We worked out first, which turned out to be the correct order of operations, because high tea at the Shangri-La followed. It is served in the Rose Garden, the Christmas decorations were up and the music was going, and there was a good deal more of it than two people needed. We left extremely full.

Then a twenty-minute walk to the Botanic Gardens, half for the gardens and half to work off the tea. It is a UNESCO site — the only tropical botanic garden on the list — and the National Orchid Garden inside it holds the largest orchid display in the world. Jen loves orchids. It rained hard, twice, and she was entirely unbothered.

Dinner at Buko Nero in Tanjong Pagar, twenty tables, Italian cooking with Asian ingredients running through it, and the sort of service you only get somewhere that small. Book ahead. It was one of the best meals of the whole trip.