Although I do not want to give excuses, I just haven't settled into the Sunday night "sit down and blog about the week" habit since we've been back from the summer.
So I think instead of catching everyone up on everything that has happened in the past month, I will blog about our most recent adventure in Singapore for the Chinese National Week (or Golden week as it is known here)
My first choice for this vacation was Malaysia. I wanted to have a couple of days in Kuala Lumpur where I lived for 3 years when I was in elementary school and then hop over to an island for sun and snorkeling. My children have experienced warm ocean water in the Gulf of Mexico, but the water in Galveston is filthy. They swim in the Atlantic Ocean every summer in Canada which is clean but is it ever cold! So I wanted them to have the best of both and enjoy warm and clean water which you can find in Southeast Asia.
Anyway, due to lack of aeroplan seats on flights to KL, we settled for flying to Singapore. Same area, similar culture and weather. I had been to Singapore as a kid and remembered it to be a clean, safe city with a lot to see. Although I was not looking forward to another big city vacation since we had been to Hong Kong last February I was pleasantly surprised at what Singapore had to offer.
I had done some research online and found a national park where you could experience a treetop suspended bridge over the rainforest. The only catch was, the hike to the bridge is 2.5 hours and another 1.5 hours afterward. I wasn't sure how the kids would do but we headed out with snacks and water and hoped for the best.
Right before we entered the hiking trail I spotted some monkeys playing in a clearing. Mark was, of course, extremely excited since he loves monkeys and has never seen one out in the wild. So he walked over to see how close he could get and asked me to take his picture with the monkeys. I proceeded to put my backpack on the grass, grab my camera out and approach Mark and the monkeys. As I turned my back James said "mom, I wouldn't do that if I were you". I asked why without turning around and heard a noise coming from behind me. Sure enough, a little monkey (must have been a baby) was stealing snacks out of my backpack!! By the time I ran back he was way up in the tree above me trying to open a bag of doritos! Of course at that time my 12 year muttered "that's why".
This is the picture I was taking.
So off we went with 1 fewer bag of doritos. It was quite warm and extremely humid but we really enjoyed the quiet and the beauty around us.
So off we went with 1 fewer bag of doritos. It was quite warm and extremely humid but we really enjoyed the quiet and the beauty around us.
I thought this tree was so cool. Had to take a picture for Uncle Claude and Aunt Lynn. I'm sure they know exactly what kind of tree this is, why is grows this way and what it's proper name is. What can I say, weird vegetation makes me miss my aunt and uncle.
After much huffing and puffing we made it to the canopy treetop bridge.
We had the whole place to ourselves and were able to enjoy the view and take a breather.
So over all, a great first day. We returned to the hotel to cool off in the swimming pool and were quite exhausted. We had dinner at an interesting place. It was a sort of indoor food stall area where foods from all over the world were offered. The kids had mexican! Mark decided to be a little more adventurous and tried a Singapore delicacy called bo-bo-cha-cha. It's basically shaved ice with syrup, some kind of sweet cream, cubes of some kind of jelly and a scoop of ice cream on the top.
I think the overall review was..."not so great".Stay tuned for day 2!
