Our first foray into SouthEast Asia as a family was a week long stay in Singapore. Kelly and I had travelled to Singapore 13 years earlier and as one of our cab drivers indicated – much has changed and much has stayed the same. First off, Singapore is a wonderful city to come to as a family. Thanks to the recommendation of friend and colleague, Jeanie Ross who taught at the Canadian International School in Singapore for two years, we booked in at the Albert Court Hotel using the website www.stayfareast.com. We would recommend both this website and the hotel to anyone looking for excellent accommodation and pricing in what can otherwise be an expensive stay.
Singapore knows how to move people around – efficiency at it’s best. We wonder if our Canadian municipal, provincial, and federal leaders and planners look closely at systems in place in these large cities. The West certainly has some catching up to do in that regard! This time around however, we utilized cabs for getting around as with four people, it was more cost-effective than using the MRT.
Can’t say enough about staying at the Albert Court Hotel – the staff were incredibly welcoming! Of note was the manager taking time to introduce a traditional game called Capteh to the boys. The premise is the same as juggling a soccer ball; however, it’s a feather attached to a small weight. Quite a challenge actually, and perfect for confined spaces with no fear of breaking things! It also seemed that each time the boys passed through the foyer they were entertained by various ‘magic’ tricks courtesy of the doorman, Jamal. With the boys dipping their toes into Asian style breakfasts, we loved the buffet every day and it was great to see them trying food such as various noodle and curry dishes for breakfast.
Boys learning to play Capteh – notice the small yellow feather to the left of the photo.
Singapore is a great first introduction to Asian culture as there is enough ‘western familiarity’ that for our young boys, they were not completely overwhelmed. We made sure to listen to the recommendations of our cab drivers and one thing they all had in common: a love for great hawker stall food. Aside from our breakfasts and two meals on Sentosa Island, we ate solely at hawker food markets. Our hands down favourite was Maxwell Market where we all enjoyed Tian Tian Chicken Rice and Kelly also loved the Laksa – a sour and spicy soup. All four of us could have a full meal and drinks for under $14 CAD total and the food was outstanding! Seriously, I could complete a rather large blog post talking about all the food alone!
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- In line to order
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- Chicken Rice!!!
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- Good food surrounded by chaos!
We purchased a series of passes through an agent at our hotel and planned the itinerary for the week. Aside from wandering the streets of downtown, the Botanical Gardens and ensuring we stopped by the Raffles, we were unsure of our exact plans when we first arrived. It was a whirlwind week of fun as Kelly and I made a conscious choice to feed the entertainment side of our kids. Universal Studios, Night Safari, Singapore Zoo, Singapore Flyer, Adventure Cove, and the S.E.A. Aquarium! Normally, our family avoids theme parks like the plague (some terrible childhood memory probably impacted this), but given the reasonable prices and the guarantees of no crowds, we decided to jump in and boy are we glad we did!
First of all, the S.E.A. Aquarium of all the aquariums we’ve been to in major cities, was by far and away the most superior (beating out London, Melbourne, Sydney, and Monaco). They have the world record for the largest tank and one could spend hours sitting in front of this tank alone. Also of note was how incredibly clean the glass on all the tanks were allowing for great viewing – this was not always the case in other aquariums, especially Sydney. Able to make many connections to fish we have seen both in the ocean and in aquariums, it was wonderful to see the boys come alive with joy in being able to observe all of the great fresh and saltwater fish!
Following the aquarium, we ventured to Adventure Cove, the waterpark next door. Again, with no crowds, we were able to thoroughly enjoy the many slides with little to no wait. The only ride requiring a wait was most definitely worth it! The Riptide Rocket…combination roller coaster and waterslide, this one brought out more than a few shrieks of joy and gigantic wipeouts at the end.
Our next day involved the Singapore Zoo and Night Safari. Kelly and I had been on the Night Safari in 2001 and really enjoyed the experience, but never went to the zoo. Again, Singapore wins as far as most well organized and set up zoos of all the ones we have visited during our travels. A highlight was the elephant show where we were able to observe how well trained these incredible animals can be as well as how strong they are. The boys were able to spend some time following, feeding the elephants. Their trunks while so strong are also delicate and graceful. Seeing the many different animal species was wonderful, but as we all talked following the day, it always leads to questions about animals in captivity. We know that education and awareness is key to ensuring that humans and economics don’t further deplete species and habitat; however, it is also difficult to reconcile the “caged” animal no matter how well looked after.
We headed over to the Night Safari which is always a full attraction – we remembered feeling overwhelmed by the number of people 13 years ago, and this was again the case leading up to entry into the park. However, once we had completed the train tour of the safari, our walking tour was comfortable and at our own pace. We loved seeing the smallest deer – a mouse deer and walking through the area with the gigantic fruit bats were highlights. These bats are flying free and the look on the boys faces once they realized that they were surrounded by the massive creatures was priceless! One thing we all found interesting was that people were obsessed with taking photographs on the night safari; however, no flashes are allowed and it is dark hence the quality of photographs are poor. This experience is not one that is meant to be recorded on any device other than your mind. Listening to the animals move around and be active in the night, is a whole other experience than leisurely wandering the zoo during the day while many are sleeping.
Singapore is an incredible city in many ways. The number of shopping malls along Orchard Street alone is entirely overwhelming and every possible high end and mid range shop in the world seems to be available here. Looking out over downtown, the high rises and architecture is incredible combined with the humming port absolutely stuffed with huge shipping vessels. Going up the Singapore Flyer (30 metres higher than the London Eye), allowed us to gain further perspective on the incredible engineering feats of man looking at all of the buildings and infrastructure surrounding us. With most people living in apartments, it was yet another learning experience for the boys in recognizing the impact large populations in small spaces has on the style of living and daily life.
Our final major attraction was Universal Studios. Having never been to any of the Disney theme parks and our only frame of reference, brief visits to Galaxyland in West Edmonton Mall, we were unsure of what to expect. Our number one descriptor of our day was FUN! We had an absolute blast as a family going on every ride, posing with theme characters, and enjoying the general atmosphere of the place. Our longest wait time was approximately 10 minutes and that happened only once. We didn’t have to wait at all for most rides and it was slick! The boys favourite ride was the 3D Transformers ride which may have made their mother rather ill due to the realistic effects and feelings of flying through a city being chased and hammered by the bad robots (no I’ve never watched Transformers). The special effects on this ride were outstanding! I preferred the Mummy Returns roller coaster which is in the dark and certainly packs its fair share of G-forces and unexpected turns. We were so relaxed and never had to rush (with the exception of when the Minions appeared for photo opportunities – that may have been a little bit of Asian line up craziness!). Kelly and I may have to rethink our avoidance of this type of attraction – with the right mindset and the right timing, this was a blessed day for our family together in a totally different way than we had expected.
Considering a different destination city? Consider Singapore – safe, clean, affordable, fun, and an opportunity to introduce yourself to cultural difference with enough familiar to help you take a risk.
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