Singapore!

This year we planned a trip to visit family in America during our winter break, and America's summer break. Usually we fly straight to California from Australia, but this time (since we were flying to the east coast) it was just as far to fly the other way around the world over Asia and the Middle East and Europe. Stan suggested we do some "stop-offs" en route to America so we could slowly adjust to the changing time zones. With three kids in tow it seemed like an excellent idea. We flew in increments of 7 hours flights every couple of days (which was only about a 2-3 hour time zone change, each time). The kids did great!  We got to see parts of the world we had never seen before and I am thinking, after 6 years abroad (and a trip to the USA about every year), we have finally figured out how to travel (....that and maybe the fact that the kids are "older" :)

The first stop-off was Singapore. From Melbourne, Singapore is about an 8 hour flight north, and only a two hour time zone change. We had a couple days in Singapore. The first day we checked into our hotel and then walked over to the local food markets and got some dinner. It was AMAZING, and we could not eat enough. After that we got a taxi over to the Singapore Zoo (ranked top 3 in the world every year) and went on the night safari (ranked #1 night safari in the world). There were these little trains that would take you around the zoo so you could see the Animals get fed and run around. I loved seeing the Lions at night, they were walking all around (compared to how they usually are in the day time). Sorry no good pictures of the zoo- since you were not allowed to use the flash :(

the little market where we got some food after getting off the plane

The night safari. It was so HOT and we were all wearing winter clothes since we had just left Melbourne, we should have changed at the hotel.

Day 2 we had to get out of the city due to hazardous air pollution. the smog was so thick we couldn't see out our hotel window and the schools were even cancelled. All the locals were walking around with masks on their faces. I asked the hotel porter where we could find some masks. He didn't know. Then I asked the hotel if we could get a mask. They said they would issue 1 per family. I was livid. The newspapers and new stations were warning everyone about the air pollution and I had to pick 1 person in my family to get to use the mask while the rest of us breathes in the toxins. I said, 'no thanks' and left.

We decided to get out of the city so we took a bus out to the local ferries, (which was a local fisher boat that could carry up to 12 people), and visited a tiny island, which would rent bikes out to tourists, so they could get around.

 Mary on the tram-love her toothless grin!

 Our little fisher boat

 We rode the ferry out to a little island called Pulau Ubin, which has been conserved by the government, so there is little to no development. The perimeter is about 2 km. Once we were off the boat, we rented some bikes and biked the Island. We could see monkeys in the trees swinging, we ran into a family of wild boars. We did some hikes, and finished off in this little "resort/ aka hut" where you could dip your feet into water and the fish would eat all the dead skin off. It was all so cool!

 Arriving at the island

 Olivia biking

 Olivia found a lizard

Miss Mary covered in the greenery during part of our hike!

 Visiting an restored house with information about the island

 A family of wild boars

 Off the road we found this scenic pond with lily pads. I was so sad there was no one around to take our families picture!

 The kids took our picture

 Olivia and Mary found a coconut

 Here is where we did the fish spa. This "resort" had a bunch of huts for guests to stay in. I thought it looked so cool!

 These fish spa's feel so funny!  I am not ticklish at all, but I couldn't stop laughing when they started eating my feet, it felt so weird!

  Here the fishermen are taking us back to the mainland. I love this picture!

On the way back home we stopped in the city and had dinner. 

 look closely at the menu

 When abroad, we make the kids eat the local food :)  It's an "experience"

 Visiting an Indian temple

 walking the streets of little India

 Saw this sign on the way home...did we wear bug spray after biking around that little island...NO!:-)

Day 3- we went to Sentosa (which is an island that has been turned into a giant amusement park). You take a train over, and can easily spend up to a week on this island going from one theme park to the next. We only had one day so we chose Universal Studios as our day park and went on all the rides until late at night when we couldn't walk any more!

We had several people ask us if they could take pictures with our kids...

Again, very hot- just let the kids play in the water fountains at the park

Olivia is such a fantastic team player in our family.

Thomas' favourite ride was the transformer ride

Another family asking if their boys could get a picture with Olivia and Mary. Thomas wanted in too :-)

Day 4- The next morning we went back to the Singapore zoo and had breakfast with the orangutans. We also got to help feed the elephants their breakfast. The hair on their trunks is very prickly it was probably one of the coolest things I have ever done.  After the zoo, we went back through the city streets and visited china town and went shopping for souvenirs before catching our plane to Dubai.

Feeding the elephants!

They just grab the food out of your hand with their trunk

after feeding the elephants we had lunch with the orangutans. Our breakfast table was right next to them, it was so fun to eat next to them.

After breakfast we went off to see other parts of the zoo.

I loved his broom

Overall, I thought Singapore was very clean, very civil. NO CRIME. The laws were reformed a generation ago and the prime minister got rid of the mafia, drugs (death penalty), graffiti (you get the cane) and everything else. People can walk the streets at night and feel safe. The locals loved living here and except for the air pollution that hit right when we were here, I would have no problems living in this country and I will probably visit again!