Exploring Singapore Day 2: Marina Attractions

We enjoyed breakfast at our hotel and then set out for Day 2 of our Singapore adventures. We packed in SO many tourist attractions which were included in our Hippo city passes. First up was the well known duck boat tour which is very popular in Singapore and a good way to view the harbor attractions. I was super nervous about this one because I couldn't stop thinking about the duck boat tragedy from earlier in the summer. It was a stormy, rainy day which didn't help my anxiety, but I settled in and we all really enjoyed the tour. We sat in the front so the tour guide took a lot of photos for us.

We learned that the Merlion -- a mythical creature with a lion's head and fish's body -- is the official mascot of Singapore with a fountain statue in the harbor. The tour was really fun and we all enjoyed seeing many of the attractions that we planned to visit later that day.

After the duck boat tour, we walked inside a nearby mall to use the facilities and grab a snack. On the way, we found a fun candy store (which we can never resist!) as well as a Toys R Us store. Apparently the chain stores here are still in business despite closing down in the US.

From the mall, we took a quick taxi over to the Singapore Flyer, which is one of the world's largest observation wheels with a height of 165m. We learned that it has since been overtaken in height by the High Roller wheel in Las Vegas at 168m and will soon move to 3rd place with the opening of the future Dubai Eye at 210m. (Was there ever any doubt that the world's tallest anything would be anywhere besides Dubai?? Ha!)

I will admit, the slow ride to the top of the wheel was an anxiety-filled experience for me! The kids and Jeff loved making fun of me and giving me a scare by standing close to the doors and fooling around in the cabin. We even had a thunderstorm blow through nearby as we were inside, yikes! It was a really cool experience, though, and an awesome way to see more of Singapore. Afterwards, we stopped at the onsite Subway and enjoyed some lunch before heading off on our next adventure.

Our next stop was a long walk across the double helix bridge to the Marina Bay Sands, a high-end luxury hotel with a cool viewing deck called the Skypark. It's one of the most recognizable structures of the Singapore skyline and offers an amazing view of the city.

That last photo is an overhead view of Gardens By the Bay, a 250-acre nature park with various attractions. It was so close that we decided to walk on over and check it out. We walked through the Flower Dome in about 5 minutes flat (not my thing) and then wandered over to the Cloud Forest Dome, which is an indoor conservatory with the world's tallest indoor waterfall at 35m. It was built with multiple levels and walkways allowing visitors different viewpoints through the cool mist, all the way to the top of the waterfall with the Cloud Walk and Treetop Walk.

Needless to say, by this point in the day we were POOPED! We had walked for miles and visited so many attractions that all we wanted to do was get back to our hotel for some dinner and relaxation. We ended up ordering McDonald's delivery again simply because it didn't require us to get out again. It wasn't long afterwards that the kids both voluntarily put themselves to bed before 8:30 p.m.! Now that's what I call a successful day of vacation!