Singapore is a wonderful country to visit! Safe and organized and warm and organized and amazing food! Also very organized. It really helps when you take a taxi to your friend Aaron and Su’s apartment and they do all the planning. And the organizing…
Kids were blown away right out of the gate. NZ felt a lot like Canada only people talked a bit funny and drove on the wrong side of the road. As soon as we landed in Singapore the differences were obvious. First the humidity and heat of course. Secondly the airport was from the future and was the most technological advanced place we’ve seen. There were holographic displays and robot wheelchairs, as well as an indoor jungle with fish in the floor.
When our taxi arrived it was completely pimped out and had an amazing sound system! Best taxi Mikaya has ever taken. It had an amazing sound system and when I complemented the driver he cranked it. Cuban hip hop the whole way to Aaron and Su’s place. Complete with dance videos. Our driver clearly enjoyed being a DJ and he had us all dancing in our seats.
We last saw our friends when they came to Canada for Christmas so our kids and Annalise and Alex hit the ground running. Literally they were running foot races in the street while we were eating dinner. In the street you ask? Is that safe?? Yes it was extremely safe. The local uncles were looking on and laughing, especially at the girls’ constant mid race rule changes.
The kids were utterly amazed at the choices at the local hawker stands and also how cheap the food is.
Neighbourhoods in Singapore are extremely well organized (a theme…) with a group of apartments set around a an area of cheap food stands, produce and fresh meat market, pharmacy, barber, massage, exercise park, train station etc. A group of neighbourhoods shares a pool and gym and park and larger commercial zone. Pretty amazing central planning.
On our first full day we had a lazy morning and did some shopping at a local mall to replace some of our stolen gear. Then Aaron met us for lunch and a city walking tour into the Arab quarter.
We had a delicious Malaysian meal where you point to what you want and the cashier assesses your plate and tells you what you owe. A heaping plate of wonders was about $5. Wonders indeed. This was the first point we realized the boys had become more adventurous eaters than their parents.
Over the next few days we walked and shopped and ate tasty food. The kids had an amazing time exploring and playing with their friends and the additional relationships were an amazing way to decrease family fighting. 2 weeks in a campervan gets a bit tight…
Above some sort of community zoomba style dance class. There were community events and parties all over. Always in the evening when it’s cool. And when it won’t interfere with being a productive member of society…
Did we mention the community had a barber? All of us except Kylie got a haircut. Not quite James or Melissa but pretty close…
On the weekend Aaron and Su took us to the waterslides. Either we timed it well or Singaporeans don’t go to the waterslides cuz the lines were short or nonexistent. Govt run bread and circuses we’ll take it!! Lots of sunscreen, lots of food. No one got burnt. Good times all around. Hardly any pics cuz we were railing the slides too hard.
From Levi’s journal: [Singapore- There are hawker stands with lots of cheap food and really good juice. I’ve had all kinds of exotic foods. They’re really good. And there’s 30-40 stands. there’s not tha many houses and we are staying with friends in an apartment.
We went to the waterslides and there was a free fall that was really steep. And beside it there was vortex. It had so much G force it was scary. Then there was this thing that was like the valley of fear I wimped out at first but then I went with my dad and on my own. It wasn’t so bad there was also the royal flush that you went on a big tube that you could take 4. And you got into a toilet bowl then did a big drop then into a valley of fear. There was the kraken, a lazy river, a big tube one and many more and we had KFC.]
Bored waiting for burgers.
On Sunday we went on a mission to find monkeys in the jungle.
Success!! Below is the picture Ty was taking. He posted it on his feeds and his friends were suitably impressed with his exotic experience.
The kids, Zeke especially, were very excited to see monkeys. Walking down a path with monkeys lounging confidently and eyeing your backpack for granola bars was a little more unsettling than the expected I think. Overall thrilling for sure.
Also thrilling to trek directly from the jungle to an air conditioned mall with 100+ food choices. Again the boys were the most adventurous.
Also Su bought them all bubble tea!
That night we made our way to Changi where Aaron had booked us a villa by the ocean for 2 nights. We walked around the area, checked into our villa and ditched the kids so the adults could go for drinks at the officers club. Did I mention Singapore is very safe??
After a few Tigers we returned to our young and brought them out for a feast of pizza and roast meat and yorkshires at a local microbrewery that featured a bouncy castle, rechargeable go carts and electrical malfunctions. Delicious.
At this point Aaron and Su returned to their regular scheduled program an we continued our adventures at Changi Villas…
Back at the lakeside we were having a leisurely lunch and a second coffee when Kylie heard a crunch and noticed a car high centred on a log/boulder. 
Namibian Chad suggested naming the stump Marissa’s Landing, so after she drove away I pulled out the sharpie and did just that.
Mikaya, once again a style maven… mt cook in the background again…
Lake Pukaki is definitely prettier and the holiday park was pretty tight but it was nice to plug in and keep our fridge and devices running. This particular park was overrun with brazen bunnies and dodgy ducks that would lurk at the edge of the site and try to steal our cereal.
The next morning we finished the final 3 hours of driving to complete the loop to Christchurch. I dropped the family at our last NZ Airbnb (a lovely rancher that we hardly got to enjoy) and the Zeke and I brought the motorhome back. No damage yay for us!! Stressful driving at times. We ran back to the Airbnb and spent the night repacking our bags after exploding into the motorhome.