6th Birthday Celebration: Around Singapore Day 1

Checking in at Hotel V Lavander was a breeze (and if I may add, checking out took less than one minute!!!) and after surveying the room (it was small, around 16 sq. meters but very clean and gave us a nice view all the way to the Singapore flyer), we were off to our first adventure.


Ahhh, his dream is for our room to look like a hotel room: all white sheets. We were billeted at the top most floor of the hotel which is right on top of the Lavander MRT station--how's that for convenience?




Our days are carefully planned. Since we have a senior citizen and a little boy with us, the plan was to stick to one main attraction a day. But man, it is still very tiring. The heat had a lot to do with it so I am thankful for Singapore's airconditioned walkways which made this midday trek more bearable.

The selfie pod came in handy

On our first day, we explored the Gardens by the Bay.




But the thought of another long walk, this time with no shade from the underground walkway to the main garden attraction is so far we decided to ride the tram instead.  Here is the boy looking every inch the tourist while waiting for our ride.




This was our ride to the cooled domes.

Going to the garden area, we passed by this impressive floating baby.

You can actually see the super trees from the outside but because of the heat, we paid SGD99.00 for the four of us so we can visit the two cooled domes, the Flower Dome and Cloud Forest as well. The cooled dome never sounded so terribly appealing to me as it did that day.



The Flower Dome

This was just okey for me-- if I can skip it I will but for tourists, you can't buy ticket to just one attraction.

 

The Cloud Forest

Now this I like! It has trails, a gigantic waterfall, lush plants and mist. It looked like a scene straight out of Avatar. Alas, we missed having a picture taken by the giant waterfalls =(

 


If you just choose to stay outside, there are lots of photogenic spots where you can rest and pose.

Okay, I have to mention the heat again. I could have walked some more but somehow our energies seem zapped by 4 pm so off we walked again to Marina Bay Sands.

 

Our first day was full and I'm glad we booked an early flight out of Manila. Our 6 year old was so game in walking, too! No more "carry me mom/dad" unlike our travel to Hong Kong two years ago.

It really also helped that our hotel's located right on top of an MRT station. Going in and out  of our hotel was a breeze! There is also a Fair Price supermarket nearby (the 2L water here was $.75 compared to $2 at the convenience store), a Kopitiam at the ground floor and a Wendy's branch for quick meals.

Day 2 coming up!