Singapore
Alone

PRACTICAL SAMPLE

Eating Alone, in Full

The single most useful fact for a woman traveling alone here is that Singapore solved solo dining before you arrived, without setting out to. A hawker center such as Maxwell Food Centre is built around communal seating and fast turnover, with a crowd of people eating on their own schedule: office workers on a lunch break, an elderly woman with her newspaper, a construction crew getting through a quick plate. A woman eating by herself at a hawker table is one of the least noticeable things in the hall.

Here is how one works, stated once and in full, because the format is unfamiliar and knowing it removes the hesitation.

Walk the hall first if it is your first visit, for example to Chinatown Complex Food Centre. Most stalls make one or two dishes, and seeing what comes across the counter, and which stalls have a line of regulars, tells you more than any sign. Secure a table before or immediately after you order, since the halls fill hard at peak times. The local method for holding a seat is called choping: leave a packet of tissues, an umbrella, or another small item of no great value on the chair, and by unspoken agreement it is taken. Nobody disputes a tissue packet.

A free excerpt from Singapore Alone.