Missed the Boat

Man, I'm getting spoiled. Sunday is traditionally the helper's day only day off. (If they work for a Chinese family, they don't get any days off). Cheryl left first thing this morning to do whatever she does on her days off. I think she hangs out at a mall called Lucky Plaza with all the other Filippinas. I made breakfast - French toast - for the first time in weeks. Afterwards, we thought we'd head out for a walk and a big brunch on the river.

Getting lost can be kind of fun. Oh sure, when I have some place to be back in Westchester and I'm running late, I HATE being lost cursing under my breath at each and every wrong turn. When I travel, however, it's kind of cool making wrong turns because you stumble upon things you might have missed. We didn't exactly get lost today, but we went the long way around and there was nothing really fun about it - well, not as much fun as we'd hoped.

We were on our way to Robinson Quay (pronounced "key") which is the closest cluster of restaurants and stores on the Singapore River near us. We'd planned to have brunch there then take a boat tour up and down the river.  Uh - maybe not.

We arrived at the far end of Robinson Quay so we kept walking along, ending up at the next quay called Clarke. We found a lovely Thai restaurant and the kids gobbled up all sorts of new foods (I'm so proud of them!), but Tom was super blue: he wanted brunch food. Silly me. I didn't get that. To me, any time I eat out around here I want Asian food. Western brunch food didn't even cross my mind. 

More than anything, I think he was hot. Tom has spent weekends outside with us, but most of that has been at places like the zoo or the bird park. He hasn't really just pounded the streets in the middle of the day too much. That's basically what I do all week. The walking isn't so bad, but the heat is draining. Pushing a stroller up and down the sloping hills doesn't help. No wonder I am totally wiped by the end of the day, each and every day.

After the kids finished their tidbits, we tried to take a sampan river cruise. A sampan is a traditional, flat-bottomed wooden boat. I believe they're Chinese of origin. Most here have "eyes" painted on the front to help the captain spot danger and steer clear. A century ago, sampans were laden with gunny sacks of rice and other riches, loaded and unloaded on the steep steps along the busy riverbank, an important port of traders back in the day.

The river is closely tied to the rich history of Singapore, something I learned more about at the museum the other night. It's a pretty amazing story involving peoples from all over Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

The river area is no longer a port per se, but has been cleaned up and renovated into a beautiful walk in the same spirit of the San Antonio River Walk - though it's far different in personality. Each quay has it's own unique personality.

Boat Quay is closest to Tom's office and is kind of the South Street Seaport of Singapore. People who work in the "downtown" area meet at Boat Quay for drinks after work. Clarke Quay is the pastel-painted, party place in the middle. Robinson Quay is more of the family neighborhood joint area and the one closest to our apartment.

To take the boat, we crossed a bridge to the other side of the river which has a totally different flavor including a sidewalk paved in bricks. We went down an alley even - something I never do here. The city never smells despite the heat because the trash is all in the alleys in almost all cases. It was an interesting just because you could see all the AC units. The older buildings don't have central air. Heck, our brand new building has central air married with room units in the bedrooms. I was told to bring lots of sweaters with me because everything is so over air-conditioned (I've yet to use a sweater, by the way!)

We made our way to the sampan dock and, while we waited for a boat, Tom ran to his office to pick up his laptop. He is going to Shanghai this afternoon for several days on business. Anyway, I paid for tickets. The boat came, but no Tom. We waited for the next boat only this boat took a lot longer to arrive and so we didn't get to take a tour. Instead, we settled for a river taxi - also on a sampan. It was an 8-minute ride. I really wanted to hear about all the sights, but perhaps another day.

We expected it to be kind of steamy, but instead, there was a lovely breeze inside the wooden room. The kids loved it. Maisie thought the guy driving the boat was Captain Hook. Hudson screamed, "Boat!"at every boat that floated by us. After our ride, we grabbed a regular taxi and rushed home so Tom could get to the airport.

You know what that means? I'm on my own with the kids for the first time in weeks! No Tom. No Cheryl. No nap! Maisie had two cranberry juices this afternoon and is crazy with energy. Fingers crossed! 

TWO HOURS LATER:

On the ferry home from Bintan, a Danish father sat behind us traveling alone with his two, very small children so his wife could have a girls' night out. The baby sobbed and sobbed and then promptly threw up all over him. I felt so bad for the guy! Now I know how he feels, only nobody felt bad for me.

We were out of Hudson's organic milk. He goes through it like water. By the way - organic milk is shelf-stable here and come in boxes! Anyway, I loaded up the stroller and headed to the grocery. The second we turned into the store, Hudson started to WAIL! I've never heard him like this, except when I try to go to the Vietnamese joint around the corner. He didn't want to go into the store and was screaming, "That way! That way!" pointing down the street. The fact remained we needed milk so I marched on inside. Big mistake. He just wailed all the harder. Asians don't tolerate misbehaving children. Nobody looked at me with the kind eyes Mr-What-a-Nice-Husband man got.

I picked him up and tried to navigate the double stroller, grocery basket, well-behaved older sister and sobbing starting-to-tantrum-two-year-old through the narrow aisles. Glares. All glares. 

Finally, I made it to checkout, milk in tow as well as blueberries, apples and Maisie's request for dinner: pepperoni pizza. That's when it happened: Hudson threw up all over himself and me. He wasn't sick, just so upse that he'd made himself sick. More glares. I'm talking serious glares. People here are germophobes. A toddler throwing up? In a grocery store? 

We paid and the SECOND we walked out the door, Hudson started to laugh and clap.

How long will Cheryl and Tom be gone?!