lunch we stopped by the Butterfly Garden & swung into 7-Eleven for some plane snack prior to heading over to our gate.
Our flight out of Singapore left 3:45 PM local time. We flew from there to Taipei on EVA Air where we landed around 9 PM following the, just short of, five hour flight. Once we arrived in Taipei we made our way through local security & up to Duty Free where we stocked up on snacks & gifts for our flight crew to enjoy across the Pacific.
There’s this thing that Evan & I do on longer flights where we gift the cabin crew a care package just as a ‘thank you for all you’re about to do.’ Typically it’s all sharable size bags of things like chocolate candy, gummy candy, crackers, chips, dried fruit, etc.. We try to avoid things with nuts for allergy purposes. We also include a hand written note signed by the two of us that just thanks them in advance for their help & patience. It’s a small thing, but the crews seem to enjoy it.
After we’d collected out gift bag of goodies we went to the food court just to burn through some time.
Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport is also a very nice airport. I always enjoy flying through it. Part of the appeal is the food options. They have a lot of stalls that sell mostly local dishes & favorites, one of those for me is Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup. Unfortunately the stall had closed by the time we got there. The other main attraction of the food in the airport in Taipei are the Mazu Village Wheel Pies. They are served hot & freshly made & are either filled with just custard or with crunchy peanut butter & custard. I prefer the custard ones. We split an order of those with a boba tea & Evan also got some curried beef that was served with this sauced cabbage that I could’ve eaten buckets of.
Our next flight out left just before midnight & was an eleven hour trek back in time (we crossed the dateline so it was still the same day), over the ocean to Seattle.
It’s always funny to me when I tell people how long some of the flights I’ve taken around the world are. The thing is that the more you do them, the easier they get. You get accustomed to the time, the seating, the in & out of sleep drift, & you adapt. Your patience gets better & better, you just have to take the leap & actually start doing the flights. I remember when the four hour flight from Nashville to LA felt like forever. Now it’s just a hop, skip, & a jump. My first long flight, nine hours from LAX to Fiji, felt like forever. Now any nine hour flight feels a bit like a shrug. It is what it is, you know. If you want to see the world you need a can do attitude & to buck it up sometimes. I also recommend going through & downloading all of the shows, movies, books, games, etc. that you’ve been meaning to watch/read/play & just marathoning them. I especially recommend the shows or movies that you were like “if I had the time to sit down & watch it I would, but I’m not going to set aside time to go see it/consume it.” You end up finding a lot of gems that you missed & you don’t feel as bad falling in & out of sleep while viewing them.
Olympic Through The Window.
We landed in Seattle as the sun was setting. We flew over Olympic National Park, so the view out the window was spectacular. Fair warning to anyone flying internationally into Seattle. The walkway from your arrival to immigration & baggage claim is a long one. We’re talking like a fifteen minute walk at least & there aren’t any bathrooms until you get towards the end of said walk.
I had been texting my friend Morgan off & on from months to weeks to days & hours prior to our arrival. Morgan is a friend of mine from all the way back in middle school & she & her husband Greg live in Seattle. We had around a five hour layover in Seattle & she & I had been coordinating to get dinner together in that time. I texted her once we got to baggage claim, as she only lives about 20 minutes from the airport, because we were the only arrival at the claim/immigration checkpoint. So I thought we’d be quick. I spoke too soon.
Because of the ludicrously stupid tariffs in place in The US, it actually ends up cheaper for shippers from Taiwan to package shipments in ‘personal belongings/boxes’ & fly in with the packages before shipping them out from inside The US. Yes, they’re that bad. So I would say about 90% of the cargo being offloaded from the luggage carousel was boxes. The only problem was that the boxes weren’t being collected so they were just clogging up the wheel.
No new bags would drop if the carousel sensed there was already a bag/box in the way so I sat & watched as a minute & a half went by between bag distributions onto the belt. I was starting to panic around the twenty five minute mark when we still hadn’t seen an inkling of our luggage, even though there had been cargo being deposited that whole time. Finally around five minutes later our bags came sliding out.
We both have Global Entry, not that immigration was backed up in the slightest, so it took us less than thirty seconds to get though. I’m glad Morgan has left a little later because our timing couldn’t have been better. We walked out the doors of the airport right as her & Greg were coming over the walkway bridge from the garage. We hi’d & hugged & then they directed us to their car where we loaded up our luggage & off we went down the road to dinner.
Morgan & Greg cautiously recommended a Thai restaurant not far from the airport. The caution was there because we’d just spend twelve days in Southeast Asia & they thought that we might be tired of what could potentially be a similar flavor profile. The thing that they didn’t know is that we could never get tired of that flavor profile.
We ended up at Bai Tong Thai. Evan went with his standby of Panang Curry, I did mine, Pad See Ew. I know Morgan got Green Curry but I’m blanking on Greg’s order. Sorry Greg. The Thai spot was amazing, they said it was one of their favorites & apparently it had recently remodeled. We closed down the restaurant chatting away about all sorts of things; our trip, their upcoming trips, the state of the country, the state of theirs & our jobs, life & mutual friends, all the fun things.
Evan, Morgan, Greg, & I.
After dinner they drove us back to the airport. We hugged, said goodbye, & took a selfie right there in front of ticketing. Morgan & Greg are good people & Morgan will always be one of those friends that no matter how much time passes between seeing one another, it seems like no time has passed at all.
We checked in for our Alaska Airlines red eye from Seattle to Nashville, made it through security onto the tram that took us to our terminal then got prepared for another four hours in the air. We arrived home at 5:30 AM the next day.
ParkRoyal Collection Pickering. Photo Credit: Evan Buddenbohn
End Of Day Twelve
Cooling Of At The ParkRoyal Pickering. Photo Credit: Evan Buddenbohn
End Of Part Two & Blog Series
