Colleen left me in Singapore!

Yep, It is True

Colleen and I parted ways in Bangkok and we went our separate ways to Singapore.  Fortunately, I got the kids and a lot of support.

So What Happened?

Now that I have your attention. I need to get one thing off my chest.  Being a little competitive I have noticed that Colleen gets more reads on her posts, and more comments.  This is like someone pouring my beer on the floor or a Shakespearean actor smiting me so that I am slain (thank-you Hannah for the quote).  I need your help so provide a response to the post in the comments section and boost my ego (tastefully as this is a family blog)!

As for Colleen leaving me… it is true. Although it was only for a couple of days so she could meet up with her girlfriend from Hong Kong.  I got to tour Singapore, try to stay on budget, and be supervised by the kids in a very expensive city.

The Bangkok Miracle Lounge (one of three)

We said goodbye to Colleen as she boarded her plane to Singapore and we headed to the airport lounge.  Where else do you go when your wife leaves you?  With a two hour window (based on free wifi) to use the lounge pass we went to the Miracle lounge. Travel Hack (my own!) share the wifi passcode with multiple users to increase wifi time and go to the main lounge as it is huge!  It was enough to eat chicken wings, potato chips, salad, pastries and ice cream.  For some ungodly reason it is the first time I didn’t drink beer in a lounge.

On the Bus

We stayed in Little India at the Holiday Inn Express.  It was a good location for walking about and catching the bus.  The bus is broken into zones so it was $1.670SGD which is a little cheaper than OC Transpo in Ottawa but no family day pass so for the four of us it quickly added up.

We took the bus to the downtown area over two days.

Fort Canning Park – the Friendly Park

It turns out that the top of the hill is a water reservoir which is still in use hence the security on it, although a bit extreme!

Walking to Clarke Quay

Down the road from Fort Canning Park is Clarke Quay which has numerous shops and restaurants.  We stared at the massive of king crabs from Alaska and Australia, the Pacific and Atlantic lobsters and lots of fish.

Back to the Hotel

Ben and Emma stayed at the hotel after we finished another two hours of sightseeing downtown including the Parliament Buildings and the Supreme Court.  Sorry, nothing fancy so no photos.

Hannah and I carried on to East Coast Park and walked along the water looking at the hundreds of transport ships in the water.

I went for a run in the morning and came across a sign for Canadian pizza.  I took it as an important revelation on what to have for dinner.  So we had Canadian pizza, made by an Indian couple in Singapore.  Meat lovers and a classic Canadian.  They were the best pizzas we have had in Asia!  I do have to say that the guy who took my order should be an honorary Canadian as when I asked him where to get the cheapest beer he directed me to the right place!  I saved about $3.00CAD on my purchase – oh and the pizza was cheaper than most of our meals!

Merlion Park

For day 2 we went to Merlion Park and the Gardens on the Bay which is a beautiful park.  It was fairly warm, although not as hot as some places, so we did a detour into a shopping mall for the air conditioning.  Armani, Gap, Ferrari kids, and a DC Comics store.  Not sure who can afford to shop there!

Our trip to Singapore was a whirlwind.

It was necessary to break up our trip in Thailand as our visa-free stay is only good for 30 days and we had a fixed departure date for Italy that would have put us past that. So our choices were either Laos or Singapore.  Going to Singapore was a nice change, albeit expensive, from our experiences in Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand.  Perhaps we’ll make it to Laos in the future but not this time.

You’ll be happy to know that Colleen and I are back together and will have more experiences to share from Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai in northern Thailand.

Remember… don’t forget to leave your comment to help me out a bit!