Singapore. Hot. Humid. Controlled. Clean. Safe. Beautiful. Home. From the moment we stepped off the plane at Changi International in November 2018, both Cherie & I felt an overwhelming sense of calm in this beautiful country. A sense of what can only be described as a homely feel. Something we haven't felt in our home city of Sydney for as long as we can remember. I am ecstatic to say that all of those feels are still present as we touch down for our second trip here in under a year, this time with both our boys in tow. I can not wait to see the place through their eyes.
Stepping off the Airbus A380-800 which was Singapore Airlines flight SQ232, we were greeted by a near empty arrivals terminal. Strange for such a busy airport. It had a slightly eerie feel to it as I was expecting the hustle and bustle to hit the moment we came up the boarding ramp. It was if we were the only plane to land there that day. Or so I thought. Immigration. What a fucking nightmare. Filling out our immigration forms and getting in line for our passport check and fingerprint scans took less than 10 minutes. Getting to the border security personnel whom conducted said passport check and fingerprint stand took nearly 90 minutes....and there was literally 10 people in front of us. The rude English backpackers that held up the line in front of us were partly to blame for the hold up. Claiming they did not understand how to fill in their "NAME, PASSPORT NUMBER, CONTACT DETAILS" on a form, written in English, was a bit too hard for me to believe. Once they were told by security to move to the back of the line and re-fill in their forms, one of the young woman cracked the shits, swung her massive backpack over her shoulder in a huff and hit Cherie smack bang in the middle of her back, sending her jolting forward. Cherie was NOT impressed, calling the careless girl a "rude cow". I was thinking of another word beginning with "C" that would have aptly fit the situation but I held my tongue as I really did not want to start our family holiday with a stint in the airport lockup. We were all on edge from being on the go for the past 16 hours and a confrontation with the group of young backpackers was certainly not going to end well if we had pushed it.
Finally, we made it through, collected out luggage and headed for the MRT.
Getting to Orchard Parksuites, our residence for the next seven days, was non-eventful as the transport system in place here in Singapore is flawless. Our apartment is a generous size with two bedrooms, a full kitchen, two bathrooms, a living/dining room and a balcony. Perfect for our needs, although the boys have to share a room and Tyler struggles to fit his 6ft, 18 year old frame on to a king single mattress. We head across the road to Wisma Atria's Food Republic for a late night dinner (past midnight Sydney Time) of Braised Beef & Noodles, Satay Chicken skewers, fresh Steamed Pork Buns and a huge fruit platter, all of which were a million times better than any food court grub you can pick up at home. A quick stop off to the local 7eleven for a cold beer or two to take back to the hotel was the last order of business for the night. After nearly 24 hours since our last respite, there was nothing better than retiring to our apartment with a couple of drinks to unwind and regather our energy for day 1.
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