Singapore really is a great city. It's clean. It's modern. They put a premium on aesthetics; with tree lined streets, wide boulevards, and oh-so pedestrian friendly. Singapore is basically one giant interconnected mall ... and you could conceivably walk the entire city underground from mall to mall to mall. If you didn't like the Gucci, Dolce & Gabanna and Louis Vuitton on one corner, you could go across to the street to the Hermes, Prada, or Cartier on the other. It was the Starbuck-ification of high end shops. The people were friendly and hospitable, well dressed and well groomed ... truly the antithesis of Chennai. Even the pigeons were even banned due to potential pooping. Best of all, the silence was deafening. I've never been in a metropolitan city of 4.5 million people where you couldn't hear a peep. No horns. No sirens. No phlegm.
The only drawback was that it was exorbitantly expensive. Our meal at California Pizza Kitchen was $75... must have been the top shelf tequila in our Chicken Tequila Fettuccine. And dining out at TGI Friday's? Don't...even...ask...
But it was worth it. So very, very worth it. The girls loved the zoo (more specifically, the water park they played in for close to 2 hours). They squealed with delight on the Singapore Flyer, the world's largest giant observation wheel. They were in heaven riding the subway. Taxis were a blast too ... especially when you could just hop in, and didn't need a car seat. And Starbucks chocolate swirl cake totally justifies the schlepping around in the unbelievable heat and humidity.
There was no vomit this trip. Very few meltdowns. Only one bed wetting accident (sorry rollaway bed). And only one case of pinworms. That we dealt with yesterday at the Apollo Children's hospital back here in Chennai. There's always something...
Our next vacation? Twenty-four days and counting!
18 comments:
Very very cool Jill! Where is the next destination?
Wow - how cool to be able to go off to Singapore. I am trying to plan a simple Spring Break vacation for us...and I don't think that it will be nearly as interesting :-)
And congrats on the vomit free vacation - I am sure that contributes to the amore!
So...where will you go next?
my heart started racing a bit. i want to go!
Nick and I will be there Saturday AM, so thanks for getting Singapore warmed up for us. We're also ready to spend some time in a functioning, organized city!
You had me until pinworms. Yipes! ;)
It sounds magical. I am putting it on my "must see" list. :)
Oh. My. Goodness.
Your daughters are so gorgeous and your son - he is the most adorable thing. He is getting so big! And I can't get over his beautiful eyes in the close-up portrait of him. They are so very mesmerizing!
And that picture of the five of you? Um, girl, you do NOT look like you've had a baby anytime at all, let alone recently. Don't know what you're doing, but you look awesome!
Wow how could you top that? No vomit! But I have ask - how much was TGIFridays?! I worked there in college and remember it being cheap. In virginia! Love the photos! But worms?!?! ewww! Poor things!
Over here in Dhaka, a regular topic of discussion is the relative merits of Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, or Bangkok for a long weekend. We spent our weekend in KL - but I have to say, I'm a fan of Singapore too! Glad you had a great trip!
What?! No vomit?! What kind of vacation is THAT for you guys? :)
Singapore vs Bangkok...no question, Singapore. By a mile! You get plenty of "exotic" in India already.
It sounded awesome...until pinworms. *shudder*
sorry. :)
Glad you had fun.
A vomit-free vacation, WOOHOO! I knew it would happen sometime ;)
And goodness, is Grady getting big!
Now I want to go to Singapore. Sounds great.
You are giving your kids such a fabulous gift with all these adventures. What a great way to grow up.
My poor children with their vanilla American upbringing. :-)
I want to go!! So glad you enjoyed your time together~
I want to go!! So glad you enjoyed your time together~
Soooo happy y'all had a good weekend!!
Looks like a great trip. You deserve it!
Just wanted to let you know about my experiment - I've started a weekly "Blog Roundup" of State Department blogs that I know about... and that includes yours! ... and their noteworthy happenings in the past week.
It's my way of trying to make it easier for everyone to keep up -to see who is out there - and what everyone is doing.
Let me know what you think - if this is a dumb idea, I'll stop! LOL!
http://bit.ly/axJ47R
And I hope it's okay... on your entry, I grabbed one of your pictures from Singapore, but not one with any of you guys in it!
Let me know if that's not okay and I will take it off immediately!
The family picture came out really well. You could consider using that in your greetings this year :)
Er.. wait a minute, there's still plenty of time for that!
Here's to hoping you get to take many more happy memories this year!
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