We all woke refreshed in our king size bed from our massive day yesterday , and just a tad early for my liking. We had a huge day planned so we made our way down to the buffet breakfast where we gorged ourselves, as most people do, but l do anticipate by the end of our trip we will be looking forward to just a plain bowl of cereal!
After filling our bellies we headed outside to be greeted with sweltering heat already and it was only 9am! Poor Marty had beads of sweat within seconds of leaving the comfort of the air conditioned hotel. We strolled to the bus stop a few hundred meters up the street and purchased our 24 hr tickets for the City Sightseeing bus, which cost $120 for the family. Not too bad value really. The girls were very excited to be going on the double decker bus, so of course we had to sit up on the top, which didn't have the air con but at least there was shade covers and a breeze to cool us off.
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| Awesome sightseeing bus for the day! |
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| Had to sit up the top! |
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| Bricks waiting to be laid.... |
First stop was the Botanical Gardens. It was so easy and free! The entry was so grand and we saw some locals doing a photo shoot, the model looked totally gorgeous, all us girls were spell bound. We strolled around the lush green gardens full of tropical plants and trees. We saw something moving up a tree out of the corner of our eyes and as we moved over for a closer look saw that it was a fast moving squirrel. This was a first for us, seeing a squirrel in the flesh, he was so cute and quick moving running up and around the trunk of the tree. Girls kept calling it a chipmunk! As we made our way around the path with sweat dripping down our backs, Meg freaked as we came across a slow moving huge monitor lizard crossing the path. You'd think after travelling around Oz for over 3 years that she would be used to the wildlife by now! Lol.... In the middle of the gardens there is a gorgeous lake full of the most gigantic lilly pillies l have ever seen in my life, l was almost tempted to try and cross the lake walking on them they looked that stable. The lake was glamoured with colourful flowers and eels and fish swimming around. The girls had fun trying to spot the eels.
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| Beautiful water feature at the entrance... |
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| Bit of Thai Chi anyone??? |
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| Cheeky squirrel!!! |
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| Gorgeous orchids... |
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| Artwork in progress.... |
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| Squirrel freaking Meg out! |
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| Then a monitor lizard comes out!!! |
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| Biggest lily pods I've ever seen!! |
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| Dragon fly fun photo's... |
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| LOOK...over there!!! Turtle! |
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| Such posers!!! |
As we walked around the lake we came to a pavilion to lookout across the lake and lazing on the surrounding tree roots and branches in the lake were the smallest and cutest turtles. Once we started looking we were amazed by the hundreds gathered around and trying to get a spot to relax. Marty gave us the hurry up as we needed to go catch the bus, on the walk out l was transfixed in taking pics of the plant life and huge butterflies and dragonflies that we almost missed the bus, our backs were drenched with sweat by the time we had to run to catch the bus!!!
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| Wouldn't want to fall into this tree!!! |
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| How cute.... |
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| Fight for the log l can tell you.... |
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| Boo was very concerned over the fighting for the log! |
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| Loved these furry little flowers... |
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| Where's the bus Mum and Dad?? |
Back on the bus we passed thru the main sites around town, Even though Singapore is a huge city, l am amazed with how clean and fresh it feels. We are used to cities like Melbourne or Kuta in Bali that are filled with smog and have a smell to them. Here, the air is clean and so are the streets! The city itself is really crowded with cars, buses and people and we have been told that it is a little busier than usual due to them getting ready for the upcoming Gran Prix. After doing a lap on the bus around the city we were getting a little hungry so decided to get off at the City Plaza for a feed. Sounds easy hey, well with fussy eaters, not so. Don't know whether it is the heat or what but Marty and l were a little crazy and short with one another which didn't help the situation of trying to feed everyone. Girls settled on pasta, Marty got a burger and l got a yoghurt.
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| Can't believe the green foliage in amongst the city.... |
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| Not many people wanting to brave the hot air of the top level! Lol... |
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| Construction around the whole city... |
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| Beautiful sculptures around the streets.... |
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| Turning hot weather crazy! |
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| Setting up for the Gran Prix... |
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| Singapore Flyer... |
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| Sands Resort.... |
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| Color brightening up the city.... |
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| Love the colourful houses amongst the city.... |
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| Such genius.....vertical clothesline! |
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| The Bling of Singapore begins! |
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| The Fountain of Wealth is dry....bugger! |
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| Girls loved these signs with their dad in them.....hanging with a celebrity! |
After replenishing our water supplies we caught a different bus and passed thru India Town and then to China Town. The buildings were amazing, the streets lined with amazing colours of architecture. We stopped off at the Mint Toy Museum, walking up the street Marty and l had a bit of a barney which may have added to the museum being a bit crap. Total rip off at $40 AU for the family and seeing most was a collection of prehistoric cartoon and toys from back in the 60's the girls had no real interest. There was five levels to the slender museum, really small floor space and crammed with stuff that it was overwhelming almost. Not even Marty was blown away and this was on his list of things to do. Wouldn't really waste your time, pricey and underwhelming really.
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| The colour of India Town begins! |
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| Now into China Town.... |
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| This optical illusion wowed Meg and Boo! |
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| Into the Toy Mint Museum.... |
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| Time for some hop scotch! |
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| Astro Boy!!! |
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| Marty would have loved to test run the remote control Peacock! |
The day was getting away from us and we hadn't got thru half of what we wanted to see. So we made our way across town on the bus thru China Town once again and over to the Sands Resort Casino which l was really excited to see as it was also where we would check our the Gardens by the Bay. The Sands Resort Casino is a huge architectural structure that you can see almost from anywhere in the city. It had three tall skyscraper's that had a boat like flat structure lying on top of them to join it all as one. Bit hard to describe, but apparently, and well expected, to be very pricey and up on the top there is the most amazing infinity pool that overlooks the city. We weren't able to go up there due to not staying there, instead we headed in to use the toilets, and were overwhelmed and under dressed by the sophistication of the shops and dressed up people in their designer wear and accessories that we went straight out again.
We strolled about a km up the road to the Gardens by the Bay and crossed this fantastic heart bridge across the river. The bridge overlooked the Singapore Flyer in the horizon and gave us great views of the Sands Resort. Over the bridge there were huge sculptures getting set up for the night show. The girls were over it and so hot, not really impressed with the place as they would have been if it was cool. Then we saw the water park! Pity l didn't bring the bathers, but they got their feet wet and cooled off slightly, loosing it when we told them they couldn't run around under the water. If we didn't need to get back on the bus we would have let them go for it, shame really! Instead, we dragged them up the path and came across a playground which made them just as happy to relax and have some play time. Afterwards, with much happier girls we headed up the giant tree walk, costing us a little money but totally worth it. Gave us great views of the harbour and Flyer. The giant trees are made out of steel and at night meant to look spectacular. Will be great to see when we head to the Singapore Flyer later on in the night. At Gardens by the Bay we had to check things out quicker than we would have liked, and in hindsight, we could have spent half the day here happily if we had of packed a picnic and the girls bathers. There were other parts to the place that had entry costs, and seeing we were slightly time pressured, we opted not to check it out. We still got a great experience and is one of my highlights of the day so far.
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| Marty showing Boo how to read a map... |
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| Back thru the colourful China Town again!!! |
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| Sands Resort! |
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| Girls loved looking at themselves in the tunnel mirrors! |
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| Garden's by the Bay.......wow! |
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| Cool sculptures in the river! |
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| Singapore Flyer in the distance.... |
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| Heart shaped bridge..... |
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| Sands Resort once again.....fascinated obviously! |
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| Buddha.... |
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| Sculptured termite mound... |
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| Race to the top... |
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| What a view.... |
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| Loving these steel trees..... |
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| Time for girls play time! |
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| Even Marty couldn't resist... |
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| Girls gutted they couldn't splash around in here! |
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| Time to head out....had a blast! Definitely worth going for the day, not a few hours! |
We walked back over to the Sands Resort and decided to walk thru it a different way when we came across a bloody water canal right in the middle of it with people paddling thru on little gondola's! Only in Singapore!
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| Glorious mini gardens on all balconies.. |
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| Such curvature on the Sands Resort... |
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| Inside the Sands Resort,,, |
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| Notice the river down below???? |
It was getting late and we had to catch the bus back to the Novotel to get the other bloody Go Pro battery due to us forgetting it and needing it to capture the night in Singapore on board the Singapore Flyer. Totally sucked and the girls were well and truly over it. We had planned to catch the boat up to the flyer from Clarke Quay but it ended up being really expensive and only a one way trip. So instead, we decided to catch the train to the flyer. Sounded easy, but ended up being a lot of hassle. Was a huge walk to the the MRT and then we got totally confused with the public transport ticket purchase. We were nearly ready to give up when a local lady helped us out, we have found the Singaporeans to be nothing but lovely, kind, polite and helpful. So we purchased our tickets, thanks to the lady, figured out our train to catch, and by the time we arrived at the flyer it was 9pm!!! It cost us around $100 for the four of us to go up for the half hour!!! We thought we would have our own flyer at that price, but no we had to share with 10 other people! Girls were excited for the first 5 mins then just sat exhausted and hungry. Marty and l enjoyed the brilliant views of the night lit city, it really does come alive at night. We saw part of the laser show in the background near Clarke Quay, the amazingly lit up Gardens by the Bay and all the skyscrapers filling the city. The half hour went quick and when we got down we were ready for some food.
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| Time for the Singapore Flyer.....night views. |
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| Walking past the start point of the Gran Prix...just to rub it into Marty again. |
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| Interactive areas for the kids on the walk thru to the Flyer... |
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| The Sands Resort. |
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| Gardens by the Bay lit up... |
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| Singapore alight! |
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| Long day for the girls but still smiling! |
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| Father Daughter memories... |
Seeing we have fussy eaters in the family, mainly Marty and Meg, we couldn't try any of the local market foods near by so we settled on a nice ice cream at Gellatisomo. Pity the humidity and heat were still around even though it was night as it was the last straw for Meg who lost it as her ice cream melted too quickly than she could eat it. It was a really long day and a hard walk back to the MRT, we eventually got back to the Novotel by 10:30pm and we were all buggered. It had been a huge day, the heat wearing us out more quicker than we had anticipated. We were pretty chuffed all the same seeing we got to see this wonderful city and all the sites we had on our list. We were really proud of how well the girls did and overall we had a few hiccoughs but an awesome day! Such a beautiful city.
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| Late night home finally, walking thru Clarke Quay... |
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| Everyone hangs out drinking on the river... |
Lucky we had tuckered the girls out really as they were so excited to be going to see Universal Studios tomorrow!!! So after a quick shower we all hit the hay and were asleep in record time to recharge the batteries.....
Bell Xxx
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