Grant, Ben and I were lucky to have my mother-in-law Deena come out and take care of the babies while we went to Singapore! We left on a Saturday morning and flew from Fukuoka, Japan, to Taipei Taiwan to Hong Kong and then to Singapore! Whew!! We took the city bus to the airport in Japan and Grant took this picture of the guy in the row with him. Looks like he is comfortable!
Our flight from Hong Kong to Singapore ended up being three hours late due to a brake problem on the plane. We ended up completely switching planes! It was crazy! We got in at midnight! The next morning we at breakfast at the hotel where they brag about eating with the squirrels. If I was the hotel I wouldn't be bragging about them. They were pretty scary!!
On our first morning we met up with Grant's brother Scott and his wife Manju. They stayed in the hotel with us and spent the first day with us traveling around Sentosa Island. Sentosa Island is right off the coast of Singapore and it is where they have lots of adventure activities and lots of resorts. In the picture above Grant and Ben went to explore on the beach while I finished up breakfast.
The scary squirrel!!
Before we headed out on our adventure we were able to skype with Grant's mom. Here she is with the babies! I missed them so much that I took a picture of them on the skype so I could continually look at them on my camera!
The beautiful view from our hotel. Notice all of the ships out off the coast. Lots of ships hang out there waiting for work.
Our first stop was Underwater world and the dolphin show. They have pink dolphins there. I thought they were a bit sick looking but I think it was just their pink skin.
This was a cool sting ray tank. They were very friendly and would come right up to you and let you pet them and they would splash us.
You could stick your hand in the tank and try to feel a fish or at least try to feed one.
Aunt Manju and Ben trying to coax a fish over.
At Underwater World they had a people mover floor system that took you through a huge tank. It was really neat. I think Ben could have gone through that thing over and over again.
After the aquarium we headed next door to get a fish pedicure. It was crazy!! We stuck our feet in a pool of fish and they nibbled on our feet and calves for 20 minutes. It was such a weird feeling!!
I had to bite on a cloth half the time because all I wanted to do was scream it felt so funny!
Grant chose a pool of bigger fish. They went crazy on his feet!! Unfortunately 20 minutes is not long enough to make much of a dent on scaly feet. I think we would need to go back every day for a few weeks to feel cleaned up and baby butt smooth.
Ben was such a good trooper. He couldn't participate but he patiently waited while we freaked out!
After our fish experience we headed for the Megazip zipline. If you have seen Amazing Race you may have seen this zipline when they went to Singapore. I had hyped myself up into doing it! I am extremely scared of anything like this and have no idea why I decided to do this but I did it! The picture above is Ben once again patiently waiting while we did adult things. Grant didn't do the zipline because he has done it before.
You are taken by cart to the top of the mountain and climb up a tower where you are strapped on and let go!
This is the ending down on the beach.
I hooted and hollered the whole way down. I was so amazed I actually did this. My whole body hurt afterwards I think due to a huge adrenaline rush.
We then headed on to the luge ride. For the luge you take a life to the top of the mountain and then ride in small cars back down. Finally Ben could have some fun!!
This is the chair lift. I was more scared on this than I was on the zipline!
Scott and Manju in the chair in front of us.
Weeeeee!!!
This is at the end of our first day - you can tell Ben isn't in the greatest mood! He was tired and his feet were hurting. Poor guy!
Day 2 - a playground at a mall in Singapore. There were lots of kids at this playground with their nannies!
Singapore was sooooo hot! You can tell in the picture above! In the afternoon we headed out to Juroung Bird Park. Ben's had developed blisters on his feet so we rented a stroller and pushed him around. This park was full of bird exhibits and shows.
One of the bird shows - look at those crazy flamingos!
Ben was dripping with sweat!
This was the birds of prey show. The animal in the background is fake but the birds are real.
Grant was chosen to help out during the show! He used a sling shot to shoot up a piece of meat and a falcon swooped down and got it!!
Good shot!
On our way home we stopped and played in a fountain near our hotel!
The water felt so good!
Day 3 we explored more of Sentosa Island. This is the merlion. The merlion is one of the symbols used for Singapore. It has a lion head and a mermaid body. Singapore means lion city - one of the earliest settlers thought he saw a lion in Singapore which actually turned out to be something else but the name Singapura or Singapore was already established.
We checked out a museum called Images of Singapore. It showed the history of Singapore. They did a great job! When Ben pulled the tail above it made a lion sound.
This exhibit was showing how the early workers would move things off of ships.
Ben being a rickshaw driver.
Now daddy's turn!
After the images we went on a ride that took us up this pole and we were able to see a 360 degree view of Singapore.
We were in a round capsule that spun around as it went up and down.
You can kind of see the capsule.
After the capsule ride we headed to an area that claims to be the southernmost point of Asia. On the way there Ben found these flowers. I thought they were quite beautiful and pretty unique.
Here I am at the southernmost point!
We had to cross a bridge to get there.
They had two towers with great views.
This is the restaruant where we ate lunch. It wasn't the greatest food but they had wireless internet and it was pouring down rain so at least we were under cover!
Ben found another fountain to play in!
This birdcage was on the side of the road by the beach. The man inside is holding a piece of watermelon for the birds.
They were beautiful birds (and hungry!!)
After exploring Sentosa a little more we headed out to the famous Singapore Night Zoo. Ben was ready to go with his Stitch bag from the airline and his Sentosa Island crown. Unfortunately the zoo is pretty far out - we had to ride the monorail to the train to another train to a public bus. It was a lonnnnggg trip! Our public bus ride was about 30 minutes and Ben slept the entire time!
This was a fire show right outside of the main gate to the zoo.
Inside the zoo they have an animal show that features animals of the night and then we paid a little extra to take a tram throughout the park to see the animals out at night. You can also walk through the zoo but it would have been way to hard for us with Ben. Unfortunately I have no pictures of the animals because you couldn't use a flash.
Day 4 we decided to explore Singapore. We headed out to an Indian restaraunt where you ate with your hands and we went to a local street market to check out souvenirs.
Here is a picture of Grant at the train station. We knew the trains VERY well by the time we left!
This is the famous Raffles Hotel. Raffles Hotel is an old hotel similar to the Hotel Del in San Diego or the Pennisula Hotel in Hong Kong. Of course we could never afford to stay there but it was cool to see inside,
One of the top tourist things to do is get a Singpaore Sling from the Long Bar at Raffles. The Singapore Sling is a fruity drink which at the Long Bar costs about $25.00!!! Of course we had to try it but I don't ever need to pay that much for a drink. At the Long Bar you also are given a bowl full of peanuts which you eat and throw the shells on the ground. Ben thought that was pretty cool although it took him awhile to feel comfortable doing it. I think he kept thinking he would get in trouble! And yes - we did take a four year old with us into a bar!
After our Singapore Sling (notice I said Sling not Slings - there was no way we were going to get two!) we went for a ride in a bumboat. The bumboats were used in the early days to transport people around, now they are just used to make money off of tourists and show them around the waterways of the city!
It was nice to just sit down and enjoy a little breeze while checking out the sights.
This is a sculpture of kids jumping into the river. I guess at one time that was a common sight.
Another merlion
Yes that is a boat on top of a hotel!! It was crazy looking!!
Finally our day ended with a dip in the hotel pool. This was Ben's absolute favorite place. They had a beautiful pool.
Ben has finally become comfortable in the water again.
Ben is on the right slide.
I just had to take a picture of this. Twice a week they fog the hotel for bugs. This is the side of the hotel facing the beach. It was really weird to see but I guess necissary.
Siloso Beach sand castle.
On our way home from Singapore we got stranded in Hong Kong for one night. Grant was thrilled but I was tired and greatly missed the babies. We did try though to make the most of it. We went out for a good dinner and went for a ride on the famous Star Ferry. The city skyline was beautiful.
We have a good friend in Singapore who owns a tailoring and jewelry shop. We stopped by to see him and he gave Ben this dolpin wind chime. Ben was thrilled.
On the right is another Star Ferry.
Tired and ready to get back to the hotel.
The airline put us up in a hotel connected to the airport. Our room looked right out on the runway so we were able to watch planes landing! The windows were so thick though that we couldn't hear a thing!
On our way out I couldn't resist taking this picture of all of the taxis lined up at the airport. I guess they all end up getting enough work but there sure were a lot of them!
