Singapore & Malaysia

Our winter getaway was great. We finally found ourselves in Singapore after wishing to go there for some time. As usual we tagged a family holiday onto Phil’s work trip. He had a conference to go to in Malaysia after the school break was over so we thought Singapore would make for a good spot beforehand. We also organised for Mom to meet us there.

First flight was to Melbourne where we stayed overnight near the airport. We ended up on the same plane with one of Catherine’s school friends. It was lovely watching them holding hands, chatting and navigating the airport confidently. They went on their separate ways once we arrived in Melbourne. Her friend was off to London. We are very grateful that their school is so supportive of family travel during the term.

In Melbourne the next morning we caught up briefly with family at the hotel and then with a friend at the airport who happened to fly into the same city for work that day. Pretty cool having these catch-ups with friends and family away from home. Our flight to Melbourne ended up being delayed for about an hour. It was a day flight so it wasn’t too disruptive. We spent 8 hours watching movies on the plane. I watched some enjoyable light comedy, Keeping Up With the Joneses and Table 19, followed by Life, Animated which was heavy and emotional at times.

Once at Singapore, we deplaned into heat. It was nice. We thawed instantly, collected our luggage and took a taxi to the city centre. It was kind of strange hearing American-British accents on the radio. We had booked the Swissotel but got upgraded to the Fairmont before we left due to Swissotel renovations. The Fairmont was very nice and comfortable.

From Singapore & Malaysia

I woke up early the next morning to pick up Mom from the airport. She couldn’t check in her room right away, so I took her back to our room. She had a lovely reunion with her grandkids. We then decided to try the local breakfast and were recommended a place called Coffee & Toast. We had kaya toast, iced kopi, iced milo, yam cake and a sour and spicy soup called mee siam. I wouldn’t have minded having kaya toast and kopi every breakfast. We experienced our first Singaporean public restroom that morning. Catherine ran straight into a stall before realising we had to grab some toilet paper before entering. “Singapore is weird”, she said afterwards. I found it weird walking on the ‘wrong’ side too. And Singapore is as clean as what we’ve heard and read about. One thing that surprised me was that a lot of people still smoke in public areas.

After a late breakfast it was straight to the pool. The kids were loving it and even Granny joined in. All that swimming gave us a big appetite for delicious dumplings and buns at Din Tai Fung. After our afternoon rest we headed out again and took the MRT to Chinatown – such a colourful and buzzing precinct. Bought some souvenirs along the way and then walked to Lau Pa Sat, a food hawker centre, for dinner. The kids were quite exhausted walking in the heat and humidity. We fully enjoyed the chicken rice and noodles, seafood soup, fresh fruit and juice and shaved ice dessert.

It was gloomy and rainy the next day. Still the kids wanted to go swimming and spent another couple hours at the pool. The girls then went shopping at Raffles City which was just below our hotel while the boys chilled at the hotel room. Although there were still showers on and off towards the evening, we decided to check out Gardens by the Bay. The Cloud Forest dome was cool, although a bit busy. Catherine wasn’t a fan of the high walkway but she got through it ok. Lots of orchids and lush greenery with views of the lit up Singapore skyline. We ended the evening watching the Light Show at Supertree Grove.

Back at the pool first thing in the morning. Lunch was at Chjimes, which used to be a convent, just across the road from our hotel. We met up with my cousins who are working in Singapore. We had delicious ramen, Karaage, fried rice with a basket of hard boiled eggs at Ikkousha Ramen. We walked off all that food going to the ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands. More cold food and drinks first to recover from the heat before going to the museum. We went to 2 exhibits – Human+ and Future World. The latter was more enjoyable with some amazing interactive experiences. We then had dinner with more relatives/friends at Salt Tapas & Bar. A taxi driver gave us a tip off that there would be fireworks that night for the upcoming National Day (in August). This also explained the fighter jet flyovers the past couple of days. So before heading to bed, we were able to catch a fireworks display over Marina Bay from our hotel.

On Sunday morning, Catherine and I went to mass with Mom at St Joseph’s Catholic Church. It was very old and dilapidated. The pews were held up with duct tape and some areas were completely blocked off. The church is due to be closed from August onwards for a least a year to be restored. Leaving church it already felt like it was going to be a hot day. We went for another adventure to the Botanic Gardens. We had plans to visit the Children’s Garden and the Orchid Garden. We only made it to the former. Nicholas and Catherine enjoyed the large tree house and the water play area. It was just too hot to walk another 2km to the Orchid Garden so back on the MRT. Got off at Clarke Quay Central and found more yummy chicken rice and noodles, wonton soup and milk tea with pearls. We enjoyed the simple comfort food of Singapore. I was hoping to go on a river taxi but they weren’t running on the weekends – only more expensive tourist river cruises were available. Phil and the kids took a taxi back to the hotel while Mom and I walked back and did some more shopping on the way. Then Phil and I tag teamed and he went off exploring on his own. On our last night with Mom, we had dinner at Marche Movenpick followed by night swimming at the pool of course.

Another early morning start for me to take Mom back to the airport. She had another 16 hour flight to catch back to San Francisco then to Los Angeles. She did really well travelling all that way to spend time with us. It was nice to see her enjoying her grandkids and being able to relate to them more now that they’re a bit older.

Our last adventure was the Singapore Flyer. Nicholas wanted to go on it. Catherine usually being the more adventurous was unsure of the ride and not a fan of heights. The full rotation took about half an hour and it was quite slow so not very scary at all. The views were impressive and it was quite relaxing. We also saw lots of ships off the port. Phil saw us off at the airport that evening. We had a bit of an emotional farewell but we all survived the following days apart. The night time flight was very tiring. I didn’t get much sleep at all and in Melbourne the next morning we were all walking zombies. The people at Qantas Club took pity on us and let us in for our 3 hour layover before flying back to Canberra. The kids also needed another extra day to adjust before going back to school. Phil spent 5 days in Kuching Malaysia, spending nearly all of the time at the conference. He flew back home via a 7 hour layover in Singapore and 3 hours in Melbourne.

Other mentionable happenings: Nicholas lost a tooth in Singapore and got a visit from the Australian Tooth Fairy. Catherine missed school. One day she wrote a note to her teacher. On another hot day, she was so tired and upset from walking that she declared, "I don't want to be here anymore! I want to go to school!"