Orchard Road Christmas Time and Day Time

Yesterday we ventured onto Orchard Road.  First we started out at the Orchard Hotel where I had gotten my Singapore Santa (thanks for the hint Pam) last year.  

Steph thought she wanted one, but after pondering it, she decided other than the batik material and the Singapore flag, not much about him reminded her of Singapore.  

I have to agree, but he is awfully cute:

We walked around and enjoyed the sights:

I finally remembered to get a picture of them.  I am horrible about remember to get the kids in pictures.  I am busy taking pictures, but I usually get distracted at what Steph is seeing and forget what I *need* to be doing.  They needed a picture at every place they have been.  I am a crummy mom - not a ton of pics of our girls in Singapore  :-(  I honestly forget.  But here is one:

Raelee had fun with the critters along the road:

We went to Wheel Lock Place:

I have gotten good at looking up:

We finally made it to the Ion Orchard.  (read that out loud - you will understand)

It is an amazing mall:

The famous nutmeg in front of it - not a coffee shop I originally thought it was  ;-)

A neat picture of the girls in front of it:

Another great pic of them - I made myself remember:

It has three story tall escalators:

Round escalators:

Or was that at another mall?

And a HUGE Christmas tree:

(Look at the size of the cars compared to the tree)

True to a child's inquisitive nature, at her suggestion, we went into that tree and found this:

Outside, I tried to take a cool picture, but it didn't turn out as cool as I wanted it to:

Checking out the art work around Ion:

Such a pretty piece of art with the rest of the artwork  ;-)

Good thing for all the escalators because everyone was getting sooo tired:

We were really all worn out by the end of the day:

Everyone could barely smile:

But look at these faces they made after sniffing the durian they found at the grocery store:

Can you believe Steph could put her nose in it and could still SMILE?

Raeleel didn't:

Elfie is still up to his silly antics:

Guess he has to hid in silly places to keep up with a silly girl!

That's all today folks!  'Cept another cute picture:

Off to the Singapore Night Safari this afternoon.


PS:  If you didn't understand 'ION Orchard', it says "eye on Orchard"  :-)

China Town

We had to go back to China Town to finish our shopping.  While we were there, I shot a few pictures and thought I would share.  I am getting better with the camera, of course I still have a long way to go, but I will get there.  Here are the pics I took yesterday - just stuff I found interesting...

Now if I could get that color to pop.  I know, PS4... I need to work on that as well.  

Next year.  lol... night all!

East Coast Park

As I said in the last post, we found Mustafa Center.  I gotta tell you again, that I did not enjoy it.  These are some beautiful displays there:

The problem is, do you see how close together everything is?  One thing butted up against the other?  The ENTIRE store - all however many stories and a block wide and deep - is exactly the same way.  Can you imagine?  It is beautiful in the jewelry area, but not so much in clothes, food, and kitchen stuffs.  I suppose it might have something I need, but I doubt I could bring myself to stay in it long enough to find it  :-(

Little India is crowded:

You cannot take pictures without cars blocking your view:

I suppose the Indians are just used to living like that, but for a person with claustrophobia, it is miserable to go to.  However, there are good things to say about Little India, one being the colors are vivid and beautiful:

And Raelee got another gift as usual.  That tow head girl and big blues turn many heads and flicking the lashes gets many gifts.  I think her daddy has a big job ahead of him  ;-)

On to other things.  Elfie is a friend that comes every day to watch over what Raelee does.  He races back at night to tell Santa if Raelee is good or bad.  Then he comes back and hides from her.  She has to find him in the morning so he can watch her.  He has hid in some really goofy places:

He was sleeping in the Christmas tree:

On top of the air con:

And in the dryer of all places:

That could have been dangerous, but lucky for him it was not going  :-)

Some days like the rest of us, Raelee has had enough.  Saturday morning, she rested.  She grabbed her coloring loot, her wrapping paper, scissors, tape and went to the laundry room.  We were in the middle of washing and had piles of clothes sorted.  She nested on a pile of dirty clothes, door politely closed with a 'leave me alone' attitude.  After a few hours of solitude, she was ready for the world again.  

Later in the day we walked over to East Coast Park and showed the girls around.  On the way, we saw our rainbow tree:

And papa got to play 'swing motor' again:

I think he quite enjoys this part of his job  ;-)

Sunday, we decided we wanted to go back to the Science Center.  Rather I should say Raelee decided we needed to go back to the Science Center.  She gets to have fun too, so off we went.  

However, we had this to contend to:

Do you remember THIS post from last year?  I feared the worst, but my dear hubby had figured the way out of the maze.  We think at this point it has been his one year mission - not ever getting trapped in the triangle again.  He has indeed paid attention to exit routes, as he got us out of the area quite painlessly and efficiently. 

We finally made it to the Science Center and had some fun:

By the time we got done at the SC, it was late.  Steve suggested we go to the hawker stand on East Coast Park.  I reminded Steph there was a good chance they had some sand castles there.  Lo and behold, they had better than that - a sand castle professional who taught us to make a sand castle!


To read what this was really about, read HERE

He used Raelee to help him teach:

I LOVE her face here:

Mommy and Raelee gave sand castle building a shot:

And with the Master's help:

And with papa's help:

I know, it is blue - I am pressed for time  :-(

But they accomplished a small castle in  minutes!

Great job girls!  We will be going back to create a master piece on Sunday.  Stay tuned  :-)

Today is China Town - we must finish our shopping.  

We Found Mustafa's

7 floors of pure h-e-double toothpicks:


Isles that are 2 feet wide 
Shelves stacked to the ceilings
Wall to wall stuff
Old not so clean building
Isles of boxes of stuff
Elbow to elbows of pushy people
Body odor that will knock you over
Very little English spoken
and teeny, tiny, jam packed, cramped places


And nothing I could live without.


I told you I was not a shopper.

We left and went to Tekka Center (a wet market)


I found the air I had lost at Mustafa's and elbow room.


We found pR some dresses.  They cost a lot - 3 for S$10.00.  Yep you read that right.  *shakes head in disbelief again*


And that was the extent of my shopping in Little India.  I hate that place.


I need to find one good thing to say about it...


So... the smells and spices mingled together (without the b/o) is wonderful.


AND I love what the Indian women and girls wear - vibrant colored elaborate, glittery, sequined and beaded clothes.  I will look up names for the clothes when I get over the claustrophobia I am still experiencing from today.


There, I found TWO things.


And that is all I have to say about that.

Arab Quarters

On Wednesday we went to Arab Quarters.  I had some friends that were going there, and we had made arrangements to meet at the MRT.  Who knew the MRT had so many places to exit?  The funniest thing was that Raye had a friend meeting her there as well.  Steph and I were waiting on everyone to meet us and I had no idea Raye wasn't with her friend.  Steph and I patiently watched for Jacqui and Raye at the MRT.  While we waited, we saw a lady pacing and looking around anxiously.  I thought momentarily it might be Raye's friend, but then I thought no they would be coming together.  

When Raye called to see where we were, she said her friend Andrea was already there and should be near us - and I knew immediately it was that woman.  I yelled across the way "ANDREA!  Come over here!"  She looked all around, back behind her then looked at me and said "ME?"  Still talking to Raye, I said "Yes!  You!"  and then motioned for her to come over.  I told her I had Rae on the phone and I introduced myself after we hung up - and she still seemed a little rattled.  We all had a good laugh over that one.  Andrea probably thought I was insane stranger that knew her name... Ok, no ratting me out... lol... 

The girls were shopping and we all separated for a bit before meeting up at Arab Quarters.  

I am not the best guide, but when I get lost, I find pretty things:

We passed up some of the drinks:

And passed on the snacks as well:

And I still remembered to look up:

And over:

We found some great dining room chairs:

And we finally figured our way out of there (we called a taxi) and met up with the girls again to go to a Turkish restaraunt:

We ate yummy food:

Ok, so I don't know what we ate, but the red stuff was good and the poofed bread was good.  I also ordered some marinated chicken on skewers and it was... good.  Raelee liked the red stuff, the bread, her chicken wings, mommy's rice, my rice, mommy's steamed veggies and my steamed veggies.  

I told you we cannot get enough food in her!

This is some of my favorite stuff in Singapore, the red lacquer - I simply love it. 

Hey, what happened to that beautiful pearly shimmer it has?

 It is almost as pretty as the Peranikan dishes that I love:

I know, two opposite ends of the spectrum, but aren't they all pretty?

Raelee found a wooden flute to buy:

And mommy taught her how to play:

We don't know how it happened (could it be all those shops on Arab Street?) but we got separated from the others.  We were sad, but we connected by e-mail later and all was ok.  We ended up going back to the Malaysian Heritage Center - Steph's first time, but my third (?).  It is a great place to visit and Steph got to see first hand how the master makes batik.  He does amazing work and even sells them to the prime minister or president (don't remember which - I have slept since then) of Singapore:   

Steph found a pomegranate growing in the wild:

Good eye, Steph!

I found a good use of 55 gallon drums that my neighbor in the states collects:

And we found a shop selling hookah pipes:

Don't know what the guy and the gal on the right were doing... lol... but I wanted you to see the hookahs above them so I couldn't chop them out.

And I love seeing the bottom of the dresses the Arabs wear:

I love the Arab Quarters and the area.  Always lots to see and do - and plenty to take pictures of.

And the neat trinkets you find (like the doll house rugs) are great too.

Singapore Flyer

We went on the Singapore Flyer Tuesday so the girls could see Singapore from a bird's eye view.  These are the cars we rode in; notice how big they are compared to the people in them:

Steve and I had gone to the Flyer the 26th of March 2009 and I could not believe the changes in 8.5 months:

March 2009:

December 2009:

And can someone tell me what those balls in the water are for?  We didn't get up high enough to see, but it sure looked like a design - like a flag or something.  Have you heard what it is?

Look on the very bottom left (just above the highway) of this picture taken March 2009 - see the beginnings of the casino?

Apparently I didn't think it was worthy of taking a better picture of it then...

Here it is Tuesday:

And more of a view of what is at the foot of the casino:

Here is a really good side perspective of the casino taken Tuesday:

Skinny and sleek isn't it?

This is a model of what it is supposed to look like when it is finished:

By the way, all those three towers are there - I just got it at an angle that you cannot see them.

And of course the workings of the flyer:

Hmmm, what happened with this picture?

Oh well, you can see it.

This is a cool one:

We had told before we arrived at the flyer Raelee that we would eat at Popeye's Fried Chicken (thank you Arthur Copeland for that yummy chicken) as they have one at the flyer.  From the minute she stepped onto the flyer, she wanted to get off - she was not one bit interested in looking at Singapore from above.  She was hungry.  We heard that over and over and she pouted the entire 30 minute ride.  She is a crab when she is hungry - now mind you she had eaten right before we got on the flyer.  Steph says she has not been able to keep enough food in her tummy for 6 months. She is indeed eating us out of house and home, but I think the 'idea' of Popeye's was simply stuck in her head.  Good Cajun cookin' could not come fast enough.  

I tried to get a good picture of her by this model:

Can you see it was a fake smile?

So we went to Popeye's.  Did I say thank you to Arthur?  YUMMM!  Ok, so she might have been a tad hungry:

Good thing she didn't like those mashed potatoes from Popeye's!

After the flyer, we went shopping at Vivo City.  Ok, so we tried, but again, we had  made the mistake of telling pR that she was going to be able to play in the water... and she did:

This play area is not a mud puddle on the roof of the mall, it is actually a treated water play are for the kids!

No, no, no, she was not the only one playing in the water:

Other crazy parents let their kids swim in the roof water as well - in the 90 degree heat.  Yeah, a regular Einstein idea this was for us.  Thankfully it was rather easy to get her out - the sun was just a tad bright.

Then she found some quality kid time on the toys on the roof:

Singapore is definitely an adventure waiting to happen - especially for young'ns.  We have found that you must always have a change of clothes for the kids - there will be a water feature for them around every corner.  The country is so kid friendly is amazing.  In all the malls, there are specific learning and hands on places for kids.  

Just like the story telling hour from yesterday, it is quite common for the kids to have activities to participate in at every shopping area.  Singapore is a learning place.  They want kids to learn and encourage it by providing for them.  There are some things that are just amazing here - and it being so kid oriented is one of those things.  I think Raelee is enjoying it too - if we can keep enough food in our backpacks to fend off the hunger pangs... lol...  off to pack yummies for today.  Little India, here we come.  I think.

Singapore Fishie Pedicure and Lip Threading

Today we were adventurous.  We didn't wake up ready to be that way, it just happened.  We were late getting up and around - I think our days are catching up with us... lol... and we didn't get Little India accomplished.  It is on our list for tomorrow.  Our list always seems to change though - so we will see... 

Since we were so late getting out, and I needed my face waxed (eewwweee!) we decided Holland Village would be our first stop.  Linda, the one that does my waxing, has been after me to try the threading.  I did.  

OUCH!  Ok, in all honestly, yes it was uncomfortable but not miserable - for Raelee anyway - she didn't have it done.  

Steph tried it as well:

Yeah, it was as painful as it looks.  Imagine someone yanking hair out of your face a couple of dozen at a time... lol... Anyway, that was my one, and probably only, experience threading.  

I didn't see that it made much of a difference and if I am going to be miserable, I will chose the lesser of the two evils; waxing thank-you-very-much.

After the torture chamber at Holland Village, we decided to go treat ourselves to the fishy pedicure.  Singapore is one of the places in the world that allow it.  We all dunked our feet into the 'vibrating' water and watched as the fish did the dirty work - gnaw on our callouses.  Steph seemed to enjoy this part of the day:

Just look at those fish...

And it got worse...

Oh wait!  Then we went to the large fish...

Yeah that was interesting...  Nibbles are ok, but chomps?  lol...

Raelee had a time sticking her feet in it - but she was very excited at the THOUGHT of doing it.  Here she is just dipping her (and Ruthie's) feet in:

And see the toes curl?

She really didn't know what to think about it.  It took her a bit to even get to the point of dipping her feet in, however, she finally did and would not even think about going to the big fishy side.

She stayed on the little fishy side and was perfectly content thank-you-very-much:

After leaving the fishy spa, we were dismayed to see it was pouring buckets (raining) outside.  So we did the normal Orchard Road stuff - we went to shop.

Except we got sidetracked.  Raelee found a story telling hour in a mall.   It was really a great show - actors acting out a children's book by an Australian author.  They had different things to make the sounds and Raelee got to learn about that.  She watched from above - out of the crowd area and in good view of what all was going on.  When it was over, she said she really needed that book - and don't you know she got it!

Here is the view she had:

And this is what I love about her mommy, always patient and teaching her new things.

Finally, the rain beat us down.  We decided to head home.  Raelee was perfectly content to play with my coasters... errr... rugs for her Littlest Pet Shop critters:

They were my finds from yesterday's trip to Arab Quarters  :-)  

Who woulda thought they sold rugs for critters on Arab Street?

Hold your breath for Little India  ;-)