Kid-Friendly Singapore

I had the impression that Singapore was kid-friendly, but I didn't know how much until my 22-month old niece came for a visit. I found that the parks and malls had plenty to entertain a little one, partially by design and partially because toddlers are interested in everything. C. even seemed to like taking the "baby bus" and the "baby train" (adding the adjective "baby" somehow made it all that more exciting to her), which was lucky as we had some long commutes from our suburb apartment to the city attractions. Of course, she would usually nap on the way home while us adults had to suffer through the waiting.

Our first stop was West Coast Park, a short distance from our apt. complex. It has several different playgrounds geared toward different ages (and even tempting to adults).  C., not being shy, jumped right in to playing in the sand with some local children. The language barrier didn't stop her from "borrowing" their toys, though when  one of the older boys growled at her, I thought it might be time to say goodbye to our new friends. We then convinced R. to climb up a spiderweb rope course connected to a slide. The three of us adults also tried the zipline and C. had the realization that kids aren't the only ones that get to have fun, proclaiming "Mama fun"as her mother zipped across to the other side.

C. making frienemies with local kids at West Coast Park.

We actually went to the Singapore Botanic Gardens twice, once to the water park at the Children's Garden (see Singapore: Water City post) and once to the National Orchid Garden. The Botanic Gardens seemed to be a very popular place with families on Sunday morning; we certainly weren't the only ones toting a stroller. The orchid garden has some beautiful displays, which deserves its own post eventually. C., however, was as

much mesmerized with the fountains and statues as she was with the flowers. 

Of course, no tourist circuit of Singapore would be complete without a visit to Sentosa, the disneyworld equivalent of this disney-like country (though I've never actually been to Disney, so I can't make a true comparison). Since we only spending an afternoon there, we selected just a couple of the numerous attractions available. Meandering past the other Merlion, much larger than the original one downtown, we headed to the Butterfly Garden. I was a bit disappointed, as it seemed a bit rundown already and didn't seem to have that many butterflies. Next after waiting out a mid-afternoon shower, C. and I hung out while her parents went down the Skyline Luge. Later they reported that going down was actually pretty slow, not the speedfest I had imagined, but was still a fun ride down all the way to the beach. After a while, C. noticed that her parents had gone missing, but she was easy enough to distract by repeatedly watching the Tiger Sky Tower slowly go up and slowly go back down.

merlion at Marina Bay

merlion at Sentosa