Damn it. When I woke up this morning it looked like rain again. It's hard to really tell what the weather will be because when I look it up on weather.com it's always the same: 88 with scattered thunderstorms and 75% humidity - give or take a few degrees.
My friend Laura is from Mississippi and says, 'The higher the hair, the closer to God." Well honey, it looks like I'm in hell 'cuz my hair is anything but high. I keep trying though Lord only knows why. I'm sure Cheryl snickers at my morning curlers. Heck, Tom still snickers at my morning curlers.
It's hot here. I mean, really hot. In truth, it's not as hot as I expected. Then again, I hear we're having a cold snap. Ha! Even so, I can't believe what it feels like when I open the door to go outside - no matter the time of day. If you've ever walked into a sauna, you'll have an idea. There's often a breeze and that helps, but most of the time, it's just damn hot. I'm from West Texas. I can do hot. I just can't handle the humidity.
Of course, New York is having heat wave number four this summer. Who knew we'd be "escaping the heat" in Singapore?!
Anyway, it looked like rain this morning so I decided that I needed to find an indoor activity. The Science Centre of Singapore seemed like a good idea.
Little did I know it was so far away! It was like going to Queens or Brooklyn from the Upper East Side of Manhattan: no simple task. Luckily, the subways here are fabulous.
That's no exaggeration. This is the absolute cleanest subway system I've ever seen. I'm sure the fines help keep it that way: $1000 if you smoke on the train. $500 if you eat or drink.
There are also lots of elevators in the subways, known here as lifts. Making a trip with the kids on the subway is pretty pleasant. All except the part when Hudson tossed his sunglasses outside the closing subways doors. That one is such a rascal!
The Science Centre is in an area known as Jurong East. Cheryl tells me it's a more industrial area and it definitely had a different feel than the high living of Orchard. Even so, it was cleaner than other comparable areas in New York.
It's a pretty cool place, this science center. It's a bit like The Liberty Science Center in New Jersey. The kids were really too young to get all the science behind things. They only knew that things were cool and made them laugh. Even so, I think experiences like these help kids learn. I think maybe Cheryl had the best time of all. She's never been to anything like that before in her life. Remember, her house in the Philippines doesn't even have electricity!
The kids' favorite party HANDS down was the splash garden attached to the centre. There are LOTS of splash gardens here because it's so hot, but this one had some science associated with everything such as vortex machines into which kids could throw balls. Balls? Water? Hudson was in heaven!
Here's a little interesting side story. I walked into the bathroom, saw the urinal and thought, "Oh geez, I'm in the men's room," and turned around and walked right out. Uh no - I was in the right bathroom after all! There was a little urinal and sink for boys going to the bathroom with their mommies! The seats also had built-in child potty seats. Incredible! I've heard so much about all the bad, weird bathrooms in Asia. I'm sure that'll be the case in China, but here in Singapore, it's not true. I forgot to mention, but the bathroom at the zoo had a WATERFALL!
The first pix are of the subway!
