Myself, Logan, Andrew and about 20 of our friends and neighbors left saturday Aug 1st at 2pm and took planes, trains, buses, and automobiles and finally arrived in Singapore at 2am on Sunday. Checked into our AWESOME suite at the Hilton Singapore, got some sleep, breakfast, and a swim in the rooftop pool. Then a long nap and daddy arrived at 2pm on Sunday! Andrew and I ran down the hall to greet him with open arms, and when Logan woke from his nap he squealed with delight and also grabbed Marc with open arms. We were all hungry so we hit the streets and had some food on Orchard Rd and our first experience with all of the shopping in Singapore. Our hotel was right in the middle of the shopping district of Singapore...I did buy myself a new pair of cheetah print Birkenstocks:)
We headed back to the hotel for the boys to show Marc their new swimming abilities in the pool. Cocktails by the pool and dinner in the lounge, then a quiet relaxing night with daddy in our room.
Monday morning we took the boys to see their first play "The boy who cried wolf" at Singapore Repertory Theatre in Boat Quay and then made our way over to the Raffles hotel, which is the oldest hotel and most famous spot in Singapore. Logan was carsick (as usual) and puked all over the sidewalk inside the beautiful grounds of the Raffles hotel!! We wanted to have a drink in the famous Long Bar at the Raffles, but they had peanuts on the tables and peanut shells all over the floor...so we figured it would be best for Logan if we sat outside on the porch and admired the view. Next we walked over to the Suntec mall and purchased 3 day passes to ride the Hippo tour bus. It's an open topped double decker bus with a tour guide that travels all over the island of Singapore. We all LOVED the bus tours, you can hop on and hop off at any of the many stops on the tours, so we just used the tour bus as our taxi. And it was so cool to see the city from high atop a bus and to feel the cool breeze. We saw Little India, Chinatown, Arab street and much more. Tons of mosques, temples and churches. Tons of malls and hotels. Outdoor markets and shops everywhere. Singapore is a beautiful, tropical lush island filled with culture and entertainment. It is also very clean and everyone speaks English, tourism is very important to their economy. Chewing gum is illegal, smoking is frowned upon, and eating in the subway stations will get you a hefty fine. All of this we learned from different cab drivers, whom were all very kind and Singapore natives, another mandate by the Singapore government.
Monday night we enjoyed the Night Safari where a bat swooped my hair and then a random indian fellow grabbed my ankle because I screamed...so I screamed again. We all got a good laugh at my expense...and Logan keeps asking me why I'm afraid of everthing.
Tuesday I headed off to Little India by myself while the boys napped and Marc caught up on some work in the hotel. I visited the indian markets, bought a traditional indian outfit, and ducked into a few chinese buddhist temples and an indian mosque. Tuesday evening we met some of Marc's work friends at Hooters in Clarke Quay and then did the Singapore River Cruise. Truly beautiful to see Singapore from the water in the evening. Then we headed to Jumbo seafood and tried the famous "Chili Crab", Singapore's signature dish...it was yummy and very spicy.
Wednesday we headed over to Chinatown for some quick shopping then took the cable car over to Sentosa Island, a big new resort island that is growing very rapidly. We bought our tickets to go down the Luge...and go back up the sky-ride. The luge was awesome but the sky-ride was way too scary for me. The sky-ride was basically a ski lift to take you back up the mountain after you had ridden the luge down. But there was nothing holding you in the seat and we were just dangling HIGH above the ground for a very long ride...I was doing everything I could to keep my cool because Logan was with me. Marc and Andrew were in the seat ahead of us and they were both scared too, Logan was the only brave one...and he kept asking me why I'm scared of everything:) We rode the Luge 4 times, but only took the sky-ride twice...we took a bus and walked back up the other two times, it was too scary!!
We went to the aquarium and saw the pink dolphin show and then headed back to the hotel for some rest before another night out on the town. That evening we got t-shirts at Hard Rock cafe, had some yummy appetizers at a nice Brick-Oven pizza restaurant, then headed over to Esmirada restaurant for a late dinner and dish breaking entertainment! Our friends who used to live in Singapore recommended the restaurant to us. It was delicious greek/mediterranean food and they pass out plates around 9:30pm for everyone to throw on the floor and break. The kids thought it was awesome to break dishes and it was just lots of fun for all of us.
Marc headed out at 6am on Thursday and the kids were so tired they could barely even wake up to say goodbye. We relaxed around the pool until noon, Then headed over to Bugis flea market, where I got a double Buddha for my collection and the boys each got a new toy. I had never seen a double buddha - so I asked the vendor what it meant and he said "double happiness"...I had to have it! The boys and I had another late dinner at California pizza kitchen (yes -I miss american food) and then headed to the airport at 10pm to catch our midnight flight.
We were home by noon on Friday and greeted by our neighbors with a block party that afternoon. That evening we had Logan's pizza party for the end of his soccer season and he got his first TROPHY, he is so proud:) Life is good...
