Stranded in Singapore

After Hong Kong I was supposed to spend 24 hours in Singapore and then onto Indonesia before returning to the US.  I finished up my meetings in Singapore headed to the airport and then was stopped.   My passport expired on January 1, 2014 unfortunately Indonesia requires that a passport be valid for 6 months + 1 day for entry into the country.  I was unable to get a boarding pass, even though I had a return ticket out of Indonesia 24 hours later and one from Singapore to the US on Saturday.   They are telling me I shouldn't have even been allowed into Singapore with my passport and I had to go to the embassy to get an emergency passport to continue travelling.

At the airport I'm scrambling to find a hotel, there is a big convention in town so many of the hotel rooms are booked.  Luckily I find a room and decide to make the best of the evening before heading to the embassy in the morning.  I wander down to the river and get a bite to eat from one of the hawkers in Makansutra Gluttons Bay.  So many options I finally decided on a whole fish.  Delicious!

In the morning I head to the embassy and the inform me I do not need a new passport to return to the US that I am fine but I need to get a new one as soon as I return as many countries require 6 months validity.   With that out of the way I have a whole day free in Singapore.   I decide to first check out Gardens By the Bay there is a cloud walk in the top of these Super Trees.   T

The gardens were filled with beautiful flowers and  plants.  Unfortunately with the heat and humidity I needed to get inside and cool off so I cut my visit short.  I figured a quick stop at Raffle's was in order for one of their world famous Singapore Slings and some chicken satay.  I didn't want to eat too much here as I had plans for  something much better. 

In case you want to make your own sling here is the recipe.  

One of my favorite dishes in Singapore is the chili crab.  This unfortunately is a large dish and is best shared with others.     I had heard good things about the No Signboard Seafood and I figured after the drama I deserved a treat.  The waiter offered to find the smallest crab they had for me since I was dining alone.   It was wonderful and a nice end to the day.