more good times in Singapore

 Indian food at Komala Vilas in Little India.  Even though it was a bit spicy, Ariel liked it!

 So did we.  This was our 15-year wedding anniversary dinner. We accidentally celebrated a day early because our watches had the wrong date (because of leap year.)

 Lunch and catching up with Bruce at East Coast Park.  Bruce used to work with Jeff. Now he's retired and living with his family in Singapore.  His wife and daughter were busy with work and school, so we missed seeing them.  It was nice to catch up with him.  This restaurant was beachfront, so Ariel and I got to play in the waves.

Chinatown of course!  We had foot massages, and a nice Chinese grandma helped entertain Ariel. We also found a healthy vegetarian restaurant there.

Other things we did in Singapore: checked out a movie theater at Orchard Road (Shaw Cinemas), I went running through Fort Canning Park and the river & waterfront, shopped for Indian groceries, visited Mt.Emily hostel and park, played & read at the Central Library.  I'm so glad we got to visit Singapore one more time before leaving Asia.  Hopefully we'll make it back some day.  I could live there!

Singapore Botanical Garden

 This is something I've always wanted to do in Singapore.  The Garden is really a huge, relaxing park. It reminded us of the park near the China Hotel Marriott in Guangzhou.  Except without the air pollution.

 a messy lunch

 at the children's playground

Always carry a swimsuit or change of clothes! Water play is everywhere here.

at the wheel

 at Vivo City

Vivo City

 Vivo City is our favorite place to stay cool in Singapore. It's a big mall on the waterfront, with a play area, great food, and a movie theater. We've been busy, so I'm a bit behind on blogging about Singapore.

naps

 a multi-layered girl nap at home

with Daddy in Singapore

Elmo Says "Achoo!"

We spent last week in Singapore. Here is a video of Ariel reading Elmo Says "Achoo!" to herself in the hotel room:

Merlion Park

On a whim, we went to the waterfront to see the Merlion statue. It was covered up (being worked on.) But we were delighted by the sunset and light show at Marina Sands, the 3 buildings with "island" on top.

Ariel likes to feel the shiny bars and interact with the sunset crowd.

Marina Sands is new since our last Singapore visit.

Wow!

on the town

at the Images of Singapore museum

at Haw Par Villa, a free park full of legendary Chinese structures & statues

It had great leaves

and seed pods.

(she is not easily scared by crazy face statues)

We burned off energy at The Verge mall in Little India before I carried her through the lively streets. We loved the Indian ambience, music, and spicy smells. Even got some "take away" curries & rice from Ananda Bhavan, my favorite vegetarian place there.

Bebo City

This mall complex is Vivo City, but Jeff & I call it Bebo City (Bebo is a nickname for the cats that means "brothers.")in the spinning chairs

local school kids meet Ariel at Bebo

Singapore Laksa at the food court: noodles and seafood in a spicy coconut broth. These "Kopitiam" food courts are all over Singapore, and they are great. Kopitiam means "coffee shop."


A little tear because Baby could not walk all around during Mama's lunch. We walked afterward. I didn't bring a stroller on the trip, so she did plenty of walking & playing.

Chinatown

Singapore has a big Chinatown (and Chinese population.) This is Pagoda Street.

I wasn't planning on the foot massage, but Josephine from One One Massage on Pagoda Street was out drumming up business. She said "your baby can sleep." But Ariel woke up and had fun in the room (we were the only customers.) All the ladies had fun meeting her. I always use One One Massage and recommend it when you're in Singapore! Josephine said Ariel's two hair swirls mean she's "fierce like a tiger" and that she has Phoenix eyes.

Year of the Rabbit decorations were still up.

bookish

Between Raffles Hotel and the Central Library is a big used-book shopping area. Ariel played on any stairs she could find there.

Singapore has great libraries. This one has a large open area for kids to read or play. These Italian Trioli chairs are for sitting or playing. Other kids were lining them up like trains and pushing them around. Some were using them as rocking horses.

Ariel got in on the action. It's fun to see all the books in different languages. We read some Chinese board books.

in the room

Ready to swim. The YMCA's rooftop pool was a nice afternoon break.

view from our window

The Cathay cinema across the street had multi-colored lights at night.

Study break: books are her comfort items.

She likes to watch herself eat and laugh!

Singapore activities

These short videos summarize most of what we did in Singapore.

at the zoo:


at Haw Par Villa:

(She practiced the "stair approach" everywhere we went.)

near the Central Library:

at the zoo

We're getting settled after a warm and exciting week in Singapore. Singapore is always a treat because it's warm, clean, safe, fun, and diverse. And English is one of its four official languages (the others are Mandarin, Tamil, and Malay.) breakfast at the YMCA, where we stayed

At the zoo, Ariel was most interested in plants, leaves, sticks, and dents in the sidewalk.

scouting for emus and kangaroos in the Australian Outback

water play!

Rushing water is so interesting!