Singapore Family Trip

We finally took our first family trip in the region.  We've heard so many great things about Singapore, we decided that we would try it out ourselves.  Thankfully, Taiwan has direct flights to Singapore.  So we found a great hotel, some cheap flights, and off we went!  And Singapore did not disappoint.  With the exception of only one aspect, we loved Singapore.  The only thing that was less perfect was the fact that it was an expensive place.  Buying a simple meal for our family of four cost around $25-30, just to give you an idea.

But despite that, we had a fantastic time.  Here are some pics of our adventure.

The River Safari
Singapore has a fantastic zoo area.  They have a regular zoo (which we've heard was very well done), a night safari where you get to see all the animals at night when they are more active, and a river safari.  We did the river safari.  Unfortunately, the boat ride section of the park was not open yet, but the rest of the park was very well done.  Here are some pics of it.

There was an animal show at one point, in which they displayed and talked about several animals, (the bearcat being my favorite- see 2 pics below!) We also got to see what a raccoon looks like in a hot climate and how he is adept at opening clams.  At one point, they called up a volunteer to help with a bird.  Elli wanted to go so badly, so I went for her since only adults could help.  She mimicked me the whole time, it was very cute.

The park had the neatest panda exhibit we've ever seen.  It was all indoors and air conditioned, and you could get fairly close to the panda while walking on a raised pathway.  It was very neat.

They had a large manatee area, otter area, and sting rays.

Another section of the park had a monkey forest.  It was a forest area all enclosed with nets (like a butterfly section).  Inside were all these small monkeys that you could get up very close to.  At one point, one of the monkeys copied Heather's actions like a mirror image of herself.  It was pretty cute.

Chinatown

We almost didn't go to Chinatown in Singapore since we live in Taiwan.  However, we're glad we went.  It was the coolest Chinatown we've ever been to.  It was clean, neat, organized, and everyone was so friendly.  We LOVED it!  And they had the best market for Chinese trinkets and souvenirs and other odds and ends that we've ever seen.  It was great.  There was also a temple there that contains one of the three teeth that supposedly belonged to Buddha.  It looked more like an elephant tooth to us, it was so huge.  But we weren't allowed to take pictures of it, so you'll just have to use your imagination.  We also weren't allowed to take pictures of all the other remnants of Buddha that they had there including hair follicles, skin samples, brain matter, eye particles, liver particles, heart particles... need I go on.  They were all stored in little pearl shaped vials in a large room.  It was very interesting, to say the least!

Elli liked to imitate the litte statues.

Little India and the Arab Street

We didn't take any pics of Little India, and frankly, we were somewhat disappointed by this section of town.  It was definitely the most rundown portion of the city we visited.  There was a huge market that we bought two Indian styled shirts for Heather, though, so it wasn't a complete waste.  Perhaps if we had had the time to eat there, it wouldn't have been so disappointing (we love Indian food).  

There was also an interesting Hindi temple we visited while we were there.  We didn't take pics of that one, but we took pics of another we saw later on (included below).  We happened to visit during some type of worship service because the place was packed and there were priests (we assume) that we pouring a milky liquid over these statues that people were praying to.  It was fascinating to watch.  We wished we understood more of what we saw.

Arab Street was a neat section dominated by an enormous mosque.  It was a beautiful section of the city with colorful murals all over.  It was a beautiful building and they let us go in and observe inside one part of the mosque as long as we first put on the provided long robes to cover our bare legs and arms.  It was interesting to note that there were no pews inside the temple in the large congregation area since much of their worship revolves around the prayers that are offered 5 times a day, which alternates standing, kneeling, and prostrating (forehead to floor) many times each prayer.  

One part of the mosque that Heather did not appreciate was the bathrooms, which like everywhere else on the mosque grounds required you to take off your shoes.  The bathrooms were similar to those that exist in India or Pakistan with a hose next to the toilet to clean yourself instead of toilet paper.  Elli had to go and she took forever actually going so you can imagine the discomfort they felt in a wet, humid, extremely hot (no air conditioning) bathroom with no shoes on.  It was a culturally eye opening experience, that's for sure, and not one we ever hope to repeat!!!! A well needed run in a fountain in a museum park right next door helped cool Elli and mommy down. 

There are several gardens in Singapore.  We went to the one called Gardens by the Bay.  It has three unique attractions.  Two are huge bio-domes, one of which is filled with flowers and all sorts of plant life and the other contains a "cloud forest," which is a recreation of the Congo mountain rain forests of central Africa.  The cloud forest bio-dome contained the tallest man-made waterfall in the world.  Both of course were air conditioned (thank Heavens!).  

The third unique attraction of the Gardens is called the Super Tree Grove, pictured below.  Fun to look at, especially at night when they light up.  They're covered in plants and flowers, in case you're wondering.

This is the Marina Bay Sands hotel on the left, with the Double Helix bridge below it, and the Arts Science Museum on the right.  The museum had a great exhibit on mummies in which Elli got to dress up like an Egyptian bird and they got to solve puzzles throughout the museum.

 

All in all, we had a great time in Singapore.  The people were extremely friendly and there were lots of things to do and see.  It was incredibly hot, though, and we sweat through our clothes within the first hour of each day (not fun).  But we had some nice pool time at the hotel and air conditioned malls to break up the heat.

Finally, we also celebrated Elli's 3rd birthday in Singapore.  Our family party was later on (another blog post coming soon), but we had a nice little celebration that night.  The hotel was great and provided her balloons and a cake and a little lion doll for her big day.   It was a great way to end our trip.