Hello Singapore

I hadn't seen my parents in two years so I was so excited that I would be able to meet them in Singapore! Since their flight came in a few hours earlier than my flight, we agreed that they'd hang around the airport and meet me at the arrival gates. It was a happy but tired reunion. Mum and Nuku were tired as from a whole day of transiting and flying, and I had a cold and was fighting off the last few days of sleep deprivation. We took a taxi (which are very reasonable in Singapore), to the hostel we were staying at near Little India. The best hostel I've ever stayed in, in fact.

One of the first things we noticed about Singapore is that it is very hot and very humid. As I watched the city go by in the taxi, I couldn't believe how clean Singapore was considering it's still part of Asia.

Nuku was surprised that I hadn't made to-the-hour itineraries for every day of our trip. This was because I was worried about how much action Nuku and mum could take and if they could keep up. Mum and Nuku had been working out and getting fit for the past couple of months in preparation for this.

So on the first day we went on an open-top bus tour around the city. Even though it was quite touristy, it was a fantastic way to see the city and get a feel for the city's layout. Mum and Nuku were thrilled because they got to sit down during it.

All of the different cultures in Singapore kind of gives you cultural whiplash. In Singapore you get the huge, modern skyscrapers and wicked architecture and a bus ride away you can visit Chinatown, Little India and Kampong Glam. We went on these really great tours from Original Singapore Walks that I recommend going on if you are ever in Singapore and have a few days. We bought a three day ticket and went on a a Kampong Glam walk where we walked around the Malay/Arab area and heard the sad story of Singapore's royal family; a war trail which followed the horrific Japanese occupation in Singapore; and a boat quay walk which was a tour and a pub crawl melded together - we got to drink beer!

Sultan's palace

Sultan's mosque

Marina Bay Sands Sky Park

Merlion at Sentosa

Other than Singapore's many stories, Singapore is also famous for food. It has a huge variety of food especially Chinese, Indian, and Malaysian food. Every day mum would grow increasingly fretful about our next meal. I like to pick the things on the menu that I've never tried before, and I make mum and Nuku feel bad if they don't do the same. Nuku is pretty good and tries a lot of new things. Mum is the opposite: everything that is new and different is a food to avoid. Anyway, there were really only three things I wanted to eat in Singapore and they weren't even that adventurous. Also, I managed to eat all of them!

Chili crab

Ice cream sandwich (yes, that is bread)

Singaporean breakfast: kopi and kaya toast

I asked mum about her favourite things about Singapore and she said everything except for the food. I had to remind her that she LOVED the Singaporean coffee and kaya toast. Nuku on the other hand was amazed at how clean and safe Singapore was. Before coming, Mum and Nuku had been stressing out on travel horror stories: bombs and terrorists in bali, liver getting stolen in your sleep, tourists getting killed by toxic seaweed. As for me, I think the best thing about Singapore is how we could find a little bit of everything there. Lots of different cultures, lots to see and do AND eat. And it is so easy to get around to it all because their public transport is amazing.

After four days of full-on action I made mum and Nuku pretty tired. At one point Nuku was falling asleep at the dinner table and mum couldn't fit her new crocs cos all the walking had made her feet swollen :) Lol. Poor folks. I'm glad they came though because Mum and Nuku haven't been on a holiday in ages. Ana pointed out that it was weird seeing the photos and the folks in tourist mode because they never go on holiday! Not over yet though. Next was Bali for some well-deserved downtime.