Underwater World and Butterfly Park

Landing in Singapore was a very cool experience.  First off the airport is very modern and the immigration staff was very nice. Also we did not ah veto pay for a visa into the country so that is a bonus! The airport is very spacious with glass walls and ceilings making it feel even more spacious. One thing I like was that there was a 4 storey wall covered with hanging vines by the luggage carousels that was a nice touch.

After exiting the airport I almost got into the driver’s seat of the taxi as they drive on the left hand side in Singapore. That was a bit strange at first as I kept expecting the steering wheel on my side of the car. The thing that surprised me the most about the trip to our hotel was the greenery. After living in the UAE for more than 2 years you forget that there is a green world out there. Sure the streets are lined with some trees and bushes but you know it is just for show and if you look past the initial row of green you see the desert. But here in Singapore is is just full on green as far as the eye can see. I was expecting a modern city with all the traces of greenery stamped out kind of like Dubai or New York but what I saw was flame tree lined streets with green poking out of every possible space. It is nice to see the green and I was surprised how much I liked seeing it. Even in the cities of the Philippines they tend to cement over most spaces with only a little bit of green showing. But in Singapore they seem to really embrace there green spaces with parks all over the place. It is nice to see.

As far as our hotel you know we are budget travelers, so the place we have is not a high fashion place. It is just a place for us to rest and then take off from for our days travels. We are staying at the Hotel 81 and I can say it is a budget hotel. It is a bit older but it has a nice pool that the kids were hanging out in this morning. The room is actually pretty large but there is not much furniture is it. Still it has space for our beds and it does provide free internet service.

We have decided to stay at our hotel for the week but they are fully booked for Wednesday night so we will need to find a new place to stay. There are several places int eh area we are staying in so it should be no problem.

Today we started out slow as there was a bit of a storm last night that was continuing in the morning when Tita and I work up. I say Tita and I as the kids had gotten up at 2:30 and stayed up until about 5 am – they said. Well the kids took a swim in the pool while the last bit of the rain was falling once it had finished then we took off. We took the subway into town- it turns out we are quite a bit out of the center of town close to the airport. No worries the subway was fast and cheap.

Another thing that surprised me, and Tita for that matter. is the dress of women over here. Again after living in the UAE for a year it is kind of eye popping to see women walking around in clothing that is very reveling. It reminds me in some ways of Taiwan where it was rather fashionable as well. I do not remember women in the states wearing clothes so reveling. 


We had to do one train change in a mall in town so we ate lunch at the mall. All I can say is I am surprised how expensive it is here in Singapore. We had a sandwich at a coffee place (Coffee Been & Tea Leaf - chain) and it was something like $35. I thought that was a bit much. I know I am too cheap, what can I say.

Anyway after lunch we took the monorail over to Sentosa Island where all of the amusement parks are. We ended up getting there after 2 pm so decided to go to The underwater World and the Butterfly & Insect Park. The first part of underwater world is a petting pool where the sting rays swim. Then you go to a walkthrough aquarium. It is a glass tunnel with the fish swimming all about you. Then it is off to the Dolphin show.  The kids loved both places and we even got a picture of Ashley petting a dolphin at the underwater world and a picture of here feeding birds at Butterfly world. I know it does seem kind of silly to have a bird park included in a Butterfly park but whatever. The Butterfly Park starts off in a atrium with butterflies then the next one is birds, then you go into a building with insects and then you get a museum kind of thing with mounted butterflies and insects. 

After a day of walking around and seeing the sights we were off to McDonald’s for dinner. Ashley has already fallen asleep at 7 pm and Andrew is up reading his book. 

Sadly I cannot send any pictures as I forgot to bring the connection to download photos from my camera. There were some great pictures of the kid at the Underwater world and Butterfly park.

Tita, Andrew, Ashley and David