Post #22
We arrived in Singapore in the early morning and took a cab to our hotel. What a change from India – if I woke up in Singapore and you told me I was in North America I’d believe you. But Singapore is cleaner.
We only had two nights and a day before our flight to Cambodia. I had a lot of plans but after we checked in, we fell asleep and by the time we woke up and went to find a place to eat, it was clear that if we saw one “sight” we’d be lucky.
Singapore deluge. The umbrella is symbolic.
We went into the foodcourt at a nearby mall. An incredible array of choices confronted us and in the end we went for soup and noodles – pretty much a fallback staple in our family and well covered by nearly every Asian cuisine in one way or another. After lunch we decided to go for a walk – to an area known for its mosque and Indonesian handcrafts – but it was all closed – before we could figure out why the skies opened up and we were walking through the most drenching downpour we had ever experienced anywhere. We took refuge in restaurant where we just stood for about twenty minutes not knowing what to do until eventually the rain lessened somewhat and we ran back to the hotel. Back at the hotel the family vetoed any further walk outside.
The boys and I went for a swim in the hotel pool. I can’ remember another time in my life that I have gone swimming in a deluge. But the weather was hot and humid – it was just very wet everywhere. We had a great swim and a memorable experience.
The rain stopped and we decided to visit the night zoo. We took the subway, then a bus and made it to the zoo. Basically a tourist trap. I suppose this is the typical “family friendly must see” that you find advertised in any big city and mentioned in guidebooks. The night safari was unusual and unique because it was basically a zoo open at night, but the bottom line was that we couldn’t easily see the animals because it was dark, and the kids were afraid to do the “hikes’ – because it was dark. So was it a successful outing – not really.
An uneventful bus and subway trip and it was back to sleep at the hotel. That is what is great about Singapore – we happily and successfully traversed the city on public transport on our single day in the city and we felt safe at all times – truly something unusual these days.
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