Going Back in Time… A Trip to Singapore

I can’t really claim it’s been slow around here and there isn’t anything to write about, as that is never the case. I can and should just come out and apologize to our two faithful readers that we are WAY behind in our blogging. If I am correct, I need to fill you in on Singapore, back in late October. How embarrassing it’s taken this long…

It started with Curt attending a CIO Summit in Singapore and me, deciding it was too much work to go with him with 3 kids when he would be busy the whole time. That soon changed when our friends, the Sciricas, mentioned wanting to go out of town that weekend as well. Why not do it together? This phenomena of traveling with other families is new to us, but something we began doing here in Manila, and I believe, won’t stop doing ever. It’s just so much fun to have kids occupied with other kids and couples can pair off and share duties. It seems like the best of both worlds when your family isn’t  close enough to travel with you.

The last time we were in Singapore was Christmas 2007 with the Charles Family. So we had seen most of the “must haves” already, but we were excited to show the Sciricas how much fun Singapore can be. Those of us who live in Manila always joke about what a reprieve Singapore is from the 3rd world country of the Philippines. The few hours on a flight and you are dropped in a very well organized (some say sterile), clean and pleasant city. On this adventure, we left Friday evening and returned Monday afternoon for a long weekend. On our first visit, we stayed in the the city proper, but this visit, we just stayed wherever Curt was attending his conference, which happened to be the Sentosa Resort and Spa on Sentosa Island. It’s just barely outside the city, but is quite a hub of activity for families. It was a new experience to be on Sentosa Island as we didn’t visit there before. The hotel was spectacular and definitely within my snooty hotel standards. Everyone got into town and hit the beds as soon as possible. It was a bit late and we were tired. Saturday morning we were awakened by the VERY noisy peacocks that run wild on the island. Those little buggers are noisy…seriously, I can’t believe how much I don’t like peacocks now. They are great in the zoo, but that’s about it. Not to mention, when we got to breakfast, the wild monkeys kept trying to come take our food. It was cute for a minute, then you realize what varmints they are.  It’s always interesting, to say the least.

 

Once we all were fueled for sightseeing, we took the Sciricas down to the famous Orchard Road, the mecca for malls and high end shopping. We strolled about, gawked at the stores, bought a few items (with Christmas in mind) and headed for our must have, Din Tai Fung (DTF). Now, if you have ready any of the last 3-4 blog entries you would know that DTF is our favorite dumpling place. Not only do they have an outlet in Singapore, it was where we had our first exposure to the yummy restaurant in December 2007.

I think Frank and Stacey were a little suspect at our need to go here, but they soon found out what all the fuss was about. It was very fulfilling to see them smile after their first bite and even to note how surprised they were that they liked it as much as they did. More converts to add to the fan club. Next we headed on the MRT to Chinatown. I was on a mission to buy a mah jong set and figured Chinatown would be the place to get it. After a quick ice cream, break at Swensens we wandered around Chinatown. We found the House of Mah Jong, but unfortunately, they wanted a week to engrave numbers and English letters on the tiles. I just haven’t succumbed to learning the Chinese characters yet. After that disappointment, we headed back to Sentosa Island. We had a dinner date for the adults and sitters booked for the kids! The adults had a nice meal without the chaos that comes with traveling. Not to mention, Stacey and Frank have one kiddo, Mira, who is 7 years old and we have a brood that can get VERY overwhelming to be around. It was a great break. I mean, honestly, don’t we usually want a vacation after our vacations? This way we get some down time that enables us to push on through with full enthusiasm!

Now it’s Sunday morning and while we still had Curt to hang out with before he got caught up in his conference, we headed to the Singapore Flyer, the largest Ferris wheel in the world. We missed the opening by 2 months when we were there last, so we had to try this out.

  Like a lot of parents, I dream up all the awful things that could happen to my kids and, although I wanted to go on the Ferris wheel, I did have some silent reservations about it’s stability, my kids falling out, the rocking of the cars, etc. I was so impressed by the massive machine! It was solid, sealed in every crevice and it didn’t rock at all. The view was amazing. We could see in every direction and there was an audio tour to boot. The kids walked around the capsule and could see out on every side. What a fun thing to do, it was fantastic. It’s these memories the kids will remember forever, as well as the parents!

Next we took the Sentosa Island shuttle to the aquarium. It’s a small aquarium, but there is still space to feed/pet the rays and the fish. The aquarium is at one end of the major beach on the island. We took a shuttle halfway down the beach and had lunch a great little restaurant. Curt’s day was cut short at his conference, so he met us for a few beers, where we all sat and watched the kids play. There is just so much to do on the beach. There is a surfing complex, tons of beach games, water fountains for the kids, an alpine slide and so on and so forth. I was very impressed with all the activities. Of course, we weren’t really planning to spend all day at the beach, but we hung out as long as we could. It was important to get the kids down for a little rest before we headed out to the night safari at the Singapore Zoo. We did give the kids a little time to get soaked in the water fountains. It’s always the impromptu activities that are the most fun.

They played in the water and chased the fountains for about 30 minutes. I think Jones had the most fun and swallowed the most water out of all of them.

After some “rest” time, as our girls didn’t nap, we headed out to the zoo. For those of you who have not been to the Singapore Zoo, it is an amazing zoo. We have been to the main zoo and  have been to the Night Safari portion.  On this night we were only headed to the Night Safari. For the Night Safari, you either walk or ride a tram through parts of the zoo with nocturnal animals.    It’s a great concept for zoos. The zoo also has a show where the trainers have worked with other nocturnal animals and the audience gets to see them in action. Wolves howl on cue and birds fly to their posts when prompted. Of course, the show is interactive so volunteers are called up from the audience. Last time we were there, Madeline Charles was called up to volunteer, this time we managed to get Frank up in front of the crowd. Not only did he not quite know what he was volunteering for exactly, he doesn’t like snakes…he was asked to hold a HUGE python to prove how heavy and large the animal was. It was quite funny and we all enjoyed it (all but Frank, that is).

As we were heading out, Aleah and Curt decided to participate in a more experiential activity. You place your feet in an aquarium and these tiny fish come eat all the dead skin off your feet. It’s gross! They said it tickled, especially Curt, as his feet are very sensitive. Not something you get the chance to do in the States.

We all headed back to the hotel and went to bed, just to wake up the next day and head for the airport as Curt had to stay for the rest of his conference. It was a quick trip for us, but a very enjoyable one. Thank you to the Scirica’s for tolerating our brood. I hope you still like us enough to travel with us again sometime.  It’s important to get out of the Philippines every so often and enjoy the continent of Asia, it’s why we came in  the first place.