Singapore (again)

I did mention in my previous blog that we had to return to Malaysia to pass time before heading off to our next big destination. Singapore was our destination of choice. Yes, we have been before, and not that long ago, but there were just a few things we wanted to see again or visit for the first time having missed the opportunity first time around.

The Zoo. Pretty sure you went to the zoo last time I hear you say...yes, yes we did, but Singapore Zoo is huge, and separated into many different components. It turned out to be a misunderstanding on my behalf that I thought we had missed the biggest part of the zoo first time around, as we seemed to wander the zoo in no time at all leaving me to think maybe we did see almost everything first time? We did see a few super cute animals, and for the first time in our zoo travels came face to face, (almost literally), as she wandered onto an external viewing platform for feeding time, a tree kangaroo. This may sound a little bizarre, but the tree kangaroo really is the cutest little thing you will ever see. Think oversized squirrel, crossed with a wallaby, and et voila. A tree kangaroo. We said hello to a rather matter of fact orangutan, but other than that we just wandered this very pleasant and lush green zoo until it was our own feeding time, when we sat eating watching the almost free roaming gibbons watching us as we ate.

Universal Studios.

Situated on Sentosa Island, we really wanted to visit Universal Studios first time around, but time was not on our side then and choices had to made. Not this time however. We booked our tickets and to Sentosa we headed. We travelled directly there by taxi, rather than duplicating our previous mode of transport, the cable car and arrived as the gates were starting to open. We were a little concerned by the sheer number of people heading through the gates, but like smoke they all but vanished. Vanished to where we do not know, but poof, and they were gone. Being old hats at popular theme parks, we marched with the crowd to the newest ride in the newest land. Minions. This part of the park was due to open the week after we left on our first visit, so everything was brand new to visitors and locals alike. Not being a fan of motion simulator rides, this was a no no for Mrs Bunny, who chose instead to ride the carousel. Between the ride queue for Minions, 20 mins, and the carousel, 10 mins, you would think that we ticked off two rides within the first hour. Wrong. You have never encountered a more disorganised system for getting people on and off rides, ever. Big bunny and little bunny despaired at the ride attendants who couldn`t fill ride carts, with the simple phrase, you two line 2, you two line 3. Oh no! Their description of Asian tourists waiting until the very last second to decide who was riding with who, but I want to ride with them, and I don`t want to ride alone, kept me amused for several minutes as we all recalled the superb efficiency, no prisoners, (you will sit there) of the Florida theme parks. By return, they listened with jaws dropped, as I explained that despite every pink or purple `bug` horse on the Carousel having a do not use sticker, at least 3 people per carousel round made a bee line for said `bug` having to be turfed off and lengthy explanations given. The long queue got longer by the minute, and every carousel turn went around with more than half the `horses` (bugs) empty, due to the lack of organizational skills of the operator. We knew then that it was going to be a long day. Resigned to this fact, we backtracked to the most ordinary cafe/coffee place we could find which just so happened to be Starbucks, and had a pleasant relaxing breakfast watching the crowds. Refreshed and fed, we set off once more to see what Universal Studios Singapore had to offer. After Minions land, we came to Shrek, and far far away. Was so odd finding a whole area devoted to Shrek and Puss in Boots, when the exact same ride in Florida has been removed due to lack of interest. (changed to Minions funny enough) Exact same ride. IYKYK. "Please continue to the end of the row filling all seats" fell on deaf ears. Perhaps people didn`t understand English?, but when the entire film is in English...... again we despaired. I cant remember many ride names, but `Puss in Boots` suspended rollercoaster next. Queued for one hour. ride lasted 15 seconds, my have pushed to 20, but I kid you not, up, across, round, down, stop. Barely higher than your average 5 storey building maybe, and people were screaming! Tame? just a bit. Universal Studios Singapore occupies the tiniest footprint of any park we have been to and we found that rides we recognised had been adapted to take up a much smaller area. Eg The Mummy. Same elements, half the ride. One wild and twisting rollercoaster turned out to be two, think duelling dragons, but downsize to duelling pocket snake. They ran as two separate rides, but intertwined with each other. Quite a clever design if you ask me. Maybe one exception was the Jurassic Park Water ride. That did feel like a full size ride with some very good elements. All in all we thoroughly enjoyed our full day at Universal. Yes, its tame compared to Florida, everything is much smaller, the food is very much Asian orientated, so don`t be thinking your going to get a break from Asian cuisine into park food junk food, your not. The American Diner had elements of burgery things, but still with the Asian twist. For a tiny park we managed to fill a whole day.

Walking a different path, we took to the waters edge on day three. We previously missed seeing the Merlion, the iconic symbol of Singapore, so this was our chance to try again. We had actually started our day at Battle Box as recommended by Daddy Bunny, a history buff, but alas we should have booked a slot prior to arrival, and as such we were only left with a short 2.30 tour or nothing, given that it was 10am, nothing is what we chose. One overpriced bakery breakfast later at the bottom of the hill from Battle Box, we then walked the river banks to see the Merlion. We took all the silly photos as you do, water in the mouth, catching the water etc, then continued along the riverside in the direction of the Gardens by the Bay. Along this walkway are some rather nice hotels, in front of one of which is a statue dedicated to Ghandi, whose ashes were partially scattered at the point in the river. Prior to entering the Gardens we walked once more through the beautiful, air conditioned, mall of The Marina Bay Sands Hotel. As malls go, this one is pretty special. Pretty special priced shops as well, so unless Gucci or Chanel is your go to everyday shop, then I would probably say its a window shopping type mall.

Gardens by the Bay. So beautiful we just had to come again. We chose not to visit the Cloud dome and the Flower dome again having been there done that to both on our previous visit, but we did want to see the light show again. After a meal at the Nest cafe, we purchased tickets for the main Tree, and headed to the top to watch the sunset over Singapore, and then viewed the light show from our elevated position. Whilst not quite as good as watching from the ground, due to the fact that you cannot see the lights of the biggest tree whilst standing on it, it was a great visually entertaining show looking down.

On our last day we headed for the area of Orchard Road, this is the shopping area and has many malls. Oddly enough though non of us seemed to be in any mood to wander through yet more shops. Our bags are full to bursting, too heavy, and at this point in the trip we want for nothing. We did find a great underpass that took us along a very long air conditioned road out of town, but coming back to the surface all the bunnies were tired hot batteries burned bunnies. We had done Singapore and all the major sights pretty well on our first visit, and without wanting to spend copious amounts of money finding yet another trip or sight, or taxi, we decided a room picnic in an air conditioned hotel room ticked all our boxes. We had some planning to do for our August adventure, and picnic /planning suited us all.

We love Singapore. It is clean, smart, (expensive) and very enjoyable. Will we come back?, maybe not for quite some time, but yes, one day we will.

Two short stays. Two short blogs.

Normal service resumes next month :-)