Singapore: April 6 - 15

Singapore: Thursday April 6, 2006

This was one of our earliest mornings yet as we left the hotel at 4 am. We arrived the night before on the Continental flight from Palau via the small island nation of Yap. The island flights were even early and we managed to zip through customs and immigration very quickly. Things were looking up when we saw that our bags were among the first off the belt. Then came time to try and track down a cab which was nearly impossible at 9:30 at night in the Guam airport. After much hunting, Brian finally spotted one lurking around in the shadows. If his eyes hadn’t been adapted to spotting sharks in the distance, we probably would have missed this one. We jumped ahead of the other tourists before they noticed it and snatched our cab right out of the parking lot. Twenty minutes later we were in our hotel (Hilton) for our 5 hour 30 minute stay.

Our departure flight was set to go at 6:20 am. We opted to ignore the 3 hour check in requirement but even then it meant a 3:30 am wake up and a 4:00 departure from the hotel. This was going to be a very long day. Check in wasn’t too painful and the flight departed on time. We even managed to pick up a bit of a tail wind so we arrived early at our stop over in Manila .Yeah! (NOT!).

We had a 6.5 hour layover at Manila Airport. The concourse was about 150 yards long, consisting of 3 shops, 2 food service bars and lots and lots of people. As transiting passengers this was the area we were restricted to for the next 6 hours. We couldn’t go outside because it would have meant paying entry and exit fees; not to mention getting more of our passport pages used up. By this time in the trip the kids’ passports were nearly full and most of the time taken going through any immigration stop is spent trying to find someplace to put the stamp. After close inspection we have figured that we have just enough space to make it home…. Maybe! At any rate, we spent the next 6 hours in a large room with thousands of people in Manila with no air conditioning. On the good side, Philippine Airways did spring for some free meals which they were under no obligation to do, so at least we were well fed.

During our time here, Deb and the kids began to explore the one Duty Free shop for chocolate and nuts to bring with us to Singapore. Seeing the possibility for $ to fly out the door, Brian had to intervene and managed to convince the rest of the family that Singapore in fact prohibited chocolate consumption on the grounds that the chocolate was too messy. It almost worked because they had all heard about the restrictions Singapore placed on chewing gum. Rather than buy tons of candy for import, Deb and the kids only bought pounds which they then proceeded to scarf down before boarding the plane. You win some, you lose some!

The plane flight to Singapore was about 4.5 hrs and we could sure tell the difference when we landed. Before landing Brennan noticed the large warning on the immigration forms which stated that any drug smuggling resulted in the death penalty. He felt very sobered after reading that; (not that he had any drugs) but just the severity of the punishment. First we had to walk on carpet soaked with disinfectant and then we had an entry inspection and metal detector scan just outside the landing gate. Secondly the airport was like nothing the kids had ever seen before. This was a newer, spiffier, more high tech airport than any we had been in so far. We zipped through immigration but then had to wait until the last of the bags were off for ours to finally appear. Brian was happy to be back in Singapore. It had felt like we had started to turn a corner towards the last part of the trip, putting the complexities normally associated with Asian travel behind us.

We were staying several days here at the Shangri-la Hotel on Sentosa Island. The cab ride was remarkably cheap given the distance, and the hotel looked wonderful. We finally got to the room after having traveled for 26 straight hours (we really took the long route) and crashed into bed. We only had the energy to crank the air conditioning up.

Friday, April 7, 2006: Sentosa Island, Singapore

We awoke this morning to a truly freezing room. Brian waited till Deb was asleep before getting up again to “play” with the air con. Trying to solve the age old riddle of “how low can it go?”; he had turned the unit to max and the temperature down to the bottom. Turns out the industrial strength air conditioning units here at the hotel can go very low and we woke up to a frosty 14 degree room.

We immediately managed to log onto the internet and start placing calls to families and friends via skype. We had been largely out of touch for two weeks and everybody felt a little better having gotten back in contact. By the time we headed off to breakfast, the room was starting to thaw. The kids were very curious as to what kind of breakfast buffet they would be getting for the next several days. Brian had informed everybody that since we were no longer under full board, we were transitioning back to the 2 meal a day plan in order to keep the budget under control. A good breakfast buffet meant we had a chance to avoid starvation. A poor one and we likely began to face stomach cramps by the time 4:00 rolled around. Turned out the kids were in luck. The buffet here was huge with lots and lots of choices.

Breakfast behind us, we took a quick tour of the hotel property and retired to the room to plan for the day. Originally we had intended to stay just a few days in Singapore and then fly over to Borneo. We changed our minds along the way because of the extra expense and the fact that none of us felt like traipsing for days through the humid jungles to find wild orangutans. The purpose for the long stay in Singapore was largely to allow the kids to get caught up on some homework (Sierra still had to finish her China project), and to allow Brian and Debbie some quality internet time so they could start booking and planning the final part of the trip. However, the family opted to spend the first day exploring the island. With all the time on the boat, we got a lot of swimming in but not any real hiking and we all felt an urge to stretch our legs. The large monkeys that showed up on our balcony just as we left seemed to add to the interest in exploring the island.

Our first stop was only a hundred yards outside of our hotel. What the Singapore Aquarium lacked in size, it made up for in diversity. It had some of the strangest underwater creatures we had ever seen. While Brian and Brennan especially liked the sea dragon displays (giant sea horses camouflaged to look like plants) and the Japanese spider crabs that grow up to several feet wide, Debbie and Sierra really liked the traveling sidewalk that took us through a transparent tube through the actual aquarium. There were many different kinds of sharks and rays. The Dugong (Manatee) at the end was a big hit as well.

By this time we were all ready to experience some of the heat and humidity for which Singapore is so famous. What else would we do but start on a multi-kilometer hike down the beach to “Dolphin Lagoon”? It was the sister attraction to the aquarium and was included in the price of that ticket. Some time later we managed to arrive at our destination but not before causing Brian some serious stress with a stop at a local shop to purchase Sierra a bikini! We still aren’t sure what was more stressful to Brian, the actual bikini or the realization of the fact that Sierra is ready for one. The fact that it was “such a pretty blue” did absolutely nothing to calm him.

Covered in sweat, we arrived at the lagoon about 15 minutes before show time. The show focused on some pacific Pink Dolphins. It was a fun, quirky show made all the better when Sierra was selected from several hundred other “volunteers” to get up close and personal with the dolphins. While it sounded lucky, the reality was the other candidates really never had a chance. Imagine a cute little girl dressed all in pink and red jumping up and down waving her hands above her head screaming “Me, Pick Me! I want to be with the dolphins!”. The others never stood a chance. Sierra was even willing to endure the embarrassment of entering a hula hoop competition with the dolphins. She never quite managed to keep the hoop off her ankles but it sure didn’t deter her. Once she got into the water (getting totally soaked with all of her clothes on) she ended up petting the dolphins and feeling their teeth (even feeding them fish). For all her trouble she got a big wet kiss. Actually she got 2 of them as the first one went bust when the dolphin accidentally bonked her on the nose entirely missing her cheek. Wet but happy she led the way back to the hotel.

We settled on pizza for dinner. The first day in Singapore went into the books as a big success.

Saturday, April 8, 2006: Sentosa Island, Singapore

Talk about a lazy day. We probably did less today than on any other day on the trip. The kids and Deb were thrilled with just hangin’ out, enjoying the pool, watching movies on HBO etc. It was almost like a holiday. Brian was slowly going nuts however with the total inactivity. He had to settle with researching cameras and places to visit on their next leg in Australia. He also had an opportunity to revisit the budget which is maintained religiously every day, and he came up with some more innovative suggestions to reduce the daily food expenses.

He did manage to corral Deb and Sierra for a walk around some of the local island foot paths. The theme walks seemed to focus on dragons and snakes. The sculptures and fountains that dotted the trail were a little hokey but in the end they were entertaining. Most amusing to Debbie was Brian’s reaction to an enormous neon accented black spider hanging in a large web next to the trail. Humidity was high again, and the group returned to the hotel once again covered in sweat. For dinner we managed to find another beach bistro. Hamburgers seemed to be the order of the day for Brennan while Sierra was once more attracted to the pizza scene. More movies on HBO rounded out the night. They were old classics however, so we can’t really say that we are catching up on the latest ones. It was a relaxing day for most of us. Tomorrow however we need to find some way to expend some more energy.( NEXT PAGE )