This January, we spent 5 days 4 nights in Singapore with our 3Y10M daughter for the second time just like last year. This time, we explored new places and gathered with friends and relatives, and stayed in a different neighborhood in the Bugis area. It was rainy season, but luckily we had a dry day when we visited Legoland Malaysia. The diverse food was also one of our favorites, as they are not easy to find where we live.
Lodging at Village Hotel Bugis
After rounds of hotel searches, we decided to stay at Village Hotel Bugis based on our budget and space preferences. We also wanted to try a different neighborhood from the last time on Orchard Road. As we don’t co-sleep with our daughter and she did not fit in a crib anymore, it took some time to find hotels with two beds where one is at least full size (most rooms had single or twin beds). We booked a family room and got the preferred one full-size bed and one single bed configuration. The location was convenient, just a five-minute walk to the Bugis MRT with a few malls and many restaurants within walking distance. The hotel was a bit dated, but we had a smooth stay for all four nights. The breakfast buffet had diverse options, with long hours from 6:30-10:30 AM. We swam after breakfast one day, and the pool was a good size for kids and casual laps.
Airport Transportation
As I filled the SG arrival card online available within 2 days before arrival, immigration was smooth. Like last year, we requested a Grab car with a portable SafeRider car seat and got to the hotel within 20 minutes. Grab also had family-friendly car options at a higher cost and longer wait.
Taking the MRT
We Grab’ed around to farther places most of the time, but also took MRT once. According to the rule, kids above 90cm required a special card to ride the MRT for free until 7 year old. On the first day, we got the card for our daughter with her passport at the Bugis station. We didn’t get checked and I’m not sure if it was enforced, we just wanted to stay on the safe side.
Day 0
Kids reading space at the public library
While waiting for dinner with friends, we stopped by a library in a building with a few different libraries. We went straight to the basement with the kids area, and it was a very impressive reading space for kids. We enjoyed reading with our daughter from various books she picked from the circular open bookshelves. I also saw children’s books in some other languages and cultures. There was a bathroom and water fountain to refill the water bottle.
Hunan dinner at Xiang Xiang
Our local friends picked a Hunan restaurant in Bugis. It was located on a busy street that was closed for cars at dinnertime so restaurants had tables out on the street. At first, we were a bit uncertain about how they could host a big group like ours with a toddler, but they were very friendly to kids and patient to accommodate some last-minute changes of our group. They had balloons outside to entertain the kids, and we had a few non-spicy dishes our daughter enjoyed. The street was very lively when we left the restaurant, we walked to a nearby ice dessert store and I tried durian for the first time (not for me in all senses 😬).
Day 1
Swimming at the hotel pool
After the breakfast buffet at the hotel, we decided to try out the pool outside of the restaurant. The pool was perfect for us, big enough to do some casual laps and water fun while taking in the view of nearby buildings in Singapore. The rain picked up toward the end, we quickly wrapped up in the restroom by the pool and headed back. Towels were self-served at the pool.
Korean deep dish at Pizza Maru
We were drawn to the Korean-style deep dish pizza at the Bugis+ mall, but not so used to the elevated level of heaviness and flavor with the sweet sauce. Three of us shared a deep dish pizza and a white sauce mushroom risotto, our daughter ate about 2 slices of pizza and quite some risotto to her liking.
Tea time at Paris Baguette x teatra
During our daughter’s stroller nap, we revisited the Paris Baguette at the Raffles City mall. I tried the Korean omija tea (magnolia berry tea), and tasted the chocolate pudding. As one of my favorite chains I frequented back in the US, I liked the pastry selection and the plenty of tables at this location.
Keppel Centre kids art space at National Gallery Singapore
I’d recommend checking out the cleaning time on the official website, as we arrived right before and waited for about half an hour. Thankfully, the museum was free to enter on the Sunday we went and we walked around before joining the line again. There were a few areas in the kids’ art space, we went for the less crowded ones. It was around Lunar New Year, and we did some calligraphy on the red square paper now on our home door.
Malaysian food at The Coconut Club
We caught up with my cousin’s family over various delicious Malaysian dishes at this seemingly trendy restaurant that our local friends also recommended. The kids loved the fried corn and the non-spicy parts of the dishes. It was one of my most memorable meals on this trip. The restaurant had high chairs and spacious bathrooms, and we walked in at 5 PM on Sunday with almost no wait.
Gelato at the birds of paradise
My cousin recommended this gelato chain next to the dinner venue, and we had the perfect ending to our night. There were many flavors I would love to try, and the mint cacao I decided on did not disappoint. Our daughter got her own baby cup size of fruity ice cream, and we enjoyed the gelato in the shop with AC.
Day 2
A day at Legoland Malaysia
On the first trip with our daughter to Tokyo when she was 1Y9M, we visited Legoland Discovery Center with lots of fun – indoor, and the size was perfect for small kids. Legoland Malaysia is a much larger amusement park compared to the one in Tokyo, mostly outdoors. We spent a full day here from 9 AM to 5 PM (the park opens at 10 AM), we all had a blast and went on many rides with minimal wait on a weekday. Even though we brought a stroller, our daughter was excited and walked most of the day without a nap. She quickly recharged on the car ride back to Singapore.
Private car service with SGMYTAXI
Originally, we were planning to take the officially recommended WTS shuttle available on Klook/KKday. However, after reading more reviews and hearing a personal experience, the risk of incidents at the border from anyone on the bus was not low and the hours at the park are quite short. I started looking at private car options, inquired a few, and we decided to try SGMYTAXI for their consistent responsiveness, documented pricing, and some positive experiences shared online. The fare was 110 SGD each way, including 10 SGD for the car seat. The immigration part couldn’t have been easier for us, it took a bit more time to enter Singapore but both trips were about 1 hour and 15 minutes long. The border had 2-4 checkpoints with a bridge in between. On the way back, we saw a long line of buses and cars while our car went for a different lane. With the private car, we got to have a full day at Legoland from early 9 AM before they opened to 5 PM.
Plaza before the entrance
We arrived before the park opened, but there were plenty of stores and play areas in a covered plaza. There were some coffee shops including a Starbucks, we went for coffee at the cafe in the supermarket. We browsed the grocery store and got juice and coconut water to share. There was also a playground in the plaza, and there were more small vendors when we left the park.
Rides
Maybe because we went on a weekday, we didn’t have to wait much for any rides. The crowd at the park was at a comfortable level throughout the day. We started with Ninjago without a line, our daughter was a bit afraid (general fear about bad guys). Then we did Beetle Bounce, and watched a Friends movie in “4D” with glasses. Other rides we did before lunch: observation tower with a view of the park from high up, power tower that was quite an exercise for me. After lunch, we went to the junior driving school where she hit some bumpy learning curve, boating school, rescue academy where we exercised moving the firetruck to put out fires, airport, and the express train.
Lunch at Market Restaurant
After the movie, we had lunch at a Lego-themed restaurant. Our daughter got the chicken rice kids meal, and I got a chicken rendang plate that I enjoyed a lot. The process was to order the dishes at the counter, then bring the trays to the cashier where they brought out drinks. We sat next to a small Duplo table that was entertaining for kids while waiting for the meals.
Lego play areas
There were a few Lego building areas throughout the park. We spent the most time at the Racer test. It was refreshing staying indoors on a hot day. There were a few areas in the Racer test, like making a solid building with an earthquake test, and building a Lego car to test on different tracks. For bigger kids, there were also robotics/Mindstorms classes that were full when we inquired in the early afternoon. Near the entrance, they also had a Snake Lego building station for the Lunar New Year theme.
Playgrounds
Other than rides and Lego areas, the park also had various small and big playgrounds for kids to run around and up and down. Our daughter spent quite some time at the playground near the dragon rollercoaster. We also got some snacks at a nearby food truck. There were plenty of picnic tables and benches to rest on.
Mini Lego displays
Similar to the Tokyo Legoland discovery center, there were quite a few miniature Lego buildings of Malaysia and other places. Some of them had a button to trigger some actions, our daughter loved that. They were mostly in covered areas outdoors, and some were very impressive.
Back to Singapore – Indian dinner at Zam Zam
After a comfortable car ride back to Singapore (luckily we had an Alphard on the way back), we had dinner at a popular Indian restaurant near the hotel, Zam Zam, that my cousin mentioned as well. We got a table upstairs, and shared three entrees: chicken biryani, beef and vegetable murtabak. It was our first time trying murtabak, like egg pancake with different savory fillings. We were going to get the medium size, and the friendly staff recommended getting two small ones which was a wise suggestion. Lime water was very refreshing, our daughter got one as well.
Day 3
Bird paradise
Our original plan was to visit the Singapore zoo, but upon a friend’s and my cousin’s recommendation independently, we decided to check out the bird park instead. It was truly a unique experience for us, walking through paths to see various birds flying freely in the park.
Tickets & Reservations
We got the tickets the same day online. If interested in the feeding experiences or other educational talks, I’d recommend checking the schedule and booking any session(s) early, then planning the route accordingly. We were indecisive about a feeding experience, and the morning session was full by the time we wanted to book it. Navigating between specific areas could also involve a long walk. We didn’t plan our route well because of the last-minute changes in the feeding experience and did way more loops than necessary.
Transportation
Public transportation was not straightforward to the bird paradise and the zoo area in general, so we decided to take a Grab. Our daughter got carsick quite easily this trip, and it was a bit stressful for us always being on standby. Thankfully, all the rides went well. The pickup instructions were pretty clear from the Grab app, though at 4 PM there were not many cars available in the area and we waited for a bit.
Lunch at Food Central
We had lunch at a food court near where we were, the food was average but it worked out for us. There were a few stations of different cuisines; our daughter had the chicken dumpling noodle soup, and I had the Thai chicken cutlet pineapple fried rice wok. There was a playground outside of the food court, and our daughter played there for a bit until it rained quite heavily.
Lories and Lorikeets feeding at Lory Loft
We missed the morning feeding, then booked the afternoon session after our daughter’s stroller nap in the cafe. As soon as the handheld bird feeder was in our hands, a flock of parrots descended from everywhere. Some landed on the shoulder and arms, and our daughter was certainly not a fan despite her excitement before. The food ran out quickly within five minutes, but it was an interesting experience being surrounded by birds so close.
Penguin watching
The last stop in the park was the penguin cove. It was all indoors and suitable for rain and sun cover. We saw a few different penguin species, and our daughter enjoyed watching the penguins swim and dive in the water.
Dinner at Shake Shack
After taking Grab back downtown, we were dropped off at Orchard Road to have our last dinner on this trip. We stayed in this area last time, but we didn’t walk to the other end of the road with different giant malls. We grabbed a quick bit at Shake Shack, which we missed from the US. Shake Shack had an option to have no salt in the fries, it was interesting to try (we realized how much salt is in the typical fries).
Uncle ice cream sandwich stand on Orchard Road
After dinner, we strolled around Orchard Road and stopped by one of the uncle’s ice cream trucks for a snack. I first had it at a conference in Singapore a few years ago. It is a local dessert usually sold by Asian uncles. First is the choice of a wafer or a slice of rainbow bread. Then, the hard selection from a few flavors of ice cream gets sandwiched between the wafer or bread. We all went with the bread, and it was quite refreshing on a warm and humid day.
Day of return
Breakfast at Oriental Kopi @ Bugis Junction
We were drawn to this kopitiam while walking around Bugis Junction before, but the line was too long. Before heading to the airport, we came in around 9 AM without any wait. Our daughter got an egg mayo toast, and I had to get nasi lemak again before leaving Singapore. I also shopped for some bags of instant noodles and chocolate powder as souvenirs in their store.
Final hours in Changyi Airport
After checking out from the hotel, we headed to the airport 3.5 hours before the flight. We took a Grab and got off at the Jewel, the mall connected to the airport. There were many stores that we could probably spend a day there. This time, we made a name tag at the Sanrio store and shopped at the Pokemon Center. Then we walked to the airport to check in and drop off our bags. On the airside, there were also quite a few fun areas for kids. We walked on a pond with a glass on top. The airport was impressive, with many green elements planted across the space.
Wrap
We had a fun-filled second trip in Singapore, trying different places from last year. Despite the steep price at some popular sights and lodging in general, and the stress from our daughter getting carsick, we loved all the food we tried and the experiences we had. We’d like to come back again when our daughter can stay up later for the Night Safari, and many other places to explore.
Last but not least, here is the full itinerary and lists of places that we considered for the Singapore trip: