A Family Trip - Arriving in Singapore

The pandemic has kept me from traveling to Singapore, my home country for the last 3 years.  Determined that I will go in 2023, I was on the lookout for a sale by Singapore Airlines.  I know it always happens around Thanksgiving, with the so-called Black Friday sale.  I told my family and everyone wanted to go.  We decided on August for a couple of reasons:  it's during my granddaughter's school holiday and my niece's flat's (apartment) renovation would be done by then.  It's not the ideal time to go to Taiwan because it's hot and may have some remnants of the typhoon season, which occurs usually in July.  Be it as it may, we decided to meet in Singapore at the beginning of August.  The plan is to spend 1 week each in Singapore and Taiwan.

Doris and I arrived first in Singapore in the early morning of August 3rd.  My niece's husband, Wai Heng, picked us up at the Changi Airport, even though it's 1am.  He dropped us off at the Furama Riverfront Hotel on Havelock Road.  We are staying here because my German friend, Tobias, will also be staying here with his family.  Months earlier I booked four rooms for the group, pre-paid and with 7-night stay. This gave us the best room rates, as low as US$110 a night.  The Furama is not the nicest hotel, probably a 3-4 star hotel but it is conveniently located to many places we want to go.

First, it is a 10-minute walk to the Tiong Bahru Hawker Center, where we will be eating many local meals.  Second, it is less than 10 minutes away from the MRT (Singapore's subway system) station.  You can just about go anywhere in Singapore using the MRT,  It is one of the best in the world, and the cleanest.  Third, it is close to the city and if you don't mind the heat, you can walk to Chinatown or even to the city center.  Fourth, it has a large pool for the kids; a big treat for them in this heat and humidity.

There were 11 of us in the group:  8 adults and 3 kids.  We came in 3 groups from different airports.  Doris and I flew from the west coast, starting the Singapore Airlines flight from Los Angeles (LAX), stopping at Tokyo's Narita Airport on the way.  Shawn and Ella's family (plus Esme and Ezra) flew from JFK airport in New York City on the longest flight in the world, 19 1/2 hours, direct to Singapore.  Cynthia, Taylor, and Steven, with Steven's parents Eddy and Mai-lon, flew on the second longest flight, 19 hours, from Newark, NJ, also direct to Singapore.  We all lost one day crossing over to Asia so we all arrived on August 3rd and 4th.

Having arrived first, I have the local SIM cards, MRT cards, local electrical plugs and Singapore currency ready for everyone.  We used WhatsApp to communicate with each other and to our family and friends.  Regular messaging or SMS will costs us each 50 cents per message, charged by our US cell phone company.  We purchased local M1 SIM cards for about US$10 that comes with 100GB of data and good for 30 days.

Our first order of business on the first morning after everyone has arrived is go to the Tiong Bahru (TB) Hawker Center for breakfast.  It is a popular local hawker center with many food stalls selling a variety of dishes.

Walking from the hotel to TB market

Kids enjoying themselves

A Group Picture

Mai-lon ordering prawn noodles

Inside the huge TB market

I ordered Shawn a nasi lemak and Cynthia a roti prata - their all-time favorites. The kids had fishball noodle soup and the little ones discovered iced Milo. We also found a delicious soy milk and grass jelly spot with a long line that did not disappoint.  The kids swam after breakfast and zonked out for long naps after.

At the Furama Pool

Ezra

Esme and Taylor

In the evening Winnie invited us to a Peranakan dinner at a restaurant called Ivin's.  Peranakans are ethnic Chinese who have settled in the Malay Peninsula for many generations and have adopted many of the local culture and cuisine.  They are sometimes also called Baba or Nonya.  Their cuisine is fundamentally Chinese but with strong Malay flavors.  They tend to be a little spicier than traditional Chinese food.  Lately, it has gotten very popular in Singapore.

Peranakan Dinner at Ivin's

Needless to say, everyone was tired and jet-lagged and went to bed early.