Ahoy,
I realize I forgot to record our travels in November to Singapore and Australia. The flurry of returning just upon the holidays was definitely occupying my time. And now I'm afraid I don't have a great recollection! Eek!
I had arranged for my folks to arrive into LA for a night before we all departed on a Thursday morning. The flight to Singapore is not for the faint of heart. We did not arrive in Singapore until Saturday before the sun came up. There was a layover in Japan. I managed to finish Obama's book and left it at the airport in Tokyo right outside a book store. I hope somebody found it, but in retrospect - I really should have left it at the lost and found. There was a demo for ink block printing at the airport that I got to try. Mom and dad remarked that they will never go to Japan - that airport was probably the closest they'll ever get - a remnant of China and Japan's complicated relationship. But they do like sushi!
I booked us a cute little capsule hotel-like space for the first night because in a hurry, I realized I had booked our hotel for arriving during the day, but we arrived at night, and the room could not be ready yet. My bad. My folks did not mind it as much as I thought they would. Our hotel the next day was much more spacious. The room had a giant circle tub and a drop down projector screen.
Singapore is hot as balls and humid. It is year round. I could not live there. Our first morning we went to the hawker center across the street. I arranged us to stay in Chinatown, which pleased my dad. He got to have rice everyday. Mom promptly got in a line that turned out to be the one for a Michelin star place. We ate a lot of food. Mom continued grumbling about how no one gives you napkins - you have to bring your own. Appalling! And everything has too much flavor.
Later that day, we continued to Little India and back to the downtown area to see the Merlion. We were able to meet up with my friend from middle school who had moved here. He was our tour guide. He took us to one of his favorite local places before we went to the zoo for a night tour. We had never seen the animals that close or that active. It was really remarkable. Seems to me you can only see the animals at night because it is so stiflingly hot during the day.
Our second day began with another hawker center. Apparently, it was considered cool if it goes below 100 degrees F. We went to encourage my friend out of his house by crashing his place, thus forcing him to come with us to get us out of his place. We dragged him on a hike that I think only A enjoyed because it was so hot - none of us wanted to do anything. At this point, it is clear all the days will be torturous. We could do nothing indoors or whine outside doing stuff. Kudos to A for putting up with our grumpy butts. Truly, not my best. There were wild monkeys on the hike that were not at all afraid of people. They have fewer issues with personal space than I do.
That evening, we went to check out Gardens by the Bay. We caught sunset and had dinner at the hawker center there. After a mad dash to catch the light show at the forest, we did not make it. And my mom wanted to wait to watch the next show. I spent some more time whining about how the sun is down and it is still so hot! A is chipper as ever because he is made for the tropics.
The next day, we went to Sentosa Island - a cheesy resort place that holds Universal Studios, among other attractions. I wanted to take dad ziplining. He had first seemed interested in Toronto, so I decided Singapore was the time to make it happen! I'm glad I got to help dad tic that off his list. He had a good time. A and my mom met us at the beach for our hike back. Again with the hikes! There was a really cool library on the way back inside the mall. It's totally automated. Dad got to read his China newspapers on the computer, and mom read tabloids. There was an epic storm while we were inside.
Our final day, we went back to the Gardens by the Bay to go inside the big glass domes. One is this big forest/jungle with waterfalls and the other is a big flower show. They are both huge and amazing architectural works on their own independent of the also amazing plants inside. A and I also went to the City Museum, which was entirely fascinating and free! After a quick shower at the hotel, we hopped over to the airport to check out the Jewel. My friend met us there for dinner, where my mom again scoffed at the flavors.
Our flight to Melbourne was a redeye. And would also take us to more temperate climates.
best,
jt
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