During the first part of November we were lucky enough to have Mark’s parents, Gordon and Gayle, visit us for 10 days! They stayed in our second bedroom, usually Colt’s room, which meant Colt had free run of the living room/dining area. This arrangement was tight but worked out well with the only issue being some bed discomfort which was remedied with a trip to IKEA for a mattress pad. Because no Singapore visit is complete without a trip to IKEA! Just kidding.
Gordon and Gayle arrived late morning on a Thursday. I met them at the airport (complete with sign) then we got a taxi and came to the condo so they could change, unload, relax, and such after a long day(s) of travel. While Mark was at work we stayed close to the condo and got them acquainted with the area through walks with Colt. Gordon and Gayle both enjoy walking and Gordon really likes leading Colt.
Once Mark got home from work we took them out for their first Singapore dinner. We ate at a place called Red House which is just a short walk along the river from our place. Red House serves a local favorite, Chili Crab, which we ordered. Meals at Red House, along with many other restaurants in Singapore, are served “family style” where platters are delivered to the table to share. So along with the chili crab we dined on seafood rice, garlic sauteed asparagus, cereal prawns, and a tempura chicken with chilies. All were excellent.
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| A local favorite, Chili Crab |
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| Sauteed Garlic Asparagus |
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| Cereal Pawns |
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| Tempura Chicken |
After a long day of working for Mark and traveling for Gordon and Gayle, everyone was pretty exhausted so immediately following diner we came home and called it night. We wanted to be well rested for sightseeing the next day!
Sadly, Mark had to work on Friday but would have the following Monday off for a Singapore holiday. We aren’t sure of what holiday it was but we enjoyed it just the same. While Mark was off at work, I was happy to show Gordon and Gayle around the city. Our first expedition was a sightseeing bus tour around the city. While I had already seen some of the city, I hadn’t yet done the bus tour so I was very excited too.
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| Gordon and Gayle atop the double-decker tour bus |
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| View from the double-decker |
When you buy a bus tour ticket, you have 24 hours to see as much or as little as you like. There are 3 different routes around the city which take about 1.5-2 hours each and you can get on and off as often as you like to visit any of the attractions which include the botanical gardens, Chinatown, Little India, The Singapore Flyer, Marina Bay, Orchard Road, a plethora of museums, the historical Raffles Hotel, and more. We chose to ride on the top of the double-decker bus for all 3 routes and just view all that Singapore has to offer from there, taking note of the things we might want to spend more time actually going through later in the week.
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| The Singapore Flyer, 42 stories high making it the tallest Ferris wheel in the world! |
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| One of the many bridges in Singapore and you can see the top of the Capital Building in the background |
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| Singapore MICA building. Can you believe this used to be a Police Station?! |
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| View from the bus of The Watermark, our condo. |
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| Just another beautifully crafted Singapore building...(sigh) |
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| "The Momentum", the tallest sculpture in Singapore which is located in the Central Business District |
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| Chinese lantern with Chinese sign |
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| I can't get enough of the bright colored buildings and shutters |
We did deboard once though to visit Raffles Hotel and have lunch. We ate at a quaint little place inside Raffles Hotel called Empire Cafe and Bakery where we had delicious toasted mozzarella and tomato sandwiches.
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| Raffles Hotel, home of the famous Singapore Sling |
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| Selection of Singapore Slings |
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| Empire Cafe - great lunch! |
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| Gordon and I inside Empire Cafe |
Videos compliments of Gordon Vogel now aka Gordon "James Cameron" Vogel : )
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