Singapore!

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October 10, 2010

Singapore is the anti-Kuala Lumpur. It is a well-planned, functioning, and competent city and citizenry. Everyone, including the cab drivers, seem so well-educated. The public transport system is extensive and works beautifully. I never worried about our getting hit by a car or purse-snatched. When someone signs a contract, they stick to the contract without graft or corruption involved. Some might say caning someone for dropping illegal gum on the sidewalk is an overreaction. Some might say it's a sanitized, artificial utopia. After a weekend there, I'll take sanitized, safer Singapore as a break anytime. I'd probably miss the laid-back, warm and welcoming way here after a while. Maybe.

We hit the botanic garden, the children's garden, and it was like our kids had been caged up for months. They ran wild and free, loving having the open space and stimulating nature. They climbed trees, saw the biggest lily pads in the world, and spun around on exotic playground equipment.

That first night we went on the famous night safari at the zoo. There was a big Halloween celebration, with uniquely Asian ghouls who'd jump out from behind bushes, but the kids seemed used to it after the first few jumps. They say 80% of the Southeast asian jungle animals are nocturnal so you can only see them active at night. And, we sure did. Even the tapirs, normally shy and hidden, wandered near our safari tram so I could almost reach out and touch them in a magical, once in a lifetime intimate moment with an animal I've tried to court for years, after trying to see some in Costa Rica years ago and last summer I tried to see them in the jungle here.

And, yes, we did go to Universal Studios in Singapore despite, as my brother reminded me sardonically, Universal Studios Hollywood being 10 minutes from his home in Los Angeles. It was new and had enough rides and characters to make a 6 year old's jaw drop and a 41 year old's brain shrink.

On the way there, though, Abraham did get his toe sucked into an escalator, as Griffin posted. His croc was sliced right thru by the escalator and it seemed to slice right thru his toenail and maybe worse. We couldn't tell how bad the cut was since it was pretty bloody. But, that didn't stop us from freaking out and running far, dripping blood, to the first aid office at Universal. There, the escalator oil was painstakingly and painfully removed from Boom's foot and we uncovered that he still had a fat little baby toe intact, not needing stitches. It still hurts often, especially during the nightly bandaid changes and cleanings, but he's much better - thanks for your good wishes for his recovery!

We rallied that night to Chinatown which was DELICIOUS with dim sum and more. When we returned to our sweet Swissotel, drummers played outside and Boom insisted we sit and watch them for what seemed like hours into the nite. He fancies himself a drummer.

Our last morning, we went on down to the Singapore Zoo and they all aksed for you...They even inquired about 'cha! Sorry, couldn't resist an Audubon Zoo song reference. It's one of the best zoos we've seen. Swimming jaguars, elephants moving logs, feeding giraffes ourselves (never done that at any other zoo!), and orangutans using "tools" like twigs to pull in keeper-designed food challenges like pulling in fruit to himself. And, we're now officially obsessed with Komodo Dragons whose spit has enough bacteria to kill you slowly and painfully, not the way to go, dying from saliva. I'm now dying to go to the Komodo dragon islands in Indonesia.

Ken was happier the moment we hit the bus for Singapore. He'd been feeling beleaguered and demoralized by his role as the stay-at-home dad (or as his New Zealand stay at home dads call themselves - a "man-mum"). We're trying to get a sitter to help him out a couple afternoons as a reprieve but, in the meantime, a trip away seemed to do the trick to bring back his adventurous, fun, more free side. It was a delight (and relief) to see again...