Over the school holidays that just passed, the Boys and I went for a little holiday, a little escape to the hot, sunny and sticky Singapore from the wet and cold Perth. As usual, being a cheap-skate, I booked myself and the kids on a mid-night flight out to Singapore by a budget airline. Thanks God the flight was on time and though I couldn’t sleep through out the 5.5 hours flying due to a bad turbulence, we arrived safe and sound at Changi Airport at 5.35 early in the morning.
And then the drama was to unfold. First, I couldn’t get any cash out from all the ATM at Changi, which was very weird. I had never had a problem like this before. After a few emergency calls to hubby home in bed, I managed to get money out from the credit card account, phew at least we could go and buy a coffee now! The boys and I had to wait another 3 hours or so at Changi for my mother’s flight to arrive at around 9am. Oh yessss…..it’s a pain and I swear I’m never ever gonna allow this arrangement again. I felt very sorry and guilty to my children. We could not check-in at the hotel yet, as the check-in time was 2pm in the afternoon! By the time my mother’s flight arrived and she emerged from the immigration, it was very close to 10am. My aunty who lives in Singapore for more than twenty years now, came and picked us up from the airport. We retreated to my aunty’s place, to have shower, eat, and a bit rest.
On the 4th floor of The V Hotel Lavender
My mother stayed with my aunty while the Boys and I are checked in at V Hotel Lavender. The hotel was ok. The lobby was always very crowded with people milling around. Underneath the hotel is the Lavender MRT station. It’s very handy to go around every where by MRT in Singers. There are lots of little café and restaurants around the hotel too, there’s Kopi Tiam restaurant that opens 24/7 and they have nasi padang as well! We booked triple bed type of room, which consists of one double bed and one single bed. The room itself is very small, but it has every thing you need. Bathroom though small, is clean and functional. The swimming pool is in 4th floor and open til 7pm every day.
Our itinerary while in Singapore was full and pretty much just around the Sentosa Island and Singapore city. I booked the Universal Studio and Night Safari tour through the hotel. It was said if you booked through a hotel you can avoid the long queuing…..which was not true! We still had to queue for every single ride at the Universal Studio, which can take from 35 to 80 minutes, just for one ride! Ridiculous! If you don’t want to queue apparently you can buy the VIP Pass for ..I don’t know how much….I couldn’t be bothered anymore. I had spent quite lots $$$ and didn’t want to pay more for a special VIP pass. I don’t know what was going on in Singapore at that time but every where was massive queuing for every thing. Even to go to the toilet was a big queue!
I have been to Singapore before, mainly just for transit. The last time I actually went to Singapore (not only inside Changi Airport) was perhaps ten years ago. So, I was a bit overwhelmed by the Singapore today. I find it’s more busy than ever and more people and every single eatery place is packed with people too. And the heat….oh my God, I’m ashamed to say that I’m not used to the heat anymore. I don’t wanna sound snobbish, I mean I was born and I grew up in Indonesia for heaven sake… so I should be accustomed to the heat. But man, the boys and I just melted!
Despite the heat we had a wonderful time in Singapore. I am glad that the Boys can spend some time with their Oma as well. Last time my mother saw the Boys was about six months ago, it wasn’t that long I suppose.
Here are some pictures from our short trip, hope you enjoy it.
Dinning out near the water at Clarke Quay
Garden by the Bay
Oma and her little bodyguards 🙂
The biggest aquarium at SEA Aquarium, Sentosa Island
Pretty colorful fish
To Sentosa Island by the cable car
It was a very hot day at Sentosa!
Nice dip, so refreshing!
A day around the city
Til later, Singapore!
OhdearRia 
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