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Thursday 4 September Charlie was very excited to be setting off on his first big trip, particularly as a few days prior to our departure we had been re-routed via Adelaide (groan) in return for a business class upgrade (sweet). We managed to lose our first piece of baby paraphernalia on the flight despite the best efforts of the crew to help us find it; luckily it was only an occasional recurring theme. Then it was off the plane and into the hot and humid tropical air of Singapore to be met by Alisha who had just flown in from Thailand. JP's regular Singapore driver, David, was also there to meet us so we had a hassle free transfer to their stylish apartment, which Alisha's sister lives in full time and JP uses as his Singapore crash pad.
JP (John) is an old friend of Flick's, having been a regular guest at the hotel restaurant she used to work in as a student in Wellington. Originally hailing from Auckland he moved with his work to KL some years ago where he met Alisha. They put on a double wedding in 2004, first in Auckland, which we made it over for, and then a Chinese tea ceremony in KL. While these days they are nominally based in KL, both travel a lot around the region with their jobs and JP's work is nominally based out of an office in Singapore. During our time in Singapore Dave was still in work mode and left on Friday morning for meetings with Colliers and a couple of clients. After a slow start Flick, Charlie, JP & Alisha went shopping at one of the major malls, afterwards meeting Dave in Chinatownfollowed by an alfresco Indian feed at Boat Quay. Charlie seemed to be soaking it all up, including his first underground railway experience on the Singapore MRT. Compared with the older networks we would use later in the trip such as the Tube and Métro, the MRT is very clean, quiet and tame, with patrons protected from the tracks by a full height wall and doors. Much like a lot of Singapore really, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Dave did get the weekend off and we spent Saturday morning visiting the Singapore Zoo with with Lisa, Graeme and their daughter Charlotte. Lisa, a former Kiwi who Dave met during his MBA, was transferred up from Sydney with her work about a year ago and the family is enjoying the lifestyle, particularly Graeme who plays a lot of golf in nearby Malaysia and Indonesia when he's not looking after Chalotte.
Singapore has an international class zoo with discrete enclosures that attempt to mimic each species' normal habitat. Highlights included the otters, the elephant show, the big cats and the reptile enclosure where you can get up close and personal with a variety of lizards and the occasional monkey. In the afternoon we “caught” the Singapore Flyer (yet another giant ferris wheel) with JP, Alicia and Selina. Ascending above the city we could see the track being set up for the inaugural night-time Formula One race, which was being staged later in September. Charlie loved standing up and pressing his face against the window.
Afterwards we had a delicious crab dinner at the No Signboard Seafood Restaurant in the Esplanade Mall, which holds the main performing arts venues and looks like a pair of giant Durian fruit (but smells better).
On Sunday we visited Lisa and Graeme's place, a spacious and airy apartment in a resort-style complex, then lunched at a satay market off the ECP.
Monday, Dave was back at work, heading into the city with JP in the morning, later rendezvousing with Flick & Charlie in Orchard Rdfor a spot of browsing. While shopping still seems to be the Singaporeans' national pastime, it's not exactly the bargain-lover's paradise it was 20 years ago. In the evening it was time for our packing, goodbyes and a 23:59 red eye to London via Frankfurt. We'd managed to tire out Charlie and he slept well on the flight, waking to entertain the flight attendants and nearby passengers with big smiles, peek-a-boo games and stage dives out of the bassinet into Daddy's arms.
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