We slept in and woke up around 9 am. Sereen and I wished Samia a very happy birthday, her first as the mother of our cute chunky monkey by cuddling with Samia. We went down for breakfast around 9:30 am and had cereal, omelettes, choley bhaturay and fruits. After breakfast, we came back to the room to relax. Samia and Sereen took a nap while I caught up on previous updates. With Sereen as a new member of our travel party, writing updates daily is a challenge so I have been a couple of days behind on the entire trip. We gave Sereen a bath and were getting ready when Saim called to wish Samia. Our doll Sereen reached the 5 month milestone and dressed up in a new chambray outfit to celebrate her mom's birthday. Then we left our room around 1:45 pm. We had a dinner reservation for Samia's birthday at 7 pm which was a few hours away so we decided to grab something to eat before sightseeing.
Our hotel is connected to a mall with its back entrance opening into the mall. We had a little difficulty in finding the food court at the mall but eventually found it. It had a lot of variety but we decided to stick to familiar items and had Nasi Goreng (fried rice with chicken) and Nasi Biryani. We also tried the special coffee variant of this region called the Kopi. It's sweeter than regular coffee and was a bit too sweet for our taste buds. We also had iced Milo. Yes, it's the same chocolate mix Milo that we have in Pakistan too. By the time we got back to our hotel lobby, it was almost 3 pm since maneuvering the stroller at the mall through handicap accessible ramps (and a short flight of stairs) took a bit of time. On that note, to get to our hotel room from the lobby, we also have to take the stroller up and down a short flight of stairs every time. On our first day, we initially thought about requesting for a different room but when we were checking in, the hotel representative had told us that this was one of the biggest rooms that they have and with Sereen's stuff, we need the extra space so we decided to just brave the short flight of stairs for a few days. Every time we have to go past those stairs, Samia holds Sereen and I take the stroller up/down the stairs.
It had started raining quite heavily so we had to change our plan. We had originally thought about going to Chinatown to walk around and explore the area but our hotel concierge told us that it won't be a great idea with a baby in a stroller. We had short listed a couple of museums and asked the hotel concierge for a recommendation between them. Without hesitation, he recommended the National Museum of Singapore. The heavy rain meant that taxis were in great demand so we had to wait for 15 minutes before we got one. The National Museum of Singapore was less than a kilometer away and if the weather had been better, we could have walked. The taxi ride took about 15 minutes because of rain and rush hour induced traffic congestion. We reached the museum a little after 3:30 pm. After changing Sereen's diaper and buying our tickets, we started exploring the museum around 4 pm.
Sereen was sleepy but the first exhibit was a colorful educational display of the natural ecology of Singapore so I held her in my arms so that she could see it. She was mesmerized by the screens displaying trees, animals, rain and falling leaves. By the time we got to the next exhibit, she was really sleepy so we rocked her to sleep in her stroller and continued exploring the museum. The history section was very extensive and extremely well done. It chronicled the history of Singapore from the time it was named Singapura in the 14th Century to all the way to the present day. The colonial influence, the Japanese invasion, union with Malaysia for a couple of years and eventually the formation of an independent nation in 1965, it was all covered with concise and apt displays. The ascent of Singapore as a technologically advanced city-state since 1965 powered by industrial manufacturing was also documented. Focus on family planning, urban housing development projects and green spaces was emphasized.
It was such an engrossing display that we were only able to see one level of the museum by 6 pm and then it was time for us to leave. It was still raining heavily and everyone leaving the museum was getting a taxi so they were in high demand. Our hotel has provided a smartphone device called Handy with data and local calling to aid our touristy ventures in the city. A security guard at the museum used the Handy device to help us call a taxi. While chatting with her, Samia found out that she was a law school student and had previously worked in the hotel industry. She pointed out a few buildings of the Singapore Management University and a few top hotels in the city skyline. She also mentioned that if our hotel check-in person was paying attention, there might be a small cake waiting for Samia when we get back.
The restaurant where we had made a reservation for dinner to celebrate Samia's birthday is called Colony and located inside the Ritz-Carlton hotel. It's a very nice hotel and after reaching there, we first attended to Sereen and then headed to the restaurant for our 7 pm reservation. It was a dinner buffet with 7 different varieties available - Chinese, Indian, Indonesian, Malaysian, Western, local Singaporean and desserts. We tried Asian salads, English lamb chops, Indian tikkas, Malaysian satay skewers, sushi and a few different types of desserts. The winner were the succulent lamb chops. In retrospect though, instead of a buffet, a sit-down dinner with table service would have been better since choosing from a buffet is tough plus we've been spoiled by the world's best buffet in Las Vegas which is hard to match. When we asked for the bill, the servers brought a small piece of cake out for Samia with a candle and a piece of chocolate that read "Happy Birthday". That was a nice gesture to cap off the birthday dinner, Samia's first with Sereen.
After dinner, we took a taxi back to our hotel. When we entered the room, a small chocolate cake was waiting for Samia. It wished her Happy Birthday but got the gender wrong and read "Happy Birthday, Mr Siddiqui". Nonetheless it was still nice of the hotel to pay attention and try to lend a personal touch to our stay. We were too full from dinner so decided to save the cake as a brunch treat for the next day. We relaxed for a couple of hours and then went to bed. Till the next update, take care!
Our hotel is connected to a mall with its back entrance opening into the mall. We had a little difficulty in finding the food court at the mall but eventually found it. It had a lot of variety but we decided to stick to familiar items and had Nasi Goreng (fried rice with chicken) and Nasi Biryani. We also tried the special coffee variant of this region called the Kopi. It's sweeter than regular coffee and was a bit too sweet for our taste buds. We also had iced Milo. Yes, it's the same chocolate mix Milo that we have in Pakistan too. By the time we got back to our hotel lobby, it was almost 3 pm since maneuvering the stroller at the mall through handicap accessible ramps (and a short flight of stairs) took a bit of time. On that note, to get to our hotel room from the lobby, we also have to take the stroller up and down a short flight of stairs every time. On our first day, we initially thought about requesting for a different room but when we were checking in, the hotel representative had told us that this was one of the biggest rooms that they have and with Sereen's stuff, we need the extra space so we decided to just brave the short flight of stairs for a few days. Every time we have to go past those stairs, Samia holds Sereen and I take the stroller up/down the stairs.
It had started raining quite heavily so we had to change our plan. We had originally thought about going to Chinatown to walk around and explore the area but our hotel concierge told us that it won't be a great idea with a baby in a stroller. We had short listed a couple of museums and asked the hotel concierge for a recommendation between them. Without hesitation, he recommended the National Museum of Singapore. The heavy rain meant that taxis were in great demand so we had to wait for 15 minutes before we got one. The National Museum of Singapore was less than a kilometer away and if the weather had been better, we could have walked. The taxi ride took about 15 minutes because of rain and rush hour induced traffic congestion. We reached the museum a little after 3:30 pm. After changing Sereen's diaper and buying our tickets, we started exploring the museum around 4 pm.
Sereen was sleepy but the first exhibit was a colorful educational display of the natural ecology of Singapore so I held her in my arms so that she could see it. She was mesmerized by the screens displaying trees, animals, rain and falling leaves. By the time we got to the next exhibit, she was really sleepy so we rocked her to sleep in her stroller and continued exploring the museum. The history section was very extensive and extremely well done. It chronicled the history of Singapore from the time it was named Singapura in the 14th Century to all the way to the present day. The colonial influence, the Japanese invasion, union with Malaysia for a couple of years and eventually the formation of an independent nation in 1965, it was all covered with concise and apt displays. The ascent of Singapore as a technologically advanced city-state since 1965 powered by industrial manufacturing was also documented. Focus on family planning, urban housing development projects and green spaces was emphasized.
It was such an engrossing display that we were only able to see one level of the museum by 6 pm and then it was time for us to leave. It was still raining heavily and everyone leaving the museum was getting a taxi so they were in high demand. Our hotel has provided a smartphone device called Handy with data and local calling to aid our touristy ventures in the city. A security guard at the museum used the Handy device to help us call a taxi. While chatting with her, Samia found out that she was a law school student and had previously worked in the hotel industry. She pointed out a few buildings of the Singapore Management University and a few top hotels in the city skyline. She also mentioned that if our hotel check-in person was paying attention, there might be a small cake waiting for Samia when we get back.
The restaurant where we had made a reservation for dinner to celebrate Samia's birthday is called Colony and located inside the Ritz-Carlton hotel. It's a very nice hotel and after reaching there, we first attended to Sereen and then headed to the restaurant for our 7 pm reservation. It was a dinner buffet with 7 different varieties available - Chinese, Indian, Indonesian, Malaysian, Western, local Singaporean and desserts. We tried Asian salads, English lamb chops, Indian tikkas, Malaysian satay skewers, sushi and a few different types of desserts. The winner were the succulent lamb chops. In retrospect though, instead of a buffet, a sit-down dinner with table service would have been better since choosing from a buffet is tough plus we've been spoiled by the world's best buffet in Las Vegas which is hard to match. When we asked for the bill, the servers brought a small piece of cake out for Samia with a candle and a piece of chocolate that read "Happy Birthday". That was a nice gesture to cap off the birthday dinner, Samia's first with Sereen.
After dinner, we took a taxi back to our hotel. When we entered the room, a small chocolate cake was waiting for Samia. It wished her Happy Birthday but got the gender wrong and read "Happy Birthday, Mr Siddiqui". Nonetheless it was still nice of the hotel to pay attention and try to lend a personal touch to our stay. We were too full from dinner so decided to save the cake as a brunch treat for the next day. We relaxed for a couple of hours and then went to bed. Till the next update, take care!
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