China's Golden Week: Return to Singapore

Our Singapore 7
Here are the seven highlights from our time in Singapore (the second part of our trip).

The pool!  The McClintock ladies love their time in the pool.  My girls enjoy the beach for a short time, but they would really rather play in the pool.  Our hotel had a fantastic kids area that included completely shaded water slides and a separate splash pad area.

Night Safari at the Singapore Zoo.  The zoo in Singapore has a separate park devoted to a night time safari.  We rode the tram around the park and watched the animals behavior at night.  We even walked through the bat cage.  LBean and I accidentally shrieked a bit, which stirred up some of the birds in the cage with the bats.  We decided we needed to exit ASAP.

Singapore Aquarium on Sentosa Island.  We took advantage of the aquarium that was near our hotel on Sentosa Island.  The aquarium was really nice and we had lunch Cat Cora’s restaurant so we could dine and watch the large tank at the same time.  But, what we all seemed to enjoy the most was the history museum that visitors walk through when entering and exiting the aquarium.  LBean really enjoyed learning about the famous Chinese woman pirate, Ching Shih.  We all enjoyed getting henna tattoos.   

Getting henna tattoos.

The touch pool.

Inside the restaurant where we watched the
fish in the large tank as we ate.

Cable Car Ride.  We have brave girls! They allowed Jamie and me to convince them to take a cable car over the bay and right over the top of a cruise ship.

Little India.  Many ethnicities are represented in Singapore.  Despite our girls’ instance on visiting Chinatown, they eventually agreed with us that since we live in China, we probably don’t need to go to Chinatown.  Instead we went to Little India.  We enjoyed looking at the spices, the flowers, all of the beautiful saris and fabric and the gold jewelry.  We picked up some henna to take home and enjoyed a yummy lunch.  Jamie and I love Indian food!

Picking out a few gifts for
teachers and friends.

Raffles Hotel & Singapore Sling
The iconic hotel in Singapore is the Raffles Hotel.  It oozes old-world charm and we took a refreshment break in their courtyard cafe.  Jamie and I each enjoyed a Singapore Sling, which reportedly was invented at the hotel, and the girls had a more age-appropriate treat…icecream.

Jamie's empty glass is on the left.
I savored my Singapore Sling.

In front of the hotel.  I could only
convince one girl to stand with me.

Singapore Zoo (in the day time)

We ended our time in Singapore at the zoo, but this time in the day.  The zoo was easy to manage and the girls enjoyed all the animals.  If you ever visit, be sure to pack swimsuits because there is a great water play area of the zoo.  It is perfect for a mid-afternoon break during a hot day.

Pretending to be cold near the polar bear.

Water area at the zoo...brilliant.

Did you miss my post about our first stint in Singapore?  You can read it here.  The Indonesia part of our trip is here and here.