Our Trip to Singapore

The week before Chinese New Year we took a trip down South to Singapore. It was a pleasant drive down, but with Nigel showing signs of a bad cough, we were in for an expensive holiday. Singapore is still one of the cleanest cities we've ever seen. With more than 4 million citizen packed into this little island, I often wondered how they manage such prim and proper order. Walking along Orchard road, I see many shopping centres demolished and brought back up to life like a SIM game over the years. Everything here is warp speed. Efficient. If you're into design and the arts, taking a holiday in Singapore is like having a stroll in a design reference book, you'll find inspiration at every corner. Beautiful buildings, impressive shopping centres, packaging is impressive here, food courts are everywhere, clean toilets, super efficient public transportation system and very expensive medical services (You'll soon find out why!!!) And funny enough, you'll notice that the people in Singapore do speak like Pua Chu Kang's family!! Singlish to the max.

Anyway, it is nice to visit Singapore during this festive season, the Chinese New Year celebration here is larger in scale than in KL. I like chinatown and its hustle and bustle. Queues are long, crowds buying goodies aplenty and you're welcomed to sample the goodies along your way.
The very clean streets of Singapore. Walking is very much encouraged here even if the transportation service is tiptop.


A very excited 4 year old who couldn't sit still. This is his first underground train experience.


There are 10 things you need to do when in Singapore and one of those is to take a DUCK Tour! It's a military boat that runs on ground and water. Pretty expensive for a 1-hour trip but we liked the fun despite the rain.


Stan and Nigel posing for a quick picture onboard the Katrina, one of the 4 ducks.


Some scenic shots of the everchanging Singapore skyline. See the clouds!


The eye of Singapore on its test run before the launch. Forget about going on this eye - they're fully booked until June!!!


A nice shot of us taken by the tour guide. A chatterbox with a quirky sense of humour.


The short visit at Clark Quay, where the Merlion sits. Rain was beginning to pour down on us.


Nigel's definition of a good holiday. But this poor boy had us running to the emergency clinic and 12 midnight. His cough was so bad he was barking and whizzing. So for the use of the nebulizer and anti-biotics at the Raffles hospital, it all costed us a whopping RM670 for that one time visit to the emergency clinic. (But what to do?) Thanks Dr. Tay!


One of the must visit in Singapore is the Raffles Hotel. Very nice colonial building facades and the boutique shops along its corridor is a must-see. Stan is right outside one of these fancy shops, they sell Kaya too. Very expensive Kaya!







Taking a walk down Chinatown. There's a train that stops right in the middle of this busy street. Again, these streets are so clean, they put our local chinatown to shame. You won't find foreigners working here and the stalls sell better quality things. No rude shopowners here.


We stopped by to have lunch with two of mum's Singapore colleagues. Thanks Alison and Carol for the Hakka lunch!


On the way to Bugis Junction. You can buy lotus flowers and a variety of fresh flowers here.


This was taken at the courtyard of Bugis Junction on our last day of stay. Nigel escaped a near blast of water a few seconds after he walked away. The fountain changes its course of sprays and it was quite hilarious to see the huge sprays of water right after he moved from that spot. He would have been a very very very upset boy in wet clothings!

Oh yes, I also made a short trip to the famed SPOTLIGHT. What a craft shop! I busted my stashing budget on my first day. I bought a fancy puncher that does embossing, silver earring studs, a binder maker and other doo-dads. They have everything from scrapbooking materials, sewing paraphenalia (how do you spell that?), fancy crafting fabrics and every other crafting material in the market. Lots of Oohing and Aahing, a good trip with fellow crafters.