Playdate Singapore style

There is a major difference to arranging playdates here compared to back in England. Now we have to ring the bus company to see if there is space for the child to go on a different bus (as for some reason the ones who want to play after school happen to live all over town and do not usually take the same bus home). And then they will have a few hours fun at friend's house after school and then it takes a few hours to get back home (well, nearly). Beatrice was invited to a friend's house yesterday and as it happened, they live on a sailing boat in the Sentosa Marina. That meant for me and the boys that we had to start getting there even before Beatrice left school. Well - mainly because you wouldn't want to make this long journey just for a pick-up but try to combine it with something else. The plan was to spend a few hours at the beach - boys in sand and water and me in shade with a book. However when we were on the bus it started to pour down and we ended up with a very wet afternoon in a beach resort. There are luckily indoor attractions but that not my first choice. So after having spent ages on 3 buses we got to the Underwater World. Went to see the fishes and crabs. There is quite a long tunnel where the sharks and other beasts swim over you, a good collection of crabs, but I would say the London Aquarium is a bigger attraction. The entry price included a dolphin show in the dolphin lagoon - meaning we had to take another bus to get there. Luckily it had stopped raining and we had some sand play while waiting for the show to start. They have 3 pink dolphins - very well trained. But it all felt a bit artificial with the loud beaty music and Indian tourists invited to hug and kiss the dolphins.

Then it was high time to go and get Beatrice. Luckily there was a taxi right outside - or so I thought until he asked me 20 dollars for the trip that would normally cost max 5. Well peak hour etc. I called another taxi and ended up paying nearly 9. Taxis here are cheap until it is peak hours, then the prices climb steaply and you don't get one unless you call one which in turn means 3.5 extra. A real nuissance - and of course pickup time from playdates is always peakhour.

We got to the boat in the end and the boys enjoyed their dinner there as well. They were a bit disappointed that we didn't actually sail but it was exciting anyway as it was the first time on a proper sailing boat for all of them. Beatrice's friend has been living on it for 2 years - they have sailed around South-East Asia while homeschooling the kids. Now it is stop in Singapore for a while.
On the way to taxi Raoul had a bad fall and the way home was a bit painful with everybody completely exhausted.