Welcome to Singapore, Mom & Dad!

We have been having an AWESOME time hosting my parents in Singapore and traveling with them to Indonesia. I can't possibly fit everything in one or two posts, so I'll split it up a bit (and go heavy on the pictures, since I think that is everyone's favorite part anyways).

Singapore

You made it!

When making plans for visitors, we've found ourselves encouraging travelers to spend 3-4 days in Singapore and then also get to another city in Southeast Asia. Singapore has some fascinating sites and attractions, but it is a small island after all, a

nd you can hit the highlights in a few days. And my parents did just that - quite admirably, especially considering the jetlag, time change and the ridiculous heat! I had trouble adjusting to Singapore's heat when I arrived in September - and that was coming from a still relatively warm summer's end. Imagine transporting from snow to an 100 degree heat index and 80% humidity! Despite the heat, M&D were intrepid tourists, and Jacob and I finally got a chance to do some of the tourist-y things we'd been putting off until we had guests.

A rundown of excursions:

Saturday

Such cool Lego art!

After a late night arrival and a 2am bedtime, we slept in a bit before a pastry-filled breakfast and some exploration of our neighborhood, Clementi. It was fun to show off our little corner of Singapore - the HDB apartment buildings, hawkers centres, small stores, playgrounds, and cats. We took a long walk along the canal path (which included a green parrot sighting - never seen that before!) before stopping off for some cool drinks and chicken bao at our local hawker.

ArtScience Museum

We then lunched and napped before hopping the MRT and heading downtown to Marina Bay. There we visited the ArtScience Museum, which currently houses The Art of the Brick Lego exhibit (cool!). We then crossed the awesome 'double helix' bridge, found a geocache, and made our way to Makansutra (Glutton's Bay) for dinner. My parents turned us loose to bring them a variety of Singaporean fare and bravely tried everything - carrot cake (a savory dish nothing like our carrot cake), chicken and beef sate, chicken rice, and prawns in chili sauce. Jacob then headed over to his gig with the Thomson Swing Band and M&D and I took a river cruise across the bay and up the river to Clarke Quay and back. We ended the evening by watching part of Jacob's gig outside the Marina Bay Sands before making our way sleepily back to Clementi.

Crossing the Double Helix Bridge

Makansutra - supposed to be Signapore's best hawkers

Marina Bay from our river cruise

One of many pics the boat driver insisted on taking!

Sunday 

Orchid Garden

We started the day with some breakfast and a trip to the wet market and grocery store. It was fun to share the exciting - and even overwhelming - sights, sounds and smells of the market, though add in the heat and we ended up needing another early afternoon nap. We waited out the heat of the day, eating a lunch of leftovers and watching SNL (they hadn't seen the Timberlake episode yet! Admittedly, the Moet & Chandon sketch became an important part of our trip - celebration! luzury!).

Searching for the geocache

So pretty!

We then packed up a blanket and umbrellas (just in case) and bused our way to the Botanic Gardens. We spent several hours walking through the gardens, and though the thunder threatened, the rain never came! We found another geocache in the rainforest section and spent some time in the Orchid Garden (especially enjoying the 'Cool House,' which was, as the name suggests, a welcome relief from the heat!). We then enjoyed Magnum bars on the lawn by Symphony Lake, watching the Thomson Big Band and Thomson Swing band play sets. Jacob was playing with the second group, and we had a great time listening to jazz as the evening cooled off a bit. There were hundreds of people there, mostly families, and the kids themselves were great entertainment. The only thing that could have improved the situation was a bottle of wine! We finished off the evening with dinner at Relish (mmm burgers!) before returning home, yet again exhausted.

REALLY searching for that geocache!

Concert on Symphony Lake

Monday

Birthday girl with the Merlion!

Buddha Tooth Temple

Mom's birthday! With Jacob and I both at work, M&D ventured out into Singapore solo (well, duo!). They returned to Marina Bay to check out the Merlion, ate at One-Raffles Place and went to the Asian Civilizations Museum. Jacob caught up with them later in the day and they explored Chinatown, including the Sri Mariaman Temple (Hindu) and the Buddha Tooth Temple (Buddhist). I flew out of work, picked up a cake and met them at Boat Quay for dinner at Pasta Fresca de Salvatore. We celebrated my Mom's birthday with fantastic Italian food, wine, champagne and chocolate-hazelnut cake! To cap off the evening, we had drinks at 1-Altitude, the rooftop bar on the 63rd floor of One-Raffles Place. From there we watched the Marina Bay Sands light show and gazed down at the lights of the city. Surreal, and a great way to spend the evening!

Happy Birthday Mom!!!!!

Drinks in the sky

Nice view!

It's pretty swanky :)

Tuesday

The gardens getting ready for Easter

Coolest green house ever?

Once again, I was at work, but Jacob and my folks spent the morning at the Gardens by the Bay - and LOVED it. (Now I want to go!) Looks beautiful from the pictures! We all met for lunch at a bakery near my work before taking a brief tour of Duke-NUS. They returned home to pack and when I got back, a delicious dinner was laid out (spamburgers, salad and mango lassies!). I packed hastily and then we grabbed a taxi and went to the Night Safari - it's like a zoo, at NIGHT! We saw fire dancers, hyenas, lions, civit cats, an adorable otter, mouse deer, a tapir that chased the tram, a bunch of other animals, and a man who nearly wet himself during the Creatures of the Night Show (to be fair, they did put that boa constrictor on him with very little warning). Zoos are the bomb.

Wednesday starts our trip to Jogjakarta, which I'll cover in the next installment!

Outside the Gardens

Night Safari! (Hard to take pictures there...)