But, honestly, what on earth was I worried about?
The last time my eldest son and I headed off overseas on our own, he was six months shy of making his arrival into the world, and I was adrift in Hong Kong with, thanks to him, an incessant and unrequited craving for cheese on toast.
I suppose if I'd wanted it, I could have found cheese on toast in Singapore. And if I couldn't, I'd safely bet someone would've found it for me. Because great hospitality seems to be one of Singapore's strengths, and that started as soon as we boarded our flight. The Singapore girls of the nation's airline, although certainly a ploy devised by ad execs to appeal to leery male passengers, certainly appealed to my son, or maybe it was just the endless supply of potato chips they delivered.
And while the inventor of in-flight entertainment probably isn't Singaporean, I'm utterly grateful for Singapore Airline's decision to install hours worth of kid-friendly entertainment. (If you've ever wondered how many times a child can watch Ratatouille on an Auckland to Singapore return flight, don't ask.)
For the next four days, nothing was a problem. Transport? Taxis efficient, fast, cheap and clean, or the subway efficient, fast, cheap and clean. Food? Noodles for sir, or fries? Night safari at the zoo or jungle breakfast? Why not both? The hardest decision of the day came down to which of the hotel's two swimming pools to choose.
Singapore is sniffed at by some for being "Asia lite". Asia-like, more like it. It's dynamic, colourful, accessible and friendly while there's still enough of a cultural shift to make you realise you're a long way from home. On a purely practical level, it helps considerably when English is the official language and the Singaporean dollar is roughly the same value as the New Zealand dollar.
No, it's not "extreme" or "intrepid" frankly, travelling with children who are automatically programmed to do the polar opposite of what their parents want is challenging enough for some of us. Instead, Singapore is a place to play, shop and eat. There's so much to enjoy, so little to endure.
Itinerary ideas:
DAY ONE: a good start is the Singapore Flyer (30 Raffles Ave, www.singaporeflyer.com), the 165m-tall observation wheel that opened this year. The 30-minute trip is a great way to get your bearings, and take in 360 panoramic views over the city and out across the Singapore Strait to Malaysia. Just below the wheel is the pit lane for Formula One's first Singapore Grand Prix, being held in September. The shops underneath are unremarkable apart from the fish food spa, where thousands of tiny fish will nibble your feet for a pedicure with a difference. Not for the ticklish.
Walk or catch a cab (they're cheap) over to Suntec City where you'll find loads of shops and restaurants and which is home to the world's largest (but not prettiest) fountain, the Fountain of Wealth. Dip your hand in the water and walk twice, clockwise, around the centre for years of good luck and fortune. You can't leave without first taking a Ducktour. These amphibious vehicles leave from Suntec every half hour and travel on road and river for a strangely amusing guided tour. One of the boy's top three attractions.
You can travel to Sentosa Island, Singapore's playground, 500m off Singapore's southern coast, by road, monorail or cable car. Plan to spend at least an afternoon and evening there because you won't run out of things to do. Underwater World with Kelly Tarlton-style travelator was worth the visit. Other attractions include Butterfly Park and Insect World and a luge and skyride.
Sentosa's Siloso Beach, with its imported sand and scores of transplanted palms, buzzes with joggers, family groups and teens playing volleyball, against a backdrop of hundreds of ships sitting out in the Singapore Strait. Trapizza, an open-air outdoor restaurant so named for the trapeze school beside it, offers pizza, salad, pasta and dessert for a very reasonable set price. Afterwards, walk off your meal on the beach, or catch a beach train down to Song of the Sea, a firework and music show set on the sea. The nightly shows, at 7.40pm and 8.40pm, last 25 minutes.
DAY TWO: in the morning, explore Chinatown there's a lot of tat, but there are some well-priced treasures to be found (three silk and brocade cushion covers for $10 for me, a wall-hanging of colourful embroidered lucky fish for him). If you can find it (it's not well signposted) the Chinatown Heritage Centre is fascinating and moving.
Catch the SMRT (Singapore Mass Rapid-Transit) along the North-East line (Chinatown Station to Little India Station) to Little India. There are lots of cheap and cheerful souvenirs but, sadly, there's probably no point trying to get the spices home. If you want a taste of India Singapore-style, head to Muthu's Curry Restaurant (138 Race Course Rd) for lunch. The food is sensational (and highly spiced their "mild" could well be your scorching hot) and served on banana leaves. It's famous for its fish head curry but the peppery Chicken Makhni did it for me. Spacious, air-conditioned (important), very decent prices and child-friendly too.
Worth searching out is Mint Toy Museum (26 Seah St, www.emint.com). Owned by a multimillionaire engineer who decided to open up his collection of more than 100,000 toys to the public, it's in a sleek and stylish building and offers an incredible trip down memory lane for the grown-ups. Some of the pieces are worth tens of thousands of dollars, and there are more than 10,000 items on display (the collection changes regularly). The shop has a delightful and cheap range of wind-up toys, as well as other fun bits and pieces like Darth Vader masks. We loved it.
If you decide to do the Night Safari (80 Mandai Lake Rd, www.nightsafari.com.sg), try to stop off at the Science Centre (15 Science Centre Rd, www.science.edu.sg) on the way. Sounds dry and dreary but it's quite the opposite. There's more than 1000 interactive exhibits, as well as some interesting exhibitions (although I thought the Living with Viruses one was just a bit icky). Kids can make giant bubbles, watch eggs hatch to reveal fluffy little yellow chicks, star on their own TV show … the list goes on. Two hours passed before we knew it. The shop's worth a visit too.
The Ulu Ulu Safari Restaurant at the Night Safari is a good spot for dinner the buffet should satisfy everyone although the very enthusiastic performance group might not be a hit with everyone. ("That," said the four-year-old critic, "was really horrible.") The world's first nocturnal zoo and one of the most popular tourist attractions in Singapore, the Night Safari is set in a humid tropical forest divided into eight geographical zones, that can be explored on foot via three walking trails, or by tram. It's definitely worth a visit but it's probably best for families with older children mine was asleep before we were halfway through.
DAY THREE: if your children are younger, I'd recommend visiting Singapore Zoo (80 Mandai Lake Rd, www.zoo.com.sg) one of the world's best during the day. And there's no better time than the Jungle Breakfast, daily at 9am, where you're joined by a family of orangutans and a large snake or two. We were also there in time to watch the elephants bathe and breakfast (for $5 you can buy a basket of carrots and bananas for them to snuffle up their trunks. Well worth it.) The zoo's "open" concept means wet and dry "moats" are used to keep the animals (there's 2530 in total, with everything from polar bears to hippos) apart from the visitors. A must-do.
On a Sunday, a great place to people watch and eat is the champagne brunch at The Line, the ultra-modern buffet restaurant at the ritzy Shangri La (22 Orange Grove Rd). A favourite with Singapore's expat community and other moneyed locals, it's not cheap (about $80 a head, although that does include a glass of Veuve Clicquot and young children are free). This is like the Harrods of buffets, with a staggeringly vast array of food on offer from chilli crab (Singapore's national dish) to chocolate fountains, lobsters to lamb roast. The quality, not to mention quantity, is exceptional.
If your credit card won't stretch that far, visit one of the hawker centres. If food is Singapore's religion, these are its places of worship (most Singaporeans eat at a hawker centre daily). Particularly popular with locals and tourists is the Maxwell Rd Food Centre just off Orchard Rd, the heart of the city's shopping area. On Orchard Rd you'll find scores of great malls such as Paragon (home to Toys R Us as well as Miu Miu, Versace and Prada). If you have teenage daughters in tow, steer them towards Far East Plaza, just off Orchard Rd on Scotts Rd. The ground floor has dozens of boutiques with cheap but stylish clothes and shoes.
If this is your last night, make sure you spend it at Clarke Quay and take a ride on one of the historic bumboats which once plied cargo but now carry tourists back and forth along the river (the boy's second favourite attraction). The commentary, a tape-recorded message in a faux-Californian accent, is interesting and the ride unexpectedly romantic, once you've got over the fumes from the engines. It heads to the base of the water-spouting Merlion (half-lion, half-mermaid my son's number-one favourite) and back again, taking in everything from the statue of Sir Stamford Raffles, the founder of modern Singapore, marking the spot where he landed in 1819, to the newest skyscrapers of the business district. The quay is home to scores of restaurants and bars, so the only problem will be choosing where to0 eat. And in Singapore, that's about the only problem you're likely to face.
Angela Walker was hosted by the Singapore Tourism Board. For more ideas on what to do in Singapore, see singaporeforkids.com or www.visitsingapore.com.
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