Singapore: April 6 - 15

Sunday April 9, 2006 : Sentosa Island

Yahoo! The turtles are on the move! After spending a lazy day doing nothing it was great to get going once again. We managed (at least some of us) to sleep in to 7:00 before Brian got bored once again and decided it was time to get moving. After a big breakfast (part of Brian’s great strategy) we managed to make some calls to family and friends and then boarded the shuttle bus that was going to take us into town. The plan for the day was to do Chinatown.

Having become old pros on public transit, we managed to figure out the subway system in very short order (Brennan much quicker than the rest of us) and three stops later we emerged in the heart of Chinatown. We spent hours wandering through the streets and shops. The food and the smells were terrific. Brian started out the day by hitting the four different camera shops, negotiating prices for a replacement camera. The technique was pretty simple: negotiate until the shop owner kicked you out of the store. Having found the “universal price point”, we circled back and made our purchase. Unfortunately we had to also purchase a new waterproof container as the camera had changed size and shape in the last three years and the old one just was not going to fit.

Anybody who knows Brian knows how much he hates spending money. Today was no exception as his willingness to keep shopping diminished greatly after having made this purchase. The rest of the family however just had their appetites whetted. Debbie led the way buying some much needed new clothes (lightweight pants) that were going to be needed in Australia. Our old clothes are still hanging in there, although just barely. Brian however is refusing to partake in this new clothes shopping spree even though he needs them the most.

After wandering through some food bazaars that specialized in a wide variety of fruits (yum! Very, very cheap) and fish (gross me out according to Sierra), we stumbled across the DVD markets. The stores were selling old classics for around $4 USD per movie. We were pretty sure these were not pirated versions, based on the packaging and the location and ended up with three selections. Sierra got West Side Story which she had been dying to see “like forever!” while Brian and Brennan snagged the time tested classics like The Day the Earth Stood Still and King Solomon’s Mines.

By this time we were all starting to get a little hungry so Brian took us to a barbequed pork vendor that sold strips of heavily spiced pork skins. Incredibly tasty and incredibly spicy would be the only way to describe these things. They were a huge hit with three of us. Poor Sierra could only sit and fan her tongue. That is ok however as the next stop was a small jewelry store where we managed to purchase a gold charm for her bracelet. We had been looking for sometime now for a charm that would symbolize Asia but with no luck and we were now running out of time. We knew immediately when we saw the small 24 carat gold dragon charm that we had finally found the right one. It was even cheaper than we had hoped.

Brennan bought two small balls that the Chinese roll around in their hand. In itself it wouldn’t have been too intrusive and we could easily have lived with it. Brennan however purchased balls that made a little tinkling sound as they rolled. Very quickly it became clear that this was going to drive us crazy. At present there is some considerable doubt that these musical balls will ever make it back to North America.

By this time Brian was getting pretty traumatized by all the purchases, and was dreading the thought of entering the data back into his precious budget spreadsheet. The only thing to do then was to grab lunch. At least it was a cheap lunch, only costing $3US per plate for some really scrumptious Chinese food. We managed to find our way back to the subway station without any more surprise purchases and got back down to the Harbourfront Mall where we needed to catch our free shuttle back to the hotel.

Poor Brian thought that he was home free by this point but fate and the family were not going to let him off the hook. Having just finished lunch he could be forgiven his shock when the family started actively talking about where they were going to go for dinner. Spotting a grocery store, Brian was able to put a quick end to any speculation. Holding back screams, he managed to make one last purchase of groceries (can anybody say 50 cent ramen noodle cups and coke). We made it back to the hotel soon after and settled down for an evening of homework and research.

Monday, April 10, 2006: Sentosa Island, Singapore

When we got up this morning the plan had been to do the zoo or to head downtown. Brian was voting for the zoo to avoid a repeat of the day before, while Sierra and Deb decided that more shopping wasn’t really a bad thing. Brennan was somewhat ambivalent and would have been perfectly happy staying in the hotel room doing internet games.

Turned out Brennan’s way was pretty much where we ended up. The weather was a little un-cooperative which put everybody off going to the zoo or shopping. We opted to stay on the island instead and managed to visit some more of the local sites. It turned out that we did a 4.5 hour walking tour of Sentosa Island, and the threatening rains managed to hold off until we were done.

Our first stop on the walking tour was the bug and butterfly museum. While it wasn’t the best museum of its kind in the world, it was entertaining for the kids and it was cheap. A seven dollar entry fee included an 8 inch pizza and drink for lunch. Next up on the whirlwind tour was a visit to the Merlion exhibit. This incredibly large statue made of concrete dominates the entrance to the island and can be seen from just about anywhere. The Merlion (head of lion, tail of fish) is the unofficial emblem of the city. After the obligatory photo stops the kids got to explore the squirting fountains that flow out of the lion’s tail. By this time, the heat of the day was getting up and the sweat was really starting to flow. A quick tour of the orchid garden did nothing to cool Brennan down who was really starting to search out the shade. He did enjoy spotting the wild monitor lizard wandering through the grounds. Not wanting a repeat of what happened to Sierra in Palau, we made a brief pit stop in at the ferry terminal for a drink and a quick visit with some large tropical birds. They were part of a free show being put on for the tourists and the kids even got their pictures taken with the parrots.

Having recovered somewhat from the heat, we had the option of waiting 10 minutes for the air conditioned bus to come along or start hoofing it over the 3 km back to the hotel. Impatient as ever, Brian led the way back on foot. It was a very hot 45 minutes and we were all in desperate need of showers by the time we arrived back at the hotel. Not even the hokey little statues we encountered along the way helped alleviate the heat and discomfort.

Brian was happy however as for the most part of the day we avoided spending much money. Dinner was …. You guessed it. Ramen noodles Brian purchased the night before. Yeh!

Tuesday, April 11, 2006: Sentosa Island, Singapore

Poor Brian, after a good budget day yesterday he thought he was on a roll. We once again woke up to rain and thunderstorms. After a rather breezy breakfast we decided that we could no longer afford to let the weather dictate our daily travel plans. We decided we would head into town regardless and if the bad weather held off we would do the zoo in the afternoon.

We grabbed the 10:30 shuttle and headed down to the Marina district, for our first (but certainly not our last) mall visit of the day. The first thing we noticed as we stepped inside the mall was the air conditioning and all the restaurants. There was pretty much any kind of food one could imagine. The second thing the McKinney family noticed (at 11:00 in the morning) was the restaurant that was selling cheesecake on a 2 for 1 special. The fact that the restaurant was not yet opened didn’t seem to seriously deter Deb and the kids who hadn’t had cheesecake since we left last August. Brian was totally disgusted and set off on his own to try to find a bookstore in the mall, while Deb and the kids opened the restaurant with a double cheesecake order.

Fifteen minutes and a post breakfast dessert later we were ready to finally move on. After cruising the mall and wishing we had the means to transport more stuff back home, we headed out to the streets. Our destination was the famous Raffles Hotel. The hotel is a famous local icon that has been synonymous with Singapore since forever. Everybody who was anybody stayed here at one time or another. The museum in the old hotel is covered with pictures of old royalty, writers and movie stars. Brian had stayed here once before on business but actually preferred the more modern rooms of the Sheraton down the road. After walking through the lobby staring up at all the amazing fixtures, we headed out across the courtyard to the “Long Bar”. This is probably the most famous watering hole in all of Singapore. It was here that the Singapore Sling was invented. The first thing we noticed walking in (besides the air conditioning and the long mahogany bar) were all the palm shaped fans wired together on the ceiling gently swinging back and forth on an old rod system used to circulate the air. After taking the obligatory photos at the bar, we were shown to our own table and ordered, what else but Singapore Slings. As good as they were, we were still shocked by their price, and decided that the only thing left for us to do was to eat more peanuts to get our money’s worth. We only took about 25 minutes to enjoy the drinks because the smell of all those peanuts bothered Sierra. So off we went in the rain to clear Sierra’s head.

A short way up the road, we turned onto Singapore’s famous Orchard Road. Like the Champs D’Elysee in Paris or the Ginza strip, this is the place most closely associated with shopping in Southeast Asia. It is mall after mall after mall … Sierra let out a squeal of delight as she saw it, immediately thinking she had gone to heaven. Shopping here however is very binary. You either have the Prada and Gucci choices or you have the bargain basement shopping. It says a lot that our first few purchases were to be $6 t-shirts for Deb. Deb was really getting tired of her current wardrobe. After 8 months of the same two sets of pants and 3 shirts it was starting to show. Also since we haven’t seen a washing machine since early December, we were stuck with hand washing every other night. While the clothes aren’t filthy and they don’t smell bad, it is pretty hard to say they are spotless and in the same condition as they were when we left home. At any rate, Deb is on a mission now to augment and refresh the family’s clothing situation. Interestingly enough this is in direct opposition to Brian’s “We won’t spend any money” positioning. The two different stances can make for some very interesting sidewalk discussions.

At any rate a couple of shirts later we were ready to move on up the street to the next mall. We proceeded to mall hop for the rest of the afternoon. Deb seemed to be winning this battle of wills as the clothing pile seemed to grow and grow. Brian refused any new clothing purchases (on principle) while Sierra who is now carrying a nearly complete wardrobe was thrilled. Brennan just kept quietly searching for a book store that sold English books. He was eventually rewarded for his diligence with a gigantic shop with thousands of English titles. Restocked with reading material, the kids were finally ready to head back to the hotel! We managed to snag the next subway train and after a quick change we exited at the Harbor Front Mall. Brian, in spending shock for the second time in three days, was just hoping they could make it back to the hotel without spending any more dollars. He reluctantly agreed to shop in the grocery store to pick up a few drinks while Deb and the kids waited outside. Never in his wildest imagination did he believe this was just a distraction ploy until he exited the store, groceries in hand only to have the kids inform him that Debbie was indeed inside the change room of a clothing store. One last T-shirt later, they were on their way. It was another evening of research on Australia and of HBO. Tomorrow it’s the zoo come rain or shine!( NEXT PAGE )