It’s So Easy

Location: Singapore

Introduction:

Visiting Asia can be a bit intimidating but not Singapore. It’s very westernized and English is commonly spoken, making it so easy to visit. That said, there are opportunities to get uniquely Asian experiences. It’s a tropical climate and it was hot and humid when we visited in mid-June with temperatures climbing to around 90 with a daily rain shower. There’s lots to see and explore.

Sights Visited:

Gardens by the Bay has a great children’s garden area that is free of charge. Our daughter had a blast there playing with other children on the playground and in the splash pad area.

We spent a day at Universal Studios and our daughter had a ball. There were lots of rides and shows to keep her entertained. We went early and we found the lines to be short. They got longer and longer as the day went on. Express passes were helpful then but we probably could have gotten away without them given our early start.

The Science Center Singapore is a hands-on interactive museum. We planned to devote a morning there. Our daughter had so much fun that we ended up spending the entire day there. Some examples of the things we did were: seeing a show in the Omni theatre, making a craft, transforming into a ghost, watching a live presentation on energy, and much more.

We stayed near Orchard Road in the heart of the shopping district where we were surrounded by malls. We had a frightening experience in the Tanglin mall when one of Adelaide’s Pokémon Crocs got stuck in an escalator with her foot still in it. Fortunately, her foot released and a helpful stranger pulled the shoe out but the damage was done. We located a Crocs store in the Ion mall and saved the day with a new pair of Minions Crocs. We also did some clothes shopping at one of our favorite value-brand stores: Uniqlo. Then we stumbled across a cool luggage store named The Planet Traveller and picked up an Eagle Creek Cargo Hauler Duffel Bag to bring back souvenirs and clothes that we’ve been accumulating along the way.

The Singapore Botanic Gardens are free to visit. There’s a separate entrance for the Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden. The main playground there was being reconstructed but there are other fun areas worth visiting. Since our daughter really wanted to play on a playground, we left the Children’s Garden and headed to the COMO Adventure Grove on the other side of the park. The garden grounds are quite extensive with paved trails winding throughout. It was a hot and steamy day when we visited and after a 30 minute walk across the park to finally get to the playground at COMO, our daughter quickly lost interest. So, we made an early exit to head for the pool where we were staying.

Changi Airport is one of the world’s largest airports and it’s got a lot to offer. We planned a day there before heading out on a late afternoon flight. There’s an impressive man-made waterfall in the attached Jewel mall and several fun activities on the top canopy level. If that wasn’t enough, there’s an additional shopping mall in terminal 3 with various kids activities throughout inspired by the book: The Little Prince.

To celebrate the opening of Pixar’s Inside Out 2 while we were there, Disney sponsored a free children’s festival based upon the movie. The festival was fun and inspired us to take in the very entertaining movie at an Imax theatre.

Play:

Our daughter still enjoys a good indoor play place and we found one, Impressions Kids Club, in the Tanglin mall. It was good for an hour’s break on a steamy afternoon. The best outdoor playgrounds we found were at Gardens by the Bay and the Botanic Gardens as mentioned above.

Accommodations:

We booked a two-bedroom, two full-bath suite at Treetops Executive Residences via their website. The A/C was good with thermostats in each room. The kitchen was small and lacked a dishwasher. There was a single unit combo washer/drier. We find these machines to wash well but they’re not so good at drying. They also take forever. The suite was serviced on weekdays, which was a pleasant surprise. The WiFi was inconsistent. There was a large heated pool, fitness center and small playground. An above-average buffet breakfast was included.

Food & Drink:

You can find whatever your heart desires to eat and drink in Singapore. However, if you want to be a little adventurous, you can head for the hawker stands located around the city where inexpensive and delicious Asian street food is found. Adelaide stuck to the popular local favorite of chicken and rice while we sampled some other dishes like Nasi Lemak, Spinach Soup and Popiah. We also enjoyed some freshly squeezed sugar cane juice. The tap water was fine to drink and the selection of wines in the grocery stores was good. To end our visit with an exclamation point, we finally made it to Din Tai Fung, a very popular Taiwanese restaurant chain. They don’t take reservations and the lines were too long on our past attempts when we’d come across one. We scored a table in the Changi airport Jewel mall. Their famous soup dumplings were everything we’d hoped for.

Transportation:

We used points to score a non-stop flight from Cairns on Singapore Air. The service was exceptional and far surpasses what we’re used to back home even on international flights. We decided not to rent a car as its fairly easy to get around Singapore. We used taxis, Grab rideshare and the MRT subway system with its easy tap-in/tap-out system using a credit or debit card. We also did a lot of walking.

Shout Outs:

A HUGE thank you to Elizabeth’s friend, Ashley Hamlin, who provided a ton of excellent recommendations of things to do and where to eat around Singapore. Also, kudos to the fully-automated Singapore Immigration Process. We’re used to waiting in long queues upon most international arrivals but not here. Maybe it helped that we pre-submitted our Singapore Arrival Cards (SGAC) online and arrived late at night but we breezed right through immigration and customs. Thank you Singapore!

For Your Amusement:

Toys R Us and Geoffrey are still alive and well in Singapore.

You never know what you might learn about at a science museum.

Next Up: Koh Samui, Thailand