Singapore in 24 Child-free Hours

For this week's posts I bring you a quick wrap up of our Singapore fling, complete with Singapore Sling's.... I promise that will be the last of my poorly attempts at witty word play. First up, the getting there and back. The trip over was amazing - complete with lounge access at Perth Airport, which left us yearning for the pointy end of the plane just that little more than usual.  One day I will convince #1Hubby and the kids to stay at home and 'take one for the team' so that I may use all of our holiday funds to fly at the pointy end.  Until such time, I will practice sticking my pinkie finger out at the appropriate angle for French champagne pre-flight drinks in Business Class, dahhhlings. Can I just say - Singapore Airlines' lounge is possibly more impressive than my house.  It's impeccably clean, has a far better stocked fridge, more food options, and of the three children in the room, not one was swearing or wiping grubby fingers on anything.  It was positively calm, peaceful and delightful. I was desperate for someone I knew to spot me walking in and out of the lounge.  Sadly, it didn't happen, and after two fabricated excuses to go in and out, I gave up.  If I do ever make it to the pointy end of the plane for real, I will send out a mass Facebook party invitation for everyone to come watch me enter the lounge in a sophisticated manner, followed by waving me off as I board the plane first.  I may wave from my seat at the front, but only if it doesn't come off as classless and unbecoming.  Perish the thought.

Total Singapore Airlines awesomeness - making us both feel special, heh.

About half way into our flight, #1Hubby was presented with a massive chocolate cake, complete with bubbly and cards.  Multiple cards.  One said "Happy Anniversary!".  Another said "Happy Birthday!", and a third simply went with "Love Forever!".  So this means that it was also my celebration.  And that I will not be expected to produce any further celebratory events for our anniversary in October.
And suddenly, in our loved up anniversary and birthday sharing state, our 5 hour flight had whizzed past (possibly on account of not having any kids in tow to cause us to white-knuckle the entire journey).
How to do Singapore in 24child-free hours? Thankfully, we had a driver for our entire trip. Eric knows everything there is to know about Singapore.  He was full of suggested sights and destinations for our limited time.  And he's an excellent driver.  Not once did I have to use the invisible break that I've become so accustomed to in many Asian countries with heavy traffic and almost impossible to follow road rules. Thanks to Eric, we did not 'Get Lost in Singapore'.  He made the cross-island trips quick and effortless.  In fact, the only single time we did get lost was inside the enormous Marina Bay Sands complex after visiting the Sands Sky Park, when we thought we'd make like posh people and stroll through the jaw droppingly fancy shopping plaza.

Rather than underwhelm you with my poorly attempt at photographing the amazing views from the Sands Sky Park, I give you proof of #1Hubby's girly-man fear of heights.  This is him, crouching in fear because he's too scared to go right to the edge to take a photo - the edge that is covered in shatter-proof glass, steel and safety wires.

Gucci darling, Cartier, Givenchy - all the big guns.  You just know it's going to be fancy when they call it The Shoppes.  The one time #1Hubby and I argued over the whole trip was here.  It was a serious issue - how to correctly pronounce 'The Shoppes'.  When we reached a stalemate and finally asked someone, they looked at us rather bemused and said SHOPS, it is pronounced SHOPS. We were way off with our SHOPES versus SHOP-PES argument.

Showing our Classe in The Shoppes by posing with some of the designer window models.  Images not taken by us, rather by some Japanese tourists who found it totally hilarious and egged us on.  I am expecting our own Anime cartooon and miniature doll line any minute now.  It will be huge.

We spent our first night at the Novotel in Clarke Quay.   Perfect location, right at the end of the Clarke Quay strip of harbour-side restaurants and bars.
We had planned to stroll all the alleyways of Clarke Quay, but we got as far as the very first bar and saw the "Happy Hour : 2 for 1 including Sangria" sign and we were all like "Ole! We're in!" and suddenly three hours had passed. We finally dragged ourselves away and crossed over to nearby shops, before coming back to watch a group of Japanese tourists take turns on a massive slingshot.  Classic visual comedy at its finest.  Particularly exciting watching a heaving, wretching guy stumble off and into the nearest bush to deposit his lunch. While that was certainly enjoyable, we happened to look up and notice that our hotel was attached to a 5 storey shopping complex, and so we were off to Hello Kittyit up in there.
I nearly wept when I saw a $2 shop and a giant supermarket in the complex.  Starbucks caffeine fuel inhand (because I could afford to be reckless and consume caffeine in the evening, being that I didn't have to get to sleep at a reasonable hour to get up early to the kids), I made both my bitch.  My bitchez, if you will (because that makes it sound so classy).
There's nothing I love more than a massive supermarket.  Really.  I am that person who gets super psyched to do the grocery shopping, and I love checking out the different products in supermarkets in foreign countries.  Maybe it's the whole "justifiable shopping" vibe of spending money in a supermarket; maybe it's just my severe addiction to shopping.  Who knows.  Who cares.
Finally, shopped out to the max, we dumped our bounty in the room and headed back out to Clarke Quay for a late dinner, and possibly some more happiness courtesy of the rolling Happy Hours.
 So in conclusion - what to do in Singapore with 24 child-free hours? All the S words.... Shopping, sightseeing and Sangria

2 for 1 Happy Hour Sangria in Clarke Quay, Ole!