Day 238 (February 15): Now that was awesome (what a rebound)!

Yesterday, I wrote about having a Murphy Law Day (did I just coin a new acronym, MLD?). It was so bad I didn't even post it on Facebook, as usual. Today, we had a total rebound.

We ate breakfast in our apartment and then headed out to a nearby park while the temperature was less than 90 degrees. The first part of the park was Jubilee Playground, where Henry created his own "ninja warrior" course.

Then we headed up into Fort Canning Park. The old fort was unexceptional but the gardens and other natural features were spectacular.

Back at the apartment we had a session of school. It went better than I expected, since school often doesn't go well the first time in a new place. We were wise to set our expectations low!

Newly refreshed and educated, we headed off for lunch. Our friend Randy was in Singapore nearly 3 months ago and send us a cryptic note that he had left us something "under table 118 at the Maxwell Road Hawker Centre." First, we had to learn (via podcast) that a Hawker Centre is kind of like the food cart pods that we are familiar with in Portland except that they are either indoors, like Portland's Pine Street Market and many mercados in South America, or they are within shopping centers/malls, like a food court.

We caught a cab to Randy's geocaching spot, got cash from the ATM and found table 118. There was nothing there except for one adorable photo-op.

No worries, though, we proceeded to a Michelin-starred kiosk for Hainanese "Chicken Rice" and devoured every little bit. We also got samosas from an Indian stall and shwarma from a Middle Eastern place. Lunch for six cost less than US$50. Then Lily decided that she wanted to put ramen in her already-full belly so that was another $10 and worth every penny.

After lunch we took a deep breath and then a cab to "World Resort Sentosa," a private island covered in decadent entertainments including a theater, a casino, a shopping mall (of course), a water park, an aquarium, as well as Universal Studios! They have a monorail to bring you to and around the island. There's a cable car network (network!) that is an alternative way to travel to and around the island. It's crazypants.

We were there for the waterpark and it was also terrific. I took a hot tip to download an app called Klook that has proved very useful for buying tickets to different attractions at a discount. The park felt deserted, especially on a not-too-hot Saturday afternoon. We understand that the prohibition on flights from China (Coronavirus) means that tourism is way down but this was the most stark evidence yet. There were no lines, no crowds and no trouble getting a lounge chair in the front row by the wave pool IN THE SHADE.

The only thing left to do was survive until sleep. We had dinner at a Greek restaurant on the wall of the Singapore River, just down from our apartment. The worst part was that Henry dropped a much beloved toy in the river on our way to dinner.  We had worked implausibly hard to get it, unsuccessfully by Christmas and then successfully when Nana/Papa brought it from the States. Now, in a flash, it was at the bottom of a river with zero chance of recovery.

We went to bed happy and tired. MUCH better than the horrible day before. Also, we were looking forward to the imminent arrival of new travel buddies from home!