The Singapore and Thailand edition

We’re back! Finally we’re travelling for long enough to justify resurrecting the blog! Join us for the next few weeks as we briefly explore Singapore, and then move on to Thailand in far more detail…

We decided early on in the year we’d try and do a big overseas trip, and after debating a few locations (Vietnam – been there a lot already, India – maybe a bit too hectic for the kids), we landed on Thailand, with a few days in Singapore to kick things off.

Unfortunately that meant Jim has had to save all his leave this year, and take some unpaid leave, which has been challenging in the lead up, but hopefully will be worth it now that we’re in holiday mode. For me, I’ve ended up somehow squeezing in 6 weeks’ work in the weeks leading up to going away, in an effort to keep things ticking over for all my clients, and have to do a few things while we’re away, but I hope that’s minimal and I get a good break. 

Strangely, when we mentioned to people that we were doing this, on a couple of occasions we got a very confused ‘why?’ back. Not sure if that was related to the destination, or the length of time away, or both, but we were both a bit surprised by that. We also got asked many times (at least half a dozen) if we were taking the kids with us! I think the dream of just the two of us travelling again is a few years off yet. In fact, it’s the first time the two of us have been on an international trip together since 2019 (although we have both gone separately a few times).

The other issue we have of course is the dog, but thankfully one of Jim’s sisters was happy enough to stay in the house while we’re away, taking care of Jett. We’re sure he’ll be having a lovely time, and hopefully not missing us too much.

After a busy few weeks getting to the end of the school year and working a lot, we finally made it to Monday 15 December – the day of departure. With a 2:30pm flight we had plenty of time to get sorted, so when we found out that one of our nieces was in hospital we decided we’d swing by there in the morning to visit. After that, we went to get back in the car to go home and get our bags, only to find that the car was stuck in reverse! Then when we turned off the engine it wouldn’t start at all! So we quickly called our mechanic, through whom we have roadside assistance, and, to their credit, they jumped straight in their car and came to help. Using a zip tie, he managed to get us going again so we could drive it to the mechanic’s garage. We’ll get someone to pick it up at some point after it’s fixed. (Edit: It’s fixed – just a lazy $500…).

So then it was a quick trip home to grab our bags and jump in an Uber to the airport, about an hour later than planned. Luckily all went well and we made it, albeit with a bit more stress than first planned.

The kids had been looking forward to the flight for ages, looking at the website to choose the movies they wanted to watch. It was a very turbulent flight, which I did not like, but we managed to get through it and arrived at Changi at around 8:00pm local time. Can’t fault Singapore Airlines for their service, they’re always very good in my experience. We jumped in a car using the Grab app (like Uber, but cheaper and more efficient) and finally after a long day with a few dramas we made it to our hotel room and collapsed into bed.

The next day (today), we woke up early of course, being a little bit out of whack with the 2 hour time difference. With no food with us we had to go foraging so figured we may as well just get up and get going. Our plan had been to buy a multi-day tourist travel pass for unlimited travel on the buses and trains, but what I hadn’t worked out was that you can’t buy it at any station. (Tip: Get it at the airport, if you’re not staying near one of the appointed stations!). The station staff’s suggestion was to use our credit cards to tap on to get us to the station where we could buy a pass. Great – we have four credit cards! So Heidi and I tapped on, then waited for the other two, who could not get their cards to work. Of course, we may have four cards, but they’re linked to just two accounts, so the system thought we were trying to use the same card twice. Grrr. So we spoke to the staff again, who said they’d let the other two travel for free, then they rang ahead to the right station, who let them out again so we could get the passes! All a bit annoying, and could have been avoided if I’d just thought to buy them at the airport.

Anyway, we were on our way and exploring Singapore, a city I haven’t been to for 25 years. Last time it was the first stop on my six month round the world trip, and it was the first time I’d been anywhere that wasn’t Australia or NZ. I also had a broken toe so I hadn’t been able to do as much as I wanted to. This time around, we started with a swing past the Raffles Hotel, then walked down towards the Marina Bay area. It was about here that it started flogging down rain (how unusual for it to rain on our holidays…!), but we perservered and walked around the waterfront past the Merlion and over to the Marina Bay Sands shops. 

These aren’t just any old shops. This shopping centre is enormous and filled with high-end brands. So of course we couldn’t shop in any of them, but at least we were out of the weather. There’s even a canal in the middle of it, which reminded me a bit of The Venetian in Las Vegas. Hamish was hungry, so he lead the charge to the food court (which was a good 15 minute walk through the shopping centre) where we all chose nice Asian dishes and he had a cheese pizza.

After lunch we wandered over to Level 33 – the highest microbrewery in the world – after a tip from Kimberley, a friend of ours who until recently was living here. We tried a flight of beers, but didn’t fancy them much, so had a Singapore Sling each instead. By now it was raining again, just in time for us to make our way back to the hotel for a rest. 

Round two began around 5:30pm, when we made our way back into ‘town’ to the hawkers markets at Lau Pa Sat (another tip from Kimberley) and Satay St. This time Hamish had a very adventurous cheeseburger and fries. Heidi had dim sum and Jim and I had the satay, which was a mixture of chicken, pork, mutton, prawns and squid. It was pretty tasty. Home again by about 8:30pm which was definitely late enough for me.

This is the kids first time in Asia, and I had expected them to be a little more wary about it all until they got used to it, but both of them have taken it to it immediately. Hamish has mastered the entire metro system and has been making sure we’re going the right way on the right train. Both of them keep wandering off when they see something of interest, even though we keep telling them that things will get difficult if they get lost! They don’t seem to be too worried about it. We’ll see how they go in Thailand which is another kettle of fish entirely!