Enjoyable Christmas Staycay! - TacoCat’s Travels #302 (SG)

Hey Hive!

If you missed the last few posts, we just finished recounting our trip to Johor Bahru, Malaysia from back in July 2023! We spent a few days just across the border as a short getaway during the summer when it was too hot to travel elsewhere.

We spent some time relaxing, visiting a cat cafe, shopping and eating lots of yummy food!

We spent some time relaxing, visiting a cat cafe, shopping and eating lots of yummy food!

Anyway, now that it's Christmas season, I thought I'd share what Christmas is like in Singapore! This was from last year when we went on a short staycation to Hilton Singapore since we had a free night's stay there.

Before we headed to the hotel, Sean brought me to one of his favourite food spots in town.

I used to come to this food centre back when I worked nearby but it's been quite a few years since then.

He normally comes here during lunch time on his office days, and has raved about the chai tow kway or stir fried carrot cake here (which is really radish cake).

I think this stall is quite famous as well, judging by the various news articles and celebrity pictures the owner has displayed.

The carrot cake comes in two types: black or white, which just means if there's added sweet soy sauce or not.

We also bought braised duck rice since that's one of my favourite dishes that I used to get here. I would buy it from this shop called Boon Tong Kee, which is ironic since there's another shop turned franchise with the same name that specialises in Chicken Rice instead of duck.

It's been a while and Sean said it didn't taste as good as it used to so I kept my expectations low.

The carrot cake was actually really good! It had a nice crispy edge from the fried egg and was nicely seasoned. It was savoury but the only thing lacking would be some spice that I liked. Typically it comes with chili sauce either mixed in or on the side but this one didn't taste like it had any added chili. Unfortunate, but it was still really good either way.

The duck rice was really nice as well, it was saucy and the duck was tender but maybe a little drier than I would've liked. This one did have chili on the side but it wasn't the typical chili you'd find with duck rice. Usually it comes with chili oil mixed with chili flakes but this was just red chili sauce. It was still pretty good though.

While we were eating we saw this Golden Retriever just chilling outside the hawker center and I had to get a picture since he looked so cute!

Our hawker centers don't really allow pets so the doggo was waiting patiently while his owner was eating nearby. He was so well behaved but I didn't want to disturb him with pets.

We left the hawker center and took a bus to the hotel.

Everything looked so fancy here, they even had a cafe with a Christmas-themed train cake on display.

When we went to check in there were quite a few people waiting in the lobby.

They had some refreshments for patrons to enjoy while waiting.

We thought it would take a while because of the people but check-in was actually pretty swift. Soon enough, we were on our way to our room for the night.

The room looked so nice and comfy!

Unfortunately we didn't really have a view of the Christmas lightup on the famous Orchard Road but it was alright.

The bathroom was huge, with a double sink vanity on one side and a bathtub and shower on the other side.

We've never stayed in a Hilton Hotel before and everything looked really fancy.

They even had glass bottles of complimentary water, that's when you know it's luxe.

We relaxed in our room for a while to digest our food before heading out for the night.

Every Christmas season, Orchard Road will be filled with Christmas lights and it's such a nice time to go out and take a walk.

But first, we went to get dinner at another one of Sean's favourite places, Thai Tantric Restaurant.

We shared the crispy omelette, green curry and stir fried kangkong (or morning glory), our favourite dishes.

All of them were delicious! The omelette was crispy, the curry was mild and creamy and the veggies had a nice spice kick to it.

After that I really needed to walk off all the food so we headed to the mall first since that's where the huge Christmas displays are.

Everything was very bright and shiny and although we don't get winter here it really put us in the festive mood.

There were even performances going on along the street.

There was quite a crowd sitting on the steps of the mall enjoying the performances.

There was some kind of Christmas carnival outside this mall with lots of booths and carnival games.

There was also a very huge Christmas tree on display! I think this might be the biggest one on the street.

The Paragon Mall also had a huge tree in front of it that was really nice too.

After that we headed to Far East Mall since they had these very cute LINE Friends displays outside it.

They had some pop-up displays outside the mall that looked so adorable.

Unfortunately it was also wet since it had rained earlier in the day but it was still really cute.

Inside the mall they also had this display with lots of plushies!

We did a little shopping while admiring the decorations.

To end off the day, we retired back to the hotel but not before getting a quick workout in at the gym, which was huge!

The bathroom was also really nice.

They even had fresh apples on display. Initially we thought they were fake but they were real apples you could take and eat after your workout!

After all that food we had to go work it off so it was nice to get a good workout in such a nice and spacious gym. We only do home workouts so we only ever go to the gym when we stay at hotels.

I took a nice warm bath in the tub after that workout and we enjoyed a very restful sleep. What a way to celebrate in our own country!

Hope everyone has a happy holiday!

Thanks for reading!

To find out more about me, check out my intro post here!