Term Break Adventures in Singapore

So the kids second term break started mid June and ended mid July (~3.5 weeks of school off). At the beginning of the break, we had our weekend away at Takalana Bay. Then Mason did a Drama Camp the first full week and Clarissa did a drop in camp a few days that week. The second week, I followed the advice of Dr. Lapointe and allowed the kids to be bored senselessly!!  At the end of that second week, we took our first trip out of the country since arriving at post six months ago (already??)!

We chose Singapore for several reasons. First, we made a list of all the term breaks between now and our departure, we then marked down when want to visit places based on migrations (I'm talking to you gray whales), optimal season (best time to dive the Great Barrier Reef), etc. Given July is the middle of winter in the southern hemisphere....nothing too enticing nearby at the moment. Second, Fiji Airways has recently added a direct flight to Singapore....so one flight and there....nice and easy! Finally, apparently we have an unofficial bucket list of getting passport stamps from the smallest countries in the world. According to World Atlas, Singapore comes in at #19 (and we have already been to #1 and #6). So Friday night, we caught the red eye to Singapore.

You wouldn't guess that was taken at 22:30 right before we boarded....she was so excited to be going to another country! After take-off, Mason was able to move to the row behind me and had 2 seats to stretch out in and Clarissa is little, so both kids got a good bit of sleep. Richard and I....well we maybe got a couple hours between us. We arrived in Singapore a little before 5 am local time (closer to 9 am Fiji time). We made it through customs and got our luggage. Prior to our trip, we had pre-booked tickets to Universal Studios and the bus/tickets to Legoland Malaysia to save queue time. One of the companies had offered us a discount on an airport shuttle, so we went ahead and booked that too (sometimes its hard to find an ATM in the airport and we read cab drivers in Singapore don't like credit cards). Unfortunately, when we got up to the counter they told us the wait would be about an hour, but it might be less.....what!?!?! That really sucks, how is that convenient? So, Richard went off to find an ATM then we could decide if we wanted to cab it. Several more groups of people started coming up to the shuttle counter and I heard the wait time dropping a lot (30 minutes to the next group, etc)...so maybe it wouldn't be an hour. There was a Starbucks just down from us (STARBUCKS! Unlike Richard who had to gone to New Zealand, the rest of us had not had Starbucks in 6 months), so we got some breakfast to snack on while we waited it out. We made it on to the shuttle, which was completely filled....and even though we were the first group to check in, we were the last group dropped off....hmmm, don't recommend doing that again!!

So we stayed at the Holiday Inn near Orchard Rd (near the big shopping district). We used points and cash with the IHG card and got a real good deal on the room. We had contacted them in advance to confirm they had a luggage room since we were arriving so early in the day (which they did). We were able to use the gym/pool bathroom to shower and get on some clean clothes. They were very nice and pre-checked us in and gave us a meal voucher for free breakfast since our room wasn't ready (which at 8:00 we weren't expecting it to be ready).....score! So we had some breakfast/brunch and headed to the catch the on/off bus.

We had asked the hotel for a recommendation prior to our arrival. They recommended Duck & Hippo tours as it had a stop about two blocks from the hotel. We knew we would all be tired so we figured something where we could see the sights and walk as much (or as little) as we wanted would be good. It would also help us orient ourselves in the city and learn our way around. 

The fountain of wealth in Suntec City. The water flows inward (a rarity in fountains) to represent riches flowing in. There were 5 towers of varying heights surrounding the fountain. The shortest represented the thumb and the other 4, the fingers of a hand. Therefore the fountain would be the palm of the hand receiving the wealth (or something like that according to the audio).

Colorful government housing. The majority of Singapore residents live in apartments, new ones go for about $250K (US) and the government lease is for 99 years.

Sri Mariamman Temple is the oldest Hindi temple in Singapore. It was located in Chinatown. As you can see it was quite overcast for our tour. Which made our adjustment from winter to summer a little easier, but it was still insanely hot (I looked it up, Singapore is located at 1ºN....just barely above the equator)!

I apologize for the moving blur....but the amount of greenery on balconies all over the city was so beautiful. This was one of the greener buildings I saw.

Cute little art along the street. There was a good bit of random street art either along sidewalks or in the middle of traffic circles.

We called it the boat in the sky (and googling confirms we aren't the only ones!). Marina Bay Sands....it is a convention center, shopping center, hotel, casino, museum, two theatres, restaurants, skating rink.....essentially you name it and this complex probably has it! We wanted to make it up to the 2 acre SkyPark at the top.....but we ran out of time....maybe next time!

Cool looking bridge.

We had a good chuckle when the American Embassy in Singapore was describe as a fortress between the Australian and British High Commissions.

As we got close to our hotel again on the bus route, a Hard Rock Cafe sign caught Richard's eye. That has started to become a bit of a tradition for us (living overseas you tend to pine for little bites of America ever so often), so we quickly hopped off the bus to grabbed some lunch. We had only 2 bus stops to our hotel stop, so we opted to walk through the shopping district to our hotel for a little afternoon power nap to wait out the heat of the day and recharge. We found some more street art.

Multiple Starbucks (I thought the tree in the background was pretty cool looking too). I couldn't figure out how many there are in Singapore, but I did find several articles dated 2014 when the 100th location open.....so for the 19th smallest country in the world to have over 100 Starbucks.....that is a lot!!

As luck would have it, we happened upon a Lego Store with a free build event. I signed up on site and Clarissa got to make a bracelet with apples, gems, mugs, etc (Mason actually made one too....he told me later he mostly scavenged for these random connector pieces he wanted). They really wanted to get a picture of Clarissa with her bracelet by their sign....but she doesn't let strangers take her picture.....so that was a no go.

So we made it back to our hotel. Our room was ready....we were on the top floor in the next to the last room on the floor.....yeah! More walking! So we enjoyed the AC (which didn't seem to be working very well), unpacked a bit, let the kids have some iPad time while Richard and I tried to rest. That didn't last too long....lol. So we hopped back on the on/off bus and headed down to the Singapore Flyer (aka giant Ferris Wheel). 

Late afternoon (4:00 pm) is the time to go! No lines at all.....we walked right up, got tickets, weaved through all the line things, and walked onto the second capsule! 

As I said above, the majority of residents live in high rise apartment buildings as you see here. 

Ships, ships, and more ships! Ships as far as the eye can see. Singapore is the second busiest port according to wikipedia and we told the kids that our car and all our belongs came through here on their way to Fiji! 

The harbor entrance. You can see the Gardens by the Bay on the right (the white things are conservatory domes). The Marina Bay Golf Course on the left.

Cool afternoon shadow....

Downtown (the new financial district) with the part of the port to the left....that is a lot of cranes! The lotus flower building is the Art Science museum (part of the Marina Bay Sands complex).

I wanted to walk across the double helix bridge...being a science dork and all....but there was a certain little person with legs that were so tired....lol. The floating stage you see is the world's largest. Across the Marina Bay by the end of the bridge that starts at the edge of the picture is the Merlion fountain. The Merlion is half lion and half fish creature. Historically, Singapore was a fishing village and the tour bus narrative said something about someone long ago seeing a lion or something. The Merlion is used a national symbol now. We saw it closer from the on/off bus but missed the stop. That was one place we wanted to get back to as well and didn't make it too.

Richard being artsy while we waited for the on/off bus to come back and pick us up. We (well mine & Mason's tummy's did) lucked out and there was a Subway at the base of flyer and we picked up some dinner. Super yummy after a 6 month deprival! After getting back, we headed to the pool and hot tub before succumbing to jet lag and sleep.

We got up bright and early the next day to head to Universal Studios on Sentosa Island....we took a lot of pictures, so I will make that day its own post.

The next day we opted to take it easy. We had gotten to Universal a little before it opened at 10 am and stayed until right before it closed at 8 pm. We then grabbed some dinner while we were still on Sentosa Island....so it was close to 10 pm when we got home....a long hot day! 

The kids had spotted a Toys'R'Us sign at the mall right by our hotel....so we must go look at all the toys that they didn't know they needed...lol. The earpiece on my sunglasses started falling apart. So I looked up where there was a Sunglasses Hut so I could get a new pair to wear while I send my Costa's back for repair. There appeared to be one close to our hotel....we did not find it but we did find a vietnamese mail order bride shop.....I kid you not!!! We didn't get a picture since I was trying not to draw the kids' (Mason's) attention to it.....we eventually headed to another mall via taxi and found a Sunglasses Hut....We also found a H&M and got some fun clothes and accessories! We then had lunner (late lunch/early dinner).

Richard's top sight of choice was the Raffles Hotel.....he wanted a drink at the Long Bar. What drink you ask? The Singapore Sling....why? It was invented there!

A fun thing at the Long Bar is that you allowed to drop your peanut shells on the ground (the only place in Singapore you are allowed to litter). The kids loved cracking open peanuts.

Cheers! Mason opted to get a tropical punch and Clarissa got the virgin sling.

Rockin' my new sunglasses.....and a cool fountain at the Raffles Hotel. The architecture was very British Colonial.

My top sight choice was the Gardens by the Bay....so we grabbed another taxi and headed that way.

Being sweet for the moment.

Clarissa photobombing her brother who wanted a picture by himself.....I think he is unaware she popped up.....she is so sneaky sometimes; I love it when I can bust her!

While ideally, I would have enjoyed spending the whole day at Gardens by the Bay we only had a couple hours. So the SuperTree Grove was the iconic thing I wanted to see (the above view was from the Singapore Flyer). 

According to Wikipedia, Gardens by the Bay was built in 2012. So if you notice the plants don't extend all the way up SuperTrees yet. There are 18 trees throughout the park, some have solar panels, some are used for the conservatories air exhaust systems. The Garden's website says all the plants are soil-less and consist of a variety of ferns, bromeliads, orchids and other tropical flowering plants!

We got tickets to up along the walkway between two of the SuperTrees. The walkway is 22 meters high (72 feet) and 128 meters long (420 feet).

As we waited in line to go up along the walkway, the sunset and the trees lit up. We noticed that a lot of people were starting to gather. As luck would have it, We had planned things perfectly to be waiting in line when their nightly light show, Garden Rhapsody, started. 

Here is small clip of the show (it lasted about 15-20 minutes). The kids loved it....bright sparkley lights and fun classic music...Richard was less than impressed with my disco moves when "Stayin' Alive" was playing.

Towards the end of the light show, we made it to the front of the line and rode the elevator to the top to enjoy the skyline view of the city!

Panoramic I got of the SuperTree Grove before heading back down the stairs. You can see the "Boat in the Sky" really well also!

As you can see, the day was over so we headed back to our hotel for the night. The previous two days we had complained to the front desk that the air con didn't seem to be working very well. They had sent a maintenance guy up. He would fiddle with things for a couple minutes and give us a "well it is hot outside" excuse......(but it should be able to cool down in the evening, the lobby is freezing, and its always hot outside here, we would think). So while we were gone this day we had kept the curtains shut to help with the heat, but around midnight the temperature in our hotel room had made it up to 27ºC (80ºF).....kind of hard to sleep with it that warm, no fan, and no way to open a window. So Richard went down to the front desk. They sent up a different maintenance guy, he got some cold air blowing, as he was leaving, the manager called the room to see how things were going, since it would take a while to cool the room back down, they offered us another room to sleep in, Richard went down to get the key. Some how, Clarissa managed to still be sleeping through all this. I could feel the air cooling down (and moving would likely wake her). So Richard and Mason went to the other room and I moved over to their bed (not sharing the 'girl bed' with a little heat rock would keep me cooler). About 3:00 am, I noticed the room was starting to heat up again as the air con had stopped running again.

We had to wake up relatively early the next morning to catch a bus to Legoland. So the boys got ready in the other room, Clarissa and I got ready, had breakfast, got approval to switch rooms, packed up and moved all our stuff, and still made it to shuttle pick up on time! Woo hoo! (Again...lots of pictures at Legoland, so it gets it own post).

After a super fun day at Legoland and a nice COLD night in our new hotel room, we got up the last morning and headed for the airport. After getting checked in and through security, we found a Dunkin' Donuts and a play area. 

All & all, I think we had a great trip. Mason impressed a few of the taxi drivers with his Chinese he has learned during the first two terms. One of the drivers even asked him a question, which Mason replied he could write the answer but couldn't pronounce it. So the driver grabbed a newspaper and pen he had and handed it to Mason. Mason wrote the right answer. We were super proud of him! Clarissa said Legoland was her favorite, Mason liked the roller coasters at Universal Studios best, and our Starbucks mug collection has another member.

Monday's Moment: Ship Tour

Monday's Moment: Another Adventure

Monday's Moment: Captain Smollett (and narrator)

Father's Day Weekend Fail

So there is a population of spinner dolphins that come into Moon Reef to rest during the day. There has been a little research done with the population. Given my background in marine mammals, I was hoping to do some volunteer work with this project while here, so far nothing has really progressed. Working and even volunteering for 'trailing spouses' is difficult in Fiji due to the high unemployment rate for Fijians. It has to be shown that what you have to offer can not be done by someone locally and therefore the work permit/visa process can take many many months at which point if you have a short assignment, is the time spent trying to get involved even worth it?

So spinner dolphins are very acrobatic compared to the slower, almost geriatric, bottlenose dolphins we are used to seeing in Charleston. So the chance to go see spinner dolphins is something we did not want to miss out on. Richard had mention going to see the Takalana Bay dolphins several times, so when coming up with something to do for Father's Day, I contacted them to see if they were back in business. TC Winston had done a number on them, one of their boats ended up in a mahogany tree due to the storm surge! They were, so I booked a family bure for one night and emailed back about when to coordinate the dolphin watch. Crickets. So Richard called and talked to them. The guy he spoke with told us to be there at 9:30, we would have morning tea, head out on the boat for a couple hours, and then be back for lunch. He would write us down for the morning boat ride when he got back. Sounded perfect. First day of term break, we got up at our usual 6 am to get ready and out the door in time. It was a bit overcast and drizzly in Suva as we headed out, but we had a beautiful rainbow on the way up. The photo doesn't do it justice, I don't think I have ever seen a rainbow as wide as this one was!

For some reason, prior to this trip I not only went and checked out the route on google maps, but I also printed out zoomed in maps for the route/major turns. Most trips we somewhat wing it and then use our phones for the last bit of navigation. I think it was partly due to the fact is we had never headed around to the east side of the island (only the more well travelled west coast). Apparently I had some intuition that my cell service would fail me and without the maps we may have never made it. The last 30-40 minutes of the drive was dirt/rock roads and even with 'no service' on my phone the GPS function on my phone appeared to be somewhat working and was moving us along the map on my phone and matching the printed out paper map route.

After a while, Richard was certain we were lost, but at what point do you turn around and what point do you keep going? Finally, we saw a tiny sign by a gravel driveway....we had made it!! Glad I kept saying I think we are going the right way.

When we got to the end of the driveway, we were greeted by the owners who were surprised we had arrived so early and said they were not expecting us till that afternoon. Uh-oh.....Clarissa asked when we were going to go see the dolphins, since the owners seemed a bit confused I told her I didn't know, but the person daddy talked to said be here at 9:30 to catch the boat. We heard them speak in Fijian to each other, then disappear. A bit later, one of the owners came back and said he called, the boat was getting some repairs done and it was waiting for the paint to dry. We would go out after lunch. They offered to have their son show us down to the beach. Sounded like a plan B.

It was low tide, so the boys had tide pools to explore. I was excited to go to look for shells on my first black sand beach, and Clarissa made a new friend, the owners son. She and JoJo started making a sand castle.

After a little over an hour, both kids were getting hungry (so we headed back up the hill). We unpacked the car and they asked what we wanted to eat. We somewhat loitered around the area while we were waiting.  I got some pictures of the property and view

and the TC Winston damage they sustained.

This was their main building which housed the conference room, kitchen, bar, and dining area and it took the biggest hit. Walls and roof completely gone. We asked them about the storm. The owners said they rode the storm out here. When Winston made landfall when there was daylight (it got to Suva after midnight) they were in the bure behind this building. They had put some tarps/blankets over a bunk bed they moved to the center of the bure/against a wall and hunkered down in there. We could see some of wall panels and windows on that bure had been recently replaced and the roof looked new. The last bure they were still working on repairing and it had a brand new roof.

Pine trees were just snapped in half all around and up the hills all around the area. They still did not have power restored (so 4 months nearly to the day). We heard a generator running occasionally when they were using power tools to work on the other bure and a lot of the electrical lights/outlets and the water heater in our bure need to be rewired since all the electric lines were likely ripped off during the storm.

Clarissa played with Jojo (they played tag, hide and seek, colored, eye spy, card games....you name it, they played it).

Not sure if he realized it, but after I took this picture Clarissa informed me they were playing wedding since they had matching flowers...lol.

Mommy got decorated with flowers too. (The bure with the new roof is to the left and the dining area is currently under the red tailgating tents).

We then hung out in the hammocks and played with the kitty.

Then about 2 hours later (and I lost track of how many 'when is lunch?') lunch was ready....good news the kids were so staving they ate whatever was served...lol. After eating, the owners called on the boat to see when it would be there to pick us up. Since it was a beach pick up, it would be about an hour for the water level to get back up high enough from the low tide for him to get in close enough. So we took our time reapplying sunscreen and then headed back down the hill.

While we waited the kids played in the water. Clarissa was doing a little interpretive dance or something.

Loved the GoPro wide angle black sand beach shot.....I may enlarge and frame this one. The scenery this weekend was beautiful!

So we waited and waited in the hot afternoon sun on the beach.

After an hour and half or so, Richard gave up and walked back up the hill. I assumed he asked what was up. When he didn't come back down after another 15-20 minutes, I figured there were more boat problems so the kids and I headed back up. When Clarissa wanted to be carried I asked which bag she wanted to carry (since Richard had ditched us with all the stuff)....so then she decided she could walk. I saw the owner and was all 'I guess we aren't going out'..... Of course its a term break...which means time to grow, so the kids were wanting a snack so I went to find them something. The owner comes back over and said he called and the boat is on the way and is coming right now (and we could hear a boat coming). So we grab all our stuff, kids eating along the way, and go running (literally) back down the hill. So with a lovely afternoon glare, we head out onto the water on a little tiny boat to look for spinner dolphins.

A few minutes after this, I dug Clarissa's swim vest out of the bag and put it on her as it got choppy. While not a life jacket, it made me feel a little safer that she had a little something on.

We made it out to the reef. We drove around for a bit looking for spinners. If you aren't familiar, spinner dolphins are nocturnal feeders. They will typically find a shallow reef or bay to rest in during the day. So Moon Reef is this populations' daytime resting area. In the evening, the spinner dolphins will wake up and head out to deeper waters to feed. Richard stuck the GoPro in the water next to the boat while we were cruising around. I did a screen grab from that video, since I saw a blue sea star!

Proof that Richard smiled at least once over the weekend! So after piddling around the reef for about 20-30 minutes, the captain said that he guesses the dolphins have already headed out for the evening. He then mentions that this morning when he was out on the reef diving that they had seen the dolphins. WHAT?!?! Already headed out and we missed them? This morning?!?! So many thoughts going through my head...but as we have learned sometimes you just have to say with a sigh "Oh Fiji!" and let it go at that.

We headed back in over the late afternoon chop towards lovely dark clouds coming in over the resort. Once back at the beach, the captain said he could take us out again the next morning to look for dolphins, we would see the dolphins then. He told us to be back at the beach between 8:30 & 9:00. Richard confirmed with him about 5 or 6 times.

We headed back up the hill, got cleaned up while we still had some daylight, Clarissa played with her friend some more, ate dinner, did some stargazing (benefit of no power is really good stargazing...too bad it was nearly a full moon). Then we all headed to bed. There was a real nice cross breeze in the bure. There was a full size bed, bunk bed and another single bed. Since it was Father's Day weekend we decided to be nice and let Richard have the big bed all to himself. Everything was fine and dandy until a little rain shower passed by, then all the mosquitos came in....and I mean ALL the mosquitos. I got up and found the bug spray and doused myself in DEET. Both kids then wanted to be doused. That didn't really help at all. Richard's bed was the only one with a mosquito net (we had seen several mosquito nets wrapped around trees....looks like Winston took a few), so I had both kids get in with him. I had on my airplane sweatshirt. It is lightweight but has this awesome hood that comes down real far and can cover your eyes (so good for sleeping on a plane). So I doused myself in DEET again, pulled my sweatshirt hood down over my nose, and pulled the sheet up to my nose so that I was completely covered....or so I thought.....took them about 20 minutes and another little rain shower but those pesky mosquitos found me! I held out for a bit, but eventually I couldn't take it any longer and I crawled in the other bed with everyone else (so yes 4 people in a full size bed....it was cozy). We woke the next morning to a nice sunny and flat ocean day....yeah maybe the weekend won't be a total loss!

So we all got ready to go on the boat again, we had breakfast. The owners asked what our plan was for Sunday. We mentioned that the boat captain had said he was going to take us out again this morning between 8:30 & 9:00 to look for dolphins. They glance at each other with a worried look and then said to us, he normally goes to church on Sunday....and it was already after 8:30 when we were having this conversation. They tried to calling him, but as luck would have it the cell phone tower was down. I had no service, Richard didn't, and neither owner did either. Rebooting phones didn't work either. So that was it....towel was thrown in.....we got all our stuff packed up, paid, and headed back to Suva a little after 10:00. Since dolphins were not seen, we only had to pay a boat/fuel fee so that was nice and compared to some of the resorts we had stayed at the accommodations (which included meals) were very inexpensive.

On the drive back, I asked the kids if they thought it was a rough weekend with no power and a cold water shower. I pointed out how that it was one night for us, but their family has been like that for four months since TC Winston.....got a woah.

Now for the icing on the cake......one of the small villages we drove back through on the way home had a little speed trap of sorts set up. About 10 meters before the village speed limit of 60 km/h ended and the speed increased to 80 km/h, there was an officer with radar gun, another officer directing speeders to the side of the road, and a woman with a ticket book. So while it probably is somewhat natural for one to start accelerating when you see the new speed limit sign.....we now know you must wait until you pass the actual sign to accelerate because someone (not naming names) lost their "I've never gotten a speeding ticket in my life" bragging rights.....

So....a silver lining to this weekend, I was beginning to worry that I would have to end every blog post about a resort saying we want to go back, which realistically would become impossible to go back to very single place...lol. The owners were very nice, but the facility really took a beating during TC Winston. While I was happy we were able to provide some income to them, I don't think they are fully organized and back up and running at full efficiency. I think we ended up with a bit of miscommunication or forgotten to note our trip(s) out to see the dolphins. We would like to see the spinner dolphins, so maybe early next year we can attempt just a day trip out to see the dolphins.

Lesson learned: bring a cooler with lots of ice and bottled beverages! There is no place within kilometers to buy anything, so we gambled and drank room temperature tap water and managed okay. (Three cheers for the probiotics we took as well. The embassy suggests bottled water since after heavy rains the water supply can be comprised. We have seen this on several occasions when the kids have taken baths with yellow tinted water after heavy rains in the city).