I had this Singapore post prepared, but I never published it, so I am interrupting our regularly scheduled programming to drop this post in despite the fact that we went to Singapore three months ago.
The last stop with Melissa, Mike, Barrett, and Violet was Singapore. It is where we first landed when we flew to Southeast Asia, but we only had a layover. It was fun exploring Singapore with family.
The first thing that happened to us was sticker shock. After traveling to other countries in Southeast Asia, Singapore is expensive. The cost of our hotel for four nights was almost as much as our monthly housing budget in many other countries. We stayed at the Serangoon House, a Marriott hotel in Little India. The hotel is beautiful. The rooms are tiny. We had king-over-king bunk beds and not much room for anything else. The cost of breakfast at the hotel is USD$37 per person. Luckily for us, breakfast was included in our reservation.
We only had a few days in Singapore but we packed in the activities. On our first full day, we took the kids to a trampoline park, and then later that day, Michael, Lucas, and Melissa played pickleball for over 4 hours. While they were playing pickleball, Mike and I took Henry, Violet, and Barrett to Home Baking Day, a store where you can walk in and bake a cake. They have all the tools and ingredients and a list of cakes to make with step-by-step instructions. We do not get the chance to bake because there is usually no oven in our accommodations here in Asia. Henry loved it. We surprised Michael with the cake we made for Father’s Day.
On day two, we went to the Discovery Centre. It is an educational entertainment center created by the Ministry of Defense. It includes exhibits about the history of Singapore. It also has laser tag, a movie theater, and paintball. Learning about the history of the countries we visit is fascinating. They do not teach that history in the U.S. school system.
We bought early entry tickets that got us into the park an hour early. We were the first people to enter the park. We rode the Battlestar Galactica: Human vs. Cylon rollercoaster a few times with no lines. The Clyon coaster is a wild ride. The Human roller coaster is not worth waiting for, and luckily, we didn’t have to wait.
The only ride we waited for was the Jurrasic Park raft ride. We waited an hour for that ride, but we played Heads Up while we waited. We had a great day at Universal.
We went to visit the most iconic landmark in Singapore, the Marina Bay Sands. We did not go up to the observation deck, but we walked around. We also saw the Gardens By the Bay light show that happens twice a day.
Our biggest adventure was Universal Studios, Singapore. It may seem like we are doing a theme park tour around the world, and that is not entirely wrong. We recently went to Universal Studios, Japan, and Disney Sea. We enjoy a good theme park.
It was sad to say farewell to Michael’s sister and family. We are so thankful they made the big trip across the world to see us.
