Si-nga-puw Day Two (Apr 29)

And that's how Hadrien pronounces Singapore.

Great beds at the Meritus Mandarin, where we're booked. We got the room with the king size bed, but guess who occupied most of it the first night (hint: their combined age is 6)? In the morning I'm beginning to think it was, after all, a good idea to lug along that airbed Malou insisted on bringing and that Yaya Dora slept fitfully on.

Anyway, after breakfast we take the MTR and a bus to Jurong Bird Park (or Juwong Bihd Pahk, as Baz says). The two boys have taken the subway in New York and DC, but we realize it's their first time on a bus, so we take pictures:



Now, I'm not a much of bird fan, but this place is impressive. They've got different habitats for different species of birds, and all in all a pretty comprehensive collection of fine feathered friends. I'm all for heading straight to the Birds of Prey habitat (probably a bird park's equivalent of a zoo's reptilarium), but then a sign catches our collective eye: it's got a black and white bird on it ... waddling ... it's PENGUINO! The boys can't resist the penguin exhibit and that's our first stop.

They've got emperor penguins, regular penguins, macaroni penguins, penguins with what looks like hair (like the Robin Williams penguin in Happy Feet), in an artificial, ice-floe like habitat set behind thick glass. The room is cold, and the penguin area looks even colder. There's water in front of the ice floe, and a viewing ramp set up so you can actually see the penguins swimming underwater at eye level. The boys love it and run back and forth along the ramp, skipping past the dutifully lined up, quiet, afraid-to-break-the-silence Singaporean kids. The penguins like it too, swimming close to the glass thinking our boys have food to give.



It's hard to drag them out of there (Malou too, is enjoying the airconditioning), but the next part of the park calls, quite literally. It's a collection of talking birds - parakeets, parrots, makaws and mynahs - whose cages identify which words they can supposedly speak. Most of it is the usual, "How are you," "Give me a kiss," "Hello," "Polly want a cracker, but certainly it's entertaining for the kids, who repeat the suggested verbiage and wait for the respective bird to imitate.

We see pink flamingos, white-headed egrets, black-winged ibises, a pelican show, hawks, falcons, eagles (no Philippine monkey eating eagles though), the world's tallest man-made waterfall (according to the park brochure, anyway), and finally, after a monorail ride, it's back to the penguins again before heading out. The boys find the birds interesting, and God Bless Eric Carle some of the birds they recognize from his books - like Mixed-Up Chameleon and Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See "story by Bill Mawtin Junwor" according to Hadrien.

We're back on the bus and the MTR to the hotel, and for dinner meet up with Ninang Mai, who lives here in Singapore, and Nonie, Jill and the twins, Miggy and Gabby. For an authentic Singapore dining experience we head out to the hawker centre at Newton Circle.







Our decision to get Hainanese Chicken had nothing to do with the fact that we had been at a bird park the whole day. But certainly it was a tasty finish!

Singapore - Day One

Singapore was a blast. Here's a blow-by-blow account of the trip:

Day One: Even if this is not exactly the kids' first plane ride (each of them having travelled from New York to Manila while they were only 7 weeks old), we considered this their first trip of sorts as this is the first time we were embarking on a trip purposely to take both boys around.

We left the condo at 5 am to catch our 7 am flight. We didn't have a problem rousing the boys from sleep as they too were excited. On the way to the airport, they repeatedly asked "are we going to Singapore" even if I was absolutely certain they knew exactly where we were going! The boys travel very well and not once did they cry (ok, maybe just a little bit when Hadrien refused to wear his seatbelts).

Shortly after we landed and while we were figuring out (read: having a discussion whether to take the MRT or a taxi to our hotel), Baz pointed to a sign and exclaimed "Sky Train!" - he was right! Raffy and I were obviously surprised but kept mum. We ended up taking a cab where Baz immediately noticed that something was wrong - the driver was on the right side instead of the left!

We stayed at the Meritus Mandarin, right along Orchard Road. The kids loved the bathroom packed with a shower with multiple nozzles, a spacious tub and even a window so that you could look out from the tub area onto the room and even out of the window (if the curtains were drawn). Curious Hadrien immediately ran into the shower stall not noticing that it was enclosed by glass doors - not surprisingly, he ran into the glass wall (not to worry, no damages sustained from that mishap!). Since Baz was asleep, we decided to stay within the vicinity of the hotel. While walking, a nice lady handed Hadrien a green balloon and I asked Raffy to tie the same to his belt loop since I was worried that he might get traumatized if/when the balloon flies off or that he would run after a flying balloon. He was more bothered by the fact that the balloon was actually floating in the air and was not too affected when the balloon did finally fly off (since he insisted on holding on to the balloon).

We had lunch at the Food Republic then decided to head back to the hotel. The boys then had their first bath in the tub. Hadrien was so excited that he repeatedly stamped his feet in the tub. When Raffy drained the tub, the drain made such a noise that a scared Hadrien hid behind Baz and when he couldn't take it any longer pleaded with Raffy to take him out saying "I don't wike na!" with both arms outstretched. May takot din pala!

At night, on my request, we checked out Bugis Street, which was Singapore's version of Divisoria (of course, a much more sanitized and organized version). We had dinner at a Malaysian restaurant where the boys made friends with Jasmine who brought them loads of kropek much to the boys' delight. Not satisfied with the Malaysian/Thai fare, Baz asked for and got french fries. We decided to call it a day after.