Second Time in Singapore - Part Three

On our first trip to Singapore, we hadn't really done anything on Sentosa, Singapore's pleasure island.  On this trip, Jeff and Vivian really wanted to go to Universal Studios, so Young took Elena and spent the day with a friend of hers who works in Singapore, while Jeff and I took Vivian to Universal.  She was excited.

I was excited about the Christmas decorations.

We were all excited though, when we realized she was tall enough for every ride in the park.

Ironically, the longest line we stood in was the one to get in first thing in the morning.  After waiting patiently though, we finally made it in.  The first part of the park is a covered main street area.

We walked right through all the streets.  We had a goal, sci-fi world with the 4D Transformers ride and the Battlestar Galactica roller coasters.  We found Transformers first.

It was set up for a HUGE line, but we just ran right through.  They had some cool stuff in the waiting areas, and Jeff kept trying to take pictures, but we were moving so fast that most of them came out blurry.

Eventually we had to wait for about ten minutes, and then we got in our car and put our 3D glasses on.

The ride was REALLY well done.  Even though I knew it was fake, the effects were so real that my heart was racing.  Jeff and Vivian LOVED it and were jumping around on the way out.  Vivian got her picture near the Transformer outside to commemorate how much she enjoyed the ride.

They kind of wanted to do it again, but we also wanted to keep taking advantage of the short lines, so we moved on.  Battlestar Galactica is actually two roller coasters, Humans and Cylons.  Humans went fast and did twists, but didn't go upside down, while the Cylons one was an upside down feet hanging out one.  Even though Vivian was tall enough for Cylons, she couldn't quite work up the courage for it, so she and Jeff went on Humans, while I held the bags.  She thought it was awesome and wanted to do it again, but Jeff pointed out that the line was too long, so we kept moving on to Egypt.

In Egypt, we found the Mummy roller coaster and learned how to use the locker system.  After we ditched the bags, we could all go on the roller coaster together.  The Mummy one had practically no line, so that one we did go on a couple times.

Vivian saw a "driving" ride across the way and insisted on doing it.  It was pretty tame.

After that, we did a strategic analysis of the rides in the park, to make sure we hit all the cool, roller coaster ones.  The area that tickled my funny bone the most was the fairy tale land modeled on Shrek.

We went on the Puss in Boots ride, which was cute,

but the waiting area was the best part.

In the Fairy Godmother's Potion Shop we got slushies which were quite refreshing.  There was a mini ferris wheel in the shop, so while Jeff and I were getting the slushies, Vivian went for a spin.

We spent about another hour exploring and going on rides, and then declared Universal done.  We went back to the main plaza area outside the park and ate at a Chili's we had seen there on the way in.  True, Chili's is not the world's best Mexican food, but it was a fun change from what we're used to.  Jeff was particularly impressed with the steak fajitas.

After that, we went back to the apartment to give Elena some attention, and then Jeff and I left the girls with Young, and went out for the evening adventure I had really been looking forward to, exploring Marina Bay Sands.

Marina Bay Sands, MBS for short, is a hotel/casino/conference/shopping center.  It's the crazy spaceship building that shows up in the background of our Gardens by the Bay pictures.

Our final goal was the deck at the top, but I hadn't realized that there was a huge mall and conference center across the street that was attached.  I got discounted tickets through Klook that had to be picked up at the MBS mall.  I'm so glad I did, not just because I saved us some money, but also because if I hadn't, I never would have discovered that the mall has a canal with boat rides!

The line was long, and the canal was short, so we opted not to go on a ride, but just the fact that it was there gave me a happy.  Most of the stores in the mall were the high end Prada, Cartier variety.  We had fun looking around.  The winner was probably the store with the Ferrari clothes line for children.

After our trip, I had to reread Crazy Rich Asians which is an over the top novel about ridiculously rich people in Singapore and Hong Kong.  It describes the type of people who might actually shop at this store.

After our fun mall adventure, we made our way up to the Sky Park, with a great view of Singapore spread out beneath us, including Gardens by the Bay.

You could also see evidence that Singapore is a major trade hub.

Jeff has a new camera, and he discovered that he could zoom all the way to the Merlion on the opposite side of the bay.

The Sky Park itself is just a big deck without seats.  There's a small refreshment stand, but that's about it.  There's also a bar and restaurant attached to the hotel, but it looked very crowded.  I had done my research, and on the other end of monstrosity that sits atop the three towers is a sky bar called Flight and restaurant called Sky on 57.  Flight had a sunset special on Singapore slings, which seemed like the thing to drink.  Of course, it would have been too simple if we could have just walked from one end of the park to the other.  Instead, what we had to do was take the elevator all the way down to the hotel lobby, walk across the lobby to the third tower, and then take the elevator all the way back up.  It was worth it though.

We had a few rounds, complete with complimentary foie gras dumplings, and watched the sun set.

After our drinks, we walked over to the other side of the deck and looked down on Gardens by the Bay, all lit up.

The big light in the middle is the Christmas display.

I would have loved to go there too, but I've come to terms with the fact that I will never be able to do everything there is to do in Singapore.

The next morning we had time before our flight, so we tackled one more fun thing, the S.E.A. Aquarium on Sentosa.  We love aquariums, and they were advertising a Merry Fishmas, so we figured we should go and check it out.

We got a picture of the girls in front of the colorful Merlion in the plaza area.

Elena got a kick out of the candy forest we had discovered the day before with Vivian.

When we first went into the aquarium they had an interesting exhibit on Singapore's history of trade.

After that, we got down to fishy business.

It wasn't crowded, and we weren't in a hurry, so we took our time.  There were lots of areas where we could sit and just watch the fish swim around in huge tanks, so that's what we did.

Eventually, we made our way to the airport.  I had found a service that picked up our suitcases at the apartment, and then returned them to us at the airport.  It worked beautifully.  The man who we had given the suitcases to was standing at the AirAsia check in area waiting for us.  We had a quick check in, and then went to the same restaurant and play area we had the last time.  It was a wonderful, fun, stress free long weekend in Singapore.

Second Time in Singapore - Part Two

I wanted to start our first full day in Singapore off right, so I went to the shopping center next to us on the hunt for kopi.  Kopi is the Singapore version of coffee.  It's a sweetened coffee, served with condensed milk, perfect for me!  Jeff, on the other hand, declared even the milk free version to be disgusting, poor guy.  I found some kopi and some traditional breakfast toast with butter and coconut jam.  My favorite part was the little plastic bag handle they attached for my coffee, so I could carry it without burning my hands.

I got enough toast for everyone to try.  It turned out to be too rich, even for me, but the kopi is a keeper.

Once we were all fueled up, we headed to our favorite place in Singapore, Gardens by the Bay.  We wanted to go, just because we enjoy it, but we also wanted to see what they had done for Christmas.  A lot of it was set up for the light show at night, but it was still cool to look at in the daytime.

We got on the tram again for the tour of the full grounds.  It worked out well, because the skies got dark, and it sprinkled a little while we were riding around.  Even with cloudy skies though, Gardens by the Bay is incredible.

The rain stopped shortly after it began, and we headed over to the domes.  We had to give the girls time to play in the tree structures first though.  Elena was quite impressed and had trouble focusing on us for a picture.

We started with the Cloud Dome, because it's ridiculously awesome.

After freezing on our first trip, I came prepared this time with long sleeves for me and the girls.

Elena was roaming free on this trip, and she got really excited about the flowers and trees, but she ran over to me in a panic when she spotted the "alligators" lurking in the water.

We reassured her that they weren't real, but she was skeptical.  Despite the alligator scare, we all had fun in the Cloud Dome.  Then, we made our way over to the Flower Dome.  The first thing I noticed when I walked in was that it smelled like Christmas trees, real Christmas trees.  We haven't had a real tree since we've been here, so I just took some time to inhale.  They turned the whole center area into a Christmas forest.

Elena was thrilled when she found a Christmas "tree" with "snow."

They had all different kinds of poinsettias with a sign explaining that the color depends on how much light/dark exposure they have.  

They also had a beautiful display with blue flowers.

Even though I love the Christmas trees, I was also impressed by the everyday specimens they had, like this olive tree.

They even had some lovely carved trees.

I could spend all day in the domes, but children need to eat, so we found a restaurant.  They had a kids menu, complete with smiley fries, which we all enjoyed.

Once we were fueled up, we made our way over to the Children's Garden, which we hadn't explored the last time.  Only the domes cost money, all the rest of the gardens are free, which is really nice.  On the way, we stopped by the desert display.

There were some cool, non-pokey seating options too.

The girls were a little sad that I hadn't brought their bathing suits to play in the splash area, but we promised them pool time back at the hotel, and pointed out that by their standards it was quite "chilly" outside.  Vivian soon warmed up though, when she discovered that most of the children's garden was a giant playground obstacle course.

She did not approve of Jeff's interpretation of the net area.

She climbed and slid and climbed again.

The adults took turns watching Vivian and chasing Elena, who wanted to do everything Vivian was doing, but wasn't quite big enough for the play area yet.  We found a smaller play area for her on the other side of the splash pad.

But by that point, she was so worn out, all she wanted to do was sit and eat ice cream.

We taxied back to the apartment and had some quiet time.  Then, the girls were ready for their promised pool trip.

As predicted though, the water was "cold."

The girls still enjoyed themselves.  We did have one minor tragedy.  Elena bumped her inner tube on something, and it deflated.  She was fine, but for the rest of pool time Jeff had to follow her around to make sure she didn't fall off the underwater bench into the deeper water.  After about an hour, we got the girls out, cleaned them up, and left them eating pasta with Young.  Jeff took me back to the mall for dinner and gallantly agreed to try a sushi place I had spotted the night before.  There had been a line at prime dinner time, but since we were early, we got in without a wait.  It was yummy.

An early dinner was part of our master plan, because we wanted to try out Singapore Zoo's Night Safari, which doesn't open until after 7:00pm.  We knew Elena wouldn't make it, so she stayed with Young, but we figured that since Singapore is an hour ahead of Bangkok, Vivian could probably handle it, so long as we got there right when it opened.  We had a rough time getting a ride there though.  For some reason, Uber just didn't work with our building, and there were pretty much no free taxis.  We finally managed to grab a taxi that was dropping a family off at our building, but I had a moment where I thought we'd have to scrap the whole thing.

Once we got there, we got right in line for the tram ride that takes you around the park.  Viv was excited.

It was really interesting to ride around the zoo in the dark.  It felt like a behind the scenes thing.  It was also nice and cool, which is a nice change from what we're used to.  There weren't any really unusual animals, but since the main route is on the tram, a lot of it was open, so that we were right next to the herbivores with no fence or anything.  That was cool.  Of course, for the part with the white lions, there was a bit ditch and no way they were getting to us.  

Since we got there a little late, our timing was off, and we missed the creature show they do, which is too bad, but we had fun exploring one of the trails, complete with kangaroos and wallabies.  You can't use flash to take pictures, so it's hard to get any that come out with the real animals.  Vivian and Jeff found a partial solution.

It was definitely a unique and interesting experience, but by the end Vivian was DONE.  Still, it was fun for Vivian to have some only child time with mommy and daddy.  We got her home and put her to bed, so that she could rest up for the next adventure, Universal Studios.