Back at work now after a really enjoyable few days off.
We took Alex and Abby ( Zoe stayed home with Annika's parents) to Singapore for a short break - 5 days\4 nights. I think its safe to say... they absolutely loved it ....and so did we , for the most part! A satisfying exhaustion I think ...would be a good way of describing the trip...
The flight out was very exciting for the kids - they had been talking about it for a while leading up to the event! Abby kept asking ' Abby come? , Abby come?' hehe.
So they had their own luggage - A 'Trunki' each- a plastic suitcase on wheels with 'reins' and 'ears' to hang onto! Yes they could ride them, well they just held on really, as we towed them through the airport terminals - much to the bemusement ( and amusement) of others! haha
And they are small enough to take on as hand luggage but big enough for all their stuff! Genius!
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| Trunki's at the ready! |
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| On our way |
As we sat in the departure lounge waiting to board the 5 hour flight to Changi Airport , Alex and Abby were getting more and more excited.
Our attempt to 'restrain' them in highchairs and feed them some breakfast failed after a few minutes and they both ended up running around - up to the huge windows to watch other planes land and take off , then back to the table to update us on exactly that, and then back again for more!
The place was packed and we had to keep our eyes on them both. Alex had a close shave , almost running straight into some lady carrying a tray of hot drinks! It wasn't the only 'close shave ' he would have that day either!
In between all this - as they are both into doing their 'business' on the toilet now ( even though they had nappies on for the flight - no way we were going to risk it!) - we had to answer the calls for 'wee wee's', mostly Abby's!....
'wee wee on toilet , wee wee on toilet!' OK OK! haha
Luckily we got the call to get moving soon after that. It was getting hectic!
We all shuffled along onto the plane and up to our seats. Alex jumped straight in and claimed his assigned window seat. Abby climbed into the next seat along and Annika at the end of the 3 seat row! Ahhhh, what a shame , only 3 seats. Well, I will have to sit on the other side then, no problem! haha
One advantage of organizing the flights - although it didn't really make much difference as we all switched seats once we were up in the air. Abby and her new obsession with 'cuddles' meant that she was crossing the aisle quite frequently!
So off we went - 5 hours to go!
Alex is really good at sitting still and reading, playing, building, watching etc etc and has a decent attention span.
Abby, on the other hand, not so much! She's fidgety, demanding and a bit of a pain to be honest! haha ... but no tantrums so we were happy!
It was funny, as the plane accelerated down the runway with the engines roaring away - the looks on their faces ... huge grins and then hysterical laughter as we took off! haha - priceless!
Abby managed to get some sleep towards the end of the flight - the last hour or so. But Alex didn't - maybe there was too much going on for him to even contemplate sleeping!
So we landed - to the same hysterical laughing again, and proceeded to make our way off the plane. Alex and Abby mounted their Trunki's and away we went! These things are great, especially in a large airport like Changi! We were eating up that carpet! haha
Another good thing about taking 2 young children on holiday is that people genuinely feel sorry for the parents...so we found ourselves getting special treatment at the airports. They would open up counters for us and take down barriers and escort us down quieter routes and nice gestures like that. Great!
Luggage collected, we made our way towards the exit and the taxi rank.
We got a brand new Renault driven by a Chinese fella called Kok - who incidentally , had the 'longest' teeth I have ever seen, on a human anyway! His top front teeth were at least an inch long. Weird looking dude, long wispy grey hair and a mustache and beard to match....his beady eyes hidden behind thick 'milk bottle' spectacles.... almost 'wizard' like in appearance........but was very accommodating and didn't seem to be too concerned about having 2 kids on his new leather seats. Alex put his seat belt on , Abby was restless and fidgety, climbing all over Annika in the back there. The front seat seemed like a good place to be at the time.
But then....Kok started ( and didn't finish) banging on about the price of buying and running a car in Singapore! Obviously a tad bitter about recent price hikes and tax rises! And then we got lost! At this point he admitted that he had only been driving a taxi for 20 days. Great! He called a cousin , a break from the barrage of complaints at least! Soon we had arrived at the first Hotel - we made it!
This became apparent soon after we checked in and headed up to our room. After we dropped the bags off we decided to go up to the 'executive lounge' as our booking included entry to the 29th floor.
A spot of afternoon tea overlooking the city - ok yeah, lovely.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Big mistake - this was for the broadsheet reading, financial, city slicker types , not for toddlers, especially ones that had just come off a 5 hour flight and were wired!
A few heads turned from their copies of the FT towards us, slowly and with that look that says ' why the hell are you here!?'
We stayed for a sandwich and a drink anyway. Alex and Abby explored the executive lounge and soon spotted the large Christmas tree with lots of presents under it! Oh no! Of course they grabbed one each and ran over to us with them. I put them back and tried to sit them down but Abby was rubbing face against the highly 'sheened' floor-to-ceiling windows and smudging an Abby face sized area! haha.
Then Alex ran back to the Xmas tree but misjudged the branches! He slammed into the end of a branch with a light on it! Just above his eye on his forehead, and the bruising was instant! Lucky boy!
Ok - it was time to get out of there! haha
The first couple of days were spend exploring the riverside areas - not too far from the hotel. The river ferry left from just outside so the kids were pretty keen to get some of that action!
3 or 4 stops down the river were the vibrant and aromatic China Town and also the bustling Clarke Quay.
Amazing food , especially in the numerous food halls scattered about the place , some nestled deep within tower basements and others just at the side of the road. Cheap and tasty but not too kid friendly really!
They ate lots of rice - not quite ready for the full Asian experience just yet! haha
Luckily the hotel breakfast was huge so the kids got fueled up early!
The next excursion was Singapore Zoo.
It was about a 25 minute cab ride and again , Alex was quick to comment on taxi and how nice it was. Easily pleased! A novelty I suppose, sitting in a big persons leather seat with a big persons seat belt on.
' This is a nice taxi daddy - really nice! ' 'Is this a brand new taxi daddy?' haha - funny monkey!
It just happened to be school holidays in Singapore - we found this out as soon as we arrived and saw the huge masses of kids wandering about the place! Hmm, this could be messy!
Singapore is a steamy humid joint - its pretty relentless. Annika likes it ( weirdo) but I really struggle. The moisture levels are always set to Max with me - which seems to alarm some of the locals I get too close too! haha. Not a bead of sweat on these guys - I find that a bit strange. After they look you up and down and take a step or two back its all good though! haha
We figured if they had a day nap then we would be able to do more in the afternoons. That plan didn't really work but we tried to do as much as we could - even with 2 cranky toddlers in tow!
Alex and Abby were actually exhausted after the zoo trip - so much so that they crashed out in the back of the cab back to the hotel. And Alex loved this particular taxi the most i think! A Chrysler 300C - gangster cab!
We were only here for 4 nights but we managed to squeeze in quite a few good trips about the place.
Next up was a new attraction called Gardens By The Sea - a purpose built , multi domed extravaganza housing massive gardens, waterfalls and various ecosystems all designed with the environment at the forefront. Very impressive - these Singaporeans really know how to do things well.
And - it was all air conditioned! Get in there!! I could have stayed all day - they just forgot to install a watering hole for us humans! haha
Back to HQ for a rest and a swim in the pool!
To be quite honest - its exhausting with kids - even just 2 of the 3! But the looks on their faces when they see something new makes it all worth it. In some ways it must be a huge overload for their senses - so much to take in! Maybe that's just me. haha
That night we took the river ferry ( without buggy!) and went down to listen to the Christmas Carols and whatever else was going on.
The locals were absolutely fascinated with the kids , especially Abby - I think it must be her curly hair.
So many people just randomly came up to look at Abby - they wanted photos, a quick stroke of her hair ( a bit weird) or just to get closer to check her out. To be fair to Abby , she took it all in her stride and wasn't fazed at all. Unfortunately , nobody offered to take the kids off our hands , as much as we hoped! haha
I'm getting exhausted writing this - did we do too much! haha
The pattern for sleeping was out of whack a touch. Even though we were in the same timezone ( I think) - Alex and Abby struggled to catch a few zzzzzz's at their usual time of 1pm ish. They usually crashed at about 3 or 4pm in Singapore - so that meant late nights! Lucky them! haha
At least we could venture back out n the evenings without worrying too much about the usual routine - which was a nice change actually, especially as they tended to sleep to about 7.30am or even 8am one morning! Wow - what a treat! haha
Today we were checking out of the riverside hotel and heading to the more family friendly beach resort - the Shangri La on Sentosa Island - bring it on!
Just a short 20 minute cab ride ( very nice , brand new taxi daddy? nope, haha) , and we were there - what a beauty! A tropical paradise!
This was definitely better for the kids - they had water slides, kids clubs, fewer sharp edges! haha
The pool was great - we had a couple of sessions in there. Alex and Abby were both pretty brave and were keen to try the water slides out - mostly Alex - he was up and down many times. I finally had to let him go on his own - too tiring! haha
He was fine though - they wore themselves out and slept pretty well anyway! Mission accomplished!
There's so much food available at breakfast time - here and at the other hotel. Its incredible. Cuisine from all over the world - most Asian stuff, Indian, Japanese, Korean, Malaysian, Singaporean etc etc and then all the European and western stuff. They even had a jar of Marmite there! Beauty.
I could have spent hours there! And curry for breakfast is awesome! The only bad thing here was the coffee - not good at all ....but I am fussy about that! Oh yeah , one other thing - the plates are always too small! haha
So.....that morning we headed to the closest attraction - just around the corner from the hotel was Underwater World. Lets do it!
The joint was a bit run down - one of the first attractions that was built on the island , but it was still pretty good and plenty of fish and other critters to check out.
Alex must have overdone it at breakfast and decided that he needed to have a power kip. This just happened to be on the aquarium conveyor - much to the delight of some Indian tourists who found it very amusing indeed! Silly monkey Alex! haha
We jumped on the free shuttle bus and in 10 minutes we had entered the Sentosa Island hub! This place is mental - over the top , in your face but in a good way! haha
Ok lets eat!
Alex managed to get hold of my camera in there and fired off a few shots ( about 100 actually!) haha.
Some of them came out ok though - especially the one of Abby trying to nab my pint of Kilkenny!
Gonna have to watch out for that one! haha
Decent burger here - and great service! We crave service like this in Perth - its never going to happen though unfortunately! Ok mini winge over! haha
The kids had fish and chips - they didn't manage it all though - what a shame! Nom nom nom...
Ok , back to HQ for a swim and a kip! Last day tomorrow - ahhhhh.
Last day - big day! First up after another huge breakfast was the cable car. We were a bit worried that Abby would freak out as she had recently on some slides back home. At some stage or age it seems kids get a better perception of dimensions. The same happened to Alex at about the same age. He started getting scared of ladders, slides or anything above the ground. Its just a phase though and luckily, both Alex and Abby were fine as we stepped onto the cable car and began climbing up into the sky high above Sentosa Island... Smooth ride!
You get the idea! haha
Back on the shuttle bus for a quick pit stop at hotel to pick up swimming gear - we were now off to the Pirate Ship water park! Not for too long though - we had a plane to catch!
This was great - just a 15 minute tram ride from the hotel was the purpose built kids water park paradise complete with pirates, water canons and slides. I pretended not to be excited. haha
In a way I was quite glad it was the final day - everyone was having a great time but this was not a sustainable model and the wheels could have fallen off at any time really. We rode our luck and managed to get through with no major meltdowns or tantrums. The kids were well behaved too. hehe
Just time to put the kids down for a hours kip while we pack and get ready to head to the airport.
It was going to be a long flight home and as we found out , Alex and Abby didn't seem to sit still for very long on the plane!
We thought about drugging them both but didn't have time to do a test run beforehand so thought better of it. The drug in question ( Pain Stop) can have the opposite effect on some kids! Jeez, imagine that! haha
More random strangers asking for photos with the kids! This time at the airport - a lone Indian fella! haha
Should we be worried ? Not too sure - I let him take one anyway - what the hell.
I tell you what - these Trunki's are the mutts nuts in big airports! We just ate up that carpet and made it to the terminal in no time at all. Easy! Well, yeah that was the easy bit for sure! Now for the 5 hour flight from hell....maybe!
Abby is a pest - its confirmed!
Just cannot sit still for one second - and is very very demanding!
At least Alex can sit there and watch Play School or Bob The Builder. Abby has the attention span of an ant! haha
So 5 hours of demands - water, mummy cuddle, daddy cuddle, up, down, etc etc haha! Oh Abby - so cute but such a pest!
Until the next time amigos!
I hope this wasn't too long winded! As I wrote it I definitely thought we were crazy to do all this in 4 days! Must have been in the zone - the humidity did something to us! haha
Peace out.
