Unfortunately we found out where airline food got its reputation. After landing in Singapore we travelled about 2 kms on travelators before going straight through immigration, not even looking twice at Zuz who was told to get special clearance as she was over 6 months pregnant. No one there to declare anything to and out to find a nice man holding a sign with our name. All too easy. Then out of the air conditioning. Not nearly as bad as we had expected, although it was 11PM. Checked into our nice hotel, The Phoenix Hotel with an upgraded room after Ryan enjoyed the ride in the car. He then wanted to explore every nook and cranny of the hotel room before finally going to bed at 1AM.
We strolled up Orchard road and into one of the shopping malls for a look. It was pretty dead with most of the shops still closed. So we popped into the visitors centre to get info for the week’s itinerary. Boy you notice the air conditioners when you walk inside…. and conversely more when you walk back outside. This place is real neat and tidy and the bathrooms are something else.
We met Marketa and Jirka (From Czech) back at the hotel. Had a chat for a while and then went to the 7/11 to try something else new. Tried these warm little fruit dumpling like things, not for me and the shopkeeper gave Ryan some mocha cotton candy. We ate in the park before being accosted by a fortuneteller who said I have a very lucky face. Of coarse he wanted some $$. Next was lunch, in a food court. I decided to go that store and order a No 1. Turned out to be a “Kway teow”. Eggs, squid, noodles and washed it down with as mango milk tea (yum).
Now it was, time for the pre-arranged city tour. We went past the iconic durian shaped theatres on our way to the famous Mer-lion landmark. Click, click. Next stop. Chinatown and walked through the Thian Hock Keng Temple. Very nice, but the heat had turned it on now. It was great to get back on the bus with air conditioners. An unknown gem picture-making place was next on the agenda. Some beautiful works of art, if a little over the top. The World map made from gemstones was very impressive. Then through the orchid garden in the botanic gardens, followed by a very quick walk through Little India. Both venues were very colourful and aromatic. Basically a great intro tour into Singapore.
Back in the lobby waiting for Marketa and Jirka, meanwhile Ryan was going off. He had a huge mirror to play with and he liked what he saw when he looked at himself. Having the time of his life. A hawker centre was the choice for dinner. Fish head curry for me sir. The meal was a tad spicy, but beautiful. Highly recommended. Zuz had ………..Spag Bol. The limejuice and fresh coconut were a good choice of beverages.
Exiting the cable car we changed some $ and watched Ryan chase peacocks as he was making chicken noises J. We made our way to butterfly house. Nice collection of dead butterflies and bugs. What surprised us was that Ryan was the star. We had a couple of Chinese girls ask if they could have a photo taken with him. What the? Then out into the main attraction the live enclosure. ‘Ken awesome. All these huge butterflies floating about. Ryan was dazzled, chasing them with no success. Then he saw the chooks and we had to put him in his pram before he did himself an injury.
So there I was minding my own business walked about 30cm away from a reticulated python in his little cage. Then out of nowhere the bugger lunged at me. I heard the crash of his jaws on the wire followed by the wind caused from the strike. I looked down and got a great look at his teeth, still clamped on the wire. Then I could hear the ticker going double time as the brain finally realised what had happened. I near full on shite myself. Then to make matters worse, 2 minutes later wandering around in a daze one of those bloody chickens jumped under my foot and let out a huge ber-kirk!! when I trode on it. The heart was truly on the edge now. A butterfly could have landed on me and I would have dropped. But I continued in the sizzling heat with jaw a gasp looking at all the beautiful insects before heading for air-conditioned shelter.
After re-hydrating we boarded one of the free busses to the Ferry Terminal to see a bird show. But we had time to squeeze lunch in first. Another “food court” and I had crunchy squid, Zuz had a prawn omelette and Ryan took on a pork noddle dish of sorts. While comfortably tucked away under cover we experienced our first dose of tropical rain. I understand why the gutters are so big now. The rain made life a little more comfortable. Then off to watch the bird show and get the photo with a macaw.
Back on a bus to see the pink dolphin show after parting with $20 to see it, with admission thrown in for Underwater World. Ryan played in the sand and when told off for something he sunk his head into the sand, obviously not knowing the consequences. Sweaty head, sand….you get the picture. It was everywhere. Eyes, nose and mouth. So we cleaned him up and went to see the Underwater World. Ryan saw the turtles out the front and gave a big ”tur-tle”. Looked around inside. Ryan loved the touch pool, more for splashing everything. Not too bad a place, but being used to Sydney for aquariums…we got our enjoyment watching Ryan watching the “fishies” and running around on the underwater travelator. After that another compulsory drink stop, a ride on the bus and more girls wanting photos with Ryan. Then we met up with Marketa and Jirka again and explored the beaches from the comfort of the beach tram before heading to the Ferry Terminal for more re-hydration. Did I say it was very humid here?
It was off to the musical fountain show next. Walking through the fountain gardens to get there. Another fountain for Ryan to splash in to relieve the heat. We sat in the arena and waited an hour for the show. It was packed and the show was well worth the wait. No words or pictures could explain, but the lasers out of the large Merlions eyes were a bit over the top. We battled the crowds to get back on a bus and to the cable car. Meanwhile Ryan had slept through the show and also the psycho bus / rally drivers adventure. Back on to the cable car and an awesome night time view of the city. A fly over a huge cruise ship and back into the tower before riding the MRT home. All in all, a pretty full day.
After organising some activities for the next couple of days we boarded the MRT again and headed to Chinatown. Out on to Pagoda Street, a very colourful street with tonnes of shops selling mainly touristy stuff. Every forth shop seemed to be a tailor, who tried to pull me into his shop. We dropped into the Sri Mariamman Hindu temple and witnessed a very noisy prayer session (which Ryan slept through). Continuing along the walking tour the smells from some of the shops were very strange. But I guess you can expect that when you also see dried seahorses on sale.
Arrived back at the Thian Hock Keng Temple again to take a less rushed look at that. Then we just decided to walk and see if we could get lost. Tried to find some satay for lunch in a few food centres with little luck. Too early I guess as we saw a lot of women preparing food on the tables, gee that was a lot of chillies. Managed to walk through the financial part of town and Raffles place and found ourselves at the Fullerton Hotel building.
As we were so close to the Merlion we thought we would have another look at it, and take some video of it this time. But several meters short we found a little food stall that sold SATAY. My mission was over. I ordered the 10 satay sticks and Zuz saw something she liked called Roti jon. Bread battered in omelette sort of thing. All it cost was $10, being so close to a major tourist attraction we expected much more. And just quietly it was bloody nice. After snapping another 400 photos at the Merlion and introducing Ryan to the Singapore River we decided to call it an arvo.
Back to the MRT station that whisked us away to the hotel. But not before finding a technological marvel. We thought the escalator were dead, not a nice thing when pushing a stroller. But as we were about to climb up it, it started up. Hmm, automatic escalators. Lucky we did not try to go down it, eh? So that was a trap for the unsuspecting traveller.
Had a rest before grabbing our bus leaflet to the Night Safari and headed off. The leaflet said Le Meridion Hotel at 10 to 6. We got there and no one knew anything about it. We were sent in 3 different directions by 3 different people in the end before giving up hope and headed back down the main drag. Obviously someone was looking out for us as not only did the bus drive past, the driver even spotted us waving him down. 30 minutes later we arrived at the Night Safari. We bought our tickets for the Safari, Zoo and Jurong Bird Park. Top value at $30 each. Inside we went and headed straight for the creatures of the night show. Not bad, but dragged on a bit. Now time to explore. It was a very different experience. Every thing was pretty dark with little lighting. I suppose so the eyes get use to it. Some animals were tough to spot, but overall I think we did pretty well. We were even treated to feeding time in the flying squirrel enclosure. So we got to see then glide down for dinner, awesome. The main difference from the zoo was all the noises. The lions roaring in the dark give you a bit of a chill. It is a great concept as the animals were all fairly active. Now I know what it would be like to be locked in a zoo overnight. All the animals were at very close range as well, adding to the experience. We got to the top of the park and took the compulsory drink stop. It was still very hot. Deciding to take the tram back to the entrance. This took us past many more of the inhabitants. All up a very good and unique experience. Very glad we did it. On the $3.50 each bus at 10:45 to head back to town. The bus took off and sounded like it would not make it. And guess what 20 minutes later it stopped. Oh well, we waited for another bus to come and get us. Arriving back at the hotel at a quarter past midnight. Very easy to fall asleep tonight.
We went to an animal show that had a seal, anaconda, a swimming monkey and an orang-utan that embarrassed a person by ripping open a coconut in double time. On our way to the next show we watched a few primates having fun. The next show was an elephant show, on how they are used as workers. A very interesting show. Then as we were walking past the restaurant it started to rain so we ran for cover. In all we spent 2 hours waiting for the rain to stop and eating a wonderful lunch of very red tandoori chicken and naan bread. Meanwhile marketa and jirka had joined us. Ryan has turned into a water baby walking around in the rain, slipping over and loving it. He continued his hobby of chasing peacocks, but thought it was not fair when they flew off to evade him.
Back to the beginning of the zoo to see the things we missed. Saw some more monkeys, wild ones too. And just as we got past the restaurant again…it rained again. Doh!! More time to enjoy the rain. As it finished we got on the tram with 90 minutes before closing time and half of the zoo still to see. We briskly saw the roaring lions, rhinos, crocs and zebras, walked through the Fragile Forrest aviary with bats, lorries and even a sloth. Met a friendly local monkey that was very interested in Ryan. By 6:00 we had basically seen it all, all be it a bit rushed in the end. A very nice zoo that I would have loved to do a bit slower, but hey – it rains here, a lot. I was definitely happy with what we saw. Back into a taxi and to the hotel for a much needed shower.
It was time for dinner in this real nice restaurant across the road from the hotel. Zuz had some very delicious Indonesian rice with satay. For some reason I saw the jungle Swordfish curry and thought it would be a good idea as I don’t mind a bit of spice in my food. But, holy shit it was hot. No doubt the hottest thing I have ever tasted. We are talking nuclear reactor hot. I ate the sucker though, washing it down with a local Tiger draught. Followed by a mango smoothie to try and reinstall feeling to the mouth. As usual Ryan was making more friends left, right and center, literally. Playing peek–a-boo with the other patrons. So far he has been the ultimate traveller, as good as gold. It was time to call it a night and went back to the hotel to question my menu motives again : )
Late decision to do the bird park and went to taxi option again. This time only $10 and 15 minutes. First stop was the penguin feeding. A nice indoor air-conditioned exhibit that you could watch them swimming underwater. Now that was a cool thing to watch. We also managed to jag feeding time so it was full of action. Then, as you do we went to see bird show No1. It had flamingos, more bike racing macaws, low flying hornbills, macaws flying through hoops, even paper hoops where I nailed the photo at point of contact. A very good show to start the day. Now off to see the rest of the park.
Passed by the kingfishers, red ibis, a few Aussie seagulls and watched nature take its course in the Crowned Pigeon walkthrough aviary. We checked out the lorry loft. A huge aviary loaded with hungry parrots we could feed. Would have been great if the camera and big lens did not stop talking to each other. Big GRRR and it was extremely hot also. We carried on to see the birds of prey and flightless birds. It was time for our compulsory drink stop and a bit to eat. Then past the beautiful flamingos and talking birds. Past parrot paradise, gee there were some colourful birds. Then into the so-called biggest walk in aviary in the world, with the biggest man made waterfall. I was not going to argue when they have both a kiosk and a monorail station inside the aviary. It was huge and had loads of birds floating around. African grey parrots were acting like seagulls in the kiosk. We walked up to the waterfall at 30m in height and it did not seem that you were in an aviary. Unfortunately we did not spend enough time in there, as we wanted to see the bird of prey show. Could have spent hours in there.
So onto the bird of prey show. A very good show with plenty of big birds and a lot of low fly-bys over the audience. Eagles were taking meat off plates at high speed. Well trained birds and thoroughly enjoyed by all. After this we thought Ryan deserved some time out of the stroller and took him to the wet/dry playground. It had lots of water spouts and sprays but we were not sure how he would take it. He does not normally like getting his hair wet. Well he absolutely loved it. Laughing and giggling going through the sprays and playing with the spouts. He got totally drenched and had the time of his life. I must say we got a great deal of enjoyment watching it too. We all walked away happy campers. Before leaving we tied up the loose ends and saw the owls, hornbills and toucans. Now that is a cool type of bird…ahhhh the Guinness : ) The walkthrough aviaries were a great way to see a lot of birds without the bars, especially the bird of paradise one.
Now outside we took one look at the cab line and had concerns. Not many cabs at all so we decided to go wait for a bus to the MRT station. After waiting 15 minutes in the heat a private bus pulled up “MRT, MRT for 70 cents”. We took the chance and he drove us straight to the MRT station. As we were at the end of the line the station was above ground and we got to see a fair bit on the way back to the city. It took a little longer than the cab, but we made it in the end.
Plans had been made to go the Malay Quarter to see the lit up stuff for the festival. But Marketa called to tell us it was too crowded and no place for a stroller and not really worth the effort. I took the opportunity to head for a famous Singapore dish – Chilli crab. A bit of a search was required to find a crab and success was had in one of the local food courts. She pulled it out the cage, still kicking and weighed it up. That will cost you $30. Done : ) It was delicious and the taste buds were getting used to the hot stuff. Tucked into it with the fingers to ensure that I got it all. Very messy but yummmmy. Accompanied it with rice, bread and our “go-to” drink for the trip, lemon iced tea.
On to the Malay Quarter via the MRT. We stumbled though some markets that were not so lively and some how found the wet markets Zuz had wanted to see. Wet markets are a fresh food Bazaar. You can get any type of fruit/veg/meat or seafood here. Now we knew where everyone was. Sunday was supposed to be the busiest day and guess what day it was. It was bustling with people, all locals so our cover was blown straight away. Narrow isles, a thousand people and a stroller. Not a good mix. But the people were amazing. We had 3 or 4 locals just come up and talk to us about the place. Offered us fruits to try and it was a wonderful experience. We were told that this place is to be redeveloped at years end. A shame to see such a cultural experience disappear. Seeing this was worth the trip to the Malay Quarter alone. Finally tried some Durian. No-where near as smelly as what we experienced back home. It was quite yummy.
We left the wet markets much richer for the experience and just walked around the rest of the area to soak up the sights and the way of life in the area. Talking of soaking the skies had come over very dark and the thunderstorms had rolled in. Even though we were not locals, we knew what was about to happen. Back to the MRT and on to the hotel and as we arrived down she came. We decided to go lunch in the hotel buffet that was very nice and more eastern than the breakfast. Although, we did pass on the durian moose. Smelling it was enough for me. Back upstairs and as it had been a busy week, Ryan crashed out and I was not far behind him. It continued to rain as we slept for a couple of hours
Marketa and Jirka turned up to go to dinner. But where? The force was employed and we jumped on the MRT to Clark Quay on the river. The force was strong in this one as we landed in an area with a bevy of restaurants to choose from. The Indian place got the nod and I enjoyed yet another curry. Ryan was walking up and down the river holding one of my hands and waving with the other making more friends. We walked along the river all the way back towards the theatres in the city. It was a nice walk in the drizzle stopping to get the odd photo. Past the parliament building and Raffles landing place before heading for the MRT and the hotel.
Zuz had developed an ear infection so she needed to see a doctor. The hotel concierge said you best bet was to duck up to the hospital 3 minutes away by taxi. In all Zuz was seen, diagnosed, given her medication and arrived back at the hotel in an hour. Now that is service.
It was full of people and had a little dirtier look to it than the rest of the city and a very distinct smell of curry and spices. They were also celebrating here so the streets were well decorated. We walked through the bazaar that had plenty of colour, but not the variety of goods that we had expected. We walked up a few streets and stroller navigation was a nightmare. Either no or full footpaths in the back streets. Back on the main drag and off to see the Sri Veeramakaliamman temple. Very nicely decorated.
Time for a last bite to eat and we decided on the Apollo Banana Leaf Restaurant. As was no surprise the waiter loved Ryan, and Ryan played it up of course. He came and wiped the banana off Ryan’s hands and face so gently. Ended up ordering a Squid curry with naan. They threw in 3 small dishes of vegetable, chicken and fish curry for us to taste. Each was extremely nice but distinctly different. The food came out on a banana leaf and the more brave patrons mixed it up on the leaf and ate with their fingers. I wimped out with the knife and fork option as it would have taken a week to get the curry stains off the hands. The waiter even pushed Ryan out the door when we left.
We passed a little Aussie shop that sold Tim Tams, mint slices and Four and Twenty pies. Pretty cool. Back on to the MRT for one last time. Back at the hotel, fixed up the bill and as we had a youngen they gave us the hospitality room for 45 minutes. Up we went to a twin room. Glad we got the upgrade. All showered and re-packed all of our souvenirs. We made it down to the lobby about 2 minutes before our ride turned up. Off to the airport for a bit more shopping and a last drink as Ryan walked us about a kilometre on the travelators. Then he decided to play peek-a-boo with a lady at the gate with his purple blanket. Flight was pretty full and Ryan slept most of the way.
In summary that was Singapore. We fit heaps in the week and what a week it was. Unfortunately no time for shopping, but the bank account was happy with that. No adverse affects to all that spicy food at all ; ) Ryan was perfect. The making of a traveller here for sure. The reception Ryan got absolutely blew us away. He was just so popular. He would never get this reaction at home. He seemed to enjoy himself as well making the experience even better.
Back to Singapore Page.