Temasek : Day Two

Don't you just wish you could join them for a skinny dippy? LOL

A host of things happened to us for the past week and a half.

My dad was admitted for dengue fever after he got back from Batam (for a holiday with my brother, who was on a working trip, sister) and Pulau Karimun (to attend his cousin's daughter's wedding). Admitted the Monday after we got back from Singapore. But his platelet countl dipped to 15 last Thursday....We panicked and took last Thursday afternoon and Friday off to be with him and we stayed on till Sunday. He was discharged yesterday, Alhamdulillah! And they are off to Bandung this weekend....!

Brother is now hospitalised; initially he was suspected to have dengue but blood results showed that he has Malaria.....He's been travelling to places like Jakarta, Abu Dhabi, Batam etc for his work and could have gotten from one of those places.

Wifey's away in Singapore for work and I have to juggle being dad, mom and Project Manager (supervising my office renovation) which I find it just a wee bit tough......

Just to update on our trip to Singapore, as promised......

Day two in Singapore started with a visit to the much talked-about "Durian" (for the uninitiated, the Esplanade)....! We parked the car there and strolled down to the Merlion Park....My kids had fun there posing "with" Merlion. The weather was sunny and we decided to go on the bumboat riverside cruise. We had hoped to board the boat near the Merlion Park. Unfortunately, the Singapore Army had their National Day practice at Marina Bay and we had to walk all the way to Asian Civilisation Museum instead to go on the boat! It was a nice cruise....and the recorded commentary played throughout the ride was excellent....The wait for a boat was a bit long though. Picture this - four kids complaining of hunger, thirst and heat....I almost gave up waiting for the boat! They enjoyed the boat ride, luckily and behaved very well throughout!

Took a stroll through the park back to the Esplanade this time rather than the Fullerton way which was a delight....Parking was reasonable - $3 for almost three hours. Kids were terribly famished by then and we adjourned to Arab Street for lunch (*I was looking forward to Zam Zam [my grandad and my dad used to bring us to this place during our frequent visits to Singapore - we used to go to Singapore once a week up till I was about 8 years of age] for its briyani and murtabak). Another issue cropped up.....Yusof and Khadijah wanted Lebanese food, Ibraheem and Dad wanted murtabak......wifey, Umar and the maid were indifferent....! Went to a Lebanese restaurant for take-away; lockily their grills and kebab were not ready. Zam Zam restaurant we went! For a meal of 5 adults (Yusof and Khadijah have appetites the size of adults, you see) and 2 kids surprisingly cost us about $55 which was below my estimate!

We prayed at Mesjid Sultan and were very impressed at how the place is well maintained! Walking back to the car, wifey stopped at two fabric shops which she took close to two hours and came back with fabrics enough to last her three years (well it's an exaggeration but she bought a lot.....!).

We adjourned to the DHL balloon ride area whch was less than 5 minutes' drive from Mesjid Sultan. It was about a ten-minute ride up to 150m in height....Only Ibraheem, Umar, Yusof and I took the ride coz the rest chickened out last minute. Fantastic overview of Singapore! I wouldn't have gone on the ride but for the offer to Malaysians during that time...The tickets are priced $23 for an adult and $13 for a child..We paid RM23 for adult and RM13 for a child which I thought was more reasonable!

Last stop was Orchard since the kids wanted to visit Borders at Wheelock Place (I went in December last year - their collection slightly differs from the one here)...It was chaotic in there....kids were all over the place READING (yes you can see this scene at Borders, MPH or Kino here - but not as many...) That indicates the intellectual level of a society, don't you think? We bought about 10 books in total and Yusof started reading his whilst I took a browse at M&S. Wifey concluded the trip by buying a pair of shoes!

We will definitely be back may be for a museum trip/theatre trip..But the kids want to visit the Zoo, Science Centre, Bird Park and Sentosa! We'll see!

Posing at the "Durian"

Dad strolling at Merlion Park. Nice shot by Khadijah...I like the shadow bit!

Not quite...Yusof!

Ib's lion impersonation - he was thrilled he saw the loin roared at the Night Safari the night before.

Umar the docile lion

The Fullerton and tyhe financial district as seen from our boat @ Marina Bay

Nice pre-war shophouses restored at Kampung Glam area

Our Murtabak take-away

The murtabak which tastes the same 10 years back

The poster

Arab Street shops

The helium balloon

During the balloon ride

Mesjid Sultan - a bird's eye view

Waiting for dad and mom

Knackerd after the trip