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.