KL to Singapore

Only three days into the trip and my apartment is adopting the appearance of a shoe store.

Sunday was our last full day in KL before we begin the next leg of our journey that would take us through Singapore and Bangkok.

The day started early. The father donned his new father's day gift – a lucky cap.


Then he joined some of our friends in a foursome at the Tasik Puteri Golf and Country club. You have to tee off early in the morning to beat the Malaysian heat.

The rest of us indulged our tastebuds at the Marco Polo dim sum brunch.

Dim sum is one of my favorite meals of all time.

In addition to the dumplings, the restaurant also serves up a large assortment of other Chinese goodies and they are very accommodating to Mr. Happy's vegetarian tendencies.

The father must have really wanted to play golf to have missed this!

Someone needs to remind the mother not to play with her food.

After brunch, we relaxed by the pool and waited for the father to return.

We waited, and waited, and waited. Then we noticed we had six missed calls! They don't make ringtones like they used to! The family was finally reunited.

That night, we ate dinner close to home at the Estana Curry House around the corner from our apartment.

The father ordered the biggest glass of fresh juice any of us had ever seen.

We then enjoyed some good eatin' from the tandori oven.

The next morning we had to move fast! We were trying to catch an 8am bus to Singapore. Unfortunately, the parents had to pack in their large suitcases because they don't like to travel light. This is me running to the waiting Proton. We had mere minutes to make it to Puduraya and buy our bus ticket.

We made it!

The bus was very comfortable. The journey was five hours but it went by really fast and was a lot easier than the rigamarole of taking a plane.


At a rest stop a stand for bee sting acupuncture caught my eye. I had seen a story on TV about this and was very skeptical. The fact that this therapy is offered in a bus station did nothing to alleviate my doubts.


We arrived in Singapore and took a taxi to our hotel 81 Dickson.

Then we recharged our batteries with a quick lunch. We skipped the father's first choice.

And settled on some Chinese ribs and chili chicken.

Then we strolled down Orchard Road for some shopping, temple hopping, and art gazing.

Mr. Happy had to stay behind in KL for some meetings, but he made it to Singapore that night. We tried to have dinner at a place my sister recommended the Sin Huat Eating House.

However, it was quite deserted and sketchy looking when we arrived. Note: Don't take restaurant recommendations from a person living several thousand miles away who has never visited Singapore. Our taxi driver recommended No Signboard.



We tucked into some scallops...

...and their famous chili crab.

Famously messy if you ask me.

The restaurant had a nice atmosphere and there were groups of locals who kept toasting each other. Basically, their toast was one big scream of "Ahhhhh!" that they held until they'd run out of breath.

We ended the evening tired, full, and ready for our next day. Ahhhhh!

We woke up Tuesday morning knowing this was our only full day in Singapore. We had to make the most of it! I was only a little peckish for breakfast. We walked to Upper Dickson Road and wandered into the Woodlands Indian restaurant. I was thinkin' -  just a cup of coffee, but the waiter offered to “take care of us”. I was so grateful for someone other than me taking care of us! We quickly agreed. The result – one of the biggest Indian feasts I’d eaten since my wedding day!

We started off with madras coffee which the waitor "pulled" like teh tarik.

The father ordered a banana lassi. He was surprised to find it contained yogurt as he was expecting a banana latte. Maybe someone should inform Starbucks about this new flavor?

They piled the food high. It was course, after course…after course!

And all before 9am!

This was definitely more food than I’d remotely been in the mood for, but we all enjoyed ourselves immensely.

Mr. Happy had to jaunt off to a meeting, so the parents and I gathered our things and took the metro out toward the Botanical Gardens. You have to walk the last leg of the journey and we decided to stop for a coffee. Guess who we bumped into at the coffee shop??? Mr. Happy!
Of all the java joints, in all the towns, in all the world, we had to walk into his…

After guzzling our coffee, we left Mr. Happy (again) and reached the gardens on foot. The admission is free and the scenery is beautiful. We had a lovely (and hot) morning strolling around the grounds and taking in the views.

Next, we caught a cab, picked up Mr. Happy, and rode to the Singapore Flyer. This is a giant Ferris wheel in the spirit of the London Eye – only bigger! If you visit, be sure to ask for discounts. They exist but are unadvertised. We received 30% off for being foreigners. We had to show a passport to prove we weren’t locals, though I can’t imagine anyone thought we were…

There weren’t many people queuing up on a weekday, so we had the place to ourselves. There was a very informative audio guide included on the tour.
Following our flight, our carriage was disinfected.

I must say, these Asians are a little over the top in terms of germs. People were wearing facemasks everywhere. I'd developed a cough over the last week and people looked at me like I had the black death! One cab driver intimated he'd like me to get out of his taxi because he had a grandson. Really people!

After our trip through the sky, we walked to the waterfront for some lunch. The parents were happy to dine on some familiar Western fare. Mr. Happy had to do a little work after he finished his garden burger.

Next, up? We headed to the famous Raffles Hotel.

This is the spot to enjoy some authentic Singapore Slings at the hotel's Long Bar.

The hotel was built in 1887 and named for Sir Stamford Raffles, the founder of Singapore.

The bar is decorated in questionable Colonial kitsch.

The Singapore Sling was invented by bartender Ngiam Tong Boom circa 1912.

Singapore Sling: Gin, Cherry Liqueur, Cointreau, Benedictine, Grenadine, Pineapple juice, Lemon juice, Angostura Bitters. These babies are expensive. They cost about $20US each, but you must have one in Singapore. The price of being a tourist!

Reputedly, the sole surviving wild tiger in Singapore was shot and killed at the Long Bar, making the species extinct. Not sure if this is true, but we didn’t see one at the bar or anywhere else in Singapore.

However, we did get our does of wildlife that evening. While some people might have called it a night. We carried on and went to the Singapore Night Safari.

You can opt to ride a tram through the park or walk. We rode. There was quite a lot to see.

My favorite part was the bat mangrove. You enter a enclosure and the bats fly freely all around you. They are huge! It was amazing!

Unfortunately, the mother was a victim of a bat attack as a child and carries emotional scars to this day. Those scars were deepened when said attacking bat ended up in her family’s washing machine the morning after the attack. She picked off bat guts off her dungarees all summer. She SAID she’d wait outside the bat mangrove for us, but when we emerged she was gone.

Her disappearance cause a great stir. We searched the perimeter of the dark safari but we couldn’t find her anywhere. The tram operators hadn’t seen her, she wasn’t at the restaurant or the waiting area. We had to report her missing to the park staff. I had to write out a physical description of her. We were forced to cut our safari short as the staff formed a search party to find her. Finally, after radioing around the park, one person claimed they’d seen a woman fitting her description board the tram and she should reach the base of the park around 9:30. I waited at the checkpoint. This turned out not to be her. But she did wander out of the show she was attending around this time.

We were all very upset about her wandering off without any thought to us or the park staff. She didn’t seem to understand why it was a problem.

I felt like this.

It had been a loooong day. We left the park and called it a night. Ahhhhhh!