'You ate satay with the wrong sauces': US tourists return to Singapore to 'fix mistakes' from their first visit

Admitting to your mistakes isn't easy.

Especially when it's a subjective matter, like what to do on vacation.

When American travellers Heather and Bill, who have a YouTube channel called Tales From Our Pocket, did videos on their first visit to Singapore a year ago, they were apparently told by viewers that there were "things [they] got wrong".

So on their second trip here recently, the couple attempted to make things right by "fixing the five biggest mistakes" they made during their initial visit.

They documented this in a new video posted last Saturday.

"Thank you for mostly being nice about those things," they prefaced in the video caption.

Worth the admission fee?

In their previous YouTube video, Bill lamented about the $15 entrance fee to the National Orchid Garden, located in the Singapore Botanic Gardens.

Not seeing it as worth the price, they decided to skip it, with Bill saying that there were already "plenty of orchids" outside.

This sparked some comments from viewers, saying the couple had missed out on a beautiful experience.

Fast forward to the present, and the duo were keen to find out if skipping this attraction the first time was a mistake.

The sheer size of the garden took Heather by surprise. This wasn't just a space full of orchids.

Trees, shrubs and waterfalls added to the scenery, and there was even a VIP Orchid Garden with flowers named after Princess Diana, and Barack and Michelle Obama, among others.

After completing their walk around the area, Bill admitted: "Our Singaporean viewers were correct."

Food-related 'errors'

It's no real surprise that food made its way into the list.

Local netizens had pointed out some 'mistakes' Heather and Bill made that they believe did not allow them to fully enjoy the food on offer in Singapore.

First up, egg tarts.

Heather and Bill's first taste of this popular pastry here was underwhelming and did not come close to the egg tarts they had in Portugal.

"The ones here [in Singapore] were more of a pudding with a shortbread for the crust," Heather explained back then.

But some netizens pointed out that Portuguese egg tarts weren't too hard to find here either.

This led the couple to a stall in Tanjong Katong, and after one bite, it was almost as if they were back in Portugal.

"This is awfully close [to the tarts in Portugal]. I really love this," Bill said in their latest video.

Next up, Heather and Bill were looking forward to giving satay another go.

The last time the couple had satay in Singapore, they had too many sauces with them and ended up dipping their satay in everything but the peanut sauce.

"You ate the satay with the wrong sauces!" one viewer pointed out.

This time around, they did not make the same mistake.

A quick stir of the satay stick in the bowl of peanut sauce and it's straight to the world of umami.

Both approved of the flavours they were enjoying, with Heather claiming that it was "one of the best" peanut dipping sauces she's ever had.

Trying laksa for the first time was less of an enjoyable experience for her, though.

Viewers had suggested they should give this dish a try, and Heather was game for it.

But after a mouthful of laksa, she had to bow out as it was way too spicy for her.

"Why do you do this to me? I genuinely can't talk," Heather said, gulping down a cup of 100plus to soothe her taste buds.

Thankfully though, Bill had better spice tolerance and found the dish to be "absolutely fantastic".

Not going as planned

The Merlion is an iconic symbol of Singapore, and it's common for tourists to want to see the statue at Merlion Park, near the Central Business District.

So it was rather strange that Heather and Bill did not include the Merlion in any of their initial videos on their trip to Singapore.

While viewers did not point this out as a 'mistake', they felt it was only right to give this popular attraction a visit.

Unfortunately, this was one 'wrong' that could not be corrected as the Merlion was going through some renovation works when they popped by. 

The couple were disappointed. They had even brought a drone and had thought of a plan on how to film this segment of the video.

"I'm so sorry! We really tried," Heather said.

Oh well, maybe this could be the basis of their third visit to Singapore.

ALSO READ: 'Singapore doesn't have to be expensive': Tourist uncovers cheap eats in Little India and Kallang

amierul@asiaone.com

No part of this story or photos can be reproduced without permission from AsiaOne.