More Singapore Fun

There is always plenty for us to do in Singapore - rain or shine.  After our walk with the dinosaurs on Saturday, we decided to pursue a less...dangerous event and went, once again, to Wild Wild Wet.  Our daughter is still not yet tall enough to enjoy the faster rides alone, but she really enjoys the fast inner tube ride and some of the smaller slides built for kids her age.  They even have an ankle-deep pool for toddlers that our son could enjoy.

On Monday, my wife had an ultra-sound appointment and other routine baby appointments, so I stayed at the hotel with the kids.  When the appointment was over, my wife took our daughter to Rapunzel (called "Tangled" in the US) while my son and I looked for a Wi-Fi location in Singapore.  Finally ended up at a Starbucks....of course.  Singapore is a wealthy city-state and it is all on display at Christmas time in the city.  We counted over 30 gigantic Christmas trees.

 

Tuesday we returned to Universal Studios.  The two main attractions (Madagascar and the main roller coaster) are still not operating nearly a year after opening.  The paucity of rides means that it is truly not yet worth the price of admission....unless you are too small for the big rides anyway.  Our kids had more fun meeting the characters, making new friends, styling their hair, and just playing in the water fountains.  Our son developed his own paparazzi following.

 

 

 




Wednesday was a day of shopping while we waited for our passport renewal so we could leave early Thursday morning.  The only odd event of the day was our cab ride from dinner to the hotel.  We ended up with a cabbie who claimed to be a former executive of a high profile Singaporean company who gave it all up to protect his soul and found a new calling as a proselytizing Christan cab driver.  He prayed for us.  Very odd man.

The only thing further I'll share is that, despite its five star rating and the quality of the staff, especially the concierge, I would not recommend staying at The Goodwood Park Hotel.  The walls are very thin - we woke up to someone drying their hair - and the television options when you are winding down for the evening are non-existent unless all you want is international news or sports - they have 4 channels of each of those.  I think it will very soon become a wedding's only location.  There were four wedding parties in the six days we stayed there.

We'll probably head back to Singapore in March to select our new housing arrangements for when we have our new arrival in July.  We'll be living there again for about ten weeks around the birth.  Looking forward to it!

Universal Studios Singapore

We are once again in Singapore.  This time, we are on a "medical holiday".  Nothing serious, I just didn't trust my skin cancer screen during my annual physical in Jakarta.  When I asked for one, the doctor gave me one, but not before saying:  "We only worry about skin cancer with Caucasians living below the equator".  I thought he was joking.  I was staring at him with a look that said: "I am a Caucasian living below the equator".  Basically, my insurance will pay for me to have the procedures (I'm also having a mole removed, I think) in Singapore, but don't deem it an emergency, to they won't pay for the airfare, lodging, or recommend time off of work.  So, I've taken vacation to coincide with our Tuesday, Independence Day holiday, and am using my travel allowance.

It has been a few months since we've been to Singapore.  When we returned from our April visit, we realized we missed the Grand Opening of Universal Studios, Singapore.  We made it a point to go there on our first day this time.  But I'm getting ahead of myself....

We're staying at the Shangri-La Hotel.  When we entered the lobby, my daughter remarked:  "This is beautiful!"  She wanted to move in.  We took several pictures in the lobby - not something we normally do at a hotel.  We're staying in the Towers.  According to their brochure, one of their other sections is "favored by corporate executives, visiting dignitaries and heads of state".  I didn't ask for the rates on those.

This morning, we started with the buffet breakfast at the hotel.  I think it is included in my room rate, but I forgot to ask.  After receiving the bill, I hope it is!  The buffet was amazing, though.  Well worth the price.  And since we only eat two meals when we travel - a HUGE breakfast and a large dinner, we get our money's worth.  I ate more blueberries today than I can typically find in the entire grocery store in Jakarta.  Odd, the things we miss.

After breakfast, we took a taxi to Sentosa Resort World.  This whole area of Sentosa island opened this year.  It includes Singapore's only casino (to which they charge admission for locals, but not visitors), several new hotels (including a Hard Rock), high end mall, several western restaurants, and Universal Studios.

The Universal Studios Singapore (USS) has sections for Madagascar, Far Far Away (Shrek), Jurassic Park, The Lost World (The Mummy), Hollywood and New York City.  Madagascar's primary ride is still under construction.  We spent the whole day in Far Far Away and Jurassic Park.

My daughter is just now tall enough to ride the more advanced rides, so Amusement parks are becoming more fun.  We took another trip to Waterbom Jakarta last weekend, and there are just two waterslides there she cannot yet ride.  At Universal Studios, this meant my daughter went on her first roller coaster.  Two, actually.  And a pretty scary water ride (that she went on with my wife).

This was the day that almost didn't happen.  When we first arrived, the ticket office told me they were sold out for today.  I asked about Sunday:  sold out, too.  I shrugged and figured we'd head off to the Singapore water park.  My wife told me to get tickets for Monday and we'd go after our medical appointments.  As I was buying the Monday tickets, a tour cancelled and their tickets opened up the park.  So I bought tickets for today!

Around 2 PM, it started to pour.  That emptied the park.  Between the afternoon dowsing and the initial "sold out", we had the park pretty much to ourselves from 3 PM until the 7 PM closing.  There was a mere 5 minute wait on the biggest roller coaster at the park (that is currently open).  I went as a single, and was able to use the single rider line.  I had no waiting and hopped in the front of the first car.  Total time from leaving my family, taking the ride, and rejoining the family was less than 5 minutes.  This was 5 PM on a Saturday at a brand new amusement park!  Pretty amazing.

The highlight of the trip so far is two quotes from our daughter.  The first was when she explored our hotel room (which is quite nice).  She was marvelling at the bathroom and announced:  "It has everything!  The only thing missing is a book, so daddy can't read when he uses the toilet."  The second happened at USS.  When we boarded the first roller coaster, I said to my daughter:  "This is your first roller coaster.  Are you ready?"  She said:  "Yes."  When it came to a stop at the end, she looked at me and said:  "My first roller coaster was pretty scary.  Can we do it again?"  Brave girl.

Tomorrow we'll make a quick trip to Chinatown to custom make an outfit for me.  I'll load a picture when it's ready and won't spoil the surprise before then.  The afternoon we'll likely just spend at the pool.

We have several pictures from today, but I neglected to bring the necessary hardware to load the images to my computer, so you'll have to wait until we return on Tuesday night.